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Africa, The MMOG

Posted by Zonk on from the travel-from-the-comfort-of-your-own-home dept.

Via Joystiq, an MTV Games story about a MMOG that attempts to encompass Africa in a game. From the article: "Less reserved, Adam Ghetti, the teenage creative director at Rapid Reality, the company actually creating the game, said he hopes the game will right some wrongs. 'The white American board developers of the large MMO development companies out there right now don't honestly have the right background and knowledge on the continent of Africa and its lore, mythology and rich history, and quite honestly neither did I,' said Ghetti, who is white. 'They just don't teach it over here.' The game is designed, in part, to change that."

3 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. Africa by Alex+P+Keaton+in+da · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think one of the issues that we (Americans) have is that you normally hear of "Africa." It is the only continent that is mentioned as a country (aside from the obvious Australia which is a country, or Anarctica, which has no countries). I don't think people(in general) realize that Africa is made up of distinct countries with distinct cultures.
    Then again, many of my country men can't name 10 state capitals in the US... so maybe understanding other cultures is too much...

    --
    And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
    1. Re:Africa by MMaestro · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Its because Africa is more or less the black sheep of history really. With the exception of Japan and Russia, nearly every single major imperial/regional/military power in history has exploited Africa at one time or another (slave trade, colonies, subjugation of local population, civil wars, colonial wars, 'border disputes', 'skrimishes', colonial fighting during World War I and II, etc.) No political group/government/nation really wants to get involved with Africa since it'll open up a lot of old historical wounds.

      U.S. won't touch it since African American sentiments are still touchy especially in the South. Britain more or less wants nothing to do with Africa (usually due to monetary and military cost), same with Russia, China and Japan. Germany is too restricted to help effectively and France has been giving the finger to everyone lately. Italy, Spain, Canada, Australia, Mexico; too weak or lack of interest for whatever reason. The U.N. has been working in Africa but we all know how much of a failure that is (Somalia is still a battleground with the withdrawal of U.S. troops, genocide is CURRENTLY being committed in Darfur, Egypt is tangled in Middle East affairs, theres the widespread AIDS crisis, etc.)

  2. I wish the author well by Jakuta · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Africa, from an inside flavor. This will be interesting to see and i for one am going to be expectant of the views presented. Will this be of the time of Egypt? Will it cover the Congo and Llukumi existance and history of the west coast? The Ethiopia, Swahili and Zulu nations of the east coast? There are a number of pantheons and diverse cultural histories to be represented either correctly or fictitiously. Perhaps crickets are not all that would be heard and maybe you might learn something about Africa from the game, unlike LOTR which was not set in europe....