Yesterday I had (much-needed) sinus surgery (scheduled during my spring break to avoid missing work). It was a pretty miserable experience and once I got home I re-wrapped my nose in gauze and took the medicines the doctor prescribed. I’m not sure if it was the Norco, but when I sat down at my computer in search of a distraction, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues called to me.
If you’re not familiar with Shroud of the Avatar, here is the Kickstarter, with info about who was involved and what was promised. I’ve only played a few hours so I can’t really say whether promises like “…to tell a story even more compelling than Ultimas IV-VII, create a virtual world more interactive than Ultima VII, develop deep rich multi-player capabilities beyond combat akin to Ultima Online…” were fulfilled, but from my early experience, it doesn’t seem likely.
Once it became apparent what the game actually is (a standard fantasy MMORPG cut from the mid-2000s template), I was able to appreciate the game on its own merits. SotA does something I love in games: centers your character development around the skills you use (ala Elder Scrolls / Akitoshi Kawazu games). This created a decent hook that kept me playing past the not-terribly-compelling opening.
As I was running around completing fairly rote MMO quests, I received a message from a player. They said hello and asked if I was new to the game. I said yes and they offered to give me an overview and some game basics. Grateful, I took them up on this. They let me know that the playerbase was predominantly older, ex-Ultima Online players. They also gave me some in-game books they had written containing new player guides.
Finally, the player suggested that I should introduce myself to the chat, if I wanted to. I thanked them for their support and chimed into the general (called “universe” here) chat. I was met with friendly greetings and friend requests. Later on, I asked a question in the chat about item repair and received multiple helpful answers, and one player even mailed me some repair kits. The game’s small community appears to be very tight-knit, with players in the universe chat casually talking and joking with each other.
Shroud of the Avatar doesn’t appear to have met its lofty goals, nor is it a very popular game. It has solid mechanical foundations, but it was the incredibly friendly players that impressed me the most. What I played didn’t hook me enough to drag me away from my favorite/forever MMO (EverQuest II), but I’m sincerely happy that community exists and I hope they can continue to hang out, joke around, and write cool books together.
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