250 lines
13 KiB
INI
250 lines
13 KiB
INI
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Interactive Multi-User Computer Games
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Dr Richard Bartle,
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MUSE Ltd.,
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34, Grantham Road,
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Great Horkesley, Colchester, Essex.
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CO6 4TU, UK.
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email: Richard%tharr.UUCP@ukc.ac.uk
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Copyright (c) MUSE Ltd, British Telecom plc.
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December, 1990.
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Abstract:
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This is a short research report covering the field of
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interactive, multi-user computer games. Its main component is
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a comprehensive overview of what presently constitute the most
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important products in this category. The report ends in a
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discussion of ways by which existing services may be improved
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to the benefit of both the user and the vendor.
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Author's note: this document grew from a longer report
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commissioned by British Telecom plc. It is commercially
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oriented, so was delayed for six months after delivery prior to
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being made publicly available. Certain commercially sensitive
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details have still had to be struck out, in particular a
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comprehensive contact list of leading people in the field.
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Furthermore, some of the information (particularly that
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concerning game access) has been superseded since it was
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written. I hope that what remains is nevertheless of some use.
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Table of Contents
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1. Introduction. 4
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1.1 The Field of Study. 4
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1.2 Narrowing the Field of Study. 4
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1.3 Acceptance Criteria. 5
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1.4 Categories of IMPCGs. 5
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1.5 Brief History (Industry). 6
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1.6 Brief History (Academia). 7
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2. Game Architecture. 8
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2.1 Technical Aspects. 8
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2.2 Operational Aspects. 8
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2.3 Managerial Aspects. 10
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2.4 Scenarios. 11
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2.5 Clients. 12
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2.6 Bots. 12
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2.7 Indicators. 13
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Breadth 13
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Depth 13
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Size 14
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Parser 15
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Players 15
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Role-playing 16
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Wiz Powers 16
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Age 18
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Gameplay 18
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Atmosphere 19
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3. Reviewing Strategy. 20
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3.1 Review Format. 20
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3.2 Accuracy. 20
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3.3 Locations. 20
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3.4 Genealogy. 22
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4. Reviews - UK. 24
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4.1 Federation II. 24
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4.2 Gods. 26
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4.3 MirrorWorld. 29
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4.4 MUD2. 32
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4.5 Shades. 36
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4.6 AberMUG. 41
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4.7 Avalon. 41
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4.8 Bloodstone. 44
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4.9 Empyrion. 47
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4.10 MIST. 48
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4.11 Mosaic. 49
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4.12 Prodigy. 51
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4.13 Quest. 53
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4.14 Realm. 54
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4.15 Trash. 55
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4.16 Void. 57
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4.17 Zone. 59
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4.18 Chaos World of Wizards. 62
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4.19 Rock. 64
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4.20 Sector 7. 64
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4.21 Other MUAs. 65
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Table of Contents (continued)
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5. Reviews - Rest of the World. 71
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5.1 British Legends. 71
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5.2 Gemstone III. 72
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5.3 Other Commercial MUAs. 73
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5.4 AberMUD. 75
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5.5 LPMUD. 77
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5.6 TinyMUD. 79
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5.7 TinyMUCK. 83
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5.8 TinyMUSH. 84
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5.9 TinyMOO. 85
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5.10 UberMUD. 86
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5.11 Other InterNet MUAs. 87
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6. Reviews - Non-MUAs. 92
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6.1 Fantasy Sports. 94
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6.2 Island of Kesmai. 94
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6.3 Sniper! 98
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6.4 The Spy. 99
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7. Discussion. 101
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7.1 Organisation. 101
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7.2 Why Do People Play? 101
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7.3 Why Do People Not Play? 107
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7.4 Why Do People Stop Playing? 109
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7.5 What Does the Future Hold? 112
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7.6 Conclusion. 114
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1. Introduction.
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1.1 The Field of Study.
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"Interactive, multi-user computer games": despite containing three
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adjectives, the phrase is wide-ranging in its coverage. The first task in
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reviewing the area must therefore be to formulate a set of criteria that can be
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used to determine whether a system should, or should not, be the object of
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study.
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The term 'games' refers to those pastimes which are undertaken
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primarily for the purpose of entertaining the user (or, in this context,
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player). Although games can be designed for business or educational use,
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rather than solely for leisure-time activity, nevertheless to qualify they must
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somehow be "fun". They also need a set of rules, and, if competitive, some
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means of gauging how close the player is to "winning" (ie. meeting a
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predefined overall objective). Additionally, most require some skill on the
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part of the players. In cases where modelling the real world is a significant
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aspect of a game, it may be referred to as a 'simulation' (although not all
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simulations are games).
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'Computer games' are games which are played against, moderated by, or
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played using, a computer. In rare cases, they can be played between computers.
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'Multi-player computer' games are computer-run games that several
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individuals can play simultaneously.
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'Interactive, multi-player computer games' are those computer-run games
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where the individual players can issue commands which affect the way the game
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treats other players.
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This specific-seeming definition nevertheless admits such activities as
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two friends playing a pinball down at the local pub. It's a game, there's a
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computer inside it controlling everything, it'll entertain up to four players
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taking turns, and one player's score affects the extent to which the other
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players will take risks (and, hence, is a means of interaction). Nevertheless,
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a pinball is not what is generally regarded as an interactive, multi-player
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computer game; indeed, if it were, then the range of other games that also fit
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the definition would reduce any overall analysis to a level of vague
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generalities.
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1.2 Narrowing the Field of Study.
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It is necessary to discard from consideration those games which lie
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outside the spirit of the definition. 'Computer games' in this context are
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those games which run solely on general-purpose computers. This excludes
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machines hard-wired to play one game (chess, space invaders, pinball), but
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still includes certain categories of games machine (Sega, Nintendo, modern
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video games).
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If a game is to be 'multi-player', there are three alternatives:
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several people playing on the same machine in the same room; several people
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playing over a LAN; several people playing over a public network. In practice,
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only the latter is worth considering: games in the first category tend to be
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commercial flops unless the multi-player facility is merely a gimmicky
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extension to an essentially single-player game; games in the second category
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rarely sell, because most LANs are company-owned and are unavailable for
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leisure activities (although within the next few years they may be introduced
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into amusement arcades).
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Thus, 'multi-player computer games' can be reduced to those which
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individuals contact over some public network, eg. that of the telephone.
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However, this further constrains the architecture of such games, in that unless
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users all have similar, tamper-proof machines, the bulk of processing must be
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centralised within a single computer (or a cluster). Otherwise, system security
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would be compromised. Although some processing can be done locally (graphics,
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sound effects, parsing etc.), nothing multi-user can be trusted to a user's
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home machine. Even in situations where all players are known to have identical
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hardware and software (as is the case with games consoles), unless one machine
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is in overall control there is a dangerous susceptibility to the sudden system
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failure of a component machine. Distributed games are not, for the moment at
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least, viable.
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A special case is that of two-player games. With players who can trust
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one another not to cheat, modem-to-modem games can be played in distributed
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fashion. If finding a player is difficult, contact agencies can pair people up
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(CompuServe in the USA, for example, has a "Challenge Forum" for people wishing
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to find opponents for tandem games such as Falcon, Flight Simulator 3, Modem
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Wars, 'Vette and Omega). In this instance, the host machine is merely acting as
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a bulletin board or matchmaker. However, there do exist two-player games where
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major processing is done on the contact machine itself.
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This leaves us with a set of games where the players have computers
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which they use as front-ends to access a (usually larger) computer, upon which
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the games themselves run. There are some games of the FIST variety where the
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user can dial telephone numbers to issue commands, but no such games have
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anything that is not subsumed by some aspect of play-by-modem games; not even
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the emerging voice-activated telephone games are much of an advance.
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Finally, what is meant by the term 'interactive' when applied to
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multi-player computer games? Actually, the word is ambiguous: it can mean
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"allowing players to act upon one another", but also merely "on-line" (in a
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computer sense). Both these meanings are, to some extent, already implied.
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Although being multi-player indicates that there is some degree of awareness of
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other individuals playing at the same time (if you can't tell by playing that
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it's multi-player, it may as well not be), 'interactive' emphasises the
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requirement that players be able to do things with and to each other. This is
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exemplified by the ability to communicate freely. Limited forms of
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communication using standard protocols are possible in certain games (eg.
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bridge), but in general the players have to be able to send messages to one
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another in free-form natural language if they are to communicate effectively.
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Inter-player communication not the end of it, however, because an
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ordinary chatline program can perform such a function; a chatline, though, is
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not a game. There may be conventions observed by participants, but there are
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no formal rules of play, and there is no way to "win" - or even advance in
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status - on a chatline. To be an interactive, multi-player game,
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communication between players is necessary, but not sufficient; players need to
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be able to do things to one another that, within the framework of the game,
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will have a tangible effect.
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1.3 Acceptance Criteria.
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To summarise, then, for the purposes of the remainder of this report,
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an interactive, multi-player computer game (IMPCG) is something which satisfies
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the following criteria:
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- It is played by people primarily for fun.
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- It has a set of rules, and an overall game-dependent objective.
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- You need a general-purpose computer to play it.
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- It runs primarily on a central computer, connected to the
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