Have you ever wanted to own your own horse but never had the money? Do you own a stubborn horse that just wont jump, gallop, and ride? Well maybe you haven't played Horseland. With 5 million user accounts, this is serious business. It is a free multiplayer online game that just revamped it's graphics to offer more "immersing" gameplay. This might sound ridculous to you, but this planet has been shaped by some of the craziest things, and if I hadn't told you, you probably wouldn't think anyone plays these sort of games. But wait! There's more.
As far as Horseland goes, there actually isn't much more. Horseland Jr. (another version) is based on the popular cartoon show aired around the world, and Horseland World is designed for adults, with more relaxing play. They gear their game towards virtual pets, for people who are interested taking care of their own horse. Thankfully in this redesign, players can create 3D courses for their horses to compete on, and now have the option of having an avatar. The game was created in 1996, and I think the creators have been sleeping for the last 13 years because if they are just now adding avatars, they have a ways to go. Now I'm not going to lie and say I'm being serious when I say this sounds completely enthralling.
So what is the point of this article? Well the real reason I wanted to write about this game was to bring to attention that there is a game for everyone. I'm sure there is a Horseland fanatic out there who can spend hours playing. We all seem to think we are so cool for playing the popular games, but just because a game isn't popular, or it's something you wouldn't ever play doesn't make it a bad game. Horseland is one of the origional virtual pet games, and you can just see in the DS section what something so simple has inspired. What do you guys think of those crazy games you see like Imagine Party Babies (Wii)? Or how about Dreamer: Puppy Trainer (NDS)? Believe it or not, people do play those games. How do you feel about this? Do you think money would be better spent if we just botched silly titles like these, or do you believe that this is the heart of the casual gaming movement?
