Top all-time · #2632
Richard Bartle
Personal blog · mud.co.ukgameswriting
Richard Bartle's personal blog at mud.co.uk covers games and writing. Since 2009, 32 different Hacker News readers have linked it 42 times, most often “Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs (1996)”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Most-linked posts?
- Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs (1996)6 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2009-06-04
- Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs5 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2012-05-08
- How to Fit a Large Program into a Small Machine (Zork, Z-Machine, ZIL) (1999)5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2017-04-07
- Richard A. Bartle: Players Who Suit MUDs (1996)4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2018-12-24
- Designing Virtual Worlds is free for download3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-08-18
- How to Fit a Large Program into a Small Machine (1999)3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2017-08-23
- Designing Virtual Worlds book is free for limited time [pdf]3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-08-17
What Hacker News says?
> my question was (and still is): why is a taxonomy the best way to capture this? In a personality research course it became clear to me that the biggest successful models are dimensional in nature (e.g. five factor model/big 5) they are not taxonomies. The types are labels for the extremes of a dimensional analysis of motivation: INTEREST GRAPH Consider the following abstract graph: ACTING Killers | Achievers | | |…
Comment linking /richard/hcds.htm
on “Richard Bartle releases his classic “Designing Virtual Worlds” book for free”Submitted How to Fit a Large Program into a Small Machine (1999) as a story · 148 points
HN discussionRichard just posted: >It occurred to me that if people are allowed to reformat the text of Designing Virtual Worlds, then perhaps I ought to provide it in a form more amenable to reformatting than .pdf is. I've therefore uploaded a .docx version to https://mud.co.uk/richard/DesigningVirtualWorlds.docx , for those readers who want to put it in a form that works on their phone, Kindle or US Letter paper (the .pdf is s…
Comment linking /richard/DesigningVirtualWorlds.docx
on “Richard Bartle releases his classic “Designing Virtual Worlds” book for free”Submitted Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs (1996) as a story · 50 points
HN discussionHere is Bartle's actual announcement and download link: https://mud.co.uk/dvw/
Comment linking /dvw/
on “Richard Bartle releases his classic “Designing Virtual Worlds” book for free”Submitted The 4 types if MUD players as a story · 18 points
HN discussionI always liked Richard Bartle's take on this from a game design perspective, in his: "HEARTS, CLUBS, DIAMONDS, SPADES: PLAYERS WHO SUIT Muds" http://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm Essentially: exploring is one dimension of fun, and some people enjoy it even more when it's hard (ie:no automap). I remember playing Eye of the Beholder with a friend, one of us on map duty, the other controlling the game...
Comment linking /richard/hcds.htm
on “Dungeon Scrawl: Old school maps in minutes”Submitted Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs as a story · 14 points
HN discussionDon't know what he wanted to talk about, but here's one I remembered off hand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-machine All the old Infocom games were ported to this Engine and its existence is why they're so wonderfully well preserved nowadays and can be played in a really playable form with Frotz Also in the Adventure Game space: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCUMM The oriignal MUD was an engine, and there are hund…
Comment linking /richard/DesigningVirtualWorlds.pdf
on “My first game with Carimbo, my homemade engine”Submitted Designing Virtual Worlds book is free for limited time [pdf] as a story · 7 points
HN discussion> I also think people willingly participate because it's a way to substitute mediocre/subordinate social acceptance for the much more intermittent reward/thrill of genuine work. The drive to seek "intermittent rewards/thrills" isn't universal. Specifically, in people with naturally low dopamine responsivity[1][2], it's almost non-existent. Within this group, you don't tend to see anyone who enjoys casinos and/or cas…
Comment linking /richard/hcds.htm
on “Experiment in paying villagers in India an unconditional basic income”Submitted How to Fit a Large Program into a Small Machine (Zork, Z-Machine, ZIL) (1999) as a story · 6 points
HN discussionWhile I don't think the author thinks it forms an academic quality taxonomy anymore, I do like the ideas in "Players who Suits MUDs": http://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm Especially the idea that lack of friendly ux leads to more communication and cooperation between players. I don't think it's completely unreasonable that forcing network effects in "Mealsgate" (how do I even install pokemon go) might help form stronge…
Comment linking /richard/hcds.htm
on “Introducing the new Snapchat”Submitted How to fit a large program into a small machine (1980) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThe article Hearths, Clubs Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit Muds ( https://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm ) looks at that aspect. The types of players the designers design for and the types of players that the game creates aren't always in alignment. One of the games that I've played over the years that specifically embraces this is Kingdom of Loathing.
Comment linking /richard/hcds.htm
on “Ultima Online spent years developing a system that was destroyed by players”Submitted Richard A. Bartle: Players Who Suit MUDs (1996) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThis is a good time to drop a mention of the psychological analysis of the four types of MUD gamers[1] [1] http://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm
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on “Ultima Online spent years developing a system that was destroyed by players”Submitted How to Fit a Large Program in a Small Machine as a story · 2 points
HN discussionRelated: A collection of slides on in game economics by the former (in 2000) director of technology at Origin (not a UO team member): https://web.archive.org/web/20020730225318/https://www.mine-... The model economy (related to Muds) in Imaginary Realties by Dan Hastings, preserved by Richard Bartle : http://mud.co.uk/dvw/themodeleconomy.html The basics of these economies is that there is a faucet of some resource a…
Comment linking /dvw/themodeleconomy.html
on “Ultima Online spent years developing a system that was destroyed by players”Submitted Players Who Suit MUDs as a story · 2 points
HN discussionWow, the original "4 types of players" paper is really, really good and also very detailed. Makes some interesting observations about the dynamics of those types of players in a shared game world. http://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm Personally, I seem to be closest to the explorer type. I always liked single player games more, and I prefer well-written lore, depth and new things to discover over the mechanics or socia…
Comment linking /richard/hcds.htm
on “Video Games Satisfy Basic Human Needs”Submitted Richard Bartle's Academic Papers on MUDs as a story · 1 points
HN discussion> But without good explanation, you still deeply care about what other people think about you("it still can do damage"). That's not quite what I meant by the phrase. It "does damage" because others in the majority accept that it does—for the same reasons that I am "in debt" when a number on a machine reads negative. I might agree or disagree with the conception of money as a fiscal instrument, but it is supported by…
Comment linking /richard/hcds.htm
on “John Carmack demos Rage on iPhone”Submitted Designing Virtual Worlds by Richard Bartle [pdf] as a story · 1 points
HN discussionBlank and Berez were definitely thinking about p-machines when they designed the Z machine, and there is a hat tip in the 1980 Creative Computing article describing its inner workings. [1]: https://mud.co.uk/richard/htflpism.htm
Comment linking /richard/htflpism.htm
on “Show HN: Resurrecting Infocom's Unix Z-Machine with Cosmopolitan”Submitted Designing Virtual Worlds is free for download as a story · 1 points
HN discussionProfessor Richard Bartle recently retired, but he regularly assigned his students to play MUD2 in his Computer Game Design and Virtual Worlds classes at the University of Essex! He and Michael Lawrie co-created the original MUD1 at Essex in 1978. https://www.essex.ac.uk/people/BARTL01006/Richard-Bartle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bartle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designing_Virtual_Worlds https://www.mud…
Comment linking /richard/DesigningVirtualWorlds.pdf
on “The Two Towers MUD”Submitted Early MUD History (1990) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionOh, this reminds me of Bartle's "HEARTS, CLUBS, DIAMONDS, SPADES: PLAYERS WHO SUIT MUDS": http://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm Much for the same reason I like Filedings REST thesis (see other comment in this thread): the reasoning that goes into it. The "types" have since been "debunked" -- but IMNHO that sort of misses the point: that he has an interesting way of looking at what makes a game fun, and how things like l…
Comment linking /richard/hcds.htm
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite scholarly papers? Why?”There are different kind of online game players. There is an old write-up[1] about MUDs, the ancestors of modern MMORPGs. Players are categorized into 4 archetypes: hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades, also called socializers, killers, achievers and explorers respectively. Socializers and killers are the extroverts. They play the game for the multiplayer aspect, socializers see the game as a communication platform w…
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on “Introverts didn't 'win' lockdown”
