> Sometimes Less is Definitely More; Games You May Not Hear Enough About

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Atriarch
World Fusion/ PC


What? Who?

Ever heard of Levis? Ever owned a pair of their jeans? Ever gone shopping for new clothes and bought a pair of jeans based entirely on the Levis label? I'm sure most of us can answer yes to all three of the above, showing that most of us are, to some degree, controlled by big brand names and the mind numbing (some would say mind controlling) flash that goes with them.

Have you ever heard of Electronic Arts? Ever owned one of their games? Ever gone shopping for a new game and bought a title based entirely on the EA label? Almost every gamer out there puts their trust in a certain company when trying to make a decision on how to spend their gaming dollars. Different companies have different track records and this effects what we choose to buy.

Never heard of World Fusion? Never owned one of their games? Never gone shopping for one of their games based entirely on the World Fusion label? Not surprising considering World Fusion has never published a game. Well, all that is about to change within the next year or so. You probably haven't heard much about World Fusion or their new Persistent World online game Atriarch, and you probably won't hear as much about this game as many of the major blockbuster titles out there. All of this obscurity and lack of time in the spotlight makes Atriarch the perfect candidate for winner of "The game we won't hear enough about," and maybe with a little help it won't even be a contender in this category next year.

My meeting with World Fusion President and Atriarch Lead designer Serafina (I am starting to think she doesn't have a last name) took place on a comfortable section of convention center floor and consisted of an excited conversation as Serafina and I enthusiastically discussed online games, communities and Atriarch. The best part of the whole experience was the realization that Serafina is as excited about creating and playing in online worlds as I am, and it is this enthusiasm that will ensure that Atriarch is a success. Without going on endlessly here are some of the highlights from the hallway floor of E3.

Atriarch is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), or Persistent Online World (POW), which is a bit easier to say. The game is based on an entirely organic world where gamers take on a persona based on one of five alien races and live out a virtual life inside the world of Atriana. Unlike the current POWs, Atriarch will provide both role-playing and real-time strategy elements as your character develops and gains power within the game world. This vision of character development is seen as a three-tiered structure providing what Serafina calls the newbie, middle and elder games.

The newbie game resembles what most POWs currently provide to gamers: the character will explore the world of Atriana, undertake quests and slowly become part of the community. The middle game will involve the player developing trade skills or providing the world with a service that will increase the player's mark in the world, allowing the player to make a name for themselves. Finally, after gaining experience and knowledge, the player will have the opportunity to begin the elder game of Atriarch and get involved in more of the real-time strategy aspects of the game.

At the height of this design pyramid is the opportunity for a character to become an Atriarch, one of the political and spiritual leaders of the world. An Atriarch will be a powerful character, a figure that leads other powerful characters, numerous armies, cities and all of the lower level followers of their tiny (or not so tiny) kingdom. The development team will initiate the elder game by taking on the personas of the world's first five Atriarchs. These in-house Atriarchs will be actual characters completely vulnerable to assaults by armies, political coups or assassination attempts and will spend a great deal of time interacting with and kick starting the Atriarch community. It is an ambitious plan but a great idea and a big improvement over the current trend of Game Masters providing nothing more than customer support and the odd "possess a super strong creature and kill people" special event.

The full scope of ideas that Serafina and her development team have planned for Atriarch is way beyond the limits of this article, so head quickly over to www.atriarch.com, scour the website and then start investigating the passionate online community that has already arisen around this title. Before any of us realize it we may find ourselves sitting at our computers wearing a new pair of Levis, drinking a Diet Coke and playing the latest World Fusion title to hit the market.

-Sean Miller

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