August 2008

• [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Soyweiser
• [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Peter Harkins
• • [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Daniel James
  • • [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Nick Koranda
  • [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Christopher Lloyd
  • • [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Nabil Maynard
    • • [Design] "Why Pirate Games" Article Nick Koranda
      • • [Design] "Why Pirate Games" Article Tess Snider
        • • [Design] "Why Pirate Games" Article Sean Howard
          • [Design] "Why Pirate Games" Article Caliban Darklock
        • [Design] "Why Pirate Games" Article Michael Hartman
      • [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Matt Chatterley
      • [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Siege)
      • • [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Siege)
        • • [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Mike Rozak
          • • [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Siege)
            • [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Acius
  • [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Soyweiser
  • • [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Adam Martin
    • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Michael Hartman
      • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Sean Howard
        • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Michael Hartman
          • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Aurel
            • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Caliban Darklock
              • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Jeffrey Kesselman
            • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Mike Sellers
              Michael Hartman wrote:
              > The extremely cumbersome nature of MMORPG is what bugs me. I
              > have no idea how that horrid term came to be, and whoever
              > invented it needs to be throw in the same pit as the doofus
              > that invented bind on pickup crafted items (stupid).
              
              I'm one of those doofuses. The MMOFRPG acronym came out in all its glory
              during some meetings I was in at 3DO in 1996; I don't recall who exactly
              suggested this and can't pin the blame on anyone specifically. We were
              looking for what to call this new kind of game. Other suggestions included
              "graphical MUD" and even "large-n" game (referring to the number of
              players).
              
              None of the alternatives were or are good ones. The reason we still have
              the old bad ones is because no one has come up with a better one that
              sticks.
              
              Forget MUD and its derivatives, btw. MUD retains its connotative ties to
              text games, and besides, no one in the commercial world wants to name a
              genre after *mud*. Even an unpronounceable acronym is better than that.
              
              > Someone influential needs to coin a better term and spare us
              > from this garbage MMORPG term. The term itself is
              > unpronounceable, and the words it stands for are a gobbled
              > mess as well.
              
              Yep, I agree. But it's been more than ten years, so don't hold your breath.
              Others that have been tried include "PSWs" (persistent state worlds), online
              games (too general) and virtual worlds (taken over by "non-game" social
              worlds). MMOG is the de facto term of use -- at least until someone comes
              up with something a whole lot better.
              
              > People have been shortening it to MMO lately so it is easier
              > to say, but think about how ridiculous that is when you
              > actually extrapolate MMO:
              >
              > "Our company is working on an MMO."
              >
              > "Our company is working on a Massively Multiplayer Online."
              >
              > That's just terrible.
              
              Shrug. I usualy see this with the 'G' attached. And anyway, this is no
              worse than the big signs I see saying things like "ATM Machine" or
              references in government documents to your "PIN Number." If you're looking
              for logic, reason, consistency, and terms that always make sense, well,
              you're in the wrong species.
              
              
              Mike Sellers
            • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Michael Hartman
            • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Sean Howard
        • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD McDonald, Stephen
        • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Michael Hartman
          • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD John Szeder
            • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Jon Mayo
              • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Crwth
              • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Siege)
              • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Soyweiser
        • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Jeffrey Kesselman
        • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Jon Mayo
          • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Raph Koster
            • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Kerry Fraser-Robinson
              • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD John Szeder
                • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD cruise
                • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Lachek Butalek
                  • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Michael Hartman
                  • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Peter Keeler
                    • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Jon Mayo
                      • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Michael Hartman
                    • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Kerry Fraser-Robinson
                    • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD cruise
                      • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Adam Martin
                        • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Acius
                  • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Morris Cox
                  • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Jon Mayo
              • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Michael Hartman
              • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Jeffrey Kesselman
              • • Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Raph Koster
      • [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game John Buehler
• Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD Jeffrey Kesselman