October 1999
- DIVE Holly Sommer
- Admin: Kanga.Nu is going down for couple hours J C Lawrence
- ADMIN: We should be back up now J C Lawrence
- Admin: Archive updates J C Lawrence
- ADMIN: DevMUD is closing J C Lawrence
- ADMIN: Explanation of DevMUD vs MUD-Dev and a minor note J C Lawrence
- ADMIN: For those with an interest in patterns J C Lawrence
- ADMIN: Kanga.Nu Library -- first edition J C Lawrence
- weather Matthew Mihaly
- Alternate Character Sets (Telnet Question) Chimera
- Alternate Character Sets (Telnet Question) Travis S. Casey
- Alternate Character Sets (Telnet Question) Greg Miller
- Interesting little discussion going on at /. Nathan F Yospe
- Dan Kegel: A few notes on writing multiplayer games J C Lawrence
- Dan Kegel: A few notes on writing multiplayer games Bruce Mitchener, Jr.
- Coolmud Ilya, Game Commandos
- Affect of personalizing cannon fodder mobs Lazarus
I recently ran into a rather interesting RPG tool for generating a tavern
full of NPC's. Clicking on http://www.irony.com/mktavern.html lets you
build a basic tavern and
http://spitfire.ausys.se/johan/npcmaker/default.stm will create mobiles
for it. This got me to thinking about using a name generator to give
names to all the cannon fodder mobs commonly used in a hack and slash mud.
I think I need to start off with some background perspective for this
question. This question is posed in the context of a hack and slash mud
where mobs repopulate every 'tick'. Players achieve advancement in this
mud by killing large numbers of these 'mobs'. I realize that many members
of this forum find such limitless supply of mobs unrealistic but this does
form the background of this question.
Given a hack and slash mud with unlimited supplies of mobs to kill, what
is the psychological impact of giving these mobs 'unique names'? Is
hacking a mob known only as "a guard" with your sword or demolishing them
with a blast of acid any less psychotic than slaying the same mob known as
"Gdeuviugr"? Is there any noticable difference in the psychological
impact on our young players between "You thrash the dwarven guard with
your sword" and "You thrash Gdwuviugr with your sword"? Does
personalizing the opponent (or impersonalizing them) make any significant
difference?
Giving the mobs unique names is a cheesy way to address the unrealistic
nature of unlimited mobs. One could say that there is a huge area that
players can not enter full of hard working mobs who come to town to drink
in the tavern. You may kill "Gdwuviugr" tonight but he will be replace by
his brother "Rhoofr" tomorrow. Thus you can realistically explain the
virtually unlimited supply of cannon fodder. The question still remains.
How does personalizing the abstract opponent of a players aggression
affect their psychological development? This is particularly important
when we consider that most mudders are teen age males. - Affect of personalizing cannon fodder mobs Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Affect of personalizing cannon fodder mobs Matthew Mihaly
- Affect of personalizing cannon fodder mobs Chris Turner
- Affect of personalizing cannon fodder mobs Colin Coghill
- Affect of personalizing cannon fodder mobs Greg Miller
- patents and muds Bruce Mitchener, Jr.
- patents and muds Sellers, Michael
- patents and muds Mik Clarke
- patents and muds Cynbe ru Taren
- patents and muds Joe Andrieu
- patents and muds Koster, Raph
- patents and muds Cynbe ru Taren
- Pueblo Par Winzell
- Library updates J C Lawrence
- Pueblo Mik Clarke
- patents and muds Richard Bartle
- patents and muds Scott Boding
- patents and muds Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- patents and muds Joel Kelso
- patents and muds Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- patents and muds Mik Clarke
- patents and muds Mik Clarke
- Cannon fodder mobs alternatives Aaron
- Patent problems Richard Bartle
- History of online gaming Koster, Raph
- historians Matthew Mihaly
- historians Laurel Fan
- historians Matthew Mihaly
- historians Laurel Fan
- historians Philip Loguinov -- Draymoor
- historians Matthew Mihaly
- historians Marian Griffith
- historians Mik Clarke
- historians J C Lawrence
- historians J C Lawrence
- historians cg@ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA
- historians Matthew Mihaly