Godus lacks a chat function to help foster community

Godus will not contain a chat function in order to help foster a community, according to 22cans founder Peter Molyneux.

Speaking to Polygon GDC 2014, Molyneux said chat could lead to a form of passive bullying by more experienced players, and ultimately intimidate casual players.

"Passive bullying is the big problem when you're trying to get casual gamers to play with core gamers," said Molyneux. "Now the last thing that would enter my mind is to bully you, but the very fact that I say I play computer games 20 hours a day is a form of bullying because it's intimidating.

"Most casual gamers don't think they're good enough to play multiplayer games, and this is what we found with Curiosity. Curiosity was an exception because they felt safe. There was no way to chat. They could hide in a cube and their taps were invisible, so they didn't feel intimidated."

Molyneux said he wants players to be comfortable, confident and to form a community. The only way players will be able to interact, is through trading.

"My little followers will trade with your little followers, and that's it," he said. "Of course, I have no idea how it's going to all turn out. It may turn into anarchy, but I don't think it will.

"I still think that most of the world will want to be nice. And provided we don't over-cook it ... then I think something amazing could happen."

Godus is currently in beta and will released on Mac, PC and mobile devices next month.