Designing Interactive Characters Class - The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game - page 156

other suggestive words such as for example, they had hints

as to the setting of the game. This was not to be a multiplayer version of Grand
Theft Auto . We were headed for that realm of high fantasy belonging to J.R.R.
Tolkien and Dungeons & Dragons . So, not surprisingly, far more chose names for
their avatars that might fit within such a game. Their avatar names are shown in
Table 10.1. One student switched his avatar name from his original choice.

“ mage � and “ tower �

Table 10.1 Avatar Names

Ving Maltir Shrike

Dan Reed Valcon

Korvin Ra

Jerious Sizara

Arryn Daker Sagan

Clementine Xai (formerly Fenris

known as Mr. DeLackey) Firewall

Albert Krin

Marcus Menelek

Zalathrax Kenna

Anath Hipster

Kinigit Thay

Notice how few of these role-playing names are entirely anachronistic, especially
compared to earlier classes.

Home Sweet Home
Table 10.1 illustrates two more differences in this class. Gone are the guild
concept documents. The final project is being shared by the entire class. Instead,
players were introduced to six zones. They were told the names of these zones
and given a very brief description of each:

n Wadi Shir was a small outpost built up around an oasis in a southern
desert.
n Scaleport was a busy port city at the intersection of two rivers.
n Fenwick was a seaport in marshlands.