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Dan Bunten 与 M.U.L.E.
Dan Bunten and M.U.L.E.
2013 — 2019，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这篇博文讲述游戏设计师 Dan Bunten（后来以 Danielle Bunten Berry 之名生活）的生平与设计理念，并重点回顾经典多人经济策略游戏 M.U.L.E.。文章把 M.U.L.E. 放回早期个人电脑游戏的历史中，说明它如何用资源、拍卖和玩家互动构建独特的经济模拟体验。
为什么经久不衰：它既记录了一位先驱设计师如何把 1960 年代理想主义注入游戏，也展示 M.U.L.E. 用拍卖和市场机制让多人互动产生持久乐趣，因此多年后仍值得读和玩。
HN 评论精选
应尊重她选择的姓名 Danielle Bunten Berry，并肯定她是游戏开发先驱。
我不知道这里该怎么称呼，但她完成了性别过渡，名字是 Danielle Bunten Berry，并于1998年去世。既然文章讲的是她使用男性名字的时期，我认为大多数跨性别者认为自己的真实性别在出生时就已确定，通常更愿意别人用他们选择的名字。既然她已经去世，我更愿意用她选择的名字。她当然是游戏开发领域的早期先驱之一。
MCRed查看英文原文
I don't know what the protocol is, but she transitioned and was named Danielle Bunten Berry. She died in 1998. I guess since the article considers a time when she used her male name, I believe most trans people consider their real gender to have been set at birth and would generally prefer to be referred to by their chosen name. Since she's deceased, I prefer her chosen name. Certainly one of the early pioneers in game development.
M.U.L.E. 以极佳方式间接教授经济学，值得所有人尝试。
我得说 M.U.L.E. 极其精彩。如果你没玩过，离开 HN，想办法去玩，玩完再回来。它是那种能巧妙间接教给你东西的游戏——这里教的是经济学。
fidotron查看英文原文
I need to just say M.U.L.E. is profoundly brilliant. If you have not played it leave HN now and work out how to do so, play it, then come back. It is one of those games that teaches you about things, in this case economics, brilliantly indirectly.
详细描述市场操纵、合作玩法和拍卖界面，认为 M.U.L.E. 的机制设计极其精彩。
和两个或四个朋友一起玩很有趣，通常大家互相争斗，谁都进展不大；控制市场、看所有玩家能拿到多少集体分数也很有意思。四人全合作时，我会按最大化土地面积来选择地块设施，并每回合分享食物和能源。Smithore 用来制造 M.U.L.E.，所以我会买下没有设施的 M.U.L.E. 丢到荒地抬高价格，一回合能丢下15只；因为我垄断 Smithore 并抬价，每回合收益很好。Crystite 的价格波动我一直搞不清，似乎随机。游戏最棒的是拍卖界面：买方在下、卖方在上，随着倒计时上下移动改变价格；每回合拍卖都很热闹。像 fidotron 说的，它极其精彩，请试试。
burmask查看英文原文
It's fun to compete with two or four friends. Typically everyone fights and there's little progress made by anyone. I think it's interesting to control the market and see how many collective points can be achieved by all players. Playing all four players cooperatively, I choose plot installations based on maximizing the plot of land, not out of necessity. I shared food and energy so all four players had some, every turn. Smithore was used to create mules, so I would grab mules, without installations, and drop them in the middle of no where to drive the price up. I can remember in one turn with four players, I could drop a whole pen of 15 mules. Naturally, since I owned all the Smithore and drove the price up, it payed well every turn. Crystite, however, is tricky to figure. I could never determine what drives the price fluctuations with Crystite. Seemed to be random. Best part of the game, is the auction view. Cool UI. Buyers on the bottom and seller on the top. Moving up and down changes the price as the auction timer ticks away. Every turn, there's a lot of action in the auctions depending on the type of play going on, needs of the other players, and prices of the commodities being traded. As +fidotron states, it is profoundly brilliant. Please check it out.
Bunten 的1960年代理想主义贯穿设计，评论者惋惜当代游戏业少有这样的表达。
评论引用文章：Bunten 从小是理想主义者，大学时抗议越战，还开自行车店，不为赚钱而是为帮助拯救世界；他反物质主义，买得起更好的车后仍多年开一辆破旧大众。文章还说他倡导让玩家聚在一起而非彼此孤立的电子游戏。评论者说，如今嘲笑嬉皮士和60年代反文化很时髦，但他觉得那种理想主义鼓舞人；他想知道，如果更多设计师通过游戏表达理想，而不是只追求帧数、画面和套路，今天的游戏界会有多大不同。
gnosis查看英文原文
"Dan Bunten was an idealist from an early age. At university he protested the Vietnam War, and also started a bicycle shop, not to make money but to help save the world. According to his friend Jim Simmons, Bunten’s logic was simple: “If more people rode bikes, the world would be a better place.” When he watched Westerns, Bunten was an “Indian sympathizer”: “It just seems like such a neat, romantic culture, in tune with the earth.” A staunch anti-materialist, he drove a dented and battered old Volkswagen for years after he could afford better. “I felt like I sold out when I bought a 25-inch color TV,” he said. That 1960s idealism, almost quaint as it now can sound, became the defining side of Bunten the game designer. He campaigned relentlessly for videogames that brought people together rather than isolating them." It's quite fashionable to be condescending towards hippies and the 60's counterculture these days, but I find them incredibly inspiring. I wonder how different today's gaming world would be were more game designers and studios more concerned with expressing their idealism through their games rather than squeezing out a few more FPS, making prettier graphics, or making games according to tired formulas.
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