Avatar (1979 video game): Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 17:31, 8 December 2005

Template:Wikify is deprecated. Please use a more specific cleanup template as listed in the documentation.

Avatar was a largely text-based computer game, with a minimal grahical display to help navigate the dungeon. On screen were simple graphic icons of monsters, statistical displays, information about the character's status, the status of the current encounter, and items being carried/worn/used.

The in-game messaging system was both crucial to successful game play, and another game in itself. The other feature of the messaging system was that it was a tremendous lure for younger players, especially high-school and younger students in various systems all over the country.

The first thing a player had to do was choose a character. This involved choosing the race, gender, and guild, and those choices determined what weapons you would use, general abilities, and the extent of success you could expect. DnD players know this, but choosing a fragile race meant you might die early and often, while sturdier races usually were also might not be capable of using the most subtle and powerful weapons, spells, and items.

Dying in Avatar was a mixed blessing. The character just lay there. If another character came along, they could pick you up and carry you to the City to be resurrected. They could also, if capable, use an item or potion to 'raise' you there. All resurrections cost you age and stats, and sometimes you would age and lose a lot of stats, meaning you needed to rebuild your character. You could hide to keep well-meaning puds from raising you poorly, and ask another more capable character to come and bring you back to life with a minimum of damage.

There were many ways to die in Avatar. You could be damaged by a monster, reach 0 hits, and die. Poison would take hit points over time, sometimes slowly and sometimes not, leaving you dead. You could even be hit with a spell by another player, and suffer damage.

Another way to die was to teleport yourself (or be teleported) into solid rock. Not only did this kill the character but made it difficult to resurrect. To survive this, you needed a character to cast 'summon essence' on you, then raise you by whatever means. Being raised after teleporting into rock always cost you a lot of age and stats.

Occasionbally after a defeating a monster you would discover a box. 'Boxing' was the art of opening treasure chests without damaging yourself from boobytraps, or damaging the items inside. Ninjas were fair boxers, having good dexterity. Success was never assured, however.

Gold was the currency, and useful to buy things. But most cool items were unaffordable, and finding them in a box would make your day. Going to the City, you could go to the store and buy stuff. You could also bank your gold, rather than carry it around and chance a monster stealing it.

Being a member of a guild meant you could be quested, to achieve higher levels and be able to use better items, spells, etc. You could be quested for items, to kill monsters, or for gold. Having to find a monster for a quest ranged from simple to very difficult. A common request of other players was to "S/R Golem" for example. The sender was asking that someone who found a Golem save and restrain them so a quested character could come and kill it, satisfying their quest. Asking for items was usually seen as begging and beneath the dignity of real players, but asking for an item to satisfy a quest was acceptable and it was considered noble to offer such an item. Of course, it was best to gain all the experience and gold necessary before begging the item, and you might be paying for it. As a character rose in a guild the items and monsters quested became more and more difficult and costly. Eventually, you needed help to satisfy a quest, and this lead to the most remarkable feature of Avatar; teams and co-operative play.

Parties of characters were created by 'tracking' a leader. All the others followed this leader wherever it went. Teams allowed you to enhance the gameplay greatly:

A party of Ninja, Seeker, Healer, and Sorcerer enabled you to fight most any monster, open most any box, and heal up your companions. Monsters that were immune to weapons could be overcome with spells. Other combinations could be more successful depending on the situation.

Parties allowed you to carry other characters with you, letting them share in experience and treasure. Nice for beginners to get quick character growth.

Some objectives were impossible for a single player, so parties were required.

Level 15 of the dungeon was unsafe for all but a few characters alone, and even they might succumb to an encounter where the monsters were just too powerful.

Sadly, the worst part of a party was that you went where the leader went. Like into an encounter too powerful for you. Or solid rock. A leader needed to be trusted before a player would do that.

The only way a player could harm another was to be in the back of a party and cast a spell that damaged players ahead of them. This happened most when beginners got over anxious. The advice was to hold your damaging spells if you were in the back, and cast healing forward after the encounter was over.

Players had many goals. Some just wanted to play, others wanted to become Guildmasters, the player with the highest rank in the guild.

Interesting details

The movement keys are AWDX. F to fight, S to spell. Your left hand gets a little crampy, and you stab the F key to swing your weapon. Avatar is a turn-by-turn game, so when you enter a room, unless the monster surprises you, you swing, and wait for their response. Hopefully, you slay it outright the first swing, but sometimes it takes twice or more. Some evenly matched encounters, you swing 30 times. It takes from 2 to 5 seconds for a turn to complete. Encounters that drag on can last 5 minutes, but beware, you probably got poisoned and will die from the time before you kill the monster.

O opened boxes. Choosing a number key cast the spell, potion, or scroll loaded there. I kept potion of healing on 1, strength on 2, and wisdom on 3 if I had them.

The graphic display was minimal. You had a view 2 squares ahead, and the walls on either side were visible, if any. Doors were identifiable, and nothing meant empty space.

There were several special rooms and spaces in the dungeon. Rotators turned you, and the maps would show in which direction, or random if so. TP rooms teleported you somewhere, usually a specific place but a few were random - bad. Antimagic rooms of course made your spells and magic items ineffective, and some rooms rendered you blind.

Monsters could poison you, paralyze you, blind you, and of course attack. Being paralyzed sucked, as you lay there and watched your hit points go down. Watch out for Witches, and get out of the room lest they paralyze you again!

Fast action, quick decisions, memorizing most of 10 levels and know parts of 4 more was the norm of Avatar. Knowing key Teleport rooms, stairs, and safe places was important.

More important was developing a group of other players you could count on to help out. Whether it was a quest, needing to go deep for more gold/exp, or just the thrill of killing monsters you would never see elsewise, joining parties was the height of Avatar. I have been in parties of 12 and more. I've seen 24 players in the game and more. I've held long private discussions while slaying all manner of creature just to get exp points for level, hours at a time.

Avatar was way ahead of its time, as PLATO was. E-mail, instant messaging, forums, blogs, MUDs, all were active and thriving before the Internet, the WELL, or AOL were available.

External Links

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{inappropriate tone}}
 {{wikify}}
-'''Avatar''' was a largely text-based game, with a minimal grahical display to help you navigate the dungeon.  On screen were simple graphic icons of monsters, statistical displays, information about your character's status, the status of your current encounter, and items you were either carrying or wearing/using.
+'''Avatar''' was a largely text-based [[computer game]], with a minimal grahical display to help navigate the dungeon.  On screen were simple graphic icons of monsters, statistical displays, information about the character's status, the status of the current encounter, and items being carried/worn/used.
-The in-game messaging system was both crucial to successful game play, and another game in itself.  I remember well being messaged by a 'stud' character, who asked me if I would come down to Level 15 and raise his character.  It was about 5:30 EST, and I was the only other character on.  He was a system operator, and had lost his character in an all night session, with no one to retrieve him.  More of this encounter later.  But the other feature of the messaging system was that it was a tremendous lure for younger players, especially high-school and younger students in various systems all over the country.   In the early evenings, I would be playing around 7pm est, and the Arizona students would start getting on.  For hours, messages would go out as "young1, a/s/l?"  You know what this is.  Players tolerated these fairly well.
+The in-game messaging system was both crucial to successful game play, and another game in itself.  The other feature of the messaging system was that it was a tremendous lure for younger players, especially high-school and younger students in various systems all over the country.
-The first thing a player had to do was choose a character.  This involved choosing the race, gender, and guild, and those choices determined what weapons you would use, general abilities, and the extent of success you could expect.  DnD players know this, but choosing a fragile race meant you might die early and often, while sturdier races usually were also might not be capable of using the most subtle and powerful weapons, spells, and items.  I chose a Troll, and enrolled in the Ninja Guild.  His name was Ilu.
+The first thing a player had to do was choose a character.  This involved choosing the race, gender, and guild, and those choices determined what weapons you would use, general abilities, and the extent of success you could expect.  [[DnD]] players know this, but choosing a fragile race meant you might die early and often, while sturdier races usually were also might not be capable of using the most subtle and powerful weapons, spells, and items.
+Dying in Avatar was a mixed blessing.  The character just lay there.  If another character came along, they could pick you up and carry you to the City to be resurrected.  They could also, if capable, use an item or potion to 'raise' you there.  All resurrections cost you age and stats, and sometimes you would age and lose a lot of stats, meaning you needed to rebuild your character.  You could hide to keep well-meaning puds from raising you poorly, and ask another more capable character to come and bring you back to life with a minimum of damage.
-I quickly realized that knowing my way around the dungeon was crucial.  When I was playing, there was a fair amount of controversy regarding maps.  Many players thought you should have to create your own maps, adding to the difficulty of the game.  Of course, accurate maps were available, and with these you could make good progress in playing the game.  I got maps fairly quickly, and printed them on my trusty dot-matrix printer.
+There were many ways to die in Avatar.  You could be damaged by a monster, reach 0 hits, and die.  Poison would take hit points over time, sometimes slowly and sometimes not, leaving you dead. You could even be hit with a spell by another player, and suffer damage.
-The usual game play for a 'pud' (young, weak, or inexperienced) character would be to descend from the City, enter a few rooms, kill a few monsters, and run back to the City to be healed.  Early on I would use Potion of Health or Fitness, to overcome poison or damage from attacks.  Of course, this led me to be too bold, and my character would die.
+Another way to die was to teleport yourself (or be teleported) into solid rock.  Not only did this kill the character but made it difficult to resurrect.  To survive this, you needed a character to cast 'summon essence' on you, then raise you by whatever means.  Being raised after teleporting into rock always cost you a lot of age and stats.
-Dying in Avatar was a mixed blessing.  You just laid there.  If another character came along, they could pick you up and carry you to the City to be resurrected.  They could also, if capable, use an item or potion to 'raise' you there.  All resurrections cost you age and stats, and sometimes you would age and lose a lot of stats, meaning you needed to rebuild your character.  You could hide to keep well-meaning puds from raising you poorly, and ask another more capable character to come and bring you back to life with a minimum of damage.
+Occasionbally after a defeating a monster you would discover a box.  'Boxing' was the art of opening treasure chests without damaging yourself from boobytraps, or damaging the items inside.  Ninjas were fair boxers, having good dexterity.  Success was never assured, however.
-There were many ways to die in Avatar.  You could be damaged by a monster, reach 0 hits, and die.  Poison would take hit points over time, sometimes slowly and sometimes not, leaving you dead. You could even be hit with a spell by another player, and suffer damage.  This was not true Player-Killer behavior, unless it was intentional.  I do not recall anyone damaging me intentionally.  More on this later.
+Gold was the currency, and useful to buy things.  But most cool items were unaffordable, and finding them in a box would make your day.  Going to the City, you could go to the store and buy stuff.  You could also bank your gold, rather than carry it around and chance a monster stealing it.
-Another way to die was to teleport yourself (or be teleported) into solid rock.  Not good.  to survive this, you needed some character to cast 'summon essence' on you, then raise you by whatever means.  Being raised after teleporting into rock always cost you a lot of age and stats.  My first time, I lost over 15 stat points, and 200 years' age.  My Troll was never the same.  And that wasn't the last time I killed him so.
+Being a member of a guild meant you could be quested, to achieve higher levels and be able to use better items, spells, etc.  You could be quested for items, to kill monsters, or for gold.  Having to find a monster for a quest ranged from simple to very difficult.  A common request of other players was to "S/R Golem" for example.  The sender was asking that someone who found a Golem save and restrain them so a quested character could come and kill it, satisfying their quest.  Asking for items was usually seen as begging and beneath the dignity of real players, but asking for an item to satisfy a quest was acceptable and it was considered noble to offer such an item.  Of course, it was best to gain all the experience and gold necessary before begging the item, and you might be paying for it.  As a character rose in a guild the items and monsters quested became more and more difficult and costly.  Eventually, you needed help to satisfy a quest, and this lead to the most remarkable feature of Avatar; teams and co-operative play.
-If you were successful, you would get back to the City and heal up, go back, and gain experience points each encounter. Along the way, you would sometimes find a box after an encounter.
+Parties of characters were created by 'tracking' a leader. All the others followed this leader wherever it went.  Teams allowed you to enhance the gameplay greatly:
-'Boxing' was the art of opening treasure chests, without damaging yourself from boobytraps, or damaging the items inside.  Ninjas were fair boxers, having good dexterity.  Success was never assured, however.  Some guilds cannot open boxes without an item to enable them. Others are master boxers.
+*A party of Ninja, Seeker, Healer, and Sorcerer enabled you to fight most any monster, open most any box, and heal up your companions.  Monsters that were immune to weapons could be overcome with spells.  Other combinations could be more successful depending on the situation.
-Finding stuff was the best.  Gold was the currency, and useful to buy things.  But most cool items were unafordable, and finding them in a box would make your day.  Maybe even your week. I found my first Ring of Teleportation in a box.
+*Parties allowed you to carry other characters with you, letting them share in experience and treasure.  Nice for beginners to get quick character growth.
-Going to the City, you could go to the store and buy stuff.  You could also bank your gold, rather than carry it around and chance a monster stealing it.  Knowing how long to 'run' the dungeon with stuff was key - losing stuff to monsters sucks.
+*Some objectives were impossible for a single player, so parties were required.
-Being a member of a guild meant you could be quested, to achieve higher levels and be able to use better items, spells, and such.  You could be quested for items, to kill monsters, or I think for gold.  Having to find a monster for a quest ranged from simple to very difficult.  A common request of other players was to "S/R Golem" for example.  The sender was asking that someone who found a Golem save and restrain them so a quested character could come and kill it, satisfying their quest.  Asking for items was usually seen as begging and beneath the dignity of real players, but asking for an item to satisfy a quest was acceptable and it ewas noble to offer such an item.  Of course, it was best to gain all the experience and gold necessary before begging the item, and you might be paying for it.  Needless to say, as you rose in your guild, the items and monsters quested became more and more difficult and costly.  Eventually, you needed help to satisfy a quest, and this lead to the most remarkable feature of Avatar; teams and co-operative play.
+*Level 15 of the dungeon was unsafe for all but a few characters alone, and even they might succumb to an encounter where the monsters were just too powerful.
-Parties of characters were created by 'tracking' a leader. All the others followed this leader wherever they went.  Teams allowed you to enhance the gameplay greatly:
+Sadly, the worst part of a party was that you went where the leader went.  Like into an encounter too powerful for you.  Or solid rock.  A leader needed to be trusted before a player would do that.
-- A party of Ninja, Seeker, Healer, and Sorcerer enabled you to fight most any monster, open most any box, and heal up your companions.  Monsters that were immune to weapons could be overcome with spells.  Other combinations could be more successful depending on the situation.
+The only way a player could harm another was to be in the back of a party and cast a spell that damaged players ahead of them.  This happened most when beginners got over anxious.  The advice was to hold your damaging spells if you were in the back, and cast healing forward after the encounter was over.
-- Parties allowed you to carry other characters with you, letting them share in experience and treasure.  Nice for beginners to get quick character growth.
+Players had many goals.  Some just wanted to play, others wanted to become Guildmasters,
-- Some objectives were impossible for a single player, so parties were required.
+the player with the highest rank in the guild.
-- Level 15 was unsafe for all but a few characters alone, and even they might succumb to an encounter where the monsters were just too powerful.
+==Interesting details==
-Sadly, the worst part of a party was that you went where the leader went.  Like into an encounter too powerful for you.  Or solid rock.  You needed to trust your leader.
-The only way a player could harm another was to be in the back of a party and cast a spell that damaged players ahead of them.  This happened most when beginners got overanxious.  The advice was to hold your damaging spells if you were in the back, and cast healing forward after the encounter was over.  I swatted Asmo once on 15, and promptly died as a Sorcerer behind me hit him with all he had, hitting me too.  I expected that, since my role in the party was to take Asmo's first hits, letting the rest of the party bring him down.  For this, I got a good share of the booty! I did this a lot, and it was part of the game.  Once I was raised and immediately taken into the inner room where my quested monster was waiting for me.  Priceless!
-Players had many goals.  Some just wanted to play.  Others wanted to become Guildmasters,
-the player with the highest rank in the guild.  I chose Ninja because it was unpopular, and the highest ranking Ninja was reasonably low in level.  As I approached his score, he came back and drove up his ranking.  I was second for a long time, but never first.
-If you've read this far, let me give you a taste of typical gameplay.
-As a Pud:
-Leaving the city, I'd go straight, and get 2 or 3 rooms, then confront an Undead.  Kill it.  Get 3 gold.  Run back to the city and heal up to 10 hit points. Takes me about 5 minutes. Repeat for three hours.  Acquire maybe 5,000 gold, 30-50 hit points, and 3-4 levels.  And several items I already have, mostly leather gloves and stuff.  at least once, I'd get poisoned and have no way to heal, racing back to the City trying to remember which turns to make.  Sometimes, I get to the City with 1 hit point.  At this level, I'm running memorized patterns, to avoid mistakes and getting lost.  Mostly getting lost meant I could not get back to the City quickly enough to survive poison.
-As a mid-level Ninja:
-Leave the city, run to the teleport room to go to level 5 or 6.  Kill a few pud monsters on the way to the teleport room to 11 or 12. Run around killing monsters.  Dragons are my favorite, since I am impervious to heat and they die from sword wounds.  And they have lots of gold in their treasure chests. I would run a particular route, taking advantage of easy turns, quick transtions from rooms to rooms, and known 'stud rooms', where larger monsters and larger rewards were expected.  Run over to the various teleport rooms going back up to the city.  Heal and trade for stuff.  Repeat.  It usually took 3-4 minutes to get to 12, and run for up to an hour depending on how many potions I had with me to heal up.  Rings also helped with healing.  At this level, White Flame Gauntelets killed a lot of stuff, while hammers and such were the right weapons for dragons.  Over 5-6 hours of play, I might make 10 levels, gain 50 hit points, and find 20,000-250,000 gold.  Items were usually stuff I already had.
-A higher-level Ninja:
-Leave the City.  Run over to the teleport to 5/6 and then over to the teleport to 12.  Use Ring of Teleportation (RoTP) to go to 14.  Level 14 was divided into 4 quadrants, each of which was mostly identical but with enough differences you had to pay attention.  Each quadrant was basically a spiral maze, and you would run forward and turn, run and turn, on and on.  Killing monsters along the way.  Lots of rich dragons on 14, and lots of gold.  I had a ring or cross that cast 'Sanctuary', sucking me back to the City instantly.  Getting lots of personal messages asking for mid level items, and a few losers asking for gold. I could run 14 alone as a level 300+ Ninja, but had to be careful I didn't run into something nasty that slew me before I knew what happened.  I mostly would take a big hit, go down from 300-400 hits to 90, and turn around to run like heck. Heal up or run back to the City.  Not impossible to get 1 million gold and several potions and scrolls.  At these levels, Tomes were fairly common, and these gave you permanent increases in stats.  Powerful rings also showed up here.
-As a highest-level Ninja:
-Hearing someone quested for a dragon, I ask them to 'hop on'.  We go to level 7, the highest level where dragons are plentiful.  I slay one eventually, since questing usually means there are not many in the game at the time.  A grateful pud thanks me, and give me gold. I give it back, I'm all set.  Continue to 14 and run hard.  I get a message someone is making a party to go to 15 for Asmo, maybe the 3rd most powerful monster in the game, a demigod.  I get back to the City just in time to hop on.  We slam down to 15, I swing at anything and take hits.  I;m healed almost instantly by party members, and then I'm advanced to 2nd or 3rd in the party, so I can hit first and take hits earlier. I get hit real hard, and die. Raised 'clean' by a stud, we continue.  I get 5 million gold for this. I wish it were Wyvern Skin. More encounters, then we see Asmo.  I die instantly. After about 5 minutes, I'm raised.  The party died, all but one who stood there and waited for another to teleport in and raise the 'boxer'.  We are all raised, and the box opened.  Some nice stuff, and lots of gold.  We've had enough for now, and Sanctuary up to the City.  This takes about an hour max.  We might go back 3 times in a night, before I crash at midnight EST. Total gold, 30-100 million. 3-4 tomes, dozens of potions. 200-300 experience points, another 10-20 hit points maybe, and maybe 2 levels unless I had a quest.
-My first level 15 experience was unique.  I usually played from 5:30 EST to 7:00 EST before work, and from 6:30-7:00 EST to Midnight or so.  One morning, I get on and there are NO other players on.  I get to 6, and get a message from a new player;  He wants me to 'go to 15 asnd raise my character'.  I tell him I'm too weak to go to 15, and he says don't worry, he'll get me there.  I go back to the City, hop on, and we teleport like I've never before. He leaves me, and instantly another dead character appears in the room.  I think its name is 'truc', but it could have been 'basic'. I put on the ring he gave me, raise the character, and I hop on this character.  We TP back to the City, and he gives me like 300 million gold and gauntlets, bracers, and stuff.  He knows what I can use and need.  I am incredibly thankful, but he's happier, since if no one else came on until 7 or 8 CST, he'd be bored for hours.  I love this guy.  He is generous to me several other times, and I share his generosity.
-Some interesting (I hope) details:
 The movement keys are AWDX. F to fight, S to spell.  Your left hand gets a little crampy, and you stab the F key to swing your weapon.  Avatar is a turn-by-turn game, so when you enter a room, unless the monster surprises you, you swing, and wait for their response.  Hopefully, you slay it outright the first swing, but sometimes it takes twice or more.  Some evenly matched encounters, you swing 30 times.  It takes from 2 to 5 seconds for a turn to complete.  Encounters that drag on can last 5 minutes, but beware, you probably got poisoned and will die from the time before you kill the monster.
@@ Line 81: / Line 53: @@
 More important was developing a group of other players you could count on to help out.  Whether it was a quest, needing to go deep for more gold/exp, or just the thrill of killing monsters you would never see elsewise, joining parties was the height of Avatar.  I have been in parties of 12 and more.  I've seen 24 players in the game and more.  I've held long private discussions while slaying all manner of creature just to get exp points for level, hours at a time.
-Avatar was way ahead of its time, as PLATO was.  E-mail, instant messaging, forums, blogs, MUDs, all were active and thriving before the Internet, the WELL, or AOL were available.
+Avatar was way ahead of its time, as PLATO was.  E-mail, instant messaging, forums, blogs, [[MUD]]s, all were active and thriving before the Internet, the WELL, or AOL were available.
-More?  Yes, but I'll have to improve my writing.  Thanks for reading. Advice is very much appreciated.
 ==External Links==