<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 -->
<!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions -->
<!--X-From-R13: OccyrBv[naNnby.pbz -->
<!--X-Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 18:54:12 -0700 -->
<!--X-Message-Id: b37ce09c.36141a65#aol,com -->
<!--X-Content-Type: text/plain -->
<!--X-Head-End-->
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<html>
<head>
<title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</title>
<!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" -->
<link rev="made" href="mailto:ApplePiMan#aol,com">
</head>
<body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff"
text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000">
<font size="+4" color="#804040">
<strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong>
</font>
<br>
[ <a href="../">Other Periods</a>
| <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a>
| <a href="/search.php3">Search</a>
]
<br clear=all><hr>
<!--X-Body-Begin-->
<!--X-User-Header-->
<!--X-User-Header-End-->
<!--X-TopPNI-->
Date:
[ <a href="msg00009.html">Previous</a>
| <a href="msg00011.html">Next</a>
]
Thread:
[ <a href="msg00081.html">Previous</a>
| <a href="msg00016.html">Next</a>
]
Index:
[ <A HREF="author.html#00010">Author</A>
| <A HREF="#00010">Date</A>
| <A HREF="thread.html#00010">Thread</A>
]
<!--X-TopPNI-End-->
<!--X-MsgBody-->
<!--X-Subject-Header-Begin-->
<H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</H1>
<HR>
<!--X-Subject-Header-End-->
<!--X-Head-of-Message-->
<UL>
<LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: <A HREF="mailto:ApplePiMan#aol,com">ApplePiMan#aol,com</A></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 20:12:21 EDT</LI>
<LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
</UL>
<!--X-Head-of-Message-End-->
<!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin-->
<HR>
<!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End-->
<!--X-Body-of-Message-->
<PRE>
At 10/1/98 1:09 PM Adam Wiggins (adam#angel,com) altered the fabric of
reality by uttering:
>Nods. Well, I'm of the oppinion that emphasis on graphics has dragged down
>the game industry in recent years. It takes *so* *much* work just to get
>what people consider "acceptable" graphics nowadays, and it's easy to forget
>that what really counts is whether the game is fun or not.
<snipped a whole bunch of really good stuff that doesn't pertain to my
point>
>I guess considering characters in a virtual world to be other people worthy
>of the same respect you give them in real life is a learned skill. I never
>recalled having this problem; does text somehow make it easier to learn?
One problem I often see these days is that the emphasis on striving for
total realism in a game's graphics works against the "believability" of
the characters (whether PCs or NPCs) in the game. (I'm using
"believability" in the literary sense of helping the viewer suspend his
or her disbelief in the existence of the character, without seeking to
comment at all on whether the character's words or actions are in any
other sense "truthful" or "believable".) It's well-nigh impossible to
accord respect to someone you don't see as "real".
There's a reason animators continue to render their creations as a much
simplified version of "reality": ironically, this departure from reality
greatly helps to "sell" the believability of the character (anyone care
to argue that Bugs Bunny isn't 'real'? -- yet he looks very little like a
'real' rabbit, his creator instead doing the bare visual minimum to
capture his "rabbit-ness"). Fine control over a limited visual palette
does more to express emotion and generally make a character "believable"
than coarse control of a rich, photo-realistic palette.
I'm not advocating we should all be doing games that look like something
from a Disney animation (though I don't think that option should be
dismissed out of hand, either). What I *am* saying is that rather than
placing an emphasis on total realism in our graphics, perhaps we should
be more concerned with *selective* realism to display the essence, rather
than the "photo-reality", of a character. Writers and artists in other
media have been doing this since time immemorial; we in the game industry
just seem to have lost track of that...
-Rick.
---------------------------------------------------------
Rick Buck, President and CEO <<A HREF="mailto:rlb#big-i,com">mailto:rlb#big-i,com</A>>
Beyond Infinity Games, Inc.
See you in The Metaverse! <<A HREF="http://www.big-i.com">http://www.big-i.com</A>>
</PRE>
<!--X-Body-of-Message-End-->
<!--X-MsgBody-End-->
<!--X-Follow-Ups-->
<HR>
<ul compact><li><strong>Follow-Ups</strong>:
<ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="00023" HREF="msg00023.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> "Travis S. Casey" <efindel#io,com></li></ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="00016" HREF="msg00016.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> "Jon A. Lambert" <jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com></li></ul>
</UL></LI></UL>
<!--X-Follow-Ups-End-->
<!--X-References-->
<!--X-References-End-->
<!--X-BotPNI-->
<UL>
<LI>Prev by Date:
<STRONG><A HREF="msg00009.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></STRONG>
</LI>
<LI>Next by Date:
<STRONG><A HREF="msg00011.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></STRONG>
</LI>
<LI>Prev by thread:
<STRONG><A HREF="msg00081.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></STRONG>
</LI>
<LI>Next by thread:
<STRONG><A HREF="msg00016.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></STRONG>
</LI>
<LI>Index(es):
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="index.html#00010"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI>
<LI><A HREF="thread.html#00010"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI>
</UL>
</LI>
</UL>
<!--X-BotPNI-End-->
<!--X-User-Footer-->
<!--X-User-Footer-End-->
<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00008" HREF="msg00008.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>,
Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Thu 01 Oct 1998, 19:05 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00007" HREF="msg00007.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>,
S. Patrick Gallaty <a href="mailto:patrick#gric,com">patrick#gric,com</a>, Thu 01 Oct 1998, 17:17 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00009" HREF="msg00009.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>,
Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Thu 01 Oct 1998, 20:52 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00081" HREF="msg00081.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>,
Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Mon 05 Oct 1998, 17:25 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00010" HREF="msg00010.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>,
ApplePiMan <a href="mailto:ApplePiMan#aol,com">ApplePiMan#aol,com</a>, Fri 02 Oct 1998, 01:54 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00016" HREF="msg00016.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>,
Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com">jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com</a>, Fri 02 Oct 1998, 05:04 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00023" HREF="msg00023.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>,
Travis S. Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#io,com">efindel#io,com</a>, Fri 02 Oct 1998, 15:30 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00011" HREF="msg00011.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>,
Nathan F Yospe <a href="mailto:yospe#hawaii,edu">yospe#hawaii,edu</a>, Fri 02 Oct 1998, 03:16 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00021" HREF="msg00021.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>,
Travis S. Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#io,com">efindel#io,com</a>, Fri 02 Oct 1998, 14:22 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
</LI>
</UL></BLOCKQUOTE>
</ul>
<hr>
<center>
[ <a href="../">Other Periods</a>
| <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a>
| <a href="/search.php3">Search</a>
]
</center>
<hr>
</body>
</html>
