This Makes Sense (& Sensibility): Jane Austen MMO Is Go
Persuasion successful
Explicit sex and hardcore violence simulator dancing and courting MMO Ever, Jane has rounded up the requisite $100k just before the Kickstarter gate slammed shut, and will now become a reality. Whether it turns out to be a Darcy or a Wickham, I'm simply delighted that such a thing could even exist. No guns, no robots, no body-horror, no war: just love and lies in the time of cholera (except I very much doubt we'll see any cholera in Ever, Jane, what with it being all about the higher societies of the Regency era).
I'm also delighted that it's not just a big joke, having initially feared it would be a Pride & Prejudice & Zombies gimmicky affair - 3 Turn Productions' Ever, Jane really is an online RPG dedicated to the period pursuits of gossip, societal manoeuvring, ballroom dancing and genteel courtship.
Currently I must admit it looks pretty ropey and hasn't got the strongest pitch video, but a playable prototype exists and the enthusiasm's clearly there. And let's not forget that a game/world whose primarily purpose is social ladder-climbing and the conversation required to achieve this doesn't exactly need to be drenched in pixel shaders. It's all about the careful chat and the stately shape-throwing, right?
Here's some talking head-free footage, too. Obviously this is all very early, what with them not having their funding money yet and all.
I, uh, haven't ever read an entire Jane Austen novel, though I've started a few and seen a few of the telly adaptations. And, uh, I managed to score 90% on a university essay on Pride & Prejudice purely by reading one of those York's Condensed Notes things. Student-me, you were a disgrace.