SmartMonsters

What is TriadCity?

Our flagship offering, TriadCity, is a large-scale multi-user role playing game with a literary orientation, currently in beta.

Role-playing games are fairly common; this one is different. Where most MUDs focus on "kill the monster" style adventuring, TriadCity explores themes which have been central to Western culture: good and evil, city and country, nature and civilization, personal and collective identities, violence and nonviolence, freedom and slavery.

Large-scale means the sheer scope of possible player experience is much larger than most imaginary environments. Where a large adventure-style MUD might have 3,000 rooms, TriadCity will have more than 100,000 when complete, with tens of thousands of automated and non-automated characters interacting. And this includes just the world inside the city walls: a potentially infinite world awaits outside.

Literary orientation means that narrative techniques from the novel and other traditions are incorporated, such as voice, point of view, characterization, plot, and so on. Various forms of subjectivity are imposed on the characters which players create, some relative, some radical. This means that character histories and views of the world are potentially unique to each individual player. You can learn more by reading our essay, "Can a Game Be Literature?".

Beta means the game is in an early state. There's little to do or look at right now, compared to what will be available as we grow. Look for the game world and the available player commands to greatly expand as work progresses.

It's easy to get started. If you're not already a member, click here to join SmartMonsters. Then use the links at left to learn what to do to get started. Meet you in the City!

 
 
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"[...] the computer as literary agent ultimately points beyond narrative and toward ergotic modes -- dialogic forms of improvisation and free play between the cyborgs that today's literate computer users (and their programs) have become. What we need in order to achieve this is not an automated playwright or narrator but simulated worlds with emergent intrigants, interesting enough to make real people want to spend time and creative energy there."
-- Espen J. Aarseth,
Cybertext (info)

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