Avatar (1979 video game)

Avatar is a text-based & graphics-based multi-user highly interactive role-playing computer game, created on the Control Data Corporation PLATO computer system. It has a graphical display to navigate through a dungeon and text for player status and communication with others. It has existed since 1979 and can be played online or between a Cyber1 or NovaNET system. What makes this game popular is the high level of interactivity with other players.

Basic gameplay

The user interface includes icons of monsters; statistic displays; information about the character's status; the status of the current encounter; and items being carried, worn, and used. Maps show the character's current direction. The player starts the game by choosing a character, which involves choosing a race, gender, guild, weapons, and general abilities.

The movement keys in Avatar are a, w, d, and x for turn left, go forward, turn right, and turn around respectively. W (shift-w) will both go forward and go through a door (if there is one). Shifted versions of the "turning" keys (A, D, and X) will turn and move 1 step in that direction, also going through doors. f is used to fight, and s for spells. It often takes three or more hits to kill a monster. It takes from two to five seconds for a turn to finish. The O key is used to open boxes. Pressing a number key invokes the spell, potion, or scroll loaded there.

Gold is used as a currency to buy items and weapons in stores located in the city. Gold can be banked or carried.

There are several ways to die in Avatar, including being injured by a monster, being poisoned, suffering from a spell, being turned into stone (think Medusa) and teleporting into solid rock. Monsters can poison, paralyze, blind, and attack characters. When a character dies, it can be resurrected by another character, either in the dungeon or at the city. Potions and items can be used to aid in this task, but all resurrections cost a character age and stats.

The only way a player can harm another is to cast a spell from the back of a party and damage players in front of him.

There are several secret places in the dungeon. Rotators turn the character around. TP rooms teleport characters to specific or random places. Anti-magic rooms make spells and magic items ineffective, and some rooms render their occupants blind.

Players who join a guild can be "quested," helping them to achieve higher levels and to use better items, spells, etc. One can be quested for items, to kill monsters, or for gold. Finding a monster for a quest can be simple or very difficult; a common request of other players is to, for example, "S/R Golem": the sender asks that someone who has found a Golem save and report it so that a quested character can come and kill it, satisfying his quest. Asking for items is usually seen as begging and beneath the dignity of serious players, but asking for an item to satisfy a quest is acceptable, and it is considered noble to offer such an item. As a character rises in a guild the items and monsters quested become more difficult and costly. Eventually, one may need help to satisfy a quest, and this leads to the most remarkable feature of Avatar: teams and cooperative play.

Character Parties

An important aspect of Avatar is developing a group of other players one can count on to help out. Whether for a quest, more gold or experience, or just the thrill of killing monsters you would never see otherwise, joining parties is the height of Avatar.

Parties of characters can be created by "tracking" a leader. All the characters in the party follow their selected leader wherever they travel. A party composed of Ninja, Seeker, Healer, and Sorcerer characters can successfully fight almost any monster, open almost any box, and heal its members after combat. Monsters that are immune to weapons can be overcome with spells. Other combinations can be more successful depending on the situation. Parties also allow beginners to tag along with more experienced players, sharing experience and treasure. Some objectives are impossible for a single player, making parties required. Level 15 of the dungeon is unsafe for all but a few characters when alone, and even they might be overcome by the most powerful monsters.

External links

• Avatar wiki
• Avatar website