Massively multiplayer algebra
(Visited 11057 times) Game talk
Mar 272007
Check out Hippasus, an MMO where magic is done via math (shades of DeCamp & Pratt’s Compleat Enchanter). The goal is explicitly to teach math, apparently; you earn power and respect by mastering mathematical concepts in a world that mirrors classical antiquity.
Gotta love a description like this:
Different areas will be culturally, behaviourally, visually, and mathematically distinct to allow for an enhanced user experience.
15 Responses to “Massively multiplayer algebra”
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Raph Koster
Massively multiplayer algebra
It’s true. The fact that today I know that 1 is 5% of 20 is due to my PnP RPG days. But how complex can the math get in a game before the average gamer gets frustrated and leaves? How complex before they won’t even give it that first try?
It all depends on presentation. 20 questions on a piece of paper with the teacher up front with stopwatch in hand is a test. 20 cards with questions and some friends is Trivial Pursuit.
[…] and mathematically distinct to allow for an enhanced user experience. 댓글달기 https://www.raphkoster.com/2007/03/27/massively-multiplayer-algebra/#comments Croquet SDK 1.0 Released Raph 2007-03-28 09:12 작성 | Game talk Looks like the […]
Keep your math player in flow and it will work for a long time. The type of education system I was familiar with from school failed at maintaining flow for more than a few minutes per day, altho the rare case where the class actually fitted just me appeared to break the flow for most other kids.
A game can be smart enough to keep everyone in flow for a long time, its not easy but still.
I hope there’s an Arabic area, because working without zero is going to be evil. And following some of Euclid’s logic is going to hurt gamers 😉
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I had a chance to talk at some length with this team at GDC and I must admit, it was not as weird as it sounds. Looks like a very traditional massive game… the engine looked very polished. They have many game play mechanics to work out but they’re funded and very passionate about their mission. There is a 10 minute interview with one of the owners of Frozen North in one of my GDC podcasts: Here it is: http://virginworlds.com/pg.php?n=5880
As long as they dont have a mathmatical spell line that involves linear algebra I’m good. Otherwise I’m going to get phwned….
Finally something useful to do with my degree.
[…] Raph’s Website » Massively multiplayer algebra The goal is explicitly to teach math, apparently; you earn power and respect by mastering mathematical concepts in a world that mirrors classical antiquity. (tags: https://www.raphkoster.com 2007 at_tecp MMOG algebra massive games educação) […]
If you ask me, the majority of the player-base of “traditional” mmorpgs (the ones that evolved out of muds and single player crpgs) are either hyper-socializers, highly mathematical (the rules lawyers in pnp rpgs), or a combination of the both. Everquest, WoW, etc. aren’t games, they’re a combination of chat room and various themed simulations where you punch in numbers and watch the results. To succeed you min-max the numbers or make friends with people that do so. They’re just disguised with graphics, “immersive worlds”, and something that passes for story. Behind the visual distractions and social hooks the game-play is just a bunch of math; equations and variables.
This game isn’t disguising the fact that their featured game system is just math. That’s interesting.
Shouldn’t this be called a Mathively Multiplayer Game?