[MUD-Dev] Affect of personalizing cannon fodder mobs

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

On 05:49 PM 10/12/1999 -0700, I personally witnessed Lazarus jumping up to say:
>
>Is
>hacking a mob known only as "a guard" with your sword or demolishing them
>with a blast of acid any less psychotic than slaying the same mob known as
>"Gdeuviugr"?  

No, because in both cases the guard/Gdeuviugr is a computer-animated
construct which is no more human or a part of society than my toaster.
Ergo, pretending to beat it into little pieces with an imaginary sword
while I pretend to be a medieval warrior is not psychotic at all, provided
I realise this is a fantasy game.

>Is there any noticable difference in the psychological
>impact on our young players between "You thrash the dwarven guard with
>your sword" and "You thrash Gdwuviugr with your sword"?  

Yes. Thrashing Gdeuviugr with my sword is funnier. "Hey! I just thrashed
Gadoovy-whosis. *giggle* *giggle* Ooh, Giddy-up-booger hit me back!
*giggle* *giggle* *giggle*"

>Does
>personalizing the opponent (or impersonalizing them) make any significant
>difference? 

Yes! It makes it a little harder to tell PCs from NPCs, which means you
can't be really sure whether Gdeuviugr is a mob or some guy who's spent way
too much time reading Welsh mythology. (I don't recall Gdeuviugr myself,
but it sure looks like Welsh Gaelic to me. Either that or gibberish... not
that there's much difference.) 

>Giving the mobs unique names is a cheesy way to address the unrealistic
>nature of unlimited mobs.

No it isn't. It's a cheesy way to pretend you've done something useful,
which you haven't. ;)

-----
| Caliban Tiresias Darklock            caliban at darklock.com 
| Darklock Communications          http://www.darklock.com/ 
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