April 1999
- In-Game Languages Eli Stevens {KiZurich}
- In-Game Languages Per Vognsen
- In-Game Languages Chris Gray
- In-Game Languages Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- In-Game Languages Eli Stevens {KiZurich}
- In-Game Languages Matthew D. Fuller
- In-Game Languages Mik Clarke
- In-Game Languages Michael Hohensee
- In-Game Languages Ben Greear
- In-Game Languages Michael Hohensee
- In-Game Languages Mik Clarke
- In-Game Languages Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- In-Game Languages David Bennett
- In-Game Languages Richard Woolcock
- In-Game Languages Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- In-Game Languages Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- In-Game Languages Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- In-Game Languages Andrew Ritchie
- In-Game Languages Matthew D. Fuller
- In-Game Languages adam@treyarch.com
- forward: consistency Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Confined Gameworld Ling
- Confined Gameworld Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Confined Gameworld Richard Woolcock
- Confined Gameworld Eli Stevens {KiZurich}
- Confined Gameworld The Wildman
- Confined Gameworld Koster, Raph
- User centered? Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- User centered? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- User centered? Marc Bowden
- User centered? Adam Wiggins
On Thu, 8 Apr 1999, Ola Fosheim [iso-8859-1] Grøstad wrote:
> For instance, in a recent thread there was a discussion about implementing
> in-game languages by translating the messages into something which couldn't
> be interpreted by players without the language skill. When focusing on the
> MUD as a coherent fantasy world this sounds nifty. But wait! The receiver
> won't know what the sender said, so what he receives does not matter at all.
> Presenting some random strings would have the same effect for less
> implementation cost, and indeed why present anything at all?
I think we discussed this before...can't remember now.
Anyhow, I know that *I* only implement things that I, as a player, would
like to see. Most of the time they're things I saw on other MUDs, and when
I saw them, thought to myself "this is cool, they should take it further".
And that's what I try to do, myself.
As for language, I know that when I encountered it for the first time (not
long after I started MUDing, the first mud I played just happened to have it),
it both drew me into the world that much more, and provided lots of gameplay
and social interaction.
Let's see, examples off the top of my head:
Gameplay: A god on the mud - who still reads this list I believe :) - ran
a quest with a custom-made area. In one place there was a smallish maze
that was filled with hiding, sneaking, backstabbing creatures. The area
had a spell over it which made it impossible to make sound, which meant that
spells requiring spoken invocation could not be cast, but also that no
verbal communication was possible. Well, about half the party (which was
large) knew sign language and tried to organize that way, while the other half
just saw us wiggling our fingers. Needless to say, it was quite an exciting
(and chaotic!) section of the quest, but without the special language it
would have been impossible, and the god couldn't have made the area that way.
Social: A friend of mine and myself had a bunch of spare cash, so we spent
it all learning every language that we could from the lore master. Besides
the fun we had chatting in the common square switching languages every sentence
(and thoroughly confusing all of those who were listening), it also found us
a friend in the form of a gnome. Gnomes were quite rare there, and when we
ran into him and starting chatting to him in his native language (which he
never heard, since there were no gnomes and no one ever bothered to learn
gnomish except for my friend and I), he was thrilled and we made an instant
friend.
And yes, features *do* count, and for more than just their neatness factor.
A world without details like this is no more than a fancy form of IRC.
Granted, a mud with ten rooms, no languages, no fatigue for movement, and no
money is much better for being able to chat with people. But it hardly seems
like a world. The thing that drew me into mudding in the first place was the
depth of it. That I logged on, typed "who" and saw a hundred users connected,
but only ten of whom were in the same town to me. I knew they were out
somewhere in the huge mud-world, seeing fantastic and far-away places, places
that might take me weeks or months to find, or that I might *never* see.
There were people chatting in a language I didn't know in the common square,
and things for sale in the shop that cost more than I could ever imagine
aquiring. The sense of wonder that I felt upon seeing all this has faded
with time, and especially with seeing the insides (code and areas) of various
MUDs (taking away the magic, so to speak) - but I remember what that felt like,
and I want to deliver that experience to others that entire MY mud.
And yes, sometimes those features (distance, language, money) do bring up
barriers between people being able to interact. But from what I've seen,
that makes the interaction that much better, once they overcome them.
To quote Mr. Baron, "Conflict accelerates bonds between people."
Even a conflict as simple as a language barrier can work this way. - User centered? Richard Woolcock
- User centered? Benjamin D. Wiechel
- User centered? Koster, Raph
- target audience Matthew Mihaly
- target audience Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- target audience Marc Bowden
- Fw: Self-organizing worlds (was: Elder Games) Kylotan
- Fw: Self-organizing worlds (was: Elder Games) Matthew Mihaly
- ScryMUD 1.8.11 released. Ben Greear
- Mud driver architecture info B. Scott Boding
- Blending graphics with text u1391470
- Blending graphics with text Laurel Fan
- Blending graphics with text Kylotan
- Blending graphics with text Chris Gray
- Blending graphics with text J C Lawrence
- Blending graphics with text Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Blending graphics with text Chris Gray
- Blending graphics with text Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Blending graphics with text Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Blending graphics with text Mik Clarke
- Blending graphics with text u1391470
- Blending graphics with text claw@kanga.nu
- Blending graphics with text Alex Stewart
- Blending graphics with text J C Lawrence
- Virtual machine design Shane King
- Virtual machine design Alex Stewart
- Virtual machine design Jo Dillon
- Virtual machine design Ben Greear
- Virtual machine design Niklas Elmqvist
- Virtual machine design Shane King
- Virtual machine design Ben Greear
- Virtual machine design claw@kanga.nu
- Virtual machine design Alex Stewart
- Virtual machine design Felix A. Croes
- Virtual machine design Eli Stevens {KiZurich}
- Virtual machine design Mik Clarke
- Virtual machine design Schubert, Damion
- Virtual machine design Ben Greear
- Virtual machine design Ben Greear
- Virtual machine design Felix A. Croes
- Virtual machine design Matthew Mihaly
- Virtual machine design Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Virtual machine design claw@kanga.nu
- Virtual machine design Mik Clarke
- Virtual machine design Oliver Jowett
- Virtual machine design Chris Gray
- Virtual machine design claw@kanga.nu
- Virtual machine design Chris Gray
- Virtual machine design Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Virtual machine design claw@kanga.nu
- Virtual machine design Petri Virkkula
- Virtual machine design Ben Greear
- Virtual machine design Chris Gray
- Virtual machine design Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Virtual machine design Nathan F Yospe
- Virtual machine design Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Virtual machine design Petri Virkkula
- Virtual machine design Jon A. Lambert
- Virtual machine design Koster, Raph
- Virtual machine design Jon A. Lambert
- Virtual machine design Chris Gray
- Rebooting (was: Virtual machine design) Eli Stevens {KiZurich}
- Game design highpoints (was Virtual machine design) claw@kanga.nu
- Sockets Quzah [softhome]
- ScryMUD 1.8.13 snapshot released. Ben Greear
- Interview I did that may interest you Koster, Raph
- Censorship Greg Munt
- Censorship Ben Greear
- Censorship Matthew Mihaly
- Censorship Shawn Halpenny
- Censorship Darren Henderson
- Censorship Quzah [softhome]
- Censorship Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Python B. Scott Boding
- Python Gaffney, Jeremy
- AW: Censorship Hofbauer Heinz
- AW: Censorship Matthew Mihaly
- AW: Censorship Damion Schubert
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Greg Munt
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Matthew Mihaly
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Ben Greear
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Matthew Mihaly
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Matthew Mihaly
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Ben Greear
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Dan
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Matthew Mihaly
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Marian Griffith
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Benjamin D. Wiechel
- Censorship & Its Impact On World Immersion Greg Munt
- Censorship & Its Impact On World Immersion Matthew Mihaly