MMORPG.com: In typical MMOs, players often become quite attached to their character as an individual. In single-player RPGs, players often become attached to a central character, while developing relationships with the other characters who join them. How do you believe the “group character” so to speak, of Tactica Online will impact player’s personal attachment to their characters and socialization within the game world?

Luke Carruthers: We do expect that players will treat most of their characters more like chess pieces than avatars though. They won’t form the same attachment to them, and it’s likely that it’s the external aspects of their persona – their rating, their titles, their impact upon the world around them – that will be important to them.

Players do have something of a central character though, which embodies them when they move around the shared areas of the game. They can customize this character to their hearts content, so their interaction with other players, and their participation in the game’s community, will be very similar to other online games, with the addition that there are lots of features – such as being able to teleport instantly to friends, wherever they are – specifically designed to enable you to play with the people you want to, when you want to.

Attachment to an avatar is often quoted as a reason players stay with a game long past the time they’ve ceased to enjoy it. We’d much rather they stayed around because they were still enjoying the game.