Screw Your Friends With Game of Thrones: Ascent on Facebook

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Screw Your Friends With Game of Thrones: Ascent on Facebook

Screw them, or screw them over.

There's plenty of limb-chopping sword-fighting action in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels and their hit HBO adaptation Game of Thrones, but it's never really the main draw. Most people tune in for the dynamic social, political and sexual machinations as warring families vie for the throne and crown of the land of Westeros.

In other words, Game of Thrones seems to be a better fit for backstabbing board games like Diplomacy than generic fantasy RPGs like the one that . HBO and online game developer <a href="Disruptor Beam [http://www.amazon.com/Game-of-Thrones-XBOX-360/dp/B00823DZ5E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1337630488&sr=8-2] seem to think that atmosphere of political intrigue can be captured by pitting players against real-life opponents - in a Facebook game.

"You and your friends will live out tales of intrigue, sacrifice and deception within the Game of Thrones universe," reads the full announcement [http://www.disruptorbeam.com/] elaborates. Players will assume the identity of a noble of Westeros and be able to swear fealty to one of the series' seven major houses. Then, they must "[secure] their holdings, [develop] their lands and personal reputation, and [assign] sworn swords to quests" in order to advance their standing amidst the chaotic upheaval.

"Everyone at Disruptor Beam was a huge fan of Game of Thrones long before we began working on the game, so we recognize that other fans expect character-driven conflict and intrigue to take center stage in our new game," said Jon Radoff, CEO of Disruptor Beam. "Westeros is the perfect setting to deliver on our vision of weaving stories through decisions and social interactions."

I certainly agree that Game of Thrones' social intrigue is much more suited to a game that actually involves interacting with others rather than a rote hack-and-slash. If Game of Thrones: Ascent can actually allow players to not only forge alliances but break them and screw their former teammates over, I could see this working surprisingly well as a social game.

I'm just curious if I can purchase prostitutes who I can use to ply the favors of my younger brothers in return for strategic military alliances. Because if I can't, y'know, what's the point?

Source: Disruptor Beam [http://www.disruptorbeam.com/gota_announcement.html]

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vrbtny

Elite Member
Sep 16, 2009
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John Funk said:
Then, they must "[secure] their holdings, [develop] their lands and personal reputation, and [assign] sworn swords to quests" in order to advance their standing amidst the chaotic upheaval.
It sounds like another one of those boring time-wasting games, just like Travian.... and all those games.
 

Flamezdudes

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Aug 27, 2009
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Interesting. A facebook game that actually peaks my interest, as everything else on there looks like complete shit.

I shall keep my eye on this, i'm a big fan of A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones.
 

weirdee

Swamp Weather Balloon Gas
Apr 11, 2011
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vrbtny said:
John Funk said:
Then, they must "[secure] their holdings, [develop] their lands and personal reputation, and [assign] sworn swords to quests" in order to advance their standing amidst the chaotic upheaval.
It sounds like another one of those boring time-wasting games, just like Travian.... and all those games.
The difference here is that while those games rely on their players to do all of the planning and alliance work outside of tiny ingame systems on their own resources, a game designed specifically for complex multiplayer interaction might actually be worth your time beyond waiting for your army to get large enough to engulf resources like a cell without any regard for actual strategy.

Stuff like private message board areas, multiple aspects of messing with your friends, and managing your officials like sims rather than character sheets are all ideas with potential...that could go either way, really.
 

Elvaril

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Dec 31, 2010
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The sad part is that this is a free social game on Facebook and it will probably still be better than Game of Thrones: Genesis.