Hippasus

Project Hippasus is an online, community-oriented massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) with the explicit purpose of educating its players in various fields of mathematics. Players assume the role of so-called 'arithmancers': mages and sorcerers who base their power in fundamental mathematical concepts.

Project Hippasus is a fantasy online role-playing game in which the player takes on the role of a student of magic in a world paralleling classical history. The player undertakes pilgrpics to gain understanding and mastery over the world's innate magic; learning, perfecting, and creating their own spells. Magic is based off of a logical system with emergent properties. Through the course of the game users are encouraged and helped to develop logical/mathematical skills which allow them to shape their experience as they see fit.

The purpose of Hippasus is to give users a both fun and educational experience. For those users unfamiliar or not confident with principles of mathematics the game helps to both educate and encourage. The purpose is to provide concrete and exciting meaning to concepts that are often considered to be vague or esoteric and to give players a better understanding of the way their world works. For users who are confident and experienced the game provides a sandbox allowing them to test and visualize mathematical ideas, as well as a social world in which mathematical achievement is linked to power, influence and respect.

With the widespread use of online games has come virtual communities, societies and even economies that have had a direct impact on the world that we live in. It is our goal to positively contribute to society through this game by helping players to develop a greater appreciation for and understanding of the world that we live in, with hopes of encouraging those would would otherwise give up on mathematics and related fields.

The game takes place in a world that primarily parallels human antiquity. The world will be physically based on a modified Europe, with plans to later expand into Asia and the Americas. The map will include countries inspired by classical Greece, Egypt, and the Indo-Aryan region (Persia and India, notably), 14th century Italy, a Frankish depiction of Germany (5-10th century), and 13-14th century China, along with some amalgamation of Celtic and Norse cultures.

Different areas will be culturally, behaviourally, visually, and mathematically distinct to allow for an enhanced user experience. Characters will be born into different civilizations based on physical traits defined on character creation. A few regions will be determined based on initial physical characteristics, with clothing options and other accessories of those regions being presented to make the final decision on what area to create the character in.

Areas in the world will have different mathematical concepts introduced to the users at different times encouraging exploration and cross-cultural integration as part of the learning experience.

Last updated on 10 December 2007