Costello (online game)

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Costello
Costello logo qbl.jpg
Developer(s) Adrian Cohen, James Hobbs, Jason Hitt, Christopher Sprague, Ford Nickel
Engine MudOS
Platform(s) Platform independent
Release 1995
Genre(s) Educational MUD
Mode(s) Multiplayer, Single-player

Costello is an educational MUD — a text-based online role-playing game — designed for teaching English as a foreign or second language. [1] It is offered online as a free service. [2] Created in 1995, [3] it was innovative in its use of the MUD medium for EFL/ESL instruction,[ citation needed ] and has received positive critical response. [1]

Role-playing game game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting

A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making regarding character development. Actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines.

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.

Contents

Characteristics

A screenshot of Costello's login screen as seen in the Java applet client Costello login.png
A screenshot of Costello's login screen as seen in the Java applet client

Costello is intended to function both as an engaging game and a teaching environment, [2] following the reasoning that players will be more motivated to learn if their skill acquisition aids them in their game-play. To avoid degrading the value of language skills acquired, the game's command parser avoids support for ungrammatical shorthand forms; where a typical MUD might allow a player to examine a hat with the syntax l hat, Costello requires look at the hat. An integrated dictionary provides explication of unfamiliar terms. [1]

The game may be played through a Web browser using a Java applet [2] or using a Java client distributed on a CD-ROM with the course textbook. [4] A non-networked standalone application version of Costello is also included on the CD-ROM.

Costello's tagline is "Quest-Based Learning", reflecting its structuring of learning experiences through quests. [5] An earlier tagline was "English Through Imagination". [1]

A quest, or mission, is a task in video games that a player-controlled character, party, or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward. Quests are most commonly seen in role-playing games and massively multiplayer online games. Rewards may include loot such as items or in-game currency, access to new level locations or areas, an increase in the character's experience in order to learn new skills and abilities, or any combination of the above.

Technical infrastructure

Costello runs on the MudOS game driver and a version of the Ain Soph Mudlib from Lost Souls , with customizations engineered by former Lost Souls developer Jason "Rand" Hitt and others.

MudOS is a major family of LPMud server software, implementing its own variant of the LPC programming language. It first came into being on February 18, 1992. It pioneered important technical innovations in MUDs, including the network socket support that made InterMUD communications possible and LPC-to-C compilation. Its name reflects its focus on separation of concerns between game driver and mudlib. FluffOS is Discworld MUD's fork of MudOS, and still being developed.

<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.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Gromik, Nicolas (March 2005). "Costello—English Through Imagination". TESL-EJ. 8 (4). Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  2. 1 2 3 "Costello Online". Costello Publications. 2005-10-12. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  3. ↑ "About the Authors". Costello Publications. 2005-07-29. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  4. ↑ Cohen, Adrian (2005). Costello: Quest-based Learning. Costello Publications. ISBN   0-9550525-0-5.
  5. ↑ "Costello—Quest-Based Learning". Costello Publications. 2005-11-10. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
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