Skotos

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Skotos.net Logo

Skotos is an online game company that was founded in 1999 and released its first game, Castle Marrach, in September of 2000. Its primary focus is prose online RPGs (essentially, MUDs and MUSHes), though it currently offers a total of 15 different games. These include a number of graphical RPGs and online strategy games, which are also available at other sites.

Skotos is a commercial service that charges a monthly fee for its services. It is also the owner of RPGnet, a free tabletop roleplaying web site.

Skotos has been featured by Wired, TechTV, Slashdot, GrrrlGamer, Gamastura, and Gamegrene.

1 Skotos Games
2 Other Skotos Services
3 Business prospects
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Skotos Games

[edit] Core Prose Roleplaying Games

Skotos' core set of games is built around the DGD engine. Skotos has developed a gaming development library (a MUDlib) which can be used to create a variety of different games. They also have create web-based editing utilities which allow players to edit existing games, and even create their own.

Castle Marrach. The first Skotos game, released on September 21, 2000. In this fantasy roleplaying game, players awake in a strange castle atop a distant mountain and slowly must introduce themselves into the intrigues of this fairie tale like court.
Lovecraft Country: Arkham by Night. This game, based upon Howard Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos, was released at GenCon 2004. It centers on the imaginary Miskatonic University where players take the role of students and slowly delve into the mysteries of the witch-town. A unique "expedition" system sometimes takes players to distant locales where the true horror occurs. Tomb of the Desert God, also released in 2004 is the only Lovecraft Country expedition that's been run to date. Skotos' game is based on Chaosium's series of Lovecraft Country RPG books.
Mortalis Victus. The newest core Skotos game was first released in January of 2005 and is still moving toward a gold release. It places players in a largely freeform fantasy world where they create plots with little outside intervention.
IronClaw Online. A game where players take on the roles of animals.

[edit] SOE Denver's Games

Sony Online Entertainment acquired Worlds Apart Productions as of August 10, 2006.^[1]. Worlds Apart Productions is now known as SOE-Denver.

Worlds Apart Productions originally intended to provide text-based role-playing games online and launched The Eternal City in 1996, and later released Grendel's Revenge in conjunction with Skotos Tech Inc. However, declining interest in text-based games led WAP to seek other online gaming niches. Worlds Apart Productions partnered with Decipher Inc. in 2003 to create the Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game and noting the success of the game, then developed the online engine that allowed them to bring the card game online and reach a broader audience. The Lord of the Rings game was followed by the equally successful Star Trek Online, Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga and The Auto Assault Online card games.

Two of Worlds Apart Production's games are available solely through the Skotos service. Scott Martin, co-founder of World Apart Productions, stated on the Skotos.net forums that the two text-based games would continued to be offered by Skotos Tech Inc. after concern was expressed by players upon hearing of WAP's acquisition by Sony Online Entertainment.^[2]

The Eternal City. This traditional MUD, with a very sophisticated combat system, is set in the low-fantasy Roman-like city of Iridine. It was previously available as an ad-driven service and came to Skotos in 2001.
Grendel's Revenge. A game developed jointly by Skotos and Worlds Apart, where players take on the roles of monsters.

[edit] Skotos Strategy Games

There is currently one strategy game available exclusively through Skotos:

Galactic Emperor: Hegemony. A 3-week long space combat game, previously available for free as Space Empires and purchased and rebranded by Skotos in 2001. This game is based on Mike Young's The Galactic Emperor is Dead.

[edit] Other Skotos Channel Games

There are a number of other games currently available through Skotos on a non-exclusive basis:

Online Strategy Games. These are turn-based traditional online strategy games: Droid Arena and Space Federation. Galactic Emperor: Hegemony also fits into this same category, but is an exclusive game, as noted above.
Tabletop Strategy Games. The entire series of Days of Wonder online games is available through Skotos. This currently includes: Ticket to Ride, Ticket to Ride Europe, Gang of Four, Fist of Dragonstones, and Queen's Necklace.

Some games used to be available on the Skotos Channel, but were removed in 2006 for lack of players:

Graphical Roleplaying Games. These are more traditional MMORPGs, though mostly last generation ones. Only Meridian 59 is currently available via this gaming channel.

[edit] Other Skotos Services

Skotos also has a free article archive available. It's largely centered around online game design, though a few authors have also written about online game playing experiences and the gaming industry in general.

The most notable columns at Skotos have been Jessica Mulligan's Biting the Hand and a column by Richard Bartle, the father of modern MUD design (and thus most MMORPGs and other online games).

Skotos also owns RPGnet and continues to offer it as a free service.

[edit] Business prospects

It is clear when comparing Skotos' original aims to its current status that it has not accomplished what it set out to accomplish. It is also questionable whether or not it is actually possible to accomplish its initial goal of being "the GeoCities of the online gaming"[1] (sic).

From its original advertised plan of having 7 games (the "Skotos 7" or S7, a set of incipient games which has changed membership—and number—several times since the term was first introduced in 2001) running on its engine by the end of 2002 it, in mid-2006, still has only three publicly accessible games running on it and relies instead on an oddball gateway relationship with external providers to supply games.

A price increase in 2002[2] with the addition of a "premium" account level[3] at triple the price (for, arguably, few tangible benefits), the institution of an in-game bonus scheme[4] for those who help the community increase in size and, finally, the addition of a PayPal "tip jar" all signaled the beginning of apparent desparation at Skotos. In the same time frame the staff was downsized to its current level of 3-4 paid staff and the games given over to unpaid volunteers to run. Ironically, many of the company's greatest supporters in various interviews in media were among the first to be cut.

Less than a year later, in 2003[5], Chris Allen, the owner of Skotos, put out another plea for assistance from the community in the form of:

pitching increased use of premium-level subscriptions;
reminding players of the in-game bonuses to be awarded for attracting (and retaining) new players;
strategies for advertising the game;
pitching pencil and paper role-playing games from the RPGnet (by this point a Skotos property) online store;
pitching the purchase of books, etc. through an Amazon Affiliate program;
pitching advertisements at RPGnet; and
again asking for direct donations to the Skotos "tip jar" through Paypal.

The increasing focus on revenue streams not related to online text gaming demonstrate possible weaknesses in Skotos' original business plan.