At the end of last semester, the Emergent Game Group released trailers for the projects that they produced. The Emergent Game Group, more commonly referred to as {egg} is one of the project studios in the Digital Media program. It is run by faculty member Celia Pearce and studies the many facets of emergent cultures in multiplayer games and virtual worlds, and explores design strategies that promote emergent social behavior.
The {egg} released three project trailers for each of the projects that the group had been working on.
Mermaids MMOG is an experimental massively multiplayer online game that encourages cooperation over competition, exploration over grinding, and creation over destruction, allowing players to inhabit and collectively manage a dynamic ecosystem. The game aims to encourage emergent behavior through a unique combination of exploration, co-creation and collaboration. Mermaids is an ongoing project in the {egg} and will continue its development in the future.
Tiamat Media is an alternate reality game that ran at DragonCon 2013, the largest multimedia fan conventions in the country. It was designed to fit within the socio-cultural context of the convention, appropriating established convention actions into the design. The game had three main game mechanic modules for players to solve: a casual picture tag game, a hide and seek game, and a artifact puzzle game. Each of these connected to each other through rabbit holes and once players unlocked the mysteries, they would receive information from characters that would help them take down Tiamat Media. This project wrapped up production last semester. For more Information please visit: http://tiamatmedia.com/
Ellis Island is a Massively Multiplayer Online Game set in New York City that provides players with the experience of immigrating to the United States during the 1920s. The core focus of Ellis is the emergent progression of characters throughout play. A player’s character has a certain set of traits based on the nationality and background they choose at the beginning of the game. As the player progresses through Ellis Island and completes various quests and events of his or her choosing, the traits and qualities of the character change to reflect the outcomes of these endeavors. Players also choose an aspiration, which is a professional goal that they desire to reach. However, depending on the choices a player makes, he or she might wind up in a completely different line of work. Ellis Island wrapped up production last semester. For more information, please visit
