To Be or Not To Be in the Deadpool

Posted by Stropp on January 9, 2008

Massively is reporting on the fate of Arden, an educational MMORPG designed by Edward Castranova and based on the works of William Shakespeare. Unfortunately Arden has suffered the fate of Macbeth and has joined the Deadpool.

The reason given for Arden’s failure is that while it was crammed full of educational content, it wasn’t any fun.

It’s a pity the fun factor was overlooked because the worlds of William Shakespeare are some of the most interesting and dramatic written. There’s a reason his plays have survived through the centuries, and why much of our modern work is derivative of Shakespeare’s work.

Politics, intrigue, murder, magic and the black arts, patricide, incest, and the fickleness of prophecy are some of the themes Shakespeare examined.

I’d have thought at least some of this could be made fun.

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