Characters in Asheron's Call will all be human but will come from one of three "heritage" groups, which will be roughly modeled on the cultures of medieval England, the ancient Moors of southern Spain, and feudal China. A detailed allegiance system, structured from medieval feudalism, will govern interaction between players. There are definite incentives for experienced players to actively recruit newbies because the number of followers a character has will increase that character's fame and power. In exchange for following a veteran, new players will be able to demand protection, training, and valuable items. Being able to kill other players is an ability that has to be earned in Asheron's Call through the completion of a special quest. Even after completing that quest, would-be player-killers will only be able to attack other players who have opted to complete the same quest. Peaceful folk who avoid the player-killer quest will be free to role-play without having to worry about being attacked by nasty pkillers.

Asheron's Call will be set in a true 3D world, where all items, characters, and monsters are represented by texture-mapped polygonal objects. The game's graphics engine is capable of dynamic lighting, seamless integration of indoor and outdoor environments, and latency compensation techniques to handle Internet lag. Support for 3D graphics-accelerator cards may not be included in the game's initial release but is planned.

Unlike other massive multiplayer role-playing games, all characters in Asheron's Call will be in the same gaming world, instead of being spread out over various "mirror" worlds. Provided that the development team ensures that gameplay lag doesn't drastically increase as a result of having all of the characters hanging out in the same world, having just one world should create a more dynamic, social atmosphere. Asheron's Call will also include an original spell system, which allows for the creation of new spells and weakens spells that become commonly known and used. Combat in Asheron's Call includes an unusual number of tactical options, since weapons will vary in attack speed, and characters will be able to control the strength of a particular attack and the height at which it is aimed. With solid graphics and unique spell, combat, and social systems, Asheron's Call looks very promising.

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