ID:1917520
 
I absolutely love George Orwell's Ninteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm.

While completing Animal Farm, once again, I imagined a role-playing game using the books themes. Ideally, upon the start of the game players would select an animal and their place in society. I'll provide a quick example of the leadership committee:

2 Pigs competing for leadership
1 Pig who acts as the head of security
9 Dogs who act as the security force for the chosen leader
1 pig who spreads the leader's propaganda

Similar to Animal Farm, the game would start with commandments in which the animals, who rebelled against the humans, must comply with.

Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.

Some animals, such as the sheep and horses, may not have the ability to successfully read these rules and may rely on others. While others, such as the Donkey or Goats, have the ability to interpret the commandments but may not care.

Every class would have attributes/skills in which they could contribute to the new farm.

The goal is to enforce strict role-playing. The players are given the setting and tools and it's up to them on rather they build a successful society or have an ending similar to Animal Farms.

I'm contemplating on if this type of role playing would work. The game would rely on players communicating with each other. I've thought, to make it more interesting, to take some of the game play from harvest moon and implement it into this. Therefore, like the book, the players must use the land in order to survive.

Long story short, would this role-playing enviornment be interesting enough to indulge in, from a player's view? Or should Animal Farm remain on paper?

Wide appeal sounds unlikely. RP-heavy games have in general tended to split into multiple servers: Some with stricter RP, some more focused on gameplay. I suspect the strict RP crowd is a minority at best.
In response to Lummox JR
Lummox JR wrote:
Wide appeal sounds unlikely. RP-heavy games have in general tended to split into multiple servers: Some with stricter RP, some more focused on gameplay. I suspect the strict RP crowd is a minority at best.

I assumed that strict role-playing would be a turn off for the masses. Not everybody's cup of tea.

Multiple servers is a good idea though. One for strict role-playing and one for sandbox-role-playing (non-strict).

Really, I am looking for the potential stories and outcomes that could come from a product that is immersive and dynamic.
In response to Lummox JR
I remember seeing a game structured somewhat like this idea. Where there is a hierarchy (from the King to the Peasant) and the rules came from the top. - Cow RP

I did a quick search and it appeared that the role-playing was horrible in that game. What did it do wrong when compared to...

Hedgerow Hall, a game I have never played but read a lot on. It appears that there was role-playing but the creator ceased hosting due to the griefers(?) How popular was HrH and what did it do different from the RP games on BYOND today? And did it have outside-BYOND appeal?