Arden, the first (and only) MMO set in a mythical realm that exists as an amalgam of the works of William Shakespeare, has been abandoned by its creator Edward Castronova.
While the title was widely anticipated as a revolutionary sandbox for the study of virtual worlds and as the highbrow alternative to the traditional orcs and elves, Castronova has opted to shutter the title prior to release, simply because "it's no fun."
"You need puzzles and monsters, or people won't want to play
... Since what I really need is a world with lots of players in it for me to run experiments on, I decided I needed a completely different approach," says Castronova.
While I'll lament the lack of 40-man Iago raids until the day I die, I have to respect a man who can pull the plug on his own project and attribute the failure to something as simple -- and important -- as the fun-factor. Now if only more developers could follow his lead.
Virtual Labor Lost [Technology Review, via Massively]
