Exploring Possibilities (Runes of Magic)

Abstract

The challenges and opportunities associated with role-playing deceased persons inside virtual worlds are so many and diverse that this initial chapter aims to introduce their typical features rather than extreme variations as in some later chapters. It is a reconnaissance of a technically fine but somewhat bland virtual world, Runes of Magic, using an avatar based on a deceased person about whom we have at present only limited information. As the word avatar was adapted from Hindu religion by computer programmers years ago to describe the virtual reflection of the user, we suggest adapting the Hindu-Buddhist term sattva to name the purified essence of a person, which defines the character of an avatar. Surviving unpublished writings by the person represented in this chapter define his literary orientation toward fantasy and death, and the mythos of Runes of Magic considers its virtual world to be an evolved form of a book. The chapter shows the series of steps a user must go through to create an avatar and develop it through the early levels of experience inside the typical gameworld, including a variety of activities subsidiary to the main theme of adventures gained exploring an exotic world.