Age of Conan is fun, beautifully detailed and, as of this writing, it suffers from the launch pains that any cutting edge game is likely to experience. It is also the first MMORPG aimed at a huge audience that has proclaimed itself as mature entertainment.

Second Life, one of the best known online "worlds," has gone a good deal further with its adult elements, but Second Life is not really a game, more like a massively creative group sandbox. There are other "games" on the Internet that involve open sexuality, but these are either amateurish or  just chat rooms with triple X graphics.



AoC is the first game to incorporate sexuality into its actual game play, albeit in a limited way. The game is also far more violent than World of Warcraft or the other commercial giants in the field. Blood splashes extravagantly when you hit an enemy, sometimes even splotching your screen in a fourth wall-breaking gush of crimson. Some of the quests involve mature themes, such as recovering the narcotic stash of an addicted pleasure girl (think Grand Theft Auto: Cimmerian Rampage) or collecting the testicles of a foe. Bare breasts are rendered in graphic detail, though the programmers stopped short of male or female genitalia, and they have not, as yet, added animated "emotes" for sexual situations. 

Apart from graphic graphics, AoC has taken an even bolder step toward replicating Howard's universe. Since their inception, MMORPGs have struggled with the issue of player-killing (PKing). Millions of words have been written in debate over how to deal with the fact that some players bitterly resent having their in-game character, or avatar, targeted and killed by another player.  It?s a huge issue for people who play these games and the two "playstyles," pro and anti-Player Vs. Player (PVP) often do not mix well.

AoC has accommodated players who do not like PKing by creating a version of the game where PKing is severely limited -- essentially to cases where players voluntarily enter into fights where they can be killed -- but the game's core design, where the product is making its mark, is on its PVP servers, where there are very few rules or restrictions to prevent one player from savaging another. This type of unrestricted PVP is unique among the current MMOs and FunCom is taking a chance with its approach, essentially a brutal free-for-all where only the strong and cunning will survive. I think if Bob Howard were alive today, he would probably approve of this design, at least in theory. In Howard?s view, the natural state of mankind was barbarism and the further society ventured from its dark Eden, the more decadent and ineffectual the outcome.

Sadly, similar past game design experiments have not ended well. The world of online gaming is plagued with smart and ruthless youngsters, quick to cheat for advantage and to exploit any design "feature" that offers a chance to advance their own status or, sometimes, simply to bedevil other players. "Griefers" are players who play for the fun of ruining other players' games. Generally, the more opportunity a player has to affect another player's online experience, the greater the chances of rampant griefing. To be fair, the majority of players who want a wide-open PVP environment will not cheat and are certainly not griefers, but the environment attracts some of the more anti-social elements of the online world.

So, I have to wonder what Howard would think of his universe as it has been created in cyberspace and as it is likely to evolve. If the hackers, scripters, and ruthless killer kiddies prevail here, will it prove his philosophy? Or disprove it? Are these hyperactive outlaws on the digital frontier the new barbarians? Or are they the product of the effete civilization that Conan and his creator scorned, kids with too much leisure time and a scarcity of real threats in their lives?

As for me, a player without a lot of time to play and attain the superiority needed to compete with red-taloned PKs, I'm taking no chances and I'll be finding my virtual destiny mostly on the non-PVP servers. But I'll definitely be keeping an eye on the savage land, because that's where the more interesting stories are likely to be told.