Roma Victor

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Roma Victor is an historically authentic MMORPG or virtual world based on the Roman Empire in the latter half of the second century. Roma Victor is being developed by RedBedlam Ltd of Brighton and Hove, England and is currently in beta testing. It will be possible to either play in 1st or 3rd person during the game, although combat will be 1st person only. Although off to a dismal start, RedBedlam has greatly improved the gameplay of Roma Victor with numerous updates.

The release date announced by RedBedlam is July 14th, with special pre-order customers being let in 2 weeks earlier, June 30th, as per terms of the contract. It has a unique payment system involving buying an account key and downloading a free client but, in contrast to most other MMORPGs there is no subscription. To compensate, the developers have decided to use a new revenue model, consisting of buying in-game currency with real money. It is a system in some ways similar to Project Entropia, but unlike that title, it is not possible to "cash out" money earned through normal gameplay. The developers claim that it will be possible to play without paying; however, as this is not the "chosen method of character development", players who attempt to do so may experience difficulty. It is claimed that £5 (pounds) will provide enough currency for about 2-3 months, although that could be stretched if the player spends his or her money wisely and/or gets more income routes inside the game, or for less than that if the player lives lavishly. This figure is roughly equivalent to the monthly fees paid over the same period under traditional payment structures. However, the largest draws for gamers are the open-ended, sandbox nature of the game, its historical setting and the great range of options regarding skills, with 185 already confirmed, ranging from combat-based skills to more peaceful pursuits such as irrigation and tanning.

Starting near the end of 2006 the developers of Roma Victor have started to release frequent updates, addressing many of the bugs and sore points of the game.

Notable updates include:

- Added dynamic lighting; environment now responds to sunlight and torchlight
- Grass and vegetation; the ground is now covered with shrubs, grass, and various other flora
- Handcarts; allows players to move multiple items at once
- Animals; bears, wolves, chickens, goats, bovine are all now in the game
- Random NHC Encounters; if in the wilderness wild animals may attack you
- Hunting skillset; players can now hunt, skin, and make hidescraps from animals which are used for various ingame items
- Animal handling; players can handle and feed goats, bovine, and chicken
- Tents; players can now create tents that can be packed and unpacked, making them 'mobile homes',
- Improved UI and control system; the user interface and the controls have been greatly improved, now relatively easy to use
- Lag fix; lag is virtually non-existent
- Miscellaneous Bugs; many of the bugs that plagued the game at launch are non-existent
- NPC names; NPC names are no longer followed by underscores and numbers
- Hireable NPC's; players can now hire labourers and guards
- Numerous other gameplay fixes