Earth Eternal

Earth Eternal is a new browser based MMO from Sparkplay Media, a company formed by Matt Mihaly and Chris Kohnert of Iron Realms Entertainment. I’ve been keeping an eye on the development because of the MUD connection and recently got around to trying it out. This isnt going to be a review of the game, instead I just want to talk about how I think the design relates to IREs text MUDs.

The only real similarity I noticed was with the charging model. Earth Eternal is free to play with the option to purchase credits that can be used to get various enhancements for your character through an in game store. Players will also be able to trade purchased credits with each other for in game currency. This model was largely pioneered on Achaea so its no surprise that its made it over to Earth Eternal.

Other than that, it looks like Earth Eternal is a complete departure from the gameplay that the IRE games are known for. There don’t seem to be any player run organisations or factional conflicts, and while there will be PvP I understand it will be optional and not the main focus of the game. The cartoony graphical style and furry race selection also seem designed with a very different crowd in mind and I didnt see much emphasis on roleplaying or non mechanical character development. The game struck me as being pitched firmly at the casual gamer with a theme and style designed to appeal to a wide range of ages and tastes.

Sparkplay have received some major funding for Earth Eternal and I know Matt is a smart guy, so I dont doubt that they will be very successful, but I am surprised that they decided to take such a radical departure from the gameplay style that they were familiar with. There is a lot of hype around right now about sandbox games such as Darkfall and Mortal Online, and Id have thought that with Matts experience at IRE he would have been ideally placed to put together a team to do this kind of MMO.

I wonder if the fact that they decided against a sandbox game with the kind of detailed crafting, economic, political and combat systems that their text MUDs are known for means that this type of MMO isn’t as commercially viable as those who troll gaming forums might have you believe? Of course, Id still love to make one.