6. Reviews - Non-MUAs.

Name: Air Warrior
Location: GEnie
Pricing Structure: $35/hour 8am - 6pm $5/hour 6pm - 8am (no UK access point)

Brief Description:
Multi-player flight simulator.

Historical Notes:
Written by the Kesmai Corporation, who also wrote Island of Kesmai and Megawars III.

Review:
Flight simulators are usually best-sellers for single-user computer games. Air Warrior is a normal flight simulator with a comms package built in, a client program of the most sophisticated kind yet developed. Why the Kesmai Corporation haven't done something similar for their other multi-player games is a complete mystery.

All the work is done by the user's home machine. Information is passed from the host computer, and is assimilated into the user's machine's database; the display is updated accordingly. Commands are processed and passed back up the line to the host. The user's computer is therefore acting as a front-end for the game; furthermore, it is smart in that it generates its display itself - sending complete screen images down the telephone line in real-time is not yet possible, given the narrow bandwidth of present-day telephone networks. Indeed, even if it were possible it might not be desirable - Air Warrior has an off-line practice mode built in, which would be impossible to use in a system that obtained all its graphics from a host machine.

The terminal software necessary to play Air Warrior is available for the Macintosh, Amiga, Atari ST and IBM PC. Fancy instrument displays can be downloaded from an on-line database, or designed by the user.

Summary:
State-of-the-art IMPCG. The game itself isn't particularly brilliant, but the graphics are stunning and there's nothing else quite like it - yet.

Quotes:

"Where conventional multi-user games like MUD or Micronet's Shades can only portray their game-world using text messages, Air Warrior gives you all the animated 3D graphics and sound you'd expect from any single-player flight sim."

"The first thing you need to realise about aerial combat is that the main objective is to survive. Shooting down enemies is just icing on the cake."

"One thing's for sure: US gamers are taking to the game in their droves, joining GEnie and possibly even buying modems just so they can play it. Let's hope it - or something similar - reaches Britain soon!"

Name: Astroid
Location: Minitel

Brief Description:
Multi-player on-line arcade game.

Review:
Astroid (formerly Astro) marks Third Millenium Systems' entry into the non-MUA interactive computer game market (they also produce Shades and Trash). Unlike all other commercial games of this type except Air Warrior, it was written specifically to be used with client software. Players thus get quality graphics and sound effects if they have the appropriate disc and an IBM PC or an Atari ST.

The player's screen is a pilot's eye view of the cockpit and the universe. This looks like a flight simulator, but isn't - all action takes place within two-dimensional planes.

The game itself is a standard arcade-style shoot-em-up with exploration and mineral mining thrown in. There is ship-to-ship communication that allows players to talk to one another, but Astroid's fast pace leaves little time for such pleasantries.

Summary:
A definite step in the right direction, but it'll be a long time before such games are widely available in the UK.

Quotes:

"Astroid is the most sophisticated game of its kind today, and in its underlying architecture we see a glimpse of the potential offered by developing network and terminal technologies for interactive entertainment."

Name: BattleTech
Location: Chicago BattleTech Centre

Brief Description:
Very high-technology arcade game.

Historical Notes:
Based on the BattleTech inter-robot role-playing game.

Review:
BattleTech is unlike all the other games described in this report. Rather than being played over the telephone lines, players interact over an ethernet LAN. Each sits at a console in a cockpit, and they battle in real-time over a simulated 10 miles by 10 miles landscape in assorted weather conditions. Although the system is not quite complete, and is LAN-based, the point is that all it does could be implemented equally well over a sufficiently wide-band telephone network.

The BattleTech console has six audio speakers, one of which is for inter-player communication. There is a microphone, a numeric keypad for punching in missile co-ordinates and a joystick for aimed laser fire. Movement is via a hand-held throttle and two foot pedals. Visually, there is one primary screen, several secondary screens, and numerous illuminated instruments.

Players work in teams, up to four a side. There's only one BattleTech centre at the moment, but others are planned.

Summary:
IMPCGs will only have come of age when products like BattleTech are available to home users over the telephone network.

Quotes:

"It drives like a tank."

"This is the game of futuristic mechanised combat we all know and love - but this time it's for real!"

6.1 Fantasy Sports.

Name: Football/Hockey/Baseball
Location: CompuServe, USA Today Sports Center

Brief Description:
Simulations of sports leagues.

Review:
There are several Fantasy Sports available on US networks, but as they are all basically the same idea their reviews have been combined.

Fantasy Sports' players take control of a sports team and guide it through a season of matches against other players. Team members can be transferred and new members drafted, paid for using game money. Team selection is made before each match, and the games are played to coincide with matches in the real world.

Participating in Fantasy Sports takes little time - a few minutes a day. The overall goal is to win the league title, and there is usually a real-life prize associated with it - a stay at a baseball training camp, for example.

Fantasy Sports are usually uncomplicated, and they are not properly interactive. They do, however, generate a lot of discussion among players, and were the games displayed graphically they would attract an even wider audience.

Summary:
Multi-user, but not really interactive. When interactive versions do come out in the USA, someone there will make themselves an awful lot of money.

Quotes:

"The most exciting part was when I won the BERRA National League Championship in 1987. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to defend my title in 1988; I came in fourth. Other than that, it's exciting when one of your pitchers throws a two-hit shutout, or when your catcher hits two home runs and six RBIs in one game, and you know that your team has been helped in the overall standings as a result."

"When Boomer Esiason limps off the field with a sprained ankle or Greg Swindell develops arm trouble, the Fantasy Sports owner has to find a way to bolster his team and continue to compete. Replacing Esiason or Swindell may mean gambling on an unproven rookie, signing a free-agent or putting together a trade for a seasoned veteran."

6.2 Island of Kesmai.

Name: Island of Kesmai
Location: CompuServe
Pricing Structure: $12.50/hour plus $9.40/hour for UK players

Brief Description:
First-generation graphics game.

Review:
Island of Kesmai (or IOK) is Compuserve's best-selling game - its popularity exceeds that of British Legends, which came on-line later.

IOK is primarily a role-playing game. Beginners have to select from various character classes and races (each of which have their advantages and disadvantages), and they are assigned 6 property values (strength, intelligence, dexterity, wisdom, stamina and constitution). The parallels with AD&D are clear.

IOK is in many ways like a conventional MUA. Players move by typing in directions, and there are commands to pick up, drop, examine and throw objects. There is little breadth, true, and hardly any depth, but it does have complexity enough to merit a 160+ page manual. Subtle differences between character classes, and a range of effects dependent on players' statistics, do give an impression of realism.

The main point about IOK, however, is its display. Rather than textual room descriptions, IOK gives a bird's eye view of the area local to the player. The game is grid-based, and players see a 6 by 6 matrix drawn using pairs of ASCII characters. This may be incomplete, since areas not in line-of-sight are not drawn.

The display is crude. Common features have their own symbols (eg. walls are [], fire is **), but mobiles (critters) and players are simply listed as letters, with a key to decode them printed alongside the map; this is necessary because players can occupy the same square, and thus couldn't be drawn graphically. There is some informational content in mobiles' names, eg. !Nocha is of neutral alignment, +Nocha would be evil (and likely to attack).

There are client programs available which make playing IOK easier, and which tart up the display. However, at present there is no software on general release that produces quality graphics (an Amiga terminal driver has been made available just this month, but so far only 6 people have downloaded it). This is something which must surely come soon - if IOK were given Dungeon Master graphics, for example, it would be almost irresistible. The game is structured specifically for automatically-generated graphical displays, and it's amazing that nothing beyond crude ASCII is used.

The atmosphere in IOK is enforced friendliness. Attacking other players, while possible, produces howls of outrage and the attacker will become a pariah. Communication over distance is not possible, so even if there are 50 people playing you can only talk to those in the same "room" as you.

Players in IOK progress by finding money, and using it to buy equipment or training. There is no overall goal - the players just try to keep alive. However, since some people have been playing for years, they can build up incredibly powerful personae, and it is unlikely that they will ever die. Even if they do, they will be resurrected automatically unless killed by a flesh-eating mobile. In order to keep these long-term players from getting bored, the game is continually added to, with new sections of increasingly dangerous monsters and bigger rewards. This does have the effect of keeping high-level players interested, but it makes the game even more daunting for newcomers. Because of this, IOK has two games - basic and advanced.

The game does have resets, but they are over a long period of time - 60 days or so. Individual objects and puzzles can be reset on their own - necessary, as players take them with them when they quit.

In many ways, IOK is like Rogue or Hack. It has a similar display, similar commands, slightly more depth (mobiles that speak gibberish, mobiles that can only be damaged by weapons made of a certain material), and is multi-player. Nevertheless, even Hack is compulsive, and as IOK is multi-player that makes it doubly so.

IOK appeals to people who like complex (yet often arbitrary) interactions between objects, lots of detailed rules, and no descriptive text. Were a large games company to muscle in on the play-by-modem scene, this is the kind of game they'd probably go for. In the long term, it's a bad move because IOK makes many mistakes - it can't go on expanding indefinitely, for example. However, with a good client it could be very impressive for a few years, and that would certainly be enough to make a large amount of money.

Summary:
Basically, Island of Kesmai is an average, role-playing style MUA, with a crude graphical interface and not a great deal else. However, it is tuned to perfection, and when a proper client is written it should be very impressive.

Quotes:

"In 2.5 years of playing, I've never been on-line when there weren't at least 3 other players, and there are usually 10-60 players."

"When you become involved in Island of Kesmai, you find yourself thinking of it not so much as a game but as a place."

"Expect your first dragon-slaying outing to take a few hours. Your adventure could end in glory or in a dragon's stomach, but chances are you'll have a great time either way."

"Kesmai's creators have fashioned a revolutionary experience."

Name: MegaWars III
Location: CompuServe
Pricing Structure: $12.50/hour plus $9.40/hour for UK players

Brief Description:
Multi-player space warfare game.

Historical Notes:
Written by the Island of Kesmai team, MegaWars III is a greatly enhanced version of MegaWars I.

Review:
MegaWars III is, at heart, a multi-player version of the old Star Trek game that was popular on mainframe computers in the late 1970s. More detail have been added, with an economic system, troop landings, planets, gas giants (for fuel), and an overall goal - to become emperor of the galaxy.

Resets are several weeks apart. Players colonise planets, raise revenue, build more ships, and spread throughout the galaxy. Unlike Prestel's StarNet, the game runs in real time and orders are not "batched"; even experienced players must spend several hours a day playing if they are to stand any chance of becoming emperor. For this reason, players usually join teams, so that other team members can protect their growing empire while they're away.

The screen display is a simple ASCII bird's eye view. It's only really essential for ship-to-ship combat, so can be turned off at other times. Its size is adjustable, up to 32 by 32 squares. Again, there is no client software for users, so any ideas of sprite-driven missiles racing across the screen and exploding in vibrant colour must be dismissed: all you get on MegaWars III is an exclamation mark if you're lucky.

CompuServe also have a very basic cut-down space combat game called SpaceWAR. Unlike MegaWars III, however, it does not feature inter-player communication, just high-speed combat.

Summary:
MegaWars III is basically a simple core, with lots of added detail that significantly changes the gameplay. As with most cursor-addressing games, its appeal would be greatly improved if it had specialist client software that dealt with proper graphics, instead of relying on ANSI escape codes.

Name: NetHack
Location: InterNet

Brief Description:
Multi-player Hack.

Historical Notes:
Hack is a development of Rogue, a single-player game where the player wanders around a computer-generated dungeon slaying monsters and casting spells. NetHack is the multi-player version of Hack.

Review:
NetHack is one of a series of games developed from Rogue, and shares many of the latter's features. Players are given an overhead view of their dungeon level, and move around using arrow keys. Players are supposed to co-operate in their attempts to find the lower reaches of the dungeon. There is no direct communication between players within the game - it works best when played by two people on adjacent terminals.

Work is beginning on the USA academic MUA circuit aimed at combining NetHack with standard MUAs, eg. LPMUD. This should produce something along the lines of Island of Kesmai, but with more traditional MUA features rather than IOK's detailed role-playing orientation.

There are already two NetHack lookalikes with a MUA flavour. Myth was written by Per Abrahamsen in Denmark using C++, and incorporates many classes useful for such games; it is, however, rather primitive. Strathclyde University has VAXMUF (Multi-User Fight), with 100 levels, 100 spells and using ASCII graphics. Neither of these is as widespread as NetHack.

Other InterNet games based on Rogue are Larn, Moria and Omega, and multi-player versions of these may be forthcoming in the near future. Galacticomm bulletin boards already carry an ANSI-graphics game called Androids!.

Summary:
Although there probably are people willing to pay to play NetHack, the real developments will come when the game is merged with existing MUA technology and is given a proper server.

Quotes:

"I tried linking up a TinyMUD to Hack. One was in ANSI C and the other was in C. Although it did some really impressive stuff, it failed as a 'good attempt' to get them to link up - but I believe it is possible to do it."

6.3 Sniper!

Name: Sniper!
Author(s): Steve Estvanik ("Yngvi")
Location: CompuServe $12.50/hour plus $9.40/hour for UK players

Brief Description:
Man-to-man World War II combat game.

Historical Notes:
Based on the TSR boardgame.

Review:
In Sniper!, players control not individuals, but a squad of individuals, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. This is a growing trend in single-user role-playing games. The player takes on the position of the squad's commanding officer.

The game uses IOK-like cursor addressing to draw a 10 by 60 map on the players' screens, however the game is difficult to play without having first downloaded a copy of the full-sized map, of which the screen display is only a part.

The game has a levels system: ranking points are given for each engagement, and when a certain number have been achieved the player is promoted. Whether a brigadier general would actually be involved in man-to-man combat isn't at issue...

Sniper! is a two-player game. Players can play against the computer or against themselves, or even watch other people play; however, they will normally play against someone else. Missions can be either patrol, infiltrate or specific, and can take place in different areas (Sicily, Normandy, Ardennes), each with its own map. A game will normally last between 20 to 45 minutes for players of similar rank, but if there's a big disparity then it could all be over in 10 minutes.

Being a two-player game drastically reduces the amount of socialisation that can take place. There is a saloon bar for friendly discussion, but little to do in the game itself. Sniper! is not for role-players. Unlike modem-to-modem games, it does actually run on CompuServe's computers, and therefore can only be played there. It's not merely a place for players to make contact and then call each other separately; if it were, it wouldn't be as lucrative as it is at present.

Like IOK, Sniper! does not have graphical client software. Since most American players use either an IBM PC or a Macintosh, this is inexcusable. The display it does have can be in colour, but it is composed of single ASCII characters; it is even more difficult to decipher than IOK's.

Sniper! has a reputation for intricacy and complexity. As with IOK, experienced players like being able to talk about fine, subtle details. It is certainly possible to play Sniper! without being aware of all the rules, but unlike normal MUAs there is little fun to be gained in discovering them: they're all available explicitly, and just have to be read and learned. Battle tactics are the "exploratory" side to the game.

Summary:
An adaptation of a boardgame that takes out all the tedious manual-reading during play and replaces it with tedious manual-reading before play. A good game for seriously minded wargamers.

Quotes:

"Some people enjoy role-playing and use the radio to send insults or jibes when they hit, or complain when they miss."

"You have to think on your feet. While you're in the game, it's a real battle. Things happen, and you have to react. It's like a game of high-speed chess."

6.4 The Spy.

Name: The Spy
Author(s): Blane Bramble
Location: IOWA and/or Synergy
Pricing Structure: free

Brief Description:
First-generation graphics game.

Review:
A budding IOK-style game. Players are espionage agents armed with a gun and some grenades, who wander around a maze attempting to dispose of one another. Since there are no puzzles, playing The Spy alone is, at the moment, pointless.

The graphics used are simple ASCII characters, with screen addressing via VT52 codes. As with IOK, line noise can badly trash a screen. Also as with IOK, The Spy would benefit enormously from a client program that took the simple ASCII and turned it into a proper, high-quality pictorial display.

Summary:
A new game: playable, but badly in need of more MUA-like features. Probably going nowhere itself, but it may spark someone to attempt something more sophisticated, along IOK lines.

Quotes:

"The idea is to provide a multi-user game with a semi-graphical user interface (similar to that found in the games Hack, Moria, Omega and so on)."

Name: You Guessed It!
Location: CompuServe
Pricing Structure: $15.50/hour plus $9.40/hour for UK players

Brief Description:
Multi-player trivia quiz game.

Historical Notes:
Based on a US TV programme vaguely similar to Family Fortunes.

Review:
You Guessed It! (or YGI for short) is a simple multi-player quiz game with a now sadly diminished following on CompuServe. Players are asked a series of questions in turn by the program, and score points for 'correct' answers; the quotes are because the questions are based on the most popular answer given by 100 people surveyed in the mid-west, and are not always factually correct, eg. "Name a famous Italian opera" was answered "Carmen" by more people than was any other opera. Players can challenge the survey results, in which case a majority vote by all players is required for the new answer to be accepted.

Players can win bonus points for some answers, and these can be added up and turned into real cash; for legal reasons only US citizens aged 18 and over may do this, however. To pay for the prizes, there's a $3/hour surcharge on YGI contestants.

YGI's main problem is sterility. At the moment, its database contains around 2,000 questions, and some players have seen them all and recorded the answers. New questions involve taking surveys, which is expensive, although 2,000 is still rather measily.

The main reason people play YGI is nothing to do with the game itself, though. It has a lobby area, where players go to wait for a game to start, and they chat to one another there. Forming friendships in this way is the real reason people play. YGI is therefore really little more than a chatline.

The past few years have seen a decline in YGI, as it has lost players to British Legends, which provides better communication facilities with the bonus of role-playing - something YGI's socialisers enjoy.

Summary:
YGI is an innocuous quiz program that was successful for reasons its authors had not considered: the game itself was merely a focal point to draw like-minded people together, and it had no staying power of its own in the face of opposition from a fully-fledged MUA. YGI is now reduced to cult status.

Quotes:

"Will you have fun? Will you learn more about your friends on CompuServe? Will you discover the Meaning of Human Existence? - You guessed it!"