Review Submitted By: Kaiga
Author Status: Player
Started on AnsibleMOO: January 2003
Submission Date: Oct 31, 2006
TMC Listing: AnsibleMOO
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Kaiga]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
AnsibleMOO is a roleplaying game based on Ender's Game and Ender's
Shadow, two parallel books written by Orson Scott Card. In March of
2007, it will reach its ninth year in existence. Under agreement with
OSC, the game takes place ten years before the books, which is enough
time so that no characters in the book would be at Battle School yet.
Like the books, players start their characters at age six in a Launch
Group. For the next three weeks, the player gets a feel for how the
game and RP works, and completes character approval requirements. On
the Sunday, three weeks after the player joins, if all requirements are
fulfilled, the character will be promoted to an army. If the player
does not complete the requirements, he/she is transferred to a special
Launch where he/she can be promoted on a future Sunday after the
requirements are met.
Currently, the MOO has three active armies. These three armies are
what PCs are members of and what a launchie will be promoted into.
After being a member of the MOO for a certain length of time, the
player has the option of making an NPC. The NPC may be placed in any
of the twenty armies. Each army has forty soldiers and one commander.
Since no army has forty PCs and NPCs, there are unplayed characters
created to fill spots in the roster and be referred to in RP.
The set up of the MOO is quite organized. There are four floors that
soldiers can be on that are filled with various rooms to RP in. For
battles or practice, soldiers may also go to the Battle Room, which is
a coded room that acts much like a video game, except without the
graphics. Other fun non-RP elements on the MOO include an assortment
of games in the Game Room, and a soldier's desk, which includes the
very difficult Fantasy Game, mentioned in the books.
Overall, AnsibleMOO is a well-organized game. Scheduled RPs occur on
occasion, usually being actual IC classes for soldiers set up by one
of the Staffer characters. There are different staffs that help run
the MOO including a Mentor Staff to help a player get started and an
RP staff to keep plots running and enforce appropriate role-playing.
It's a very well made game and if you enjoyed Ender's Game and/or
Ender's Shadow, I highly recommend you take a look.
