The Castle Doctrine Message Board

Last week, indie game-maker Jason Rohrer launched a clever promotional campaign for his new game The Castle Doctrine in which he promised to give out real cash prizes to players depending on how much money they could steal in the game. Read more...

That's right, Vinny's home! Lord of the manor, king of the castle... until he electrocutes himself.

Jason Rohrer isn’t like other game designers. He isn’t really like them at all. From his early days eschewing videogame norms to make a game about the inevitably of death and loss in Passage to cooperative storytelling intrigue-o-tron Sleep Is Death to wild (and controversial) Minecraft “religious” experiment Chain World, Rohrer’s games aren’t escapism. They often make people uncomfortable. They often make him uncomfortable. The Castle Doctrine, then, might just be his most unsettling interactive experience yet. It’s about breaking, entering, stealing, murdering, and defending your virtual family from other players doing the same. As with Rohrer’s other games, it stems from deeply personal experiences, and we’re going to talk about that, the sensitive nature of many topics portrayed in his game, paranoia, gun ownership, game sales, and tons more. This one might be a bit more, er, heavy than the chat with Tim Schafer. But it should be incredibly fascinating as well. Join us live after the break, starting at 11:00 AM PT/7:00 PM GMT. And if you’d like, click over to my Twitch page and hop into the live chat. Discuss! Ask us things!

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Who says (virtual) crime doesn't pay? Jason Rohrer, developer of controversial house defense and burglary game The Castle Doctrine, is taking $3,000 from the game's alpha-period earnings and offering it up as a bounty to any and all players during a special contest to celebrate the game's impending January 29 release date. The current exchange rate is $146 in-game dollars to $1 real-world dollar, so the more money you have in game, the more money you can claim. While the $3,000 bounty will be divided amongst all players, only the best (worst?) criminals can also win some other real-life prizes.

The top eight players will receive various items that touch on Rohrer's personal history. Sixth through eighth place will receive a $50 gift card to Custom Cartridge, a guns and ammunition store Rohrer visited, second through fifth place will receive an anti-burglary device known as a Door Devil, while first place gets a dog club - "the club that started it all," as Rohrer describes it. Each of the top eight players will also get to have their favorite in-game painting become a real-life, 20x20" giclee-printed canvas.

Players have until 5 p.m. Pacific on Monday, January 27 to amass their virtual fortune, at which point Rohrer will take a snapshot of the server database. The top eight players will be ranked according to their house value, so long as that house is on the public house list, and not kept private.

You can read more about the contest, as well as its rewards and rules, on the official Castle Doctrine site.