Roma Victor
Encyclopedia
Roma Victor was a MMORPG
based on the Roman Empire
in Great Britain
in the latter half of the 2nd century. Roma Victor was developed by RedBedlam Ltd. of Brighton and Hove, England
. The in-game world
is currently a 30x30km representation of a section along Hadrian's Wall
, including several small villages and Roman forts.
Roma Victor was released by RedBedlam on July 14, 2006, with pre-order customers being let in 2 weeks earlier. In January 2010, it was announced that the purchase of new accounts would be blocked as of May 5. As of January 2011, the game servers have been shut down.
Roma Victor is set in the province of Britannia
just before the decline of the Roman Empire, beginning in the year 180AD
. Commodus has succeeded his father Marcus Aurelius as Emperor, and is exerting a tyrannical influence across the empire.
Since November 2006, the playable area encompasses the southeastern portion of Caledonia
which is termed in-game as a playfield. As discussed by RedBedlam, there are further plans to expand this playable area and to create other playfields in different regions of the ancient world, if the server population should ever increase enough to warrant such extensions. These may include playfields such as Germania
, Hispania
, Italy
and Gaul
, or other areas of Britannia.
In the current state of the game, the Romans begin life as a slave
in the ancient regional town of Corstopitum
over which modern Corbridge
lies. The player population is largely scattered out among various player-built guild
boards across the playfield. The barbarian
s live mainly in areas north the Wall, spread out in various small settlements. Barbarians begin in the village of Erring, which is directly north of Corstopitum
.
s in Roma Victor, the Romans
and the barbarian
s. Each faction has its own own unique advantages and disadvantages.
The playfield is divided in boards, areas with the size of one square kilometer in a 1:1 scale to the real world. Some of these boards are pre-built, but most are composed of uninhabitable wilderness. The pre-built boards represent the historical locations of Roman colonies and forts, although creative license
was also used to create fictitious places. Wilderness boards can be made buildable if a guild hall is built on that board.
When a player character
first begins the game, they are in attending status which means they cannot attack or be attacked by other players. They can be deattended instantly by a player who is the local magistrate
, or by completing a difficult tutorial
.
s" and form the basis of much of the social structure
in Roma Victor. Guilds in Roma Victor are exclusively made up of players—the numbers can be augmented by NPC
members, which can be hired and assigned to various roles and tasks, such as protecting the guild's members, carrying out assignments, or simply acting as a merchant on behalf of the guild.
Roman guild types include Auxiliary
, Legion
, Vicus
and Patrician House
. Barbarian
guilds include Tribe
and Warband
, and there are also religious cult
guilds which can contain both Roman and barbarian characters.
Every player also has their own household. Household is the collective term applied to all the building
s and NPCs owned, employed, and/or run by an individual player. There can be many buildings and NPCs within a household and using the built-in household management interface a player can set entry fees or rent fees on their property, assign NPCs to act as merchants or guards, summon NPCs as an escort
, hire and dismiss staff, etc.
Most items can be made and used by anyone, however there are certain items, like the platemail lorica segmentata that can only be made and worn by legionaries. Several items, like the hideshirt can only be made and worn by barbarians. There are no level or skill restrictions, but the resulting item quality suffers greatly when a person is not a master in the required skills to produce the item. A player wishing to make high-quality items must train his skills by practising menial tasks requiring that skill.
Skill areas in Roma Victor include carpentry
, smithing, construction
, combat
, farming, animal handling and more. In the Roman faction, a slave character earns citizenship
after gaining a certain number of skill masteries and reputations.
Every item in the Roma Victor universe has a current quality level and a maximum quality level. The current quality level decreases as the item is used; the maximum quality level decreases as the item is repaired (bringing the current quality back up to the maximum quality level). If one forgets to repair the item and it will eventually break and be lost. A warning of breakage is issued randomly when quality reaches a low level.
is largely the same as crafting, only with the greater need of materials and skills. When building anything from simple devices through to complex buildings like workshops, it is important to have a ready supply of skilled labour and a good supply chain to finish the job. NPC
labourers can be hired to speed up the entire process, however it is possible for individual players to also provide a helping hand. Labourers can also "bulk-add" handcart-loads full of easy-to-add items, such as firewood, or even bricks to lengthly projects.
Roma Victor features an open-ended 'sandbox'-style environment
in which players can rent structures to live in, build their own, or let them out to other players. Any structure can be set as public or private.
The construction is basically divided between devices and structures. Devices are necessary in order to craft items, such as tool
s and weapon
s. Furnace
s, workbench
es, and kiln
s are examples of currently implemented devices. Structures are basically buildings that may serve as housing, storage areas, and advanced crafting workshops. Presently, the only buildable player-made structures aside from guild halls are roundhouse
s, animal pens, arena
s, workshop
s, and horreas. Tent
s can also be made as portable structures that can be transported in a character's inventory
before deployment.
skills are structured in a similar manner to crafting skills, in that an untrained character is very unlikely to win in a fair fight against a highly-trained character, regardless of player skill and reflexes. A character automatically dodges and parries incoming strikes based on randomized calculations on the server, although blocking with a shield has both an automatic calculation and will happen if the opponent accidentally clicks on the player's shield. It is also possible to disarm an opponent's weapon during a fight.
Roma Victor features real-time combat, which is largely decided by character skills similar to the character 'levels' found in most MMOs. However, unlike some other games, there are several tricks that are harder to pull off than just pushing a button. Timing and tactics also play a big role in your character's survival.
Roma Victor has hitboxes for each bodypart on a player, so that clicking the attack button while aiming the mouse on a particular part of an opponent's body will attempt to hit exactly that part of the body. After the character's automatic chance to evade the attack based on skill numbers, the attack damage will be applied to the hit points in that bodypart if the calculations failed. In this way, a player can repeatedly click at the weak or unarmoured parts on an opponent.
, a small area for dead players. In Elysium, the player must walk toward an NPC that will return him to a designated spawn-in spot on the main gameworld. If a player was deathblown and has high skills, they may suffer decay. Player kills deal more skill loss than other forms of death.
Being deathblown is not the only way to die in Roma Victor. The current other forms of dying include drowning
in a river if you run out of vigour whilst still swimming, bleeding
to death after receiving a fatal wound without proper medical treatment, and suicide
. If a player wishes to suicide in the game, they can do so at any time. One attribute (muscle, vision, agility, dexterity, intuition, or stamina) will be completely zeroed.
Barbarians north of Hadrian's Wall are beyond the reach of the law altogether, so the barbarian lands are effectively a full PvP environment. There are no negative consequences for attacking other barbarians; aside from a reputation amongst fellow players.
economic model, which consists of buying in-game currency (known as sesterces) with real money through the VERM system. It is not possible to exchange virtual currency earned in-game into real world money. There is no trial period either.
The speed of development and occasional lack of customer support or communication has been attributed by the creators to a relatively low budget and small development team.
In January 2010, it was announced that the current Roma Victor would be shutting down sometime the following year. It was stated that RV2 is still in development and may be released as soon as 2011, but the future of the project is uncertain.
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
based on the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
in the latter half of the 2nd century. Roma Victor was developed by RedBedlam Ltd. of Brighton and Hove, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The in-game world
Fictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
is currently a 30x30km representation of a section along Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall, lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident today.The...
, including several small villages and Roman forts.
Roma Victor was released by RedBedlam on July 14, 2006, with pre-order customers being let in 2 weeks earlier. In January 2010, it was announced that the purchase of new accounts would be blocked as of May 5. As of January 2011, the game servers have been shut down.
Setting
Britannia
Britannia is an ancient term for Great Britain, and also a female personification of the island. The name is Latin, and derives from the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai, which originally designated a collection of islands with individual names, including Albion or Great Britain. However, by the...
just before the decline of the Roman Empire, beginning in the year 180AD
180
Year 180 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rusticus and Condianus...
. Commodus has succeeded his father Marcus Aurelius as Emperor, and is exerting a tyrannical influence across the empire.
Since November 2006, the playable area encompasses the southeastern portion of Caledonia
Caledonia
Caledonia is the Latinised form and name given by the Romans to the land in today's Scotland north of their province of Britannia, beyond the frontier of their empire...
which is termed in-game as a playfield. As discussed by RedBedlam, there are further plans to expand this playable area and to create other playfields in different regions of the ancient world, if the server population should ever increase enough to warrant such extensions. These may include playfields such as Germania
Germania
Germania was the Greek and Roman geographical term for the geographical regions inhabited by mainly by peoples considered to be Germani. It was most often used to refer especially to the east of the Rhine and north of the Danube...
, Hispania
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
, or other areas of Britannia.
In the current state of the game, the Romans begin life as a slave
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
in the ancient regional town of Corstopitum
Coria (Corbridge)
Coria was a fort and town, located south of Hadrian's Wall, in the Roman province of Britannia. Its full Latin name is uncertain. Today it is known as Corchester or Corbridge Roman Site, adjoining Corbridge in the English county of Northumberland...
over which modern Corbridge
Corbridge
Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, situated west of Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages in the vicinity include Halton, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe.-Roman fort and town:...
lies. The player population is largely scattered out among various player-built guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
boards across the playfield. The barbarian
Barbarian
Barbarian and savage are terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage...
s live mainly in areas north the Wall, spread out in various small settlements. Barbarians begin in the village of Erring, which is directly north of Corstopitum
Coria (Corbridge)
Coria was a fort and town, located south of Hadrian's Wall, in the Roman province of Britannia. Its full Latin name is uncertain. Today it is known as Corchester or Corbridge Roman Site, adjoining Corbridge in the English county of Northumberland...
.
Playable area and factions
There are two factionPolitical faction
A political faction is a grouping of individuals, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with a political purpose. A faction or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, “parties within a party," which may be referred to as power blocs, or voting blocs. The individuals...
s in Roma Victor, the Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and the barbarian
Barbarian
Barbarian and savage are terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage...
s. Each faction has its own own unique advantages and disadvantages.
The playfield is divided in boards, areas with the size of one square kilometer in a 1:1 scale to the real world. Some of these boards are pre-built, but most are composed of uninhabitable wilderness. The pre-built boards represent the historical locations of Roman colonies and forts, although creative license
Creative Commons licenses
Creative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works. The licenses differ by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution. They were initially released on December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S...
was also used to create fictitious places. Wilderness boards can be made buildable if a guild hall is built on that board.
When a player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
first begins the game, they are in attending status which means they cannot attack or be attacked by other players. They can be deattended instantly by a player who is the local magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
, or by completing a difficult tutorial
Tutorial
A tutorial is one method of transferring knowledge and may be used as a part of a learning process. More interactive and specific than a book or a lecture; a tutorial seeks to teach by example and supply the information to complete a certain task....
.
Guilds
Guilds are player associations, or "clanClan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
s" and form the basis of much of the social structure
Social structure
Social structure is a term used in the social sciences to refer to patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of the individuals. The usage of the term "social structure" has changed over time and may reflect the various levels of analysis...
in Roma Victor. Guilds in Roma Victor are exclusively made up of players—the numbers can be augmented by NPC
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
members, which can be hired and assigned to various roles and tasks, such as protecting the guild's members, carrying out assignments, or simply acting as a merchant on behalf of the guild.
Roman guild types include Auxiliary
Auxiliaries (Roman military)
Auxiliaries formed the standing non-citizen corps of the Roman army of the Principate , alongside the citizen legions...
, Legion
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
, Vicus
Vicus
Vicus may refer to:*Vicus , plural vici, a neighborhood or local administrative unit of ancient Rome**Vicus Tuscus in Rome**Vicus Jugarius, leading into the Roman Forum** Gensis in Moesia Superior...
and Patrician House
Patrician
The term patrician originally referred to a group of elite families in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman Empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire it remained a high honorary title in...
. Barbarian
Barbarian
Barbarian and savage are terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage...
guilds include Tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
and Warband
Warband
Warband may refer to:* Local warrior society of Celts, Germans or Africans* Warband , a sub-breed of wargames* Warband , a British band* Mount&Blade: Warband, an extension for the video game Mount&Blade....
, and there are also religious cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
guilds which can contain both Roman and barbarian characters.
Every player also has their own household. Household is the collective term applied to all the building
Building
In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...
s and NPCs owned, employed, and/or run by an individual player. There can be many buildings and NPCs within a household and using the built-in household management interface a player can set entry fees or rent fees on their property, assign NPCs to act as merchants or guards, summon NPCs as an escort
Escort
-Protection:*Police escort, a feature offered by law enforcement agencies to assist in transporting individuals.*Safety escort service, a service provided on and around many college and university campuses to help ensure the safety of students and staff....
, hire and dismiss staff, etc.
Skills and abilities
There are no character levels in Roma Victor. However there is a 'skill' tree which replaces this function. Character development in Roma Victor is designed to simulate real life. That is, if a player wishes to improve his woodcutting skill, he has to go out in the woods and cut some trees down. From those trees, he can then extract sticks and turn them into handles to train his preparing skill. Those handles can then be used by a smith to make simple tools.Most items can be made and used by anyone, however there are certain items, like the platemail lorica segmentata that can only be made and worn by legionaries. Several items, like the hideshirt can only be made and worn by barbarians. There are no level or skill restrictions, but the resulting item quality suffers greatly when a person is not a master in the required skills to produce the item. A player wishing to make high-quality items must train his skills by practising menial tasks requiring that skill.
Skill areas in Roma Victor include carpentry
Carpentry
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
, smithing, construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
, combat
Combat
Combat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....
, farming, animal handling and more. In the Roman faction, a slave character earns citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
after gaining a certain number of skill masteries and reputations.
Crafting
Roma Victor features a crafting system, in which it is possible to find resources and components that can be put together using the related skills.Every item in the Roma Victor universe has a current quality level and a maximum quality level. The current quality level decreases as the item is used; the maximum quality level decreases as the item is repaired (bringing the current quality back up to the maximum quality level). If one forgets to repair the item and it will eventually break and be lost. A warning of breakage is issued randomly when quality reaches a low level.
Construction
ConstructionConstruction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
is largely the same as crafting, only with the greater need of materials and skills. When building anything from simple devices through to complex buildings like workshops, it is important to have a ready supply of skilled labour and a good supply chain to finish the job. NPC
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
labourers can be hired to speed up the entire process, however it is possible for individual players to also provide a helping hand. Labourers can also "bulk-add" handcart-loads full of easy-to-add items, such as firewood, or even bricks to lengthly projects.
Roma Victor features an open-ended 'sandbox'-style environment
Open world
An open world is a type of video game level design where a player can roam freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how to approach objectives...
in which players can rent structures to live in, build their own, or let them out to other players. Any structure can be set as public or private.
The construction is basically divided between devices and structures. Devices are necessary in order to craft items, such as tool
Tool
A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such...
s and weapon
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
s. Furnace
Furnace
A furnace is a device used for heating. The name derives from Latin fornax, oven.In American English and Canadian English, the term furnace on its own is generally used to describe household heating systems based on a central furnace , and sometimes as a synonym for kiln, a device used in the...
s, workbench
Workbench
A workbench is sturdy table at which manual work is done. They range from simple flat surfaces to very complex designs that may be considered tools in themselves. Workbenches vary in size from tiny jewelers benches to the huge benches used by staircase makers...
es, and kiln
Kiln
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, or oven, in which a controlled temperature regime is produced. Uses include the hardening, burning or drying of materials...
s are examples of currently implemented devices. Structures are basically buildings that may serve as housing, storage areas, and advanced crafting workshops. Presently, the only buildable player-made structures aside from guild halls are roundhouse
Roundhouse
A roundhouse is a building used by railroads for servicing locomotives. Roundhouses are large, circular or semicircular structures that were traditionally located surrounding or adjacent to turntables...
s, animal pens, arena
Arena
An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
s, workshop
Workshop
A workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...
s, and horreas. Tent
Tent
A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over or attached to a frame of poles or attached to a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using guy ropes tied to stakes or tent pegs...
s can also be made as portable structures that can be transported in a character's inventory
Inventory
Inventory means a list compiled for some formal purpose, such as the details of an estate going to probate, or the contents of a house let furnished. This remains the prime meaning in British English...
before deployment.
Combat
CombatCombat
Combat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....
skills are structured in a similar manner to crafting skills, in that an untrained character is very unlikely to win in a fair fight against a highly-trained character, regardless of player skill and reflexes. A character automatically dodges and parries incoming strikes based on randomized calculations on the server, although blocking with a shield has both an automatic calculation and will happen if the opponent accidentally clicks on the player's shield. It is also possible to disarm an opponent's weapon during a fight.
Roma Victor features real-time combat, which is largely decided by character skills similar to the character 'levels' found in most MMOs. However, unlike some other games, there are several tricks that are harder to pull off than just pushing a button. Timing and tactics also play a big role in your character's survival.
Roma Victor has hitboxes for each bodypart on a player, so that clicking the attack button while aiming the mouse on a particular part of an opponent's body will attempt to hit exactly that part of the body. After the character's automatic chance to evade the attack based on skill numbers, the attack damage will be applied to the hit points in that bodypart if the calculations failed. In this way, a player can repeatedly click at the weak or unarmoured parts on an opponent.
Death and the afterlife
When the hitpoints of a particular bodypart reach zero, the player will become incapacitated. When incapacitated (i.e. knocked out) in combat, the player's character does not necessarily die straight away. He will be unconscious on the ground for a certain time (it varies), unless someone administers basic aid or a killing blow. If someone administers first aid, the player will be back on his feet and ready to fight in a few seconds, albeit severely wounded. If a deathblow is administered, then the player is taken away from the combat to ElysiumElysium
Elysium is a conception of the afterlife that evolved over time and was maintained by certain Greek religious and philosophical sects, and cults. Initially separate from Hades, admission was initially reserved for mortals related to the gods and other heroes...
, a small area for dead players. In Elysium, the player must walk toward an NPC that will return him to a designated spawn-in spot on the main gameworld. If a player was deathblown and has high skills, they may suffer decay. Player kills deal more skill loss than other forms of death.
Being deathblown is not the only way to die in Roma Victor. The current other forms of dying include drowning
Drowning
Drowning is death from asphyxia due to suffocation caused by water entering the lungs and preventing the absorption of oxygen leading to cerebral hypoxia....
in a river if you run out of vigour whilst still swimming, bleeding
Bleeding
Bleeding, technically known as hemorrhaging or haemorrhaging is the loss of blood or blood escape from the circulatory system...
to death after receiving a fatal wound without proper medical treatment, and suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. If a player wishes to suicide in the game, they can do so at any time. One attribute (muscle, vision, agility, dexterity, intuition, or stamina) will be completely zeroed.
Roman provincial law
Certain areas are well-policed by NPC representatives of Roman law, such as legionaries, who will attempt to uphold the law and prevent violence. In Roman settlements, it is impossible to break the laws, while in others a player can attempt it at his own risk, since the NPC guards will, regardless of location, know of the act and respond later. The offending player will receive a "badge" upon his character marking them as a criminal, which will be removed upon death or after a set amount of time.Barbarians north of Hadrian's Wall are beyond the reach of the law altogether, so the barbarian lands are effectively a full PvP environment. There are no negative consequences for attacking other barbarians; aside from a reputation amongst fellow players.
Subscription
There are no monthly subscription fees in Roma Victor. The game uses a variant of the micropaymentMicropayment
A micropayment is a financial transaction involving a very small sum of money and usually one that occurs online. PayPal defines a micropayment as a transaction of less than 12 USD while Visa prefers transactions under 20 Australian dollars, and though micropayments were originally envisioned to...
economic model, which consists of buying in-game currency (known as sesterces) with real money through the VERM system. It is not possible to exchange virtual currency earned in-game into real world money. There is no trial period either.
Development
Roma Victor has been sporadically 'in development' since its release in 2006. While there have been many patches and new content added, some intended gameplay features such as player-built roads and fortifications, territorial conquest, and mounts have not yet been implemented. There are also a number of known bugs in game that have yet to be fixed.The speed of development and occasional lack of customer support or communication has been attributed by the creators to a relatively low budget and small development team.
RV2
RV2, an overhaul of the current Roma Victor client featuring improved graphics and gameplay, was announced in August 2009 to be implemented sometime in 2010. The developers stated that existing customers will be transferred over to the new version without a fee, as will existing buildings, characters and their belongings.In January 2010, it was announced that the current Roma Victor would be shutting down sometime the following year. It was stated that RV2 is still in development and may be released as soon as 2011, but the future of the project is uncertain.