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Massively multiplayer algebra

March 27th, 2007 (Visited 4523 times) Tags:

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.

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15 Responses to “Massively multiplayer algebra”

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The Red Bull Diary wrote on March 28th, 2007 at 4:32 pm:

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Massively multiplayer algebra

한RSS wrote on March 27th, 2007 at 8:32 pm:

[...] and mathematically distinct to allow for an enhanced user experience. 댓글달기 http://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 [...]

External News wrote on March 28th, 2007 at 2:29 am:

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Massively multiplayer algebra « Got Schwartz? wrote on March 28th, 2007 at 6:28 am:

[...] by theschwartz on March 28th, 2007 Raph Koster’s blog entry with that title got me onto this cool [...]

rascunho » Blog Archive » links for 2007-03-28 wrote on March 28th, 2007 at 12:21 pm:

[...] 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: http://www.raphkoster.com 2007 at_tecp MMOG algebra massive games educação) [...]

Reader Comments

Daryl said on March 27th, 2007 at 5:14 pm:
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?
Tim Holt said on March 27th, 2007 at 5:45 pm:
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.
Wolfe said on March 27th, 2007 at 11:49 pm:
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.
Rich Bryant said on March 27th, 2007 at 11:55 pm:
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
brent said on March 28th, 2007 at 8:35 am:
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
Allen Sligar said on March 28th, 2007 at 8:36 am:
As long as they dont have a mathmatical spell line that involves linear algebra I’m good. Otherwise I’m going to get phwned….
Lacero said on March 28th, 2007 at 9:24 am:
Finally something useful to do with my degree.
Dan Enright said on March 28th, 2007 at 6:16 pm:
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.
Matt Severin said on March 29th, 2007 at 12:57 pm:
Shouldn’t this be called a Mathively Multiplayer Game?

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