Games for girls

This Jane Austen game is actually a pretty good idea, in that it is a game actually focuses on status, clothes and communication rather than simply painting the guns pink:

Ever, Jane -- a Jane Austen MMO game -- has successfully reached its $100,000 (£60,000) Kickstarter target.

The game allows players to role-play in a Regency period setting using the weaponry found in Jane Austen novels, by which we mean gossip and social climbing rather than the flintlock pistols of the distractingly handsome militia.

"Instead of kill or be killed, it's invite or be invited," says project creator, Judy Tyrer, who has previously worked for companies like Ubisoft and Linden Lab. Instead of selecting the usual MMORPG character traits like strength, intelligence and agility, you pick from attributes like kindness, happiness and duty.

Strategising will be a key part of the experience. As Tyrer explains on the Kickstarter page, there's an invitation system where in-game events like balls and dinner parties can be used to boost one's stats:

"If a player invites a person of higher Status with the hope of improving their own Status, care must be taken. If the player invited rejects the invitation it will harm rather than improve Status. If the invitation is accepted, but out of Duty rather than Happiness, the Status will only improve slightly. On the other hand, if the player invited accepts with Happiness, Status improvements may be as much as doubled."

Of course, "invite or be invited" is the female version of "kill or be killed". I suspect the success of the game will depend upon whether one has the ability to be mean to other players or not. It's encouraging to see women attempting to provide women with new products they might actually enjoy instead of trying to invade, coopt, and ruin what the men have created.

Posted in: women