Dark Ages interview with the director, Dave Kennerly, covering an introduction, society, new development, technology, and network by DarkNews Productions.

DarkNews - Excellent. Glad to be speaking with you.

Dave Kennerly - My pleasure as well. I enjoy taking a break to speak about Dark Ages.

DN - Okay, for starters, would you mind giving a short rundown on what Dark Ages is, the storyline behind it?

Dave - Dark Ages, in short, is a world of faeries and dark horrors. In the world, Temuair, the players are the 'tuatha de danaan' or the Children of the Goddess of Light. They are 'Aislings': imaginative spirits whose world is threatened by shadow, both without in the form of horrorific creatures, and within, in the form of corruption and power lust.

DN - You mentioned that players are called "Aislings". Could you explain on where this name came from, and what it means?

Dave - 'Aisling' is an old Gaelic name that translates as 'visionary, dreamer'. For the world of Dark Ages, it separates the players, the imaginative spirits, from the NPCs, the 'mundanes.' In Dark Ages, imagination is the greatest attribute one could have. It is the root of all roleplaying. Dark Ages is inspired by imagination and inspires imagination, through in-depth social features, intriguing locales, interactive objects, and contests of art, literature, lore, philosophy, and history.

DN - After playing Dark Ages for some time, I have noticed that the game mainly consists of killing various forest creatures to gain experience. Is there an actual storyline or plotline that the players will eventually follow?

Dave - Yes. Killing various creatures is one way of gaining experience and playing. One could also craft, research, worship, and more, depending on the player's chosen class. There are a few quests that illustrate the theme, and more are being developed. During development and beta-test several ground-breaking features were developed, such as religions that do provide miracles, politics that a player can participate in, and more. During service, I spend much more time developing interactive epics, which are grand plotlines that the players will participate in.

DN - Also during my playtime, I have noticed that the difficultly level for an area tends to go up very quickly the farther you go, an example being the Crypt in Mileth, where the first level proves rather easy to a 9th level character, the 2nd more of a challenge, yet the third is almost impossible. Could you explain why this system was implemented?

Dave - The first magical creatures exist on the third level. The first two levels may be explored alone. After that, it's almost impossible to adventure alone, and not easy when in a group. This stresses the need for group cooperation. Other factors include synergistic experience totals for a group, potions that revive a fallen companion, group communication, and group spells. Dark Ages stresses social interaction.

DN - But what of people who would far rather hunt solo, and journey to that level only to be killed rather quickly by the powerful monsters?

Dave - They will have to be very good to survive. Some players do this. Yet, if that is their only purpose, they could be as happy playing a stand-alone game. Adventuring in a group, helping each other and being helped is fun. It can be as entertaining as real-life interaction.

DN - As this is a massively multiplayer game, lag would of course be a constant, overwhelming issue. How did your team deal with this inherent problem?

Dave - Our server team began programming in 1994. Since then, they continue to optimize the code to be fast, stable, reliable, and lag-free. Our servers operate well under maximum load and suffer 0 lag on a good internet connection. Of course, the internet is largely out of our control. There are up to a dozen or more hops that connect a player on one end of the country to our servers. If any one of these hops is lagged, that player will be lagged. Yet we monitor our base connection 24 hours a day 7 days a week. At any sign of lag near our servers, we contact our ISPs immediately.

DN - I've noticed that the game uses a 2D sprite based engine, similar to what is seen in Diablo. Could you explain why this was used, when most of the industry is leaning towards games which take advantage of 3D acceleration?

Dave - Players like it. Players enjoy the isometric view (the 3/4th overhead view) the most. In a roleplaying game it is important to see yourself, all your possessions, and your companions. The overhead view allows you to do this. In a sense, you are seeing the whole scene. First person, and other views, offer a different perspective that can be as entertaining, especially in action games, but our players tell us that they enjoy seeing the beautiful scenery, their customized headgear, boots, weapons, shield, and clothing, and all their fellows at the same time, all the time.

DN - Also on the graphics note, the game seems to have a predominantly Anime style, which results in a game which looks rather similar to older Final Fantasy games. Was the Final Fantasy series an inspiration for Dark Ages, or did the visual style of Dark Ages develop similarly to that of Final Fantasy out of sheer coincidence?

Dave - The Dark Ages graphic designers love Final Fantasy and several anime styles. They are native Korean. There are many games, of which Final Fantasy is the most well-known, that have this style in Asia. Nexon's first project: The Kingdom of the Winds is authentic Korea. Dark Ages is the designer's view of a fantastic world that is loosely based on Mythic Europe. It is unique, though. This is Temuair's Dark Ages, not Earth's Dark Ages.

DN - Going back somewhat, you mentioned that the area where the game takes place is called Temuair. Where did this name come from, and what does it mean?

Dave - It is very loosely taken from Gaelic words for "Earth or hill" and "sea". The charming world map (seen at the screenshots page) depicts a world of many a delicate peninsula, brooks, bays, and large seas. The history of Temuair is long and epic, leaving room for several Aislings to write legendary epics about Temuair's past, and many seeds of adventure for future epics that players will participate in (seen at the Aisling Library's History wing).

DN - You mentioned earlier that the players could become involved in the local politcs of the game world. Could you expand on that, perhaps provide a few specific details?

Dave - Temuairan politics is a blend of democracy (power of the vote) and meritocracy (power of the most qualified). Aislings (players) may give support to another Aisling. Once you gain enough support, you can take offices, starting out from Respected Citizen, and advancing to Guard, Guard Captain, or Demagogue, Burgess, which is somewhat like the mayor of a town. A Demagogue or Burgess writes laws of a village. For example, walk to the gate of Mileth and you will see a posting of all the laws of Mileth. Each of these was written by a player Demagogue. Player guards enforce the laws, including banishing law breakers from Mileth. With growth, the other villages and towns will come to Aisling control. Then one could be banished or exiled from one town and still have a chance at being accepted into another town. The individual citizen has the power to live where he wants, under the laws he finds most favorable. There are advanced political features, too. An Aisling may also transfer some of his political power to another Aisling, or attack another Aisling. In this manner an Aisling can be put into office or removed from office if viewed as corrupt or tyrannical.

DN - In my course of playing, I've noticed that many of the games' advanced features hang on reaching the 11th insight. Could you explain why this was done?

Dave - There is no easy way to ensure that a person has experience. Voting for example, is only possible at the 11th insight. Previously, unscrupulous politicians used a new player's naitivite to get a vote, and thereby stay in office; whereas, had the Aisling been around long enough to realize what the vote really meant, he would have made an informed decision. 11th insight is a convenient way to say: this Aisling knows what she is doing; she is making an informed decision.

DN - Regarding the class system incorporated into the game, I have noticed that more advanced classes like Rogue, Priest, and Wizard require a higher-level character to initiate new characters. Why was this done, and how did it affect the inital open beta-tests, where all players would be incapable of initiating one another?

Dave - Being initiated by another player gets you started in the right direction. You, for at least a moment, stop thinking in terms of a points and game, and start thinking in terms of society and community. It's fun for the initiate to get advanced knowledge, money, and help. It's fun for the mentor to gain social recognition. Each Aisling has a legend of deeds they have done, including mentoring and guiding. In the first phase of beta there was no player-initiation. Each player chose a class from the mundane (NPC). After that, they initiated new players. I'm impressed and gladdened by the nice mentors and guides of Temuair.

DN - Somewhat off-topic, but perhaps an interesting theory that may see the light of day.. Dark Ages, I'm told, supports a somewhat advanced "marriage" style option which can be preformed. Would it be possible, perhaps not in the game, but a later one, for the two people joined thus to procreate and generate a new NPC for the world?

Dave - In the future, yes. Currently, there are two forms of love-bonding: Faerie Love and Marriage. The former represents passionate love and the latter represents conventional marriage. Each one is role-played differently and offers different legends. Unique to Dark Ages, player Priests perform the ceremony. The mundane (NPC) does not marry you and your love. A player does. This heightens the communal bond, and also makes some priests or bride and grooms popular. A famous priest would be requested for a Faerie Love bond or a marriage. Having a child would have to be for the future. Other interesting features along that line are planned: a familiar. Having a little faerie, demon, or other creature that follows you. It is really not very intelligent, but it is incredibly adorable to see a faerie at your shoulder that performs some actions.

DN- You mentioned earlier that you are working to include large-scale epics for the players to preform. Do you have any sort of timeline on when these will be introduced to the world?

Dave - This Fall, Earth time. My duties are very broad, so I cannot develop it more rapidly. Also, there are several other projects coming up. There will be 40 new clothing variations this month, 40 more new regional clothing variations next month, and more. My labor applies to several features, and to several mundane tasks every day. This means that will take time to also sculpt the epics.

DN - You mentioned other projects. Would these be new, upcoming games, or just extensions to Dark Ages?

Dave - All Dark Ages. New clothing as mentioned, new quests, new realms, expanding other towns to allow Aisling politics within. And less glamorous projects: new tutorial, refining and improving, daily duties, monitoring internet connection, society, server status, development status, testing, and so on.

DN - Given that 2 other, well-known online RPGs are already on the market, being Everquest and Ultima Online, how do you think Dark Ages will stand up to these two games? Do you believe Dark Ages will take off, or stay with more of a cult following?

Dave - In between cult and 'taking off'. Dark Ages has the technology to support the most players in the same world. In Korea, Legend of Darkness (the same game which Dark Ages was developed from) hosts over 3000 simultaneous users in the same distributed server system. That means you and all your friends can always adventure together. There are no 'shards', cloned worlds, or server numbers to remember. Your character is stored in the same world, that has been refined to be technically expanded for thousands of simultaneous players. However, Dark Ages is a unique locale on the map of online roleplaying games. Roleplaying, society, and community take precedence with the majority of our players, and with my direction. Dark Ages has a very fine society, and will continue to get better. This disallows rapid expansion from just anyone who is rude and harassing. The society doesn't tolerate it.

DN - A game like Dark Ages would have to be in development for quite a while. Could you tell me when development for all aspects of the game officially started, and what the original vision of the final product was?

Dave - In 1994, Nexon began coding an online-only server that would become the basis for 'The Kingdom of the Winds'. The server architecture applies to Legend of Darkness, too. Legend of Darkness officially began development in 1996. It went commercial in Korea in January 1998. The original vision for Legend of Darkness was a hardcore online RPG. Tough, demanding social cooperation, and intelligent gameplay. In December 1998, I stopped directing 'The Kingdom of the Winds' (US version), and began planning and preparing Dark Ages ( the US version of Legend of Darkness). My vision for Dark Ages extended further. I saw and see a society in motion. I've dreamt, since teenage years of seeing a society controlled by the players. A game and a social experiment all-in-one. An entertaining world, where the politics and religion were as real as the combat. I envisioned a true roleplaying environment online. A way for imaginative spirits to connect with other Aislings all over the world. Many times we move or are moved-from in real-life and cannot control who are neighbors are. Here is a gathering of Aislings. Since December 1998, I have developed the features I discussed above to make Dark Ages the worthy home of Aislings everywhere.

DN - Okay, and final, oddball question - What is your development teams' favorite beverage, and approximately how much do they consume in any given week?

Dave - We're multicultural. It's a split between Coke and soju (korean distilled rice liquor). Several a can of soda leaves its circular mark upon the slate gray desk.

DN - Haha. I'd like to thank for taking the time out of your hectic schedule for this interview.

Dave - *smiles. Shakes his hand* Thank you for asking me about what I love and taking the moment to listen.