29.20 The Avalon 20th Anniversary.

For those of you with a penchant for history, Avalon will be celebrating its TWENTIETH anniversary during October 2009. This great occasion will see a number of organised events (details closer to the time), the release of libraries throughout the land with histories/documents from Avalon's past, things of that ilk.

I needn't tell you how pleasing it is to see Avalon continue to thrive, so far from those early days: me locked in a converted garage-bedroom, squeezing a miniature version of Avalon onto one of the earliest home computers (the BBC Micro model B)... waiting for folks to dial my solitary modem... to connect, to create a character, to set foot in a new, hopelessly ambitious and completely unimpressive gameworld. Twenty years. Many of you reading this now will not have been born when Avalon was already welcoming its first subscribers or when it received its virgin public unveiling at the 'Adventure 89' show towards the end of October 1989.

The centrepiece of this anniversary will be the release, during spring/summer 2010, of a hardbound gold-embossed tome entitled simply 'Avalon; the Legend Lives. Written by me (Genesis) but with contributions from dozens of individuals from across the two decades. The book will attempt to produce a definitive history of Avalon (both in-game and real-world). It will include stories by illustrious players about all the major events the continent has witnessed. It will provide a full manual for new and experienced players, covering every aspect of the gamesystem; drawing particular distinction to the original design and the evolutions we've enjoyed over the years. This, and much more, to be crammed into the first hardcopy document produced by Avalon in over fifteen years.

A fitting tribute, then, to this most enduring of gameworlds; the first of its kind to bring to the multi-player gaming arena such staples as complex economics, diverse skill-driven combat, fully functioning socio-political structures (cities, governments, guilds, divine orders). Curious to suppose that before Avalon, none of these features could be found in computer games and that, moreover, many of Avalon's earliest criticisms from those in the 'community' were for unrealistic goals, unattainable targets, and overestimating the desires of the gamingpublic to immerse themselves in a full virtual life...

... but this was then, and now is now. Avalon is more populous than ever. Although eclipsed, technologically, the very day it first went public by more cutting-edge graphical games, it thrived and its niche continues to endure; grows more robust, if anything, as the years stack up. Why? Many reasons, but perhaps primarily the truism: quality will out. A good novel with its readership of ten thousands can co-exist with the blockbuster movie and its multi-millions.

I am, of course, biased, but I've a sneaking suspicion this 'novel versus movie' comparison will continue to describe Avalon in the decades to come and it will be our Mercinaens, Thakrians, Parrians and Springdalians taking to the battlefield against one another when whatever this year's vogue in hi-tech leisure has long faded from memory. And if twenty years, why not forty, or a century? Had you asked me when I was fourteen years old whether I would be penning this text in 2008 I doubt I'd have had the faculties to even comprehend the idea of 'twenty years later' - though I'm sure the conceit of Avalon's early gamedesign, built over the following few years to something approaching what we have now, would have been led me to the bullish prediction that "the land" would outlive us all...

(c) Yehuda Simmons 2008/Genesis Skylelong 1204ADW

email: genesis@avalon-rpg.com       advance orders: orders@avalon-rpg.com

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