Jan
9
Travian.us: A Virtual World
Filed Under Collaboration, Social Studies
For the past three weeks or so I’ve been playing in a virtual world located at www.travian.us. This is a game you play entirley in your Internet browser - there is nothing to download - where you play the ruler of a Roman, Gaulish, or Teutonic village. You attempt to build up your own village’s resources, form alliances with other villages for mutual self defence or aggression and possibly attack and conquer nearby villages.
Of course, all of this has to be done while conserving and stewarding your resources. You have clay, iron, wheat, and wood, and all seem to be continually in short supply. It takes time to build up a big enough supply to build a military unit, upgrade a field, or build a building. Because of this the game is not played all at once but in short intervals over many, many weeks.
As a simulation, it’s not bad. Each type of village has its own peculiarities. For example, as a Gaulish village I can build a phalanx unit which I understand other civilizaitons cannot. (A phalanx is one of the strongest defensive units the game 0ffers.) As a Gaulish village, I can also build a cranny which is a location where I can hide a portion of my accumulated resources in the event an enemy raids my village to steal my supplies.
I’m tempted to have my Grade 12 Western Civ students play this game but two things are holding me back. One: I’ve been playing for weeks and haven’t made a lot of progress. It’s a very slow game and I only get my students for five months. I’m not sure we’d finish the game (well, you can’t finish, it goes on and on) or at least get to a reasonable point. Two: In the particular game I’m in, there are over 10,000 players. That, of course, can make the game better, but as a teacher I’m not sure who those other people are. I can insist my students interact with each other but I can’t control all those other players. Their conduct may not always be appropriate when they send messages to my students. If I was playing with adults, that would be one thing, but when you’re in charge of underage students you have to be careful where you send them.
It’s an intruging game, none the less. If it interestss you, there are versions available in different languages. If you visit travian.info you can find out some of the national domains (travian.es, travian.cn, etc) that are available.
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I’m a 12 grade female student … I take history and civilization courses (university level) and am very interested in Travian. I played for a long time with my younger brother, who is in grade nine. I do not think that most kids my age would have the attention span though … worth a try?
It’s definitely worth it. I played until my game ended when one alliance controlled enough of the game to win (it wasn’t my group). It was definitely addictive. I found myself sneaking onto the game in between classes all the time. It did, however, take several months and I think I started half way through a game. If you can find a few dedicated people to join you, I think it’d be great fun.