[MUD-Dev2] Bad Terminology: MMO, MMORPG vs. MUD

[Sean Howard]

"Michael Hartman" <mlist at thresholdrpg.com> wrote:
> The extremely cumbersome nature of MMORPG is what bugs me. I have no
> idea how that horrid term came to be, and whoever invented it needs to
> be throw in the same pit as the doofus that invented bind on pickup
> crafted items (stupid).

I think it was originally used with Ultima Online (at least that's what my
hazy memory remembers) as a marketing term. Trying to sell the scale of
it, I guess.

Tried to look up Habitat / Club Caribe (really the first "MMORPG") and
found some sweet promotional videos on it - first time I've seen Habitat
in motion in twenty years.

http://www.vwtimeline.org/artifacts/video/habitat-caribe-80s/index.html

- they just describe it as a parallel world for the most part. Still, the
first video is really interesting for how they try to sell the concept of
a virtual world when there wasn't really anything like it at the time.

> Someone influential needs to coin a better term and spare us from this
> garbage MMORPG term. The term itself is unpronounceable, and the words
> it stands for are a gobbled mess as well.

I agree. I hate it when people say "ma-mor-pa-ger" (most people I know
just call it "morp"). And the "massive" part is really a misnomer anyway.
Outside of UO and SWG, most MMORPGs just have random strangers you never
interact with in a world that never changes. The only way the massive part
applies is through the auction house. WoW could be single player for all
it really matters.

I'm in favor of bring "virtual worlds" back, but "virtual" has a sort of
80s ring to it and has fallen out of style thanks to the spectacular
failure of virtual reality. Persistent worlds is better maybe, but like I
said, not entirely accurate.

How about "Simulated Community, Unreal But Awesome"? The acronym sounds a
bit familiar though...

-- 
Sean Howard