| mobile |
|
- noun A class of MUD-controlled inhabitants of The Land
which (usually) wander around. Most can be killed reasonably
easily, but some are very nasty. The ones which claim the most victims are
the dragon,
vampire, wraith, wolf, goblin10, dwarf king and guards, thief, wyvern
and the skeletons. A small percentage are friendly. Some
objects are pseudo-mobiles in that they do mobile-like things
but can't actually move independently, eg. Valetant. Players
new to MUAs may use terms like 'critters' or 'NPCs', but the
MUD tradition is mobiles. The class
consisting of both the mobile and player
classes is creature.
The word mobile is often abbreviated to mob.
Historical note: the term 'mobile' was coined by Richard Bartle as a way of differentiating in the MUD1 implementation between mobile (under their own power) objects (ie. mobiles) and non-mobile ones. The image of more traditional 'mobiles', dangling from string on rods such that they move in unpredictable but limited ways, was a contributing factor to the decision only in hindsight...
Copyright © Multi-User Entertainment Ltd. (muse@mud.co.uk)
23rd September 1999: mobile.htm