Consider (MUD)

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Consider is, in MUDs (particularly DikuMUDs and EverQuest ), a player character capability, usually implemented as a command, for evaluating the likely outcome of engaging in combat with a potential enemy. [1] [2] [3] It is often abbreviated con. [2] [3]

A MUD is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, usually text-based. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat. Players can read or view descriptions of rooms, objects, other players, non-player characters, and actions performed in the virtual world. Players typically interact with each other and the world by typing commands that resemble a natural language.

DikuMUD is a multiplayer text-based role-playing game, which is a type of MUD. It was written in 1990 and 1991 by Sebastian Hammer, Tom Madsen, Katja Nyboe, Michael Seifert, and Hans Henrik Stærfeldt at DIKU —the department of computer science at the University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark.

<i>EverQuest</i> video game

EverQuest is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows PCs. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North America, and by Ubisoft in Europe in April 2000. A dedicated version for macOS was released in June 2003, which operated for ten years before being shut down in November 2013. In June 2000, Verant Interactive was absorbed into Sony Online Entertainment, who took over full development and publishing duties of the title. Later, in February 2015, SOE's parent corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment, sold the studio to investment company Inception Acquisitions and was rebranded as Daybreak Game Company, who develops and publishes EverQuest to this day.

While the ability to estimate the difficulty of combat is valued by players, particularly newbies, [4] this capability has its downside in that implementations of it are often bug-ridden, [1] and the more complex a MUD's combat system and the capabilities of an individual opponent, the less likely it is that a consider will give an accurate result. [3] Some MUDs have implemented consider commands only to disable them because the results were sufficiently misleading as to be worse than having no such capability at all.

Newbie, newb, noob, or n00b is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in a profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner or new user of computers, often concerning Internet activity, such as online gaming or Linux use. Depending on the context and spelling variant used, the term can have derogatory connotations —but is also often used for descriptive purposes only, without any value judgment.

A software bug is an error, flaw, failure or fault in a computer program or system that causes it to produce an incorrect or unexpected result, or to behave in unintended ways. The process of finding and fixing bugs is termed "debugging" and often uses formal techniques or tools to pinpoint bugs, and since the 1950s, some computer systems have been designed to also deter, detect or auto-correct various computer bugs during operations.

In text-based games, the results of a consider are most often expressed as a verbal result such as "Fairly easy", "You would need a lot of luck", or "You ARE mad". [3] In graphical games, a common convention is for results to be color-coded, typically with green or blue indicating a weaker target, white or yellow signifying a close match, red or orange meaning a stronger target, and purple or special-case graphics such as a skull indicating that one is completely outclassed. [5]

Related Research Articles

In multiplayer online games, a MUSH is a text-based online social medium to which multiple users are connected at the same time. MUSHes are often used for online social intercourse and role-playing games, although the first forms of MUSH do not appear to be coded specifically to implement gaming activity. MUSH software was originally derived from MUDs; today's two major MUSH variants are descended from TinyMUD, which was fundamentally a social game. MUSH has forked over the years and there are now different varieties with different features, although most have strong similarities and one who is fluent in coding one variety can switch to coding for the other with only a little effort. The source code for most widely used MUSH servers is open source and available from its current maintainers.

Online creation, also referred to as OLC, online coding, online building, and online editing, is a software feature of MUDs that allows users to edit a virtual world from within the game itself. In the absence of online creation, content is created in a text editor or level editor, and the program generally requires a restart in order to implement the changes.

The MUD trees below depict hierarchies of derivation among MUD codebases. Solid lines between boxes indicate code relationships, while dotted lines indicate conceptual relationships. Dotted boxes indicate that the codebase is outside the family depicted.

Player(s) versus player(s), better known as PvP, is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between two or more live participants. This is in contrast to games where players compete against computer-controlled opponents and/or players, which is referred to as player versus environment (PvE). The terms are most often used in games where both activities exist, particularly MMORPGs, MUDs, and other role-playing video games. PvP can be broadly used to describe any game, or aspect of a game, where players compete against each other. PvP is often controversial when used in role-playing games. In most cases, there are vast differences in abilities between experienced and novice players. PvP can even encourage experienced players to immediately attack and kill inexperienced players. PvP is sometimes called player killing.

A MUD client is a computer application used to connect to a MUD, a type of multiplayer online game. Generally, a MUD client is a very basic telnet client that lacks VT100 terminal emulation and the capability to perform telnet negotiations. On the other hand, MUD clients are enhanced with various features designed to enhance the gameplay of MUDs.

LPMud, abbreviated LP, is a family of MUD server software. Its first instance, the original LPMud game driver, was developed in 1989 by Lars Pensjö. LPMud was innovative in its separation of the MUD infrastructure into a virtual machine and a development framework written in the LPC programming language.


An online text-based role playing game is a role-playing game played online using a solely text-based interface. Online text-based role playing games date to 1978, with the creation of MUD1, which began the MUD heritage that culminates in today's MMORPGs. Some online-text based role playing games are video games, but some are organized and played entirely by humans through text-based communication. Over the years, games have used TELNET, internet forums, IRC, email and social networking websites as their media.

Mob (gaming) in an MMORPG or MUD, an NPC that is hostile and/or vulnerable to attack, especially generic monstrous NPCs that the player is expected to hunt and kill, but excluding those that engage in dialog, sell items, or which cannot be attacked

A mob, short for mobile, also known as an enemy or mook, is a computer-controlled non-player character (NPC) in a computer game such as an MMORPG or MUD. Depending on context, every and any such characters in a game may be considered to be a "mob", or usage of the term may be limited to hostile NPCs and/or NPCs vulnerable to attack. Common usage refers to either a single character or a multitude of characters in a group as a mob.

Permadeath or permanent death is a game mechanic in both tabletop games and video games in which player characters who lose all of their health are considered dead and cannot be used anymore. Depending on the situation, this could require the player to create a wholly new character to continue, or completely restart the game losing nearly all progress towards completion. Other terms include persona death and player death.

Implementer was originally the self-given name of the creators of the Infocom text adventure series Zork. Implementor, often shortened to Imp, became the title given to game designers and programmers at Infocom. Implementers were inserted as minor characters in several Infocom games. The game Beyond Zork also includes a group of characters called Implementors, minor deities who are integral to the plot. The term carried over into MUDs, particularly DikuMUDs, where it usually refers to a game's owner or owners, similarly to the term "God".

A raid is a type of mission in a video game where a number of people attempt to defeat either: (a) another number of people at player-vs-player (PVP), (b) a series of computer-controlled enemies in a player-vs-environment (PVE) battlefield, or (c) a very powerful boss (superboss). This type of objective is most commonly seen in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), and usually, but not necessarily, occurs within an instance dungeon in that genre. On the other hand, in military real-time strategy (RTS) games like StarCraft, the term is used differently.

The Mud Connector

The Mud Connector, abbreviated TMC, is a computer gaming website that provides articles, discussions, reviews, resource links and game listings about MUDs. The site lets MUD owners, administrators and enthusiasts submit information and reviews about specific MUDs. The site contains over 1000 MUD listings and designates a subset of virtual communities suitable for children. Mud Companion magazine praised the site.

<i>Lost Souls</i> (online game) 1990 video game

Lost Souls is a MUD, a text-based online role-playing game set in a medieval fantasy world. It has an extensive history of technical innovation in its field and has received critical praise.

Wizard is commonly used in MUDs, particularly LPMuds, AberMUDs and MU*, as a term for the MUD's developers and administrators. The usage originates with Richard Bartle's original MUD1 and MUD2. It is frequently abbreviated "wiz", which is sometimes used as a verb; to wiz is to become a wizard. The plural of "wiz" is "wizzes".

An immortal, in MUDs and particularly DikuMUDs, is an administrator and/or developer of the game, often a player who has achieved "immortal" status by achievements within the game world. It is frequently abbreviated "imm" or "immort". Some MUDs have an option for players who have become immortals to "remort", returning to mortal status with advantages.

God or Goddess, in MUDs, often refers to an administrator of a MUD server, most typically the owner. Sometimes multiple individuals with the title of God are present, or the term may even be applied to all administrative and development staff, but it is usual for the term to refer to the most senior administrator. A similar term, mostly used in DikuMUDs, is implementer, or "imp".

Rent, in MUDs, is a mechanism for both enabling and limiting persistence of a player character's possessions. In the "traditional" rent paradigm, in order to keep belongings between game sessions, the player must travel to an inn and use the rent command there, and is assessed a price, in game money, for each inventory item; items that cannot be paid for are not persisted. If the player simply uses the quit command rather than rent, inventory items are not kept, and fall to the ground. Many evolutions of this approach exist: the rent command is often made to be performable anywhere rather than only at an inn, sometimes costs are removed or made negligible, and so on. At times, in MUDs where inventory is made to simply persist automatically when the player quits the game, the conceptualization of inventory persistence as "rent" is sufficiently ingrained that this is referred to as "autorent".

<i>AVATAR</i> (MUD) 1991 video game

A.V.A.T.A.R. MUD is a free, online, massively multiplayer, fantasy, text-based role-playing game, set in a real-time virtual environment. It combines elements of role-playing games, hack and slash style computer games, adventure games and social gaming.

References

  1. 1 2 Shah, Rawn; Romine, James (1995). Playing MUDs on the Internet. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 74. ISBN   0-471-11633-5. You should use the consider command as a good way of guessing whether you should attack a mobile. Usually, it will take into account your current equipment and level, but not your status in general (i.e., hp, mana). Often, consider will only compare your level to your opponents. This command is sometimes buggy, so be prepared to flee if you have not fought the mobile before.
  2. 1 2 Benedikt, Claire Lisette; Ciskowski, Dave (1995). MUDs: Exploring Virtual Worlds on the Internet. BradyGames. p. 208. ISBN   1-56686-246-9. consider, con In combat MUDs, usually a command to gauge the relative strength of a monster against yourself. Often used as a verb. "If you had con'd that mob before attacking it, you'd have known it was suicide."
  3. 1 2 3 4 Busey, Andrew (1995). Secrets of the MUD Wizards. SAMS Publishing. p. 144. ISBN   0-672-30723-5. "Considering" an Opponent It often is useful to have a rough idea of the capabilities of an enemy before beginning combat. The con <target> command gives you a rough estimate of the difficulty of a battle with the target monster or individual. Note, however, that this estimate often does not take into account spellcasting capabilities and the like, which may make combat much more difficult—proceed into combat with care. Results of You ARE mad! and You are a dumb player for even considering, two messages common to many DikuMUDs, indicate that the target creature is much more capable than your character—beware!
  4. ↑ Towers, J. Tarin; Badertscher, Ken; Cunningham, Wayne; Buskirk, Laura (1996). Yahoo! Wild Web Rides. IDG Books Worldwide Inc. p. 139. ISBN   0-7645-7003-X. Use the consider command around town and find out what you can handle, or find somebody nice and ask him where the best place for newbies is. [...] Once you've set your prompt and wimpy (more on that later), find a suitable target for your first planned act of aggression. Check it with consider, and then make sure your fingers are ready to quickly type the word flee.
  5. ↑ Jennings, Scott; Macris, Alexander (2005-12-19). Massively Multiplayer Games For Dummies. For Dummies. p. 307. ISBN   0-471-75273-8.
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