Just in case you were worried that Black & White would not be as revolutionary a multiplayer experience as it a singleplayer one, have no fear. In fact, not only are Lionhead planning to occupy months of your otherwise mundane life with the single-player land of Eden, they want you to waste at least another year in the online one. They're so confident in Black & White being a successful multiplayer game that they are plotting not one, not two, but three whole versions of multiplayer madness, each and every one designed to encourage you to cross a few more weeks off your calendar.



BLACK & WHITE GATHERING

First up, Lionhead want to create the most advanced chat program on the Internet. They've decided to call it Black & White Gathering. Sure, we can all create bots and make coloured words in any IRC utility you care to name, but who ever dreamed of stomping the dew-soaked grass beneath their paws as a giant lion? Even the most efficient chat program in the world never dreamed of letting you control an oversized tortoise and have it dance about to your favorite MP3s in blistering 3D. But at Lionhead they dream, not of electric sheep, but of sixteen people conversing through their own oversized quadrapeds.
All of you ICQ (I-Seek-You) and AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) users will be delighted to know that Gathering integrates fully with both, allowing you to see if your friends are online, not by their presence in a list, but by the muddy claw prints they've left behind in the lush fields of Eden (although there is a list in the top left corner of your screen, if you do require it). As with the rest of B&W, Lionhead aim to make it a truly innovative experience. Your Titan, an avatar which you choose from a list every time you enter, waves, laughs and emotes on demand. It even lip-synchs to what you type, which appears in a speech bubble above its head.
Although B&W Gathering is an extremely stripped down version of the full game, with no save feature and no villagers to play around with, Lionhead make up for this in other areas. It has been said that your Titans will be able to spar with each other, take part in races and even play a more amiable game of chess. All of these, as well as an area to try out spell gestures, are located on separate islands. Hopefully Gathering should make up for that Eden-shaped hole in your stomach and show us some of Black & White's potential, at least until the full version is released.



BLACK & WHITE WORLDS

The second multiplayer version, which will be included as part of the full game, is a more predictable one. Black & White Worlds, as it is known, is to Black & White what deathmatch is to any normal 3D shooter. Up to eight players can play together in one game, either as a straight deathmatch, or as a cooperative team deathmatch. The object, of course, is to destroy the opposition's Citadel(s), although no doubt Lionhead will include any number of interesting quirks and features to make it as much, if not more, of an experience as the singleplayer.
Black & White Worlds is best suited to the clans when they finally get a chance to go head to head with each other and let off all that pent-up tension. And with the opportunity to export your personal Titan into the big, bad world of the Internet some interesting conflicts are bound to develop. We will also be able to examine Molyneux's claim that no two Titans should ever appear the same. Hopefully, it will all arrive on time this time around. The expected release date is November 2000.



BLACK & WHITE UNIVERSE

We've saved the best for last. Black & White Universe looks to be the most exciting aspect of B&W, and certainly the most ambitious. For quite a few years now MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, fact fans) have been cropping up all over the Internet, the most famous being Ultima Online and Everquest. Now Lionhead have decided to set up a perpetual Eden online, where players from all over the world will be able to stake out their own piece of paradise. Some would call Molyneux overly-ambitious and casually reiterate the RPG part of MMORPG. But remember, Molyneux has called B&W a role-playing game. It just happens that the role you play is God.
For a small fee, which has yet to be decided, players will have access to B&W Universe, a continual online world. When you are offline, your Titan takes control and makes your decisions for you using its advanced AI. But when you log on, the whole world of Eden is available for your exploration and conquest. It is claimed that up to thirty-two players, including their Citadels and Titans, can be supported on a sever at once.
Not much is known about B&W Universe, but it has recently been confirmed by Molyneux, who says we can expect it maybe half a year after the release of B&W. While the release date remains to be seen, the concept itself is a truly brilliant one and hopefully should secure Lionhead as a rival to Id or Origin in the ever-growing world of multiplayer gaming.