Ryan Ehrenreich STS 145 Henry Lowood Case History 03/18/02 Legend of the Red Dragon Before there was Everquest, before there was Dark Age of Camelot, before there was Ultima Online, there was one multiplayer online role-playing game that dominated its competition. It didn’t have fancy 3-D graphics or digital sound. Actually, it didn’t even have any graphics at all. This game made a name for itself by stimulating players’ imaginations and immersing them in an interactive, storybook world. This game was Legend of the Red Dragon (LORD). In 1989, Bulletin Board System (BBS, a dial-up communications and file sharing system) operator (or sysop) named Seth Able created the idea for the game and programmed LORD in C on an Amiga computer. LORD was a “door game”, a text-based game that the BBS software executed at the users request. Door games were a popular method for sysops to attract more users to their BBS, and LORD was definitely the most successful of any door game at accomplishing this objective. As the word “door” implies, LORD was like a doorway to another world. Able broadcasted LORD on his BBS, and immediately the game was a hit. Able’s BBS got so much traffic that other sysops requested a copy of the game for their own board. As Mr. Able recalls: “It was created just for my BBS, and eventually I got a lot of requests for it so I made it public.” (2. Able Robinson interview) As Able distributed it to other sysops, news of the game spread like wildfire in the BBS gaming community. AsRyan Ehrenreich STS 145 Henry Lowood Case History 03/18/02 Eric "Uberhund" Schwimmer, administrator of the official Legend of the Red Dragon website and sysop of The Darklands BBS, recalls: “LORD was most likely one of the first "viral" phenomena. In an age where the number of users a Sysop had meant everything, LORD was a catalyst that brought in users by the hundreds. As soon as LORD gained popularity on Seth's board, there were dozens more Sysops clamoring to register the first version he released.” (1. Schwimmer Interview) In fact the game was so successful that between 1989 and 1997, 4 updated versions of the game and numerous IGMs (In Game Modules) were created. Also, other sysops and programmers created many similar games such as Usurper and Falcon to try to capitalize on LORD’s popularity. However, none of these spinoffs were able to capture the mystique of the original LORD. Good things rarely last forever, as was the case with LORD. As the popularity of the internet grew and internet gaming became more and more accessible, BBS gaming started to decline. Although many BBSs are still maintained and operated by their original creators, many of the players have disappeared from the playing field. Nevertheless, the characteristics that made LORD so appealing have been incorporated into current popular online role-playing games. The feeling of immersion in a whole new world and the high level of human-to-human interaction that LORD offered is what most game designers today hope to achieve in their end product. LORD brought players to a fantasy world where they took on the form of a medieval character (either a knight, a thief, or a sorcerer). A player’s character couldRyan Ehrenreich STS 145 Henry Lowood Case History 03/18/02 shop for weapons and armor, attack forest creatures, find magical items, train against a level master, gamble at the tavern, or explore the LORD world through many secondary storylines that the game engine would present during each level. Through fighting enemies and exploring storylines, a player would gain experience points. When a player had enough experience, he or she could challenge the level master to a fight, and, if successful, would advance a level. When a player reached level 12, he or she could search for the Red Dragon and try to kill it. Killing the Red Dragon was the main objective, but there were so many other intricate objectives in the game that more advanced players would write player guides and FAQs at the request of less skilled players. Part of the magic of LORD was the storybook nature of the gameplay. Even though the controls were limited to a few predefined commands enumerated in text menus, it was still incredibly exciting to go into the forest and find a note from a damsel in distress, a group of fairies bathing, or a talking decapitated head. These seemingly random occurrences gave the player a feeling that they were actually taking part in a storybook fantasy. These intricacies are what made the game more than just random fighting sequences, and since the LORD had no graphics, without these events it would not have captivated players and achieved the popularity it did.Ryan Ehrenreich STS 145 Henry Lowood Case History 03/18/02 The favorite side story of most male players was the “Flirt with Violet” option at the Inn. Players could flirt with Violet, the bar maid, in the following ways, where the letter in parentheses defines the key that produces that action: FLIRTING WITH VIOLET ACTION NEEDED CHARM [Experience gained] (N)evermind 0 0 (W)ink 1 5 (K)iss her hand 2 10 (P)eck her on the lips 4 20 (S)it her on your lap 8 30 (G)rab her backside 16 40 (C)arry her upstairs 32 40 (M)arry her 100 1000 “You need to have a certain charm to "get away" with the action. Trying it without enough charm will get you rebuffed, and you'll lose varying amounts of HP. If you have enough charm to get away with taking violet upstairs you won't lose any HP but you won't always be successful either. If you are successful you will get credit for a lay. The other options always work if you have enough charm.” (5. Elson website)Ryan Ehrenreich STS 145 Henry Lowood Case History 03/18/02 Flirting was like a whole other game inside LORD itself. It took charm, wisdom, and luck to flirt successfully. Male players gained a special sense of pride from successfully “carrying her upstairs,” especially since the statistic “lay” was displayed on the public log so all other users could see. However, “marrying her” was the most practically useful option because Violet would bear children. When a player gained a child, the child would follow him around until, inevitably, it got in the way during a fight. When this happened the child
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