Eve of Eden: A Multiplayer Simulation Game
Set Up
Players must log into the game from two separate devices. While the game can be played with friends anywhere in the world using the wonders of the Internet, if you would like to play the game near someone else, please stay at least 6 feet away from them. Aside from being pandemic-friendly, this will ensure that the other player is unable to see your screen and won’t know where you are in the world of Eden
Introduction
Once you and your competitor log into the game, you will randomly be assigned one of the two characters. The figure of Eve is represented by a beautiful woman. While ideally she would be naked as she is in the original epic, it’s unlikely that this would make it past the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Thus, her body is minimally covered to best replicate what she would have looked like, but done so in an especially tasteful way through the use of loose, non-form fitting clothing. The figure of Satan is originally shown to be a snake, as that is the form that he takes in the poem, but through the game, you will be able to morph into various characters to hide from Eve.
Don’t worry if you prefer playing one character over the other; the game includes three rounds with the roles alternating each time. This means that you will play at least one round as each figure. The first person to win two rounds will win the game.
After being assigned your character, you will be placed into a random location in the Garden of Eden virtual environment, but not in a location where you would be able to see your opponent. While Satan will begin as a snake, the environment will also contain many other snakes (as well as the other animals of the Garden, any of which Satan has the power to shift into). Thus, if you are playing as Eve and see an animal near you, you can assume that it isn’t Satan.
Playing as Eve
Your objective is to score as many “goodness” points as possible. As explore your environment in the Garden, you will see numerous opportunities to obtain these points through showing your goodness. For example, you may notice some flowers that haven’t been growing well. By touching them and making them grow with your beauty, you will gain goodness points. Each task will be associated with a different number of points that you will not know about, but continue to seek out ways to demonstrate your character and improve the world around you.
However, you should also keep an eye out for Satan. If you see an animal in your environment causing destruction, or if you have reasonable suspicion to believe that it is him, then you should “identify” him to God and Adam by clicking the button that will be on your screen. If you identify him correctly, God will remove Satan from the Garden and you will automatically win the game. But be careful! If you make a mistake and identify an animal that isn't actually Satan three times, you will automatically lose the game.
Playing as Satan
You will be responsible for trying to limit Eve’s goodness by removing opportunities for her to demonstrate it. For example, if you see a bush with flowers that aren’t growing well, you should destroy the bush before Eve sees it.
However, you need to stay hidden so Eve doesn’t identify you. You can do this by shifting from a snake into one of the other two animals that are part of the Eve of Eden starter pack: a deer and a bear. You can purchase Eve of Eden accessory packs to shift into other animals as well and if you do, those animals will be added to the environment as well. But remember, Eve will not know who you are unless you act suspiciously.
Final Tabulation
After five minutes of gameplay, the game software will determine whether Eve has passed the threshold of goodness, the amount of points necessary to win. This threshold is determined using the strength of the Satan player, based upon their previous win/loss record. If Satan is being played by a particularly strong player, the threshold will be high too. That’s why it’s important to try to score as many points as possible when playing as Eve.
Eve and Satan (as a snake) will appear next to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. You have no control over your characters at this point, but you will see Satan in his final form approach Eve. If he nears her but then turns away, Eve wins the round. But if Satan is able to actually approach Eve and tempt her with the fruit, Satan wins the round. If the latter occurred, it would appear in a similar manner to the image of Eve and the Serpent above, albeit digitized and featuring a clothed Eve.
Analysis:
As I began this project, I was especially interested in studying how Eve exhibits power against Satan in Paradise Lost. In a previous paper, I argued that we often erroneously see Eve as lacking power because of our modern association of a lower position in a gender hierarchy with powerlessness. By using a 1-v-1 video game, even explicitly making references to current events and the Internet, I was able to explore the Eve-Satan relationship while bringing it into the context of our postlapsarian world.
I generated the entire point system around the quote “Her graceful innocence, her every air / Of gesture or least action, overawed / His malice, and with rapine sweet bereaved / His fierceness of the fierce intent it brought” (8.459-461). I saw this line as a reflection of the power that Eve carries as a result of her beauty and goodness, a power that was strong enough to even momentarily resist Satan. Thus, I wondered what would've occurred if Eve’s goodness could have somehow been accumulated or stronger than it was in Book 8. Would Satan have chosen not to harm her (as he does in the event that Eve accumulates enough points in the game)? Or would a history of experiences with committing evil, as he had done prior to encouraging Eve's fall make it impossible for Eve to not fall (as represented by the changing "threshold of goodness"). I developed the one example of a way to accumulate these points through the quote “Her nursery; they at her coming sprung, / And, touched by her fair tendance, gladlier grew” (8.46-47).” In fact, this quote was also notable in my understanding of Eve’s power in the poem because it demonstrated that she carried the power to impact her environment. However, this newfound system also led to a deeper study of the meaning of Eve’s power and agency. While Eve’s ability to momentarily resist Satan could be seen as a sign of her power in the poem, her role as protagonist who is given an explicit mission by the God-like figure that is the game instructions to defeat Satan and knows that her actions will bring about this end further empowers her. Additionally, the context of her being a female "heroine" in a video game is unusual, even in the modern context, leading to an additional level of empowerment. This Eve, and female, focused version of Paradise Lost is not meant to argue that Eve would have been unable to fall, but further points out the power and agency that Eve does possess.
However, I did face some challenges as I tried to reconcile the modern and prelapsarian worlds. While some sections of my description are only included to create a competitive and realistic game or explain that I am trying to make this connection (for example, the set up section or the informal language that I used to attempt to simulate a video game instruction manual), other parts are purposeful. The most significant challenge was the depiction of Eve. While I wanted to depict Eve without clothing to reflect the power exuded by her nude prelapsarian beauty, I realized that if she were depicted in such a way, she would be sexualized given the postlapsarian context of the game and not be widely accepted or revered in the “heroine” role that she fills, which I tried to explain using the ESRB. I’m not an artist or designer by any means, so it was difficult for me to conceptualize what exactly I would have Eve wear. I wanted to create an outfit that covered as little of her body as possible, but given that many female video game characters are depicted wearing form-fitting clothing that covers very little of their bodies and are sexualized as a result, I was worried that this would again lead to Eve being sexualized. I then imagined a loose outfit that covered her breasts and genitalia, but I recognized that this would also limit the power that her feminine form is meant to exude when she is nude (or in form-fitting clothing that would show off this form). I wasn’t really sure how to resolve this Catch-22. But either way, I think it demonstrates the complicated nature of feminine power even within our modern age. We may be led to question how to reconcile the role of a “hero,” a characteristic associated with masculinity and forceful power with the gentle and beautiful power that Eve is associated with. What conclusions can we draw from prelapsarian vs postlapsarian representations of power and the female body? How does this connect with modern feminist issues surrounding the sexualization of the female body? There truly are so many fascinating connections that can be made between the modern woman and the first woman.