A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ?

parachute

noun A class (1) consisting of two objects, the 'parasol' and the 'umbrella'. Both are minor items of T, which change their value depending on the weather, but their main attraction is their other use...

parser

noun The part of the FE that breaks your input down into words and attempts to extract a command from them. This is the AI sense of the word. SUAs are sometimes said to have 'intelligent parsers' if they can fill in implied parts of a command using the dynamics of the situation, eg. 'light brand' in a room containing a fire would be sufficient evidence to assume you meant that the brand was to be lit from the fire. Although MUD does handle this kind of assessment, it's a feature (2) of the execution of specific commands rather than of the parser. Until fairly recently, MUD's parser was rather dumb, yet because it could perform this guesswork SUA devotees insisted on calling it 'intelligent'. See binder, command, vocabulary.

passive

adjective Of players, having a preference for deriving fun from activities done by (or in conjunction with) some other agent (either the game or players). Explorers will go to great lengths to coax the game into producing some nugget of wisdom, humour or insanity, but ultimately it's what the game does which is fulfilling, rather than their own actions. Likewise, socialisers may dominate a conversation, but they wouldn't have much fun in the long run if they were talking to an 'Eliza'-like drone. See active, HCDS.

PBS

noun Abbreviation for 'poor bloody superhero' (or '... superheroine'). Being big enough to be picked on, but not having the capacity to defend oneself. "These new weapons are neat, but they won't make much difference to PBSs". "The mage should have been able to handle him; it's the PBS I feel sorry for". The expression probably derives from the army term, 'poor bloody infantry'. See super.

PC

1. noun Abbreviation for 'portcullis'. To do the PC needs two or more people, and the question "PC?" is often observed, meaning "will you help me with the portcullis please?". Warning: killers love to lure people to the PC this way so as to jump them.

2. noun Abbreviation for 'program counter'. If the game is hanging, sometimes people will say "the PC is stuck". See timers.

3. noun Abbreviation for 'personal computer'. Usually an IBM PC or clone, but it can be used generically for any home micro.

4. noun Abbreviation for 'player character', ie. persona. People who use this will normally call mobiles NPCs. In all these cases, the term is usually fully capitalised.

perm

verb¹ The act of being made a full (ie. 'permanent') wiz rather than remaining a mortal wiz, contingent upon the recommendation of a BB/BS. Mainly a BL term. "I can't do that, I haven't been permed yet". See wiz bit, mentor.

persona

noun Your persona is your representation in the game, ie. the virtual you in the virtual world modelled by the MUA. In MUD2, each account has room for three of these, and you can thus play under three different names (but only one at a time). If one persona is killed, the others aren't affected. Conventionally, the plural of persona is personae. There is a clear boundary between personae and players: the former are personality projections of the latter. Only wizzes can tell whether two personae are attributed to the same account or not, and if you want to pretend to be two different people they won't (or at least shouldn't!) tell... See player (1), role-play, character, persona name.

persona file

noun Where persona records are kept by MUD. If the persona file is wiped (ie. its contents are deleted), the result is catastrophic. wipes of persona files are sometimes threatened (and the threats sometimes carried out!) in MUAs with game management problems, or if staleness warrants a drastic change. wipes may also come at the end of a period of playtesting prior to a MUA's being launched publicly. MUAs that deliberately wipe persona files without warning tend not to be commercial at the time...

persona name

noun What a persona is called, as opposed to the persona as an object in the game. All persona names are unique. See snaffle, rule of eleven.

PK

1. noun Abbreviation of 'player killing': the concept of allowing one persona to attack and destroy another persona. Sometimes seen as PKing. See PvP.

2. noun A persona which indulges in PK (1). This use probably arose to complement PC (4), but is sometimes seen as PKer.

PK is usually, but not always, capitalised.

PKer

noun An alternative to PK (2), with the same meaning.

PKing

noun An alternative to PK (1), with the same meaning.

played out

adjective Of an area or even The Land in its entirety, having had its puzzles solved and its goodies removed. This will leave it empty (2). See also sparse (2).

player

1. noun The human being sitting at a terminal playing MUD, as opposed to their representation in the game (ie. their persona). In cases where the human being is so involved in the game that they feel it's really them in there, and that things /are/ happening to them personally (ie. they are having fun), the player and persona merge into one. In this case, the term player subsumes that of persona. See also role-play.

2. noun A class to which those objects in the game that are assumed to be run by human beings belong, especially when compared against mobiles. There are technical reasons for this, arising from some of the Strange Things that wizzes are able to do. Unless context indicates that a game object rather than a human being is implied, player (1) is the default usage. A message 'sent to all players', for example, does not mean that it is sent in the real world to all human beings playing at that moment, since it actually goes to their personae; however, to do something to all personae implies the inclusion of any not actually in the game at the time. Therefore, in this example players means the all current instances of the class of player objects.

play up

1. verb⁰ To act in an awkward manner. "The modems are playing up again".

2. verb¹ To work up a new persona, normally all the way to wiz. There's no equivalent to work back up as a new persona won't have been there before. The implication is that the rise will be scrupulously honest, despite the possibility that the player could (morally, if not legally) obtain a few points by ulterior means. "If I wanted a wiz with a different name, I guess I'd have to play one up". See build up, frig up, kiss up, wizmort.

plodder

noun A player who doesn't have that spark. A term denoting pity more than dislike - plodders are often nice, puppy-dog people. Sadly, plodders don't even know they're plodders: they will spend hour after hour building up their personae, only to be blown away at will by someone who has that spark. Wizzes have nightmares that plodders will one day come in such numbers that they won't be able to handle them all at once (see rats! (3)) and some will make wiz by default. plodders are rarely deterred by death death (although they hate it), and they will usually start off again as if nothing had happened, much to the distress of the wiz killer who offed them ("It's like painting the Forth Bridge!"). In some MUAs, there is no such thing as death death when personae are attacked, only a loss of points; these games usually have severe game management problems because it is relatively easy to plod to wiz. Sometimes, a player who is in macro mode will implicitly recognise the fact by identifying with this kind of boring play. Q: "Hi, how's things?" A: "Oh, I'm just plodding along...". See nice guy.

point

noun Points are the unit of achievement in MUAs. If you have lots of points, you will be powerful; if you only have a few, you won't be. The value of treasure is measured in points, as are the rewards for solving certain puzzles and winning fights. When your points total exceeds a (usually doubling) threshhold, you will go up a level. See build up, work up, kill points, pt, exp, EP.

pointer

noun The class (1) consisting of the two members 'bow' and 'baton'. Waving one of them drops it and takes you to the location of the other. As most players can't be bothered to remember which one they're actually holding, they need merely 'wave pointer, get pointer' when they wish to use this means of teleportation. See ptr, bridge.

poodle

noun A player who is so in awe of another player that they follow their personae around obeying orders and generally toadying with pathetic abjectness. "Here comes Jaggy and his poodle". See marker, bodyguard.

pop

verb⁰¹ To be attacked. "I got popped in the hut waiting for icons". A BL term. See jump (2).

PORG

noun Abbreviation for 'person of restricted growth', ie. dwarf. Compare stumpy.

postfix

noun A short addition to a persona's full name, placed immediately after the level specifier, eg. "Alison the heroine who hates goblins". Only the POTM postfix is set by the game, the rest are creations of the damaged brains of wizzes. Note that postfix is the preferred term, rather than 'suffix'. Postfixes and prefixes can be placed on a name independently. See prefix.

post-processor

noun That part of the FE which prepares output for for display to the user. A version is built in to MUD2's FE program, but customised versions can be written and combined with a pre-processor to give a client. Post-processors are normally restricted to word-wrapping, highlighting, logging, windowing and (possibly) graphics.

POTM

1. noun Abbreviation for 'player of the month'. An award granted monthly, supposedly to the mortal who has played best that month. It used to be the case that you could only win it once, but nowadays multiple wins are possible; perhaps 'persona of the month' would be more accurate. The recipient of the POTM award is traditionally decided by a reluctant vote among the wizzes, and has a "Player of the Month" postfix on their name (which is read as "please kill me immediately"). Usually, but not always, fully capitalised. See POTM curse, DOTM.

2. noun Abbreviation for 'phase of the moon'. Things which happen non-deterministically and for no apparent reason are sometimes said to be caused by the POTM, especially buglets. Q: "Why did the piglet attack me just now when it's normally so sweet?" A: "It's the POTM".

POTM curse

noun The legendary fate befalling anyone voted POTM. Almost invariably, they meet a grisly end before their tenure is up - often within days of receiving the award. Foul play is not suspected. There used to be a similar curse on players making mage the first time, although this appears no longer to be the case.

PP

noun Abbreviation for 'protected persona'. A type of persona which cannot be attacked by other personae, and, reciprocally, which cannot itself attack or otherwise interfere with them. PPs have similar streams to non-PPs, however they top out earlier: there is no PP equivalent of mage/Sir/Lady, and excess points above that cannot be earned. PPs therefore can't ever score enough points to make wiz. personae can switch from non-PP to PP at no cost, but because life as a PP is easier they will lose two thirds of their points upon changing back. PPs are intended to be used by explorers and socialisers with no aspirations of making wiz for a while, but who enjoy other, non-competitive aspects of play.

prefix

1. noun A short addition to a persona's full name, placed immediately before the level specifier, eg. "Alison the goblin-hating heroine". This is normally done by wizzes, but sometimes the game will do it automatically for certain actions. prefixes and postfixes can exist in harmony. See postfix.

2. noun A letter placed in front of a command (2) to change its functionality. See q, s (2), l (2).

pre-processor

noun That part of the FE which prepares input for transmission to the parser. A version is built in to MUD2's FE program, but customised versions can be written and combined with a post-processor to give a client. pre-processors are normally restricted to login functions, menuing, hot-key programming and macro expansion.

privs

noun Privileges. Collectively, these are special status flags which are set for either a player, an account, or a persona. They each enable or disable a (different) form of individual treatment by the game. Some status flags are not regarded as PRIVS despite being implemented the same way, because they don't confer any advantage; for example "playing for free" would be a priv, but "being logged" would not. The term is normally pluralised even when used to refer to a single flag, eg. "You can't shout, you only have guest privs"; the singular form is used only to isolate a generic privilege for the purpose of discussing privs in general. To have privs is to be privved. See wiz bit.

protection

noun The pseudo-class of objects which prevent (or reduce the risk of being) assailed by other personae, in particular defences against 'summon' and 'force' spells. These objects are usually treasure as well, and it is a cause of great distress if a passing stealer relieves you of some protection then hares off to swamp it. When known killers are about, protection is essential. "I'm not going out there unless someone finds me some protection". In BL, the term is used exclusively to refer to defence against 'summon' spells. See non-T T.

psalm

verb⁰ How newbies think pslam is supposed to be spelled, before they learn what it stands for.

pslam

verb⁰ To break deliberately, from the player's end, the communications link between their home computer and the MUD host. This is normally effected by slamming the phone down on the receiver, hence the name (which was imported from CompuServe in general via BL). Pslamming is done in the vain hope that somehow it will extricate a persona from a situation with which the player cannot otherwise cope, most notably fights; this tactic fails with admirable reliability, leading to predictable moans about carrier loss. Sometimes, if a persona escapes a fight using means beyond the simple ken of their opponent, and then immediately quits, the player will be accused of having pslammed (which is illegal) and more moans will ensue. See drop carrier.

pt

noun Abbreviation for point (plural pts). Usually in lower case, and sometimes up against a number (eg. "200pts"), sometimes spaced apart ("200 pts"). The abbreviation can be used for point in all contexts. "How many pts do you need to make necro?". See k (2).

ptr

noun The contraction of pointer by which most players refer to the baton and the bow.

puest

noun A guest who is a pest.

pure

adjective A version of MUD (1) is pure if it sticks rigidly to the design goals of the authors, as perceived by the person describing it as pure. It is immaterial whether these design goals are real or imagined - people will readily argue with the authors over proposed changed which might render the game impure. Pureness an idealised notion of what it's like to experience MUD in its true form; since it doesn't actually exist, though, debate on the matter is next to impossible. What next - MUD fundamentalism?

PvP

noun Short for 'player versus player', although 'persona versus persona' is more accurate. PvP is the notion of allowing one persona to attack another persona, which, in general, MUD2 condones. However, there are occasions when the practice might be disallowed for a period by the wizzes, eg. it is often announced that there will be no PvP in a forthcoming mobile bash. The term is sometimes written as P V P, or all in lower case. See PK (1).