[MUD-Dev] \"An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG\"

[Travis Casey]

On Friday, December 01, 2000, Lars Duening wrote:
> On 30 Nov 00, at 10:34, Travis Casey wrote:
>> Wednesday, November 29, 2000, 6:01:46 PM, Lars Duening <lars at bearnip.com> wrote:
>> > On 29 Nov 00, at 14:45, Travis Casey wrote:

>> >> For a strong RP
>> >> mud, names like "Captain Cornholio" are definitely out, but random
>> >> collections of syllables aren't a whole lot better.
>> 
>> > I must admit that I don't quite see the different between random 
>> > collections of syllables and appropriate collections of syllables. 
>> > Example?

>> In a created world, the same thing ought to be true -- different
>> languages will have different sound patterns, and so names ought to
>> fit the sound pattern of the language that those who bestowed it
>> speak.

> Agreed, but I notice that you say 'ought' and not 'must'.

Of course -- to say "must" would be ridiculous.  A mud could perfectly
well have a setting where everyone speaks the same language.  For that
matter, it could also have a setting where multiple languages exist,
but all have the sound patterns that are very close.  Or, it could
have a setting where speakers of several languages have mixed
together.

I'm talking about how I think a mud ought to be, but I have no
interest in telling others that they *must* make their muds fit my
ideas.  That would be silly of me, at best.  I'm discussing the idea
not to try to impose it on others, but to have a chance to get
feedback from others on it.

>> Many of the classic fantasy worlds have worked-out languages, with
>> great enough differences that you can tell if a name "fits" or not.
>> For example, "Efindel" could be an elvish name in Middle-Earth, but it
>> could not be a dwarvish name, while the reverse is true of "Durkin".
>> "Alakar", however, could not be either a dwarvish or an elvish name.

> But important here as in the real world is that there is a 
> linguistical background to fit the names, and that the people know 
> about it. Not having read Tolkien (shame on me, I know, but it helps 
> in detecting Tokienisms), I don't see a difference between the three 
> names you cite - and if pressed, could you explain why 'Efindel' is 
> elvish, but not 'Alakar'?

Sure.  One reason is orthography -- Tolkein used the letter "c" to
represent the hard "k" sound when giving his Elvish names in Latin
characters; to my knowledge, he never used "k" for it with his Elvish
(I know that he wrote that he consciously avoided using "k" in Elvish
words -- I don't know for certain that he never slipped up).  Another
is that that sound generally appears only at the start of a name in
Tolkein's elvish.  "Efindel", on the other hand, doesn't do anything
that's not normal in Tolkein's elvish.  It ends with "del", which is
a common ending for Tolkein's elvish name, and begins with an "e",
which is also common in Tolkein's elvish names.

> Therefore, if a Mud doesn't provide a linguistical/cultural 
> background for their races in the first place, not to mention 
> languages, then talking about the racial appropriateness of names in 
> such an environment is a joke.

Yes, it is.  I've never said otherwise.  That's why I spoke of strong
RP muds -- those are the ones most likely to bother with such things
as linguistic consistency.  I probably should have been more explicit.

> On the other hand, if a Mud indeed does have a worked-out background 
> for its races, which maybe even id important for the gameplay, then 
> establishing a common theme for the names of the various races can be 
> a powerful tool for creating a sense of identity between the members 
> of a race

> But the admins of such a Mud better know what they're doing, and also 
> show some originality and flexibility: there is no reason why races 
> like Elves and Dwarves always have to conform to what in this case 
> Tolkien made up in his books.

And I haven't said that they do have to -- I was merely using that as
an example, since there was a higher chance that people would be
familiar with it than with any other fantasy example I could give.
(Also, because unlike many "fantasy languages", Tolkein's weren't made
up simply by 'what sounded right'.  Tolkein was a professional
linguist, and took great care in creating the languages for his books.)

Indeed, I've argued before, here and in other forums, that people
making fantasy muds should try to do something new, instead of
simply imitating D&D, Tolkein, or whatever.

--
       |\      _,,,---,,_    Travis S. Casey  <efindel at earthlink.net>
 ZZzz  /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_   No one agrees with me.  Not even me.
      |,4-  ) )-,_..;\ (  `'-'
     '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)      


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