“Cities in the Holy Land are now come under the base and godless rule of Saracens – a people who have subjected the blessed believers of the Church, our brothers in blood, faithful sons of the same Christ, to unspeakable degradation and servitude.” These words from the inflammatory speech by Pope Urban II resounded throughout the market places in Christian cities across the known world after being delivered on November 27th, 1095. The first Crusades followed.
Almost 1000 years later, Berlin-based company, GameArt Studio, shows that bloodless crusades are also possible. With its online roll-playing game, Holy War, GameArt Studio has been enthralling over two million players worldwide, all delighting in the resurrection of the age of “holy wars”, since November 2006. Unlike in centuries past, players today have the choice to enter the thick of battle as a Christian, Muslim, or Pagan. However, up until this point, players in such roll-playing games as “Holy War” have remained separated into their own language-worlds, playing only amongst themselves. Turkish play against Turkish, Spanish against Spanish, and so on, when they don-t stay in their native language and play on an English server.
The dawn of a new era has arrived: Holy War-s “holy battle” now sees Turkish, Arabic, and also Spanish Muslims fighting side by side against the Christian conquerors, just like in the real Crusades. To this end, GameArt Studio has developed an innovative software technology whose platform constitutes an enormous database cluster. No longer do “holy battles” signify a Babylonian confusion of language, nor Mediaeval brutality – and certainly not a lack of passion and excitement!
GameArt Studio has made it possible for players from across 51 game-worlds, spanning 11 languages, to participate at the same time in the same “holy battle”. The armies are drawn up based on the two faiths which allows for a realistic scale, as most Turkish and Arab players register as Muslims, whereas in Western countries players are predominantly Christian. When you consider that each of these 51 worlds boasts an average of 40 000 registered players, Holy War-s “holy battle” fares more than well in any comparison with the magnitude of the real Crusades.
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