Christopher Nolan is building hype for The Odyssey through a fully gamified Discord experience for fans
Not even the greatest minds of my Greek ancestors could have predicted that a remake of Homer’s famous duology, featuring a mostly non-Hellenic cast, would be dissected on a digital forum called Discord.
To further build anticipation for the newest instalment in Christopher Nolan’s catalogue, Universal Pictures has invited fans to join The Odyssey’s official Discord.
Following the film’s second trailer, a cryptic Instagram post urged fans to “Start your journey”, backed by a series of numbers that, when typed into a browser, unlock access to the server. Punch in this to get the invite: 50.230.145.19.
Users are greeted with the message: “Dear Castaway, we are glad you washed ashore. This guide will help you find your footing. Read carefully. The sea ahead is full of secrets.”
Universal has essentially recreated the Greek agoras of old, building out specific forums for cinephiles to chat, meme, and theorise.
The Discord also assigns ‘special roles’ to users: fan fiction writers become ‘The Poets’, theorists are dubbed ‘The Scholars’, and fan artists take on the title ‘Artisan’.
On top of this, the discord has gamified the experience by providing differing ranks and rewards to users, featuring channel unlocks and unique rank icons.
This can be attained through an XP system in which users are rewarded for contributing to the discourse, “Every member who enters this server begins the same way: adrift…the longer you sail, the further you go”.
That gamification extends even further through a series of ‘Discord quests’ rolling out in the coming months.
The first discord quest was kicked off by Odysseus himself, Matt Damon, who asked fans to help build a virtual Trojan horse in an exclusive game where users had to collectively add 4 million planks of wood to the horse construction.
Over 1.2 million players engaged with the first quest and now eagerly await the next one by continually spamming a GIF of Matt Damon commanding his men to row in the ‘bow-rowing’ channel.
Only time will tell what prophecies, discourse and quests will unfold from this digital agora, between now and July 17 when The Odyssey hits theatres.
