Toluu

Zen of Design

An experienced industry veteran discusses game design, especially that of massively multiplayer games.

The King is Dead, Long Live the King…Yesterday

It turns out he just needed a trip to space to clear his head: Richard Garriott voices his interest in jumping back into the fray:

“After 25 years at Origin, the last thing I wanted to make was yet another medieval fantasy game. Now, after a very interesting break, I’m keen to get back into the fray and work on a new game,” He said to BBC: “Probably medieval fantasy and probably online; there’s something very powerful about getting people together,”

Wikipedia Is What It Is…January 6

I have no idea if the MUD Threshold RPG is any good. I do know that its founder, Michael Hartman, is one of the most dedicated and prolific posters of MUD-Dev - where, I note, him and I used to get into some knockdown, dragout fights. I note its PLAYERS do - but people are predisposed to consider things they like noteworthy. But is his MUD particularly noteworthy? Beats me. I have no idea where the line is. They apparently consider every Alpha Flight villain and bad metal band I listened to in the 80s to be relevant enough, but not CarnageMUD. Go figure.

So what to make of the Wikipedia kerfuffel that Raph, Scott and Richard have posted about? Bored to death, really. I mean, it’s not like people haven’t been arguing about this for years.

The summary of most studies I’ve seen says that Wikipedia covers more topics than conventional Encyclopedias such as the Britannica, and has longer, more in-depth articles, but the substance of those articles tends to be less accurate. None of which is a particular surprise, given WP’s unique compilation methods, namely based on

Quick Cleanup PassJanuary 5

I took a pass over the break to update some of the links on the website: both the Zen Lexicon as well as the Contact and Breaking In tabs on top of the page.  Note: anyone who has referenced the ‘Breaking In’ link on their own website should take the time to update that link.

Chess for Girls!January 4

via videosift.com

Donald Westlake, RIPJanuary 4

It’s hard to imagine that the new year won’t surpass 2008 on most levels.  Still, it’s not off to a great start - Donald Westlake, one of my favorite authors, has passed away. Westlake was a marvelous crime and mystery writer, who had a marvelous penchant for both humor and unexpected plot turns.  My favorite work of his is exceedingly hard to find, but if you can find “A Travesty” (from the collection Enough), it is well worth the investment.