When Danny "Ralsu" Gourley got an urge to compete against
another player in a hand of the href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/287"
target="_blank">Free
Realms Trading Card Game, he realized that every
minigame in Sony Online Entertainment's recently-released title
promotes rivalry and competition. As he pondered that design element
and the episodic play of the game, he latched onto the idea that SOE
may achieved something no one has even tried to do before:

Realizing that every minigame in style="font-style: italic;">Free Realms is
about winning or losing also forced me to recognize that it is an
intentional design element. The concept of “e-sport” and reading href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/features/in-the-trenches"
target="_blank">In
the Trenches came to mind. Clearly, competitive
or scoreboard games are very popular on the web. Why wouldn’t someone
look to combine the furor over MMOs with the thrill of a good showdown?

Read the full story href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/67411" target="_blank">here!