GoKrida

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GoKrida is a free, browser-based MUD-style computer game written in JavaScript, modelled as a self-contained social simulation set in a fantasy universe. The name derives from the Japanese word go (five) and the Sanskrit word krida (play); an alternate name for the game is "The Play of Five", referring to the five elements that define the abilities of the classes of characters within the game. GoKrida is currently provided by the GNHF (GoKrida National Heritage Foundation); those donating to the foundation can receive an in-game bonus.

Contents

[edit] The premise of GoKrida

[edit] Describing the concept

Describing GoKrida as a MMORPG is inaccurate, especially as the active player base is rather small, thought to number in the low hundreds. There is a certain amount of discussion amongst the active participants about how best to describe GoKrida, because some of the features in GoKrida are either rare or nonexistent in other online multiplayer adventures, and because gameplay is open-ended. Since GoKrida has no set goals, it is up to participants to define their environment, purpose, and philosophy. GoKrida can be considered an exploration game, a war game, a diplomatic game, a roleplaying game, an environmental strategy game; each participant will perceive the game differently. GoKrida is officially described as a social simulation by the GNHF.

[edit] Starting out

The GoKrida universe consists of five realms: the heavenly realms (collectively called Heaven) of Origin, Tempolis, The Rim, and Greyness; and the earthly realm of Chaos. Players, called Major Souls or Angels, start out in Origin as a soul of the Angelic element, and wander around through the other heavenly realms. When they find and enter one of the Elemental Gates, they arrive in Chaos as a soul of the elemental type corresponding to the gate which they entered (Earth, Sky, Leaf, Metal, or Water; it is also possible to become a soul of the Chaos or Angelic elements through other means), with 80 "minor souls" (dubbed "peeps" by the players) as a sort of army accompanying them; their abilities depend on their element. Each day a player gains one unit of Spiritual Energy (SE), which can be used to perform some of the game actions. The newly spawned souls have the most basic skills that allow them to move around, explore, and invent knowledges. One acquires skills and experiences by queuing series of actions and by asking for help from other, more experienced souls. It is important to note that the actions are real-time based: moving from one area to the next can take a new soul up to 15 hours (depending on number of troop and the terrains.) And in most cases, a soul cannot perform more than one actions at any given time. Planning and patience are two major requirements for GoKrida denizens.

[edit] In-game action

One can choose to stay in or return to Heaven as a sort of non-player character to assist its resident Archangels (acted by other non-player characters who are part of the game design). But most players choose to reside in Chaos, conceived as a series of planets where Major Souls interact with each other and take other actions to alter the game environment. Participants can travel and explore their environment; change it by construction, terraforming, and destruction; settle hamlets and villages; fight or ally with other players; and collect and use various items. Players can acquire new skills known as Knowledge by the solitary action "Invent" or the co-operative actions "Teach" and "Wait to be taught"; success at gaining Knowledge is based on current skill level and other factors. Examples of Knowledge include skills in telepathy, construction, combat, sorcery, and alchemy. Players can change their element by returning to Origin through death or ascension and then re-entering Chaos through a different gate; thus it is possible to learn about each character type without multiplaying. Even the Archangels and assistants can interact in Chaos, although generally they do not interfere there. Assistants can resign their position at any time and continue as a regular adventurer in Chaos.

[edit] Single existence; wise choices

Those wishing to participate in GoKrida first have to sign a contract with the GNHF. This involves giving a few personal details and agreeing to some rules, most of which are intended to prevent multiplaying. While GoKrida has always enforced rules against multiplaying, the GoKrida National Heritage Foundation has instituted an additional rule that each participant is only allowed one account, ever; one cannot abandon an old account and start over with a new account, even if one no longer has access to an old account. With only a single existence available, a participant cannot easily start over, leaving a bad reputation or past behind, thus players are implicitly encouraged to be more careful about their choices than in other MMORPGs.

[edit] A scientific simulation

Many MMORPGs have documentation detailing how things work within the game; this is missing completely in GoKrida. It is up to participants to discover for themselves the scientific principles of the universe of GoKrida; they can then choose to share their findings with the other participants, or keep them to themselves or their group for strategic advantage. As in real life, not all the knowledge in GoKrida has yet been mapped. Even the knowledge that has been discovered is not freely available to all participants due to player-initiated politics.

[edit] Originalities

New participants are assigned an identifier. While in Heaven, they can request a name of their choosing, which will be written in The Book of Names, and then be known by that name in the game. Some participants, by accident or design, arrive in Chaos without first having requested a name; their identifier, or their character, is known as an "originality", and they can be distinguished as such because theirs are the only names with spaces or punctuational delimiters. This is a recently developed feature, and GoKrida participants have speculated whether originalities have limitations or strengths that other characters do not.

[edit] Gameplay

GoKrida is basically a text-based adventure; most of the in-game action occurs by clicking links from the browser, and the results of actions are indicated mainly by text. A menu on the right of the screen links mostly to different types of page views enabling players to decide what actions to take next. There are several map views that show a hexagonal grid of the terrain, composed of small square images signifying the type of terrain on each hex (as they are commonly called in-game; they are also known as squares or tiles), with additional information displayed below the hexes or on mouseover, or by clicking on a hex. A compass-like graphic can be clicked to choose one's travel direction. Other links lead to menus for other actions. Most actions in the game take a certain number of hours and minutes to complete (although some are almost instantaneous), a feature apparently intended to simulate real time, which can make most in-game activity very slow. But because actions can be queued far in advance, players of GoKrida do not need to be actively online all the time. Higher skill level can also decrease time between actions.

[edit] The social aspect

Since GoKrida is considered a social simulation, players can send private messages between each other, or they can participate in the forums, which, unlike forums at other gaming sites, are an in-game feature. Those with the proper Knowledge can create and moderate forums. Popular topics include scientific-style inquiry into the mechanics of the GoKrida universe, discussions related to player-created social or political organizations, in-game current events, and requests for help with gameplay. Topics not directly related to gameplay are called "spam", and some forums are created for spam discussions, which are usually out-of-character, and have a range of topics both serious and silly. Each player may see different forums in a different order, depending on their location in Chaos, how much Spiritual Energy charges each forum, and whether they are allowed in or banned from a forum by its creator.

[edit] Player-created culture and history

Since GoKrida simulates a society, it is not surprising that the player base has developed in-game politics and traditions, and has accumulated a virtual history. A new player reading the forums might also be confused by some of the slang and jargon used, especially the many acronyms used for names of worlds, Knowledges, player-created organizations, and some of the players' character names. What follows is a synopsis of in-game places, events and organizations created by and well-known to many GoKrida participants. (Most place names are created by the game program; all organization names are created by players.)

Seven full-sized worlds are currently known to exist in GoKrida. One is uninhabitated, and only two are considered public worlds that welcome new participants, as the others do not possess Elemental Gates. Smaller escape worlds also exist, created by participants with great amounts of Spiritual Energy. A third, oversized type of world can be created, but at present there exists only one such world, Yellow Sea 83-A.

• Yellow Moon World (YM) had been governed by the Lunar Alliance (LA) and was protected by the Yellow Moon Gate Patrol (YMGP), both organizations intended to protect the Elemental Gates of Yellow Moon World and aid new players. Yellow Moon World was recently invaded by the Brotherhood (BH), one of the many groups critical of the these YM organizations, whose zeal in fulfilling their purpose appears to have destroyed what was once considered the LA's sucessful and long standing control over YM. Recently there has been civil turmoil on the planet, and the Archangel Shzuru (a non-player character who resides on the planet), in cooperation with a few other participants, has split the world up into small city-states. Each one of these organizations is run privately, but has a general alliance with each other. Each city-state holds an elemental gate of its choice, thus representing a desire for new players to inhabit the world. Currently, it is unknown whether or not the LA has control over the planet, and the YMGP seems to be only functioning in a small area.

• Rainbow Catastrophe Earth (RCE) was recently invaded by Rome (also called the Romans), an organization inspired by the government of ancient Rome. Their intentions are unclear, but they claim that they wish to hold a single world, and open peaceful trade with any other government.

• Rainbow Maiden World (RM) is a private world and home to the Warlords' Union of Rainbow Maiden (WURM). WURM has managed to maintain control over the body of Rainbow Maiden through sheer force, despite being perhaps the smallest of the planetary governments in GoKrida. It is a council of five, with a soul from each element, although currently the Leaf and Sky chairs are empty. They have declared war with Yellow Moon World, but haven't taken action.

• Black Grotto World (BG) is currently a private world claiming to be building gates and developing a government, although there is considerable friction among different factions about who actually has a legitimate claim on the planet, which was under Brotherhood control for years.

• Blue Twin Land (BT) is another private world, one with a reputation as a "retirement" planet for older players.

• Rainbow Youth Planet (RY), once lost, has finally been converted into a public world. It currently boasts an Earth Gate and a Water Gate, and more gates are being set up. The local culture is similar to pre-Rome RCE, where everyone does as they please as long as it doesn't interfere with other people.

• Green Maiden NX-6 is a full-sized world that was lost and recently rediscovered and found to be decaying, likely due to previous destructive actions upon it. It is theorized that it could fall apart, and therefore possibly dangerous to visit.

• Rainbow Goblin Moss World (Kobalos) is a public world that welcomes new participants, ruled by a two-tier government consisting of a King and elected judges, resembling a constitutional monarchy. Kobalos is one of the youngest organizations in the GoKrida universe; their position within the politics of the big picture is somewhat ambiguous.

• Yellow Sea 83-A (YS) is an oversized private world created by an alliance known as The Seekers of Rainbow Sea, a scientific organization whose goal was to create such a large planet. Entry is restricted; one can apply for residence there subject to the vote of the current residents. Aside from this vote, YS has little other global government; residents own and control the development of relatively large tracts of land.

• Ahsratma (an acronym for All Hail Symo's Return As The Messiah Alliance) was founded by player character Dragyn as a humorous commentary on the various alliances cropping up in the game. Ironically some participants took this "religion" more seriously, and other "denominations" have developed, sometimes using religion as justification for murder and other attacks in-game. Ahsratma is centered around worship of a player character called symo, who Dragyn claims performed a great miracle by saving him from an attacker, despite the fact that the participant known as symo in-game, was not playing at the time; his character had "glazed". (This term, or variants thereof, is used in-game to describe inactive characters, who are described by the program as having "eyes glazed over".)

• TAG (originally an acronymn for Third Age GoKrida, but recently renamed The Aurora Guild), is a group of younger souls cooperating to advance knowledge and help new souls start out. Player character and TAG co-founder xiaomu maintains an extensive Public Library as an in-game forum, with many TAG members contributing threads relating to GoKridan information. Older souls are now allowed to join by a majority vote of current TAG members.

[edit] External links

Official sites
The following three sites are officially part of GoKrida.

Other links

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