The Rulers of the Sea project is breaking new grounds as a historically based MMORPG that features a simulated 18th century world where world politics, government, economy, law, warfare and social interaction can be fully acted out, exploring the motives and circumstances of the past and writing a new version of history while doing this.
The design of the game, including its historical accuracy, has always been interesting from an academic and educational viewpoint, opening up many opportunities for learning, both as a gamer and from the behaviour of gamers. This unique crossover between history, gaming and education has meant the project has a strong academic tendency. It was always the intention to give the academic and educational world a strong position in the project.
And today we made a start with this by establishing the Advisory Board, a Board of historical and educational academics that advise during the building and operation of the Rulers of the Sea game regarding historical realism and educational value.
The Advisory Board will advise in achieving historical realism, educational relevancy, provide an expertise network and receive detailed project briefings to keep track of the progress and ask the hard questions. But there is more.
Deadeye Games, the studio behind the game project, aims to dedicate 5% of the game profits to historical education and research projects. The members of the Advisory Board will be tasked with allocating this yearly grant to eligible historical projects through an application process. It will be a while before the game is built and profitable, but this pledge is contractually sealed.
The first two academics to join the Advisory Board are Julien Bazile from the Université de Sherbrooke, Canada, and Robert Houghton from the University of Winchester, United Kingdom. Both are leading experts in the fields of history and gaming. You can read their biographies and find links to their publications on the Advisory Board page, found through this link.
The aim is to expand the Advisory Board with more academic expertise in the fields of history, education and gaming, and also to look out for expertise of specific cultures or specialist subjects that present challenges in the game design. We will keep you informed of new academics to join the Advisory Board.