Renaissance Kingdoms

Renaissance Kingdoms [ [http://www.galaxy-news.net/content/98_quot_in_rk_you_cannot_play_alone_quot.html "In RK, you cannot play alone" - Article - Galaxy-News ] ] is a MMORPG with a persistent universe set in Europe in the time of the Late Middle Ages. Players lead their character from a humble beginning to a place of fortune and influence by navigating the worlds of production, trade, thievery, politics, education, religion, and war. Game play takes place primarily in the browser-based interface, but much of the behind-the-scenes decision-making takes place on the official forums. Registration is free, but some game benefits are available to paying-members.

Countries and languages

The game was first set in France, with a French-language interface. An English Language interface was launched in February, 2005 [ [http://forum.renaissancekingdoms.com/viewtopic.php?t=2 Renaissance Kingdoms :: View topic - Welcome to Renaissance Kingdoms ! ] ] with an English-language forum set in England. In 2007 another English-speaking nation, Scotland was added, followed by the newest - Ireland - in 2008. Wales is also expected, to complete the major nations of the British Isles. The interface is now available in 13 different languages [ [http://www.renaissancekingdoms.com/IndexKC.php Welcome to the Renaissance Kingdoms ] ] and has 13 countries as settings. The game changes its name depending on the country of the player: Les Royaumes Renaissants in French, die Renaissance Königreiche in German, Los Reinos Renacientes in Spanish, I Regni Rinascimentali in Italian, [http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Koninkrijken_der_Renaissance Koninkrijken der Renaissance] , in dutch, Rönesans Krallıkları in Turkish, Os Reinos da Renascença in Portuguese, etc

Players choose their starting country of their characters at the time of their registration, but may travel between them.They may also choose to change their home County, but this may only be done once every 30 days. The countries may conduct diplomacy and trade with each other.

Most countries are subdivided into counties consisting of a county seat a several other towns, each with their own levels of player-administration.

Economic aspects

Game characters need to eat every day if they are to gain various attributes, or to survive. If players wish to get a higher Strength/Charisma/Intelligence level then they must buy a specific type of food. They also need to buy fine clothing to advance in society, they also can buy weapons, and raw materials and tools for their trades. Game players can own only 2 fields and have only 1 workshop to play their trade, so they must buy and sell in the town market (with in-game money) to obtain what they need.

Players may (and do) buy in one town and sell in another.

Most players choose to work every day. There are a limited number of jobs available in the county mines (which produce gold and iron and stone for the county) for a set wage, or in the town orchard/lake/forest (each town has only one of these three) for the chance to produce goods which they may then sell. Most towns also hire guards to prevent revolts and pillaging of the town treasury.

Players may also work in their own fields to grow crops or animals, or may offer to pay others to do the work, there is a preset minimum wage by the County.

Players can gain reputation points by hiring others to work on their fields, by working in the church, by donating money to the town beggars, or by another player giving them trust points.(note: each player may only give their trust to two people per week)

Both labour and good pricing is set by the players according to the levels of competition, with some limits set by government and the game-interface.

Only the owner of a workshop may work there to produce finished goods, which they can then sell at market.

Players can change the production of their fields freely (note:this does cost money), in response to market opportunities, but changing workshop type is very expensive.

Political Aspects

Each town is led by a mayor, who serves 30-day terms, and is chosen by election by the town's residents. The mayor can influence market prices, and controls the town's inventory, taxes, and treasury.

The counties are led by a county council, who serve 60-day terms. County residents vote for player-formed lists. Some lists are composed of members of specific parties, others are independent politicians who work together or with parties to form a list. Members of the parties' candidate list are seated in the council by proportional representation. After an election, the new council members vote one of themselves to be Count. The Count assigns the other members to various positions; which involve management of the county's day-to-day functions, including trade, defense, and law.

Elections are often proceeded by debates and campaigns on the official forums. Also on the forums are the national politics within a player created Parliament, which has led to debates over national powers vrs. county powers. Politicial debates are, for many, the heart of the game and forum play allows for a wide range of topics to be considered.

There are normally individual laws set out for each County that the players must follow, or they may be bought up for various crimes and judged by members of the council.

Religion

Each town has a parish church and belongs to a specific diocese. A parish is run by a local priest who sets up masses each week, performs baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Each diocese is overseen by a bishop who has the authority to appoint and dismiss priests from the various parishes in his diocese.

These parishes belong to the Universal and Roman Aristotlian Church [ [http://rome.royaumesrenaissants.com/index.php L'Eglise Aristotelicienne Romaine :: Index ] ] . The Aristotlian religion is a religion that was created for the RK universe. Other religions are planned for the future, but have not yet been implemented. A small amount of players have begun to explore the Jewish religion by forming a synagogue in their town forums.

Communication

The In-Game newspaper, Acilion Agency Press (AAP) hires players to write articles about current events in the RK. Then serveral Chief Editors review articles and decide if they are newsworthy and accurate. before publishing them. The AAP articles are broadcasted from the AAP website and also by a scroller on the log-in screen.

= References =

External links

* [http://www.celsius-online.com Game Developers]
* [http://www.renaissancekingdoms.com Renaissance Kingdoms Game]
* [http://www.forum.renaissancekingdoms.com Renaissance Kingdoms English Forum]
* [http://www.galaxy-news.net/content/98_quot_in_rk_you_cannot_play_alone_quot.html Article About The Game]
* [http://www.tribalnations.acclaim.com/referal.jsp?ref=GFTN-747278-Anquietas Tribal Nations] - The New version