November 7th, 2002

First Round of Game Neverending Prototype Testing Ends

Over 2,000 test participants and 15,000 hours of collective play time made the first round of prototype testing hugely successful. The prototype included a few of the core features of the game experience: a navigable map, real-time interaction with other users, instant messaging, buying, selling and making items — and was playable in in-browser with no additional downloads, breaking new ground in web application development.

Players of The Game Neverending respond to the quirkiness of the game — demolishing self-aggrandizing mirrors to improve their karma, summoning baby wombats by blowing wombat whistles, going to the Purple Unicorn Petting Zoo in Twee and stabbing people with Marshmallow Daggers and then eating the evidence.

We were astonished at the devotion with which people play The Game Neverending, and how much time people spend there — the average active player clocking just under an hour and a half in the game every day. And the game appeals to players turned off by the violence of first-person shooter games — women love it, and the prototype testing audience included research scientists, grandmothers, high school kids, bloggers, retirees, programmers, lots of 20-somethings and two pairs of 40-something mothers playing with their teenage sons.

Players enthusiasm for the game was apparent as they posted their reactions to GNE on their personal websites, started the fanzines Ludus Perpetuus and Paperlane.net, started a GNE webring and even created GNE fan merchandise (unauthorized, but hey, we're cool with that).

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