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
            • • 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
                            Adam Martin wrote:
                            > 2008/9/5 cruise <cruise@casual-tempest.net>:
                            >> Thus spake Kerry Fraser-Robinson...
                            >>> I'd certainly rather be using POW than MMO or even VW. But there's the
                            >>> rub. Even when we come up with an acronym we all prefer, we've then got to
                            >>> start propagating the meme pretty voraciously if we're going to supplant the
                            >>> MMOxxx set with it.
                            >> Well based on the feedback from here I've already started suggesting it on
                            >> message-boards I frequent. Presumably if those of us making these games
                            >> refer to it thusly, it will filter on through...
                            >
                            > This is all tongue-in-cheek, right? I'm English, so I know my
                            > standards of sarcasm are not international standard at the best of
                            > times, especially not in pure text, and in some cases I'm never
                            > entirely sure :).
                            >
                            > Insert quote here, something about History, Ignoring, and Doom.
                            
                            No, I think they're pretty serious. It's not that POW is the best
                            possible acronym, it's just that folks hate MMOxxx that badly.
                            
                            It's true that "POW" can stand for Prisoner of War, although in the USA
                            that mostly connotes action movies, so it's not a big negative. It might
                            carry more negative connotations in Britain, but I don't live there, so
                            I wouldn't know (and it was the British who gave us the Pow! comic, so I
                            don't think it's *that* bad). The term is also already heavily
                            overloaded among geeks, so adding on another acronym isn't a big
                            stretch. "POW!" is one of the standard comic-book sound effects for an
                            explosive discharge. The Mario Brothers games often have "POW" blocks,
                            which are used to shake the entire stage and flip all of the monsters
                            upside-down. It also doesn't hurt that POW form the first three letters
                            of "power," which is a pseudo-cognate in Japanese (so it works there too).
                            
                            Anyway, I think it's a better acronym than MMOXYZ, both because of
                            pronunciation and dominant connotations. I'm not sure which bit of
                            history you think we'd be ignoring.
                            
                            -- Adam
                  • 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