Al Riddoch, one of the developers behind WorldForge, has a blog post up about some of the recent changes to the WorldForge codebase, which have vastly improved the crafting capabilities of the Mason role all players (there are no character classes) within the game framework (codenamed Mason).

It’s actually pretty cool: Masons players within WorldForge games can now modify the terrain a little bit, creating raised plateaus on which buildings can then be placed, adding additional fortification possibilities to structures.

I gather, from the rest of the post, that building construction hasn’t been implemented yet; Al mentions that he had to cheat the house he eventually placed on his sample terrain into place using administrator powers. That said, the ability to mold and shape terrain toward structural ends is…not something one typically finds in multiplayer RPGs, or multiplayer games of most kinds.

I also thought this was cool:

Man, do I wish I could build terrain that quickly in Ultima Return!