Players of the Month
Biography

Toto had a rocky life during the last few months. Shortly after entering the game for the very first time under this name, he was named Player Of The Month. It seems though that he is more susceptible than most to the dreaded POTM curse. Since his days as POTM, he died at a score of 190,000 points or thereabouts, at the hands of an ugly orc. Here is his biography that he wrote in April, shortly after he received the POTM title.

Toto (POTM, March 1998)

It’s a little difficult to write a traditional bio for a character who is only a month old so instead I thought I would use this soapbox to muse in a more general sense about the game.

The Land

What a remarkable feat of imagination! From the countless sillies to the devilish puzzles, everything is so richly crafted and finely tuned. I believe there is an exquisite trap at work that keeps you hooked. To play a good reset is just as hard today as it was when I was new. What constitutes a “good” reset has changed of course, but the game never quite seems out of reach yet it never gets easy.

Dying

I’ve done my share of dying and I’ve seen many others make their way to novice. My guess is that the leading cause of death is betting against the house. Betting against the house being a stubborn (pig-headed?) belief that you are going to beat the odds. This includes dying from lag in most cases by the way. What were you doing out there with your favourite warlock when you had a laggy connection? Lag might have pulled the trigger but you put the gun to your own head by playing with lag.

Killing

I’ve only run one reasonably successful killer but I highly recommend it to those of you who haven’t tried it. It’s hard, and like most things you try in this game your first few attempts will likely be dismal failures, but it gives you an invaluable insight into the killer mindset. Once you go back to playing your non-killer character you will never look at killers the same way again.

Why I play

Most of us trudge off to our workplaces or classrooms every day in our nice tidy late 20th century highly civilised culture. The game on the other hand takes us back to something primal. This is where we all came from a very long time ago. Human intellect and skills set against a hostile environment. Fierce competition for scarce resources, and often a life and death struggle thrown in along the way to liven things up.

This is how a text-based game can engage us so. Although technology is necessary to play the game all it really is a prop. The real action is happening in your head, and often in the pit of your stomach.
As I write this Toto is a 105k mage. A long way to go, and plenty of opportunities await to make some fatal error in judgement along the way. Still I’ll soldier on. Who knows, with luck maybe my next level won’t be novice.