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Chessville
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Online Chess in the Warcraft World
Like many Gen-Xers, I had participated in my share of Dungeon & Dragon quests and it proved quite a treat to be able to see a formerly mental adventure brought to vivid life via the power of the modern PC and a fast internet connection. For a time, I thought I might actually subscribe…. But then something got on my nerves. Like any good D&D-inspired game, the player enjoys more than a little combat while on the quest. Initially, these rounds of sword and shield were thrilling, but they soon became quite repetitive. I quickly discovered that the art of the kill largely involved the combination of learned skills and acquired weaponry with the actual mechanics of combat consisting entirely of clicking on the right buttons at the right time. Sure, every now and then there was some daring-do on the screen, but by and large the process was worn quite thin in short order.
I suspect that real medieval combat had a great deal more in common with chessic battles. After all, on the black and white battlefield, prior (combat) experience, foresight and sound tactics and strategy determines the victor – not a +6 mace or a Spell of Confusion (albeit some chess openings might be mistaken as spells). After my experience with this popular game, I confided my disappointment to a devotee of the game. Much to my surprise, he agreed with me! However, he went on to say that I was missing the point of the whole experience. The ultimate point of Warcraft was not the combat, but the social interaction. The magic of this game is to be found in the fellowship of the quest; that is, gathering together with your friends (real world or otherwise) and going out to kill some baddies with some repetitive mouse clicking, and then returning to your favorite virtual pub to chat over the adventure. The combat really is meant to be nothing more than icing on a cake. This frank admission set me to thinking. I could see his point as the virtual world of this game is vast and differentiated. There are all sorts of unique places to gather for buying and selling, chatting and questing. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I did see a great many people not questing, but just hanging around the local town square, chatting and well…I think dancing in one notable case.
I then realized that while chess may be a supreme form of bloodless combat in the world of gaming, the realm of chess lacks a comparable experience of virtual social enjoyment combined with over the board competition. Oh sure, I’ve been on plenty of chess sites that have active forums and/or chat channels, but none of that could compare with Warcraft’s offerings. Where are the chess sites with virtual pubs and public quests? If you take a frank look at most chess sites, the underlying matrix has remained unchanged since the earliest days of the internet. For the most part, chess sites are built around the arranging and playing of games with any other aspects seeming to be little more than afterthoughts. Perhaps it is time to take things to the next level? Perhaps it is time to offer grassy fields and inviting hearths to cold login screens and austere chat channels? Online chess really should start capitalizing upon the capabilities of the modern PC. This is what I have in mind: imagine a chess server where you enter a true virtual world comprised of different realms, where you navigate not with cryptic console commands, but by simply walking from place to place, taking in the sites as you go along. Perhaps one road will take you to the realm of blitz chess, while another to the Kingdom of Masters. Or maybe you don’t even feel like a fight, maybe you just want to study a little. Well, in that case, rumor has it that a chess wizard is offering lessons in yonder castle….
Welcome to the Realm of Chess! Want a game? Forget about “seek charts,” just wander into a pub and find an open table. Feeling brave? Bet a round of virtual drinks! But let’s take it one step further and get really imaginative. Instead of a quaint game of chess on the standard 2-D board, why not have the option of playing a game upon grassy fields with archers representing Bishops and actual knights representing their namesake? Keeping with actual medieval history, perhaps the victor of such a match would be able to loot some of his opponent’s stuff (it works very well as a motivational tool in Warcraft!)
And, of course, socializing would be taken to new levels. Since members would have an avatar, a virtual alter ego, people would become familiar faces and not just login handles. People could gather in courtyards before a tourney to size-up the competition. Wouldn’t it be cool to say “Hey, Bill, I see you have a red Badge for Bravery on your breastplate!” and have him reply “Oh yeah, I beat a GM in a game yesterday.” Get it? Likewise, if you saw a player carrying a very large axe with a belt around his waist made of strung together human skulls…well, you know you’ve got a strong player to contend with! The possibilities are really limitless. And forget mere keyboard interaction. Most online games today offer some sort of in-game voice communication (Xfire, for example). Mind you, the chess player wouldn’t have to use such a service, but it would be available for enhanced personal interaction.
It’s a safe bet that this guy is going to give you a tough game! And wouldn’t it be fun to be able to set up an in-game business to earn some game credits or even to help pay for your membership fee? Believe it or not, this is one of the most popular aspects of the online gaming world. Be it World of Warcraft or EVE Online, people really seem to like to test their business skills in the relatively safe environment of competitive online gaming (speaking of EVE, that virtual business environment has become so robust that the developers needed to hire an economist to help run it!). Why should chess be left out of the fun? In my fantasy chess realm, I could envision players selling everything from online lessons to customized in-game chess sets. Don’t like the idea of retail? Become a mercenary and win chess games for monetary rewards. Perhaps a particularly annoying NM has had a bounty placed upon his head by a competitor. Beat him in a game and earn some gold! Use the money to buy a chainmail shirt to dress up you avatar or save it to purchase that small castle in the Land of Patzers (northeast of Woodpusher’s Ville). Again, the possibilities are nearly as endless as the temperaments of the people who play on such a server.
Obviously, Kasparov is in town! Now, I can hear some of you objecting that such graphical glitz takes money - a great deal of it as a matter of fact. My reply is “So?” Chess has proven itself to be remarkably profitable in this age of the internet. Think about the many pay-to-play chess sites out there that are thriving. If MMORPG gamers are willing to pay a not inconsiderate monthly fee to battle dragons, does anyone really doubt that chess players would refuse to pay a little bit more if there was a chess site that offered something new and different; that offered glitz along with hardcore chess?
Not that a mandatory fee is even necessary as there are more than a few
MMORPGs with quite nice graphics that raise money by offering optional
premium memberships. That is, if the chess player does not want to become a
paying member, he could still play but would not have certain features of
the site available to him and, most probably, would be subject to
strategically-placed ad campaigns. This two-tier membership system (and
there really is no limit to the number of tiers) has proven quite successful
for other games, so why not chess? Furthermore, I suspect that such an
online chess experience would quickly attract the notice of one of the
larger game publishing houses, and would soon find itself benefiting from
its deep pockets. Now, some of you are arguing that all this is unnecessary, that chess is just fine as it is. Sure, chess is fine, but why settle for fine when it could be wonderful? Again, we are not changing anything about the game itself, just the presentation of the game.
The world of chess has a great deal to be proud of in that it was one of the
first game communities to seize upon the possibilities of the internet.
However, I fear that it is beginning to rest on its laurels. This is a very
exciting time to be a gamer because of the technological and programming
innovations that is pushing the internet it directions thought impossible
just a few short years ago. Why should the global chess community be left
out of that excitement?
Screenshots from Lord of the Rings Online,
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Not
too long ago, I was giving World of Warcraft, a very popular
Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG for short) a trial
spin to see what all the hype was about. Over the course of a week, I
managed to transverse a portion of this game’s mythical medieval land,
slaying a fair share of monsters in the process. I do confess that I was
initially captivated by the game.
As
I sat through my latest battle, clicking this and that at the right time, I
thought to myself how much more thrilling combat is over the chessboard. I
mean, sure chess lacks animated figures going through the motions of slicing
and dicing each other, but victory or defeat is not tied to some simplistic
damage-dealing combination of attributes and mouse clicks.
I
guess such a game could be quite addictive once one bonds with a community
of gamers and you begin to look forward to meeting up for some regular
socializing. While I am not one of those technophiles who believes that
virtual socializing will ever replace the real thing, I do believe that
virtual socializing has its place. After all, it is only the internet that
allows people to make friends from around the globe without leaving their
homes.
Keep
in mind that I am not suggesting that we change any aspect of chess other
than its appearance; a mate would still be a mate. However, combined with
the visual pageantry of the Middle Ages, the already addictive gameplay of
chess would be nearly irresistible to the younger set raised in a world of
sophisticated computer games – not that the older set wouldn’t also be drawn
to watching two masters battling it out in such a marvelous venue. I
suspect kibitzing would become even more popular than it already is!
There could even be quests as well, where players would attempt to “slay” a
chess monster – beat a strong chess AI or human opponent, for example – for
public accolades or rewards.
