One Player Video Game that is Multiplayer: Intriguing Concept

Jason Rohrer, well known game designer, created a fascinating video game concept called Chain World.

Rohrer unveiled Chain World at the 2011 Game Design Challenge, held on March 4 at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The design challenge is essentially a contest: Three game designers compete to make a videogame that does some crazily ambitious thing that a videogame is not supposed to be able to do…[this]year’s theme [was] Bigger Than Jesus: games as religion.

Rohrer created a game where a person only plays it once. He or she goes into the world, creates an artifact. When the player dies they pass on the game (available only on a jump drive). The person can never play the game again.

There are nine commandments of Chain World

1. Run Chain World via one of the included “run_ChainWorld” launchers.
2. Start a single-player game and pick “Chain World.”
3.Play until you die exactly once.
3a. Erecting signs with text is forbidden—your works must speak for themselves.
3b. Suicide is permissible.
4. Immediately after dying and respawning, quit to the menu.
5. Allow the world to save.
6. Exit the game and wait for your launcher to automatically copy Chain World back to the USB stick.
7. Pass the USB stick to someone else who expresses interest.
8. Never discuss what you saw or did in Chain World with anyone.
9. Never play again.

Can you think of an educational video game that can follow this type of non-conventional design, think of how this pushes boundaries and how instructional games can push boundaries.

Here are some resources to read more on this game:
Chain World Videogame Was Supposed to be a Religion—Not a Holy War

GDC: Chain World: Crafting a Religion

Chain World: Minecraft as Religion