What happens every time I start the original game. |
Saturday, February 24, 2024
BRIEF: The Mystical World of Paradigms! (1980)
15 comments:
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Yep, a non-game if I ever saw one.
ReplyDeleteSome of the graphics look like the old Battlezone arcade game...
ReplyDeleteCould it be that the author mixed up the words paragon and paradigm? Evolve into a paragon and become immortal sounds a lot more reasonable.
ReplyDeleteThe original meaning of "paradigm" was closer to "archetype" or "exemplar". The meaning most of us are familiar with was introduced by Thomas Kuhn in 1962. "Paradigm" is still offered by thesaurus.com as a possible alternative to "paragon", "exemplar", and "archetype".
Delete"Avatar" also turns up "archetype" and "exemplar", and of course that was the name of an earlier PLATO game. So I think it's not hard to see how someone might thesaurus-crawl their way to "paradigm". Although I do think the intro text indicates that the author had some understanding that "paradigm" was more appropriate for concepts than individuals.
Nice to see a Larry Niven reference (Phssthpok). Odd that it looks like an elf or gnome.
ReplyDeleteI didn't pick that up. Thanks.
DeleteMaybe what was meant by "becoming a PARADIGM and becoming an IMMORTAL" was some sort of weird transformation into an ABSTRACT IDEA, which would make you "immortal" (sort of) because IDEAS never die? Kinda like the point of view that gods are like ideas (god of sun = idea of sun, god of smiths = idea of smithing), so it's something like "becoming a god" combined with "god is an idea"?
ReplyDeleteThat's what I thought. I guess Phssthpok already won the game, if he's already reached PARADIGM status. Which also makes me wonder if the reward for transcending from Entity to Paradigm is to become a persistent randomly appearing NPC (in name at least) for other players to receive hints from.
DeleteThat's a possibility, but I think it's equally likely that the kids heard the word and didn't know what what it meant.
DeleteI'm not sure Phssthpok is a Paradigm. You get MPs "from his paradigm," but that happens every time you meet a friendly NPC. So "paradigm" is both something to achieve and like an aura that surrounds people? Who knows.
We need a RPG made by crpgaddicr, with a maker , but made by crpgaddict!!! Please
ReplyDeleteWill the well of early 80s not-quite-RPGs ever run out? Surely it must, given nobody's making new ones.
ReplyDeleteGiven how things have been going for the past 14 years, I suspect that somehow, someone has found a way to continue making 1980s games.
DeleteIt's an odyssey.
DeleteDo odyssey really only mean journey in English? In German it means a very long journey where you often take the wrong turns. Like the journey of Odysseus home from Troja. We have even a German word for it: Irrfahrt. Can't find an English expression for it.
If you think this 1980s abundance is excessive, wait until you make it to the RPGMaker era!
DeleteThe scope of some of these old games is impressive. They really put their heart into these things.
ReplyDeleteError occurred in LESSON.
Plato just refers to every program on it as a "lesson"? Because
that was it's intended use and no-one would ever make a non-lesson program? Or is that just this game