nu.kanga.list.mud-dev

31324: RE: [MUD-Dev] NEWS: Why Virtual Worlds are Designed By Newbies -No, Really! (By R. Bartle)

Wayne Witzke wrote:

> ... In order for any profession to mature, a profession-specific
> nomenclature has to develop that professionals can use to talk
> about profession-related topics intelligently and with sufficient
> specificity.  For instance, if somebody says "mob" in the context
> of our profession, I know exactly what they're talking about, even
> though someone from outside our profession might be thinking
> "pitch forks and torches."  If we haven't decided on a name for
> the things that our profession works on (something that would seem
> to be a fundamental building block for any such nomenclature),
> then it seems to me that further discussion is warranted to at
> least come to some general consensus.  We need to know that when
> somebody says MUD they mean x and when they say MMORPG they mean y
> and when they say *name to be determined* they mean everything.

FWIW, there are now many people working on MMOGs or similar VWs who
have little or no history with text MUDs.  The only ones I hear
referring to "mobs" (and the like) are those with roots in text
MUDs.  I've heard "monster" (generic for games), "agent" (generic
for the military/AI crowd), and "character" or NPC (generic overall)
in various contexts.  We typically use AI, agent, or NPC when
talking to non-MUD or non-game folks.

Mike Sellers
Online Alchemy
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