Farnation
Platform: Dreamcast
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega

The Basics

The Dreamcast has become the first true mass-market network-compatible console with online-enabled games such as NFL 2K1 and Quake III Arena. With the now-deceased massively multiplayer network RPG Farnation, Sega originally planned to take the first step in introducing the concept of persistent online worlds to the console market. Farnation gave a nod to such successful PC games as Ultima Online and EverQuest by letting you interact with other human players across a large universe.

Farnation contained five different terrains, and in these areas, you had the ability to cooperate with other human players in building towns--complete with casinos, libraries, restaurants, hospitals, banks, and residences. Of course, you weren't limited to these towns. You could build stations that housed airships, boats, and stagecoaches so that you could travel around the entire Farnation world to advance the game's story arcs and events. In fact, there were several special events that occurred throughout the game for plot advancement and, according to Sega, to make the game easily navigable for beginning players.

WHAT HAPPENED?
In May 2001, during an interview with Charles Bellfield, vice president of marketing and corporate communications at Sega of America, he confirmed that the company's massively multiplayer role-playing game, Farnation, was no longer in development for the Dreamcast console. Bellfield revealed that the project had been moved onto another next-generation console but declined to comment on the specific platform at the time. Shortly thereafter, Sega announced that the game had moved to the Xbox.