The player is responsible for cute little fellas called "Norns." You breed your Norns, care for them, and play with them. You can teach them to talk, and teach them what is appropriate or inappropriate. I remember with fondness the time that I accidentally convinced one of my Norns that her name was "Cheese."
This game is intelligent and quirky. You are able to explore the far reaches of a world called "Albia," or you can choose to focus on educating and breeding your creatures. Amazingly, genetic variation will show up in each following generation of Norns, although this is not the result of dominant genes; any genes that appear are randomly selected.
The player is responsible for cute little fellas called "Norns." You breed your Norns, care for them, and play with them. You can teach them to talk, and teach them what is appropriate or inappropriate. I remember with fondness the time that I accidentally convinced one of my Norns that her name was "Cheese."
This game is intelligent and quirky. You are able to explore the far reaches of a world called "Albia," or you can choose to focus on educating and breeding your creatures. Amazingly, genetic variation will show up in each following generation of Norns, although this is not the result of dominant genes; any genes that appear are randomly selected. Your Norns interact with each other and you, and with other little critters they may
find around the world of Albia. They also enjoy finding toys and food, something they can learn to do without your guidance.
Creatures spawned a massive online response after being released. Sites for swapping tips on Norn care began to spring up, as well as players creating new items for Albia. Norns became the better version of Furbies (An irritating 90’s toy resembling a squat, furry alien with a beak that alternated between humming annoying songs to itself and nasal pleas to be fed.) Norns were realistic and loveable. This is not surprising, considering as the game’s creator is heavily involved in experiments to do with artificial life. Creatures was not only a game; it was an important insight into genetics and artificial life.
I remember playing Creatures II as a child. I cried when a Norn died, became frustrated when I couldn’t teach it a new word, and laughed when it found a ball to play with. It was easy to forget that one was just playing a game. How could these little characters, capable of thought and play and learning, be part of something as trivial as a computer game? It was easy to imagine that after I shut down the computer and went to bed, my Norns would continue exploring and getting into trouble until I returned in the morning to tell them, “No, don’t eat that. Don’t play with that.” Teaching was a somewhat arduous process that closely mimicked real teaching. It was not like the series of repetitions often seen in electronic programs, where you keep saying “Learn this” until the computer mimics you. It was more like, User: Learn this. Norn: I’m hungry. User: I will feed you, and then you will learn this. Norn: Learn that? User: No, learn this. Norn: I have found a ball; I’m going away to play now.
When I was young, I never got to explore the world of Albia much. I was so determined to have my Norns understand the basics before they set out exploring that I spent hours trying to teach them about things they oughn't touch, and things that were good to eat. On a few of my brief forays into Albia, one of my precious Norns drowned, and another caught a disease from a nasty Grendel. After that, I started playing less and less, being only a seven-year-old with a short attention span, but I remembered the game fondly as I grew up.
Perhaps I remember the game being so engrossing because I was so young, and I’d grown up without Bill Wright-variety games and without chat robots and the like. I excitedly look forward to trying Creatures II again now that I’m older, and hopefully this time I’ll actually be able to do some exploring, rather than trying in vain to impress the concept of “cheese” upon an impatient Norn that would much rather play with a nearby ball.
