Shakespeare-Based MMO Scrapped

“Oh that this too too sullied internet would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, or that the everlasting had not fixed his cannons against ‘indefinite hold.’”

Thank you, high school English. Now I actually have a use for that speech from Hamlet I was forced to learn all those years ago.

Anyhoo, academics and the gaming world took a blow recently when it was announced that a multiplayer game based on the works of Shakespeare had to be canceled. The game, titled “Arden, the World of Shakespeare,” was intended to allow players to learn more about the works of the famous bard while also providing a means for economic experimentation by its creator, Edward Castronova. A associate professor of telecommunications at Indiana University, Castronova hoped to conduct experiments in the game by changing up the rules periodically and seeing how the community is affected. Players would be dropped into the world of Arden, where they would encounter characters and plots from Shakespeare’s plays. They could “level up” their character by answering trivia questions and could also play cards with other players.

While it might sound like an enjoyable way to get people to learn about Shakespeare’s works, there was just one problem: it was wasn’t fun at all. Castronova says his team focused so much on including references to Shakespeare that they didn’t include some of the more game-like aspects to actually attract people to it.

“You need puzzles and monsters,” he says, “or people won’t want to play…Since what I really need is a world with lots of players in it for me to run experiments on, I decided I needed a completely different approach.”

Thus Castronova has halted development of the game and offers up his experience a cautionary tale to other researchers hoping to do the same. Still, he has released the prototype of the game, which anyone can download at the game’s website. Once again, another attempt to blend education and gaming bites the dust.

Via Technology Review