Eternal Lands



Eternal Lands (EL) is a free to play, open-source multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) initially created by Radu Privantu in 2002/2003. Though the OpenGL-based client is open-source, the license specifically forbids altering the code in any way.

The game
The setting is a medieval fantasy world, with both historic elements such as medieval architecture and weaponry as well as fictional elements such as other humanoid races, gods and magic. It is currently made of up two main continents; Seridia and Irilion.

Creating a character
Before you play, you have to choose the name and the appearance of your character. That's all you specify; everything else (your skills, abilities and alignments) is developed in the game. These are the six races from which you can currently choose:


 * Dwarves stay to themselves the majority of the time. They don't travel too much because they prefer the warmth and comfort of their own home to the outside world. Dwarves are excellent craftsmen. They build the most sturdy and elaborate structures, the most accurately carved statues, and the most exquisite jewelry. They carve wood, chip stone, and shape metal until it is almost perfect. They generally have their homes in or around caves, and build mines that they share.
 * Humans feel the need to create a shelter by cutting down trees, and anything else that stands in their way, and to constantly create, build, and improve things. They hunt animals for food, and eat the vegetation of the land. The humans take whatever they can and use it to their advantage, although they show compassion, kindness, and generosity when the time is right. They have many abilities and create big cities and towns.
 * Elves revere life, and are very careful not to waste things. They hunt animals when necessary, and always give thanks to their god when they kill, and before they eat. They build their homes in the forest, in a style all their own. The Elves are very friendly to most of the other races, but have a deep hatred for everything they consider to be evil (such as the goblins, orcs, ogres, etc.), and don't fully trust the dwarves or the Orchans (whom they consider barbaric). The Elves are very knowledgable, and harbor a great repository of historical books in libraries which they open to everyone. Elves live up to five times longer than humans.
 * Gnomes are a small dwarvish race, but unlike dwarves they are outgoing, social travelers. They are also pretty good craftsmen and tailors of clothing. Another gnomeish skill is map making, although you can never trust a Gnome's map to be 100% accurate. Perhaps their most distinctive characteristic is their insatiable curiosity and passion for solving everyday issues with inventions. They are probably the most helpful, generous, and unbiased of all the races.
 * Draegoni appear to be a cross between a human and a dragon, but are much more human like than dragon like. Legend says that they are children of the mythical dragon god, Iringold. They are highly magical beings that dwell in the colder regions on the extreme ends of the world. It is said that their inherent magical abilities come from the dragon blood that is mixed in their veins, and in the scales that sparkle on their bodies.
 * Orchans were so named because they look like a cross between a human and an orc. Whether they were bred that way is a commonly disputed topic, and no one knows for sure. There are legends and myths going in each direction. They are a people that believe in judging someone on their strength, heroism, and bravery. They hold many contests of strength, and also elect their leaders through their competitions. Many competitions are fights to the death, which causes other races to view Orchans as barbaric. However, Orchans are very honorable, and keep to their word when they take an oath, even if it means their life is at stake.

The latter three races are "pay-to-play" races; in order to play a character which is one of these races, you have to donate a small amount to the game.

Activities
Once you are in the game, there are many different things you can do:
 * Explore. Currently, there are about 30 different "maps" (lands) you can explore. Ships and teleportals can lead you to new, interesting but also dangerous places. There are areas where monsters may attack you, players can fight other players, where you can get hurt by heat or by cold. Countless hidden places can be found, giving you small advantages each.
 * Improve your skills. You can advance in each of nine different skills: attack, defense, harvesting/mining, alchemy, crafting (jewelry), manufacturing (blacksmithing), summoning monsters, potion brewing and magic. You can advance as many skills as you like, you can work together with other players and you can trade. All experience you gain in any skill will sum up to "pick points", that you can use to improve your physical, mental and spiritual attributes.
 * Go on quests. Many non-playing characters give you smaller or larger tasks or send you on quests. They will deepen your knowledge about the world your character wanders, and if you do well, a nice reward at the end.
 * Worship gods. There are nine deities you can worship in EL. You will have to succeed in various quests, and will be given blessing in return, increasing your skill level and/or your experience gain.
 * Socialise. There are always several hundred players online, and numerous places to meet, chat and cooperate. Players can found and team up in guilds; over a hundred guilds already exist in the game.

Playing
A PC or Mac with a 3D-accelerated graphics card and an internet connection is needed to play Eternal Lands, with the software download being free. Eternal Lands currently supports the Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and Mac OS X operating systems and the X86, X86_64, IA64 and PowerPC architectures. The game client is open source (under a QTPL-style license).

History
Eternal Lands is not finished. However, it has made considerable progress since the first release in March 2003 and is fully playable. Radu Privantu, the inventor of the game, has summed up the first part of its evolution in an article on devmaster.net.

Critical reaction
About.com awarded 4 out of 5 stars, praising the game's graphics (considering it is a free game) and realistic crafting and food systems, but found it hard to get the audio working.

Spin-Offs

 * Landes Eternelles is a French port of Eternal Lands currently in development. Although it is architecturally identical to Eternal Lands and shares some of the graphics and other gameplay mechanisms, it has a different role play approach with different races, geography, storylines, religion and quests. Landes Eternelles is currently in open Beta stage. http://www.landes-eternelles.com/
 * Other-Life is a project that attempts to create a more challenging variant of EL. It was started by Steven Wilcoxon (Learner), a former server developer of EL, and is based on the EL server and client code. It is not released, and is currently only tested by a couple of handpicked people. -- http://www.other-life.com/