Indians, Asterix and the Goths online....

if you believe Alexa, the #18 most popular site in India today is a website called Travian.in. It ranks slightly ahead of India's #1 job site naukri.com, and India's #1 travel site Indian Railways.

So what is Travian.in?

Travian is a browser game featuring a world with thousands of other real players. One begins the game acting as a chief of a tiny village. No downloads necessary, the game is directly playable. You can play with thousands of real players in a persistent ancient world. You can build up villages, wage wars or trade with your neighbors.

Take a look at the characters in the game: You can be a Roman, a Gaul, or a Teuton (Goth)




Hmmm...

Which probably means the Gaulish chief's name could be Vitalstatistix, the Teuton generals could be Metric, Rhetoric, Electric and of course the Roman villages names could be Aquarium, Tototum, Laudanum and Compendium. If this mystifies you, click here.

Hundreds of thousands of Indians are playing this game online, likely without reference to Monsieurs Goscinny and Uderzo. Charles de Gaulle once grumbled that his only international rival was TinTin; Unknown to all the same may be true in India online of the Indomitable Gauls.....

Vive le Gaul! Vive le Asterix! .. or perhaps, Jai ho, Gaul! Jai ho Asterix!?