Avatar is an early graphics-based multi-user
highly interactive role-playing computer game,
created on the University of Illinois' Control
Data Corporation PLATO system in the late
1970s.
It has graphics for navigating through a dungeon
and chat-style text for player status and
communication with others.
It can currently be played online via Cyber1
or a simulation called Javatar.
What makes Avatar popular is the high level
of interactivity with other players and the
sense of community that develops.
Development on Avatar began on the University
of Illinois PLATO system around 1977; the
first version was released by Bruce Maggs,
Andrew Shapira, and David Sides in 1979.
== History ==
Oubliette was written by Jim Schwaiger and
published on the PLATO system in 1977.
It was so difficult that one could not play
it alone; in order for players to survive,
they had to run in groups.
Following it, also on PLATO, was a game called
Moria written in 1977, copyright 1978.
Avatar was written between 1976 and 1979 by
several students in an attempt to out-do Oubliette,
and was released in 1979.There have been many
different versions of Avatar over the years,
which are often referred to by the year they
were released (or scheduled for release).
Each version is a bit different from the others.
The first version of Avatar was actually called
'Avathar', and only existed for a short period
of time.
Next came the 'Man 60' version (in this case
the 60 does not refer to a year).
Later came 'Avatar 84', which included many
new features, and is arguably the most popular
version.
This version was followed by 'Avatar 90',
an ambitious departure from previous versions.
The game data in this version was considerably
more extensive, and death was replaced by
an 'afterlife' mode.
The most recent version is 'Avatar 95', which
has no afterlife, but introduced other features
such as an Immortal class and a rich selection
of items.
Currently, classic as well as modified versions
of Avatar 84 are operating on Cyber1.
When the NovaNET system existed, it hosted
original versions of both Avatar 95 and Avatar
90.
It was also possible to play versions of Avatar
84 and Man 60 Avatar on Novanet.
These last two games operated with the old
game data on the Avatar 95 engine, which was
not quite the same as playing through the
original engine.
The NovaNET system was shut down in November
of 2015.
== 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 a view of the dungeon facing in
the character's current direction.
The player starts the game by choosing a character,
which involves choosing a race, gender, alignment,
ability scores and pseudonym.
Avatar is inherently a multi-player game.
A full chat interface is built into the game,
allowing players to communicate.
Characters often choose to team up and form
parties as a safer means of exploring the
dungeon.
Magic spells (such as healing) can be cast
on other players, or affect all members of
a group, as do teleportation spells.
Players can buy, sell, and trade items and
gold with each other.
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 amongst players
and to buy items and weapons from the store
in the city.
Gold can be banked or carried.
There are several types of terrain in the
dungeon.
Rotators turn the character around to a random
direction.
TP squares teleport characters to specific
or random places.
Anti-magic rooms make spells and magic items
ineffective, and some rooms render their occupants
blind.
There is also water, which the character can
drown in if too much time is spent.
There is quicksand, which can rob a character
of items.
In addition, there is an unusual type of square
that shows a false image of the dungeon in
front of the character, which can be quite
disorienting.
Mainly because of these dangers, Avatar players
have made maps, marking locations of walls
and doors, and different terrain types, so
as to not get lost the next time they venture
to that part of the dungeon.
Mapping is rather important, as getting lost
can be a very bad thing—dying while lost
on a lower level, for example, does not make
it easy for other players to rescue you.
However, many Avatar players find that creating
their own maps adds a new level of challenge
and enjoyment to the game.
Avatar is set up as a cooperative game, so
it is not designed for pvp.
There are a few exceptions to this however.
One way a player can harm another is to cast
a spell from the back of a large party, damaging
the players in front.
Alternatively, a party leader could teleport
the party into solid rock, but when a party
rocks, all characters involved are severely
affected.
== Guilds and quests ==
There are a number of guilds in the game,
which represent the different roles or character
classes that a player's character can assume.
Most of these have parallels in other RPGs,
such as warriors, thieves, and ninjas.
A character can join a guild, presuming the
character meets the minimum stat requirements,
alignment strictures, and race requirements
of that guild.
Once a character has joined a guild, they
can make levels in that guild to become more
proficient at that particular role.
Characters may belong to more than one guild,
but they can only be "acquainted" (be playing
as) one at any given time.
Players can be "quested" by their guild, setting
them a mission to complete in order to achieve
the next character level.
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.
== Death ==
There are several ways to die in Avatar, including
being injured by a monster, being poisoned,
diseased, suffering from a spell, being turned
into stone and teleporting into solid rock.
In most versions of Avatar, when a character
dies, it can be resurrected by another character,
either in the dungeon or at the morgue.
Potions and items can be used to aid in this
task, but all resurrections cost a character
age and in some cases stats.
If a "raise" is successful, the cost to the
raised character is fairly minimal.
The alternative to a successful raise is a
"comp", as the game will tell the raised player,
"There were complications".
Comping generally results in the loss of many
stats and more age than a successful raise,
plus the character's maximum hit points are
often reduced.
Low-level characters often find it easier
to start over than to try to recover from
a comp.
Teleporting into solid rock (or, in most versions,
above level 1) will always lead to a raise
with a 0% chance of success and hence an instant
comp.
In Avatar 95, the Necromancer class was able
to cast a self resurrection spell.
In Avatar 90, when a character dies he or
she is sent to an afterlife.
In this version each level has its own afterlife
and a portal somewhere within it that sends
a character back to the city steps if he or
she manages to survive all the undead creatures
that live there.
The level one afterlife is called Purgatory
and the level fifteen one is called Hades.
Warlocks are able to cast a spell called "silver
cord" that can transfer characters to and
from each Afterlife, so long as they are not
dead themselves.
An interesting aspect of the afterlife system
is that it allows adventurous characters to
effectively rescue themselves, keeping the
game play going rather than waiting for a
rescue.
== Economy ==
Most versions of Avatar operate around a closed
economy.
Typically, when a version of Avatar is started,
it is initialized in a state where all of
the gold in the game belongs to the monsters
in the dungeon.
There is a fixed amount of gold in the Avatar
economy, i.e., once a version of Avatar is
initialized, the total amount of gold in the
game does not change over time (unless an
operator intervenes).
As players start to adventure, killing monsters
and opening chests, they begin to acquire
some of this gold.
They also acquire gold by finding items and
selling them to the store.
Over time, the gold shifts from the monsters
over to the players, although gold may be
returned to the monsters as players pay gold
to make levels, buy items from the store,
realign items, recharge items, raise companions,
etc.
Some monsters may steal a bit of gold back
from players as they wander the dungeon.
Players who stop playing and delete their
characters also end up returning the gold
to the monster pile.
Avatar's closed economy system affects game
dynamics over time.
Characters starting the game early have a
better chance of becoming wealthy than players
who start the game later.
As a game matures (with lots of high level
players) it is possible for the amount of
gold residing with the monsters to become
severely depleted.
When this happens, it becomes hard for new
players to acquire enough gold to make level
and/or purchase items.
Extremely high level characters are typically
protected from autodeletion routines, allowing
large amounts of gold to sit unused on characters
that have been abandoned.
Due to these factors, Avatar is at its best
when it is actively managed by operators/game
masters who can keep an eye on this sort of
thing.
Another interesting aspect of the Avatar economy
is the city store.
The store sets prices for items based on a
scale which depends on how many items are
in stock.
The store offers a lower buying price than
its selling price, and prices for rarer items
are higher than more common items.
Recent versions of Avatar have made attempts
at incorporating a better store.
The store in Avatar 90 is capable of keeping
track of supply and demand on the items it
stocks, and sets prices accordingly.
Avatar 95 (and hence the Man 60 and '84 versions
on NovaNET) has a trading post instead of
a store.
The idea was to allow players to set realistic
asking prices for their items, cutting out
the middleman.
This idea has worked well at times, but the
trading post has a finite amount of space
and thus its entire stock tends to devolve
to overpriced, unwanted items, prohibiting
players from being able to sell new items.
Another shortcoming of the trading post is
that it requires a critical mass of players
to function as planned.
== 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.
== See also ==
Mordor: The Depths of Dejenol - a PC based
clone of Avatar
