Everyone’s most favorite Zero Player RPG (ZPG), Godville, just had its tenth anniversary. And I’ve been playing for most of that time. Probably saying “playing” is a little inaccurate, as you don’t play, per se. Instead, you watch your hero or heroine play semi-autonomously and you interact mainly by reading their diary entries, and occasionally meting out divine aid or punishment depending on if you consider yourself a good or evil deity. ...
A gripping tale.... It was a grim setting I logged into a couple nights ago. My Godville heroine, Talesia, was dead… and lying next to her was her loyal mount, the double dragon Pinky. Double dragons get smaller the older they get, and Pinky has become quite small. So this wasn’t entirely unexpected. Still, dying now is not Pinky’s destiny. Pinky’s destiny is to find a permanent home in the ark that Talesia is building, slowly, out of gopher wood. A priest would need to be found, but priests are expensive, and there’s a chance my somewhat moronic heroine would forget that her double dragon needed a resurrection. ...
I was surprised to see so much interest in a #Godville post :) Godville is indeed a game like ProgressQuest, a parody of MMOs where it seemed all you would do is just grind gear… forever. Godville, like, say, Kingdom of Loathing, goes beyond being a simple parody of a video game into actually being a real game. You don’t play Godville directly. You are a god (or goddess), and your hero (or heroine) will happily go adventuring on their own with no input from you. You can, in fact, create a character, set the game to true ZPG (zero player game) mode, and come back in five years and find your character has joined a guild, or several, raised a pet, built a temple, gained levels, upgraded gear and so on. ...
My pet finally hit level 30 in Godville, and I now can proudly bear the “Pet Trainer” badge and have someone to put in my ark when it’s finally built. Occasionally, Godville kills your pet and then there’s a mad scramble to get enough gold for a resurrection before the 60 hour timer expires. Pinky’s last death, I had gotten enough gold and was headed back to town when I was killed. So I had to go earn enough gold again. I didn’t get the “quick rez” experience bonus, but I did manage to make it in time and now… done! ...
On the occasion of my hero, “Muddill”, reaching level 60, an update of progress with my favorite Zero Player Game, Godville. (http://godvillegame.com/) Godville is is inspired by Progress Quest (http://progressquest.com/) and other games that required no input from the player in a thin parody of the RPG grind where the hero is sent off on various trivial tasks in order to pad a game’s running length. Godville turns that idea on its head by taking the ZPG idea… and turning it back into a multiplayer game that now boasts thousands of somewhat committed but nonetheless fanatical players. ...