Real World Rituals to port in game

Parades are always a nice thing that bring lots of people together. Like we have the tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena California every January, and we just recently had an Armed Forces Parade that brought in a bunch of people to look at the floats and military vehicles.

If there is anything to celebrate (such as the survival of the cataclysm or whatever) people seem to celebrate it by having a parade, and some special vendors for the occasion. So in game parades, and carnivals would be a natural ritualistic way to celebrate something.

 

It seems to me, in a world with magic, any repeated magical task would become a ritual.

Two simple examples.

If two people could, together, utilize magic to cause a localized lightning storm, and harvest rare resources after said storm, this would become a ritual.

If 10 people could, together, utilize magic to cause a localized weather shift ( an in-game week of rain ), and harvest vast quantities of common plants & crops after said week of rain, this would also become a ritual.

 

I'll take the opportunity to one again suggest tournaments with list fields and general fairs with food & merchant booths.

I'm not sure about magic rituals but harvests always seem to have some sort of ritual/holiday/festivals related to them.. as does hunting. Feasts or food dishes with special cultural significance are common enough.

I think someone already brought up past calamities in the dev chat.

Birthdays of famous historical figures.. and famous battles.

It would be nice to have some unique holidays with their own traditions.

 

tobacco smoke, alchohol consumption, food traditions..

 

Practicing tunes in private or telling a story in front of the fire to one's family before the children are sent to bed.

 

I like these notions, and am hopes of an in game calendar with its own unique months, as well as changing seasons and weather. I do not have a great deal to add, only the, for me at least, attempts at incorporating real world holidays are enormously-immersion breaking. I had much prefer holidays are specific to the game world.

 

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@Archaaz ++; I'd prefer not to have RL holidays either. An equivalent wouldn't necessarily be bad but as I think back to things they did in UO as an example with holiday gifts and whatnot it really takes away from the world itself and reminds us that all we're doing is playing a game when I want to experience a world.

 

@Bowen Bloodgood
I quite agree. I never cared for the holiday gifts and such in UO, and all the snowmen and holiday decorations in WoW. It does very much break the fourth wall. It is much easier to immerse myself in a game that that takes itself a bit more seriously (though still leaving room for subtle humorous moments).

I am not quite certain how the virtues will function, whether or not they will be the same as in the Ultima series, but the notion of particular holidays being associated with one or more virtues seems fitting and interesting. You mentioned a harvest festival, which would likewise work quite well.

 

OOOO! Virtues! DUH!

There should be some sort of holiday and/or festival and/or other rituals for each of the virtues. Let me do some brainstorming here.

Valor - Has to a tournament. I know that's not likely to make it into Game 1 but what else can it be?

Courage - A celebration of military veterans.. especially those who died or were wounded in good service.

Honor - Feast? I'm mostly drawing a blank. I keep going back to the paladins of Ultima but I don't want to repeat Courage and Valor.. though a tournament I think would certainly be appropriate here to.. but with a different theme I think.

Justice - Similar to Courage but mainly for local law enforcement and services. Perhaps a mock trail or burning of a famous tyrant in effigy?

Humility - A day of humility and celebration of simple things. NPCs might avoid wearing jewelry or makeup. Simple or common home cooked foods and a traditional dish of some kind.. using lamb perhaps? This might also be good as a harvest theme and a being humble before nature kind of theme.

Spirituality - SotA version of Halloween or some sort of spirit festival. I'm thinking involving the lighting of lanterns to guide spirits to where ever they go in the world mythos.

Compassion - Fund raisers to give to the poor and healing the sick. Certain NPCs dress up and collect funds.

Honesty/Truth/Knowledge - Particularly significant to mages but I'm thinking the themes should be around telling someone a secret or sharing knowledge.

Sacrifice - A celebration to honor those who died having dedicated their lives to helping others. I'm thinking of mostly those of a humanitarian nature.

Love - Something akin to Valentine's Day.. though I also think something like White Day in Japan which if I understand it right is a kind of companion day to Valentine's.. where one day guys give to girls and on the other day it's the other way around. So one day is kind of like a confession day and the other is a response day.

Weddings would be particularly popular on these days.

 

There are some really good ideas in this thread so far. Personally, I'd like to see at least some of the rituals/ceremonies develop as part of the storyline and possibly even as part of player-driven events. Of course, some may be holdovers from ancient times, that is fine. But new ones (that will definitely not feel new after a few real life years later!) will be fun to be a part of.

I'm hoping that large-scale, player-driven story arcs are also part of the game. So, perhaps a certain guild/alliance reclaiming a previously lost city will want to celebrate that victory every once in a while and it becomes a well known event in the local community. If the devs provide the tools to let that happen, that'd be great.

 

The most idea solution is to be given the tools to do these ourselves. I believe the devs feel the same way.. but having some pre-established events/rituals I think is also important for story.. it adds a good deal of depth to the world.

Most tools I think are just the day to day interactions.. cooking food.. and the like.. but what we REALLY need is public venues to hold events in.. especially if we can somehow decorate these venues somehow. That opens up some interesting possibilities.. maybe even for various crafts.

Oh.. perhaps fireworks and bonfires..

Wow I really watch far too much anime.. just had another thought.. like going to a grove to watch tree blossoms in a given time of year as a popular event. I was just thinking how viewing sakura trees seems popular in Japan.

 

I am not sure how viable this notion is, with regard to A.I. and the difficulty of implementing it (and this may have been implied in the OP), but it might be interesting if the NPCs of a specific region or town organized a festival at certain times. Their dialog could change to reflect this, perhaps some might wear some sort of costume, serve special fare, etc. I think it would be great fun to enter a new town and be surprised by such a festival, and to prepare for it each season once you know about it. Of course players could organize their own celebrations in addition to this, but it might serve as an impetus.

@Bowen Bloodgood
I very much agree. Players need the tools and venues to create their festivals, tourneys and the like. Certain towns or main cities could have a fair ground. Perhaps tourneys would need a sponsor to organize it and put up prize money, maybe using some sort of interface. Advertisements might appear on message boards. There could be a number of spots, perhaps some for individuals and some for guild sponsored participants.

 

Something like a Burns Supper would be fun. Not sure if it would actually accomplish anything, but it would be a feast, recognition of our friends, an opportunity to tell stories, read poems, and play music.

 

I like the idea that there are no real life holidays in game OR in-game holidays initially.

Instead as the game comes out and as time passes, major things may happen in game. Lord British can declare a "national Holiday" when suitable, until there are a good 4-6 yearly to celebrate.

They will mean more that way in terms of game play and would be more game immersive.

-Stile
Guild Leader of Caverns, Dungeons, and Beyond
www.thecaverns.net

 

Maybe some event can lead to a yearly celebration? (In game). Lets make our own holidays.

Say there is an event in June involving a Dragon terrorizing a town. We go in, defeat him, and a holiday is formed in our honor. (half ass example, but that's the idea).

NO REAL LIFE HOLIDAYS.

The only good thing about having Holidays / Events that correspond with RL is that we all usually have time off to enjoy them as well. Don't forget about that.

 

I'm totally on board with you Gunga about making our own holidays. There should be holidays based on ancient events too.

I can think of one idea from the end of Ultima 6 where the gargoyles and humans found peace together from the help of the Avatar.

That's a good holiday to give gifts to one another as a ritual.

 

As for real life rituals I think the running of the bulls in Spain is an interesting one. It may not be humane, but if there were something that goes with the story like that has an actual releasing of animals once per year, and players can run with them (and add an element of danger). Why not?

 

I like to celebrate the summer and winter solstice, usually it simply means drinking too much, playing games, and giving each other odd presents. Duct tape gifts are quite popular. here was one from my dad last year, a duct tape mustang(horse)



you can see the feasting and drinking is occurring.. then we bring out the board games. In balderdash they claimed a pegasus was a winged pig.. so one year someone gave gifts that were cans of spam with wings on it. costumes are occasionally worn.. usually involving plants (fake) on the head. General silliness is required.

this site has some interesting information:
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/december-solstice-customs.html

"A mock king was chosen, usually from a group of slaves or criminals, and although he was permitted to behave in an unrestrained manner for seven days of the festival, he was usually killed at the end."

and masters serving their slaves for 7 days etc..


letsee.. other things people do around here is a polar bear plunge (basically you just jump into the lake/river where they've broken up the ice). I'm having a tough time thinking of anything else that might be somewhat unique.. there are annual cook-offs and beer competitions, car shows and fairs, boat floats.

I'm probably just not thinking of some of the odder things.

 

+1 that. It involves the community, and also has interactive elements to it. cool.