Three Rings
There have been two Three Rings worth noting - both have involved Daniel James, known to the players of Puzzle Pirates as Cleaver, but they are separate companies.
Three Rings Internet Productions was initially formed in 1995 to create an MMOG based on the works of JRR Tolkien. The company folded when it lost the rights to Sierra a few years later.
Three Rings Design was formed in 2001 by Daniel James and Michael Bayne. After discussions between the two, one of the concepts that Daniel had put forward, an MMOG driven by action puzzles, was chosen as Three Rings' first project, and development started in July of 2001.
The name Three Rings is derived from Tolkein mythology: in those stories, the elves were given three magic rings, named Vilya, Narya and Nenya. These names appear from time to time in the game, notably as the names of the flags the Ringers belong to and the archipelago names on the Ice Ocean. Narya is also the name given to Three Rings' open-source Java library, containing "facilities for making networked multiplayer games."
The current staff of Three Rings Design include the Ocean Masters, who are responsible for customer service, moderation and policing within Puzzle Pirates and perform similar functions to Game Masters in other games, and Ringers, who are responsible for the development and maintenance of both Puzzle Pirates and Bang! Howdy.
