Help: Munchkin
Munchkin
========
In gaming, a Munchkin is a player who plays what is intended to be
a non-competitive game (usually a role-playing game) in an
aggressively competitive manner. A munchkin seeks within the context
of the game to amass the greatest power, score the most 'kills,' and
grab the most loot, no matter how deleterious their actions are to
role-playing, the storyline, fairness, logic, or the other players'
fun. The term is used almost exclusively as a pejorative and
frequently is used in reference to powergamers and to immature
players in general.
The term was applied originally to young gamers by older players,
presumably because the connotation of being short and ridiculous
(like the Munchkins in the book and film The Wizard of Oz) made
it an apt label for the childish gamers it was applied to. However,
before long it came to refer to anyone who engaged in a juvenile
gaming style no matter their height, age or experience. Suggestions
that the term appeared first on BBS and Internet forums in the late
1980s as 'muchkin,' to describe someone who wanted his character to
have as much of everything as possible, and that it subsequently
gained an additional N via misreadings and mistypings, can be
discounted, since the term was already in use and needing no
explanation on usenet groups by 1984.
Munchkins are infamous for various degrees of cheating, willfully
misinterpreting rules that work against them while loudly
proclaiming ones that work in their favor. As a matter of course
they selectively obey the letter of rules while perverting the
spirit blatantly. The worst munchkins will cheat shamelessly,
ignoring inconvenient numerical modifiers and fouling dice throws
till they get the result they want. During character creation,
munchkins engage in vicious min-maxing, leading to exceptionally
unrealistic or unusual characters who make no sense except in
terms of raw power.
Munchkins are often accused of roll-playing, a pun on 'role' that
notes how munchkins are often more concerned with the numbers and
die rolls than with the roles that they play.
A more neutral use of the term is in reference to novice players,
who, not knowing yet how to roleplay, typically obsess about the
statistical 'power' of their characters rather than developing
their characters' personalities.
A game master who constantly awards players magical or 'broken'
(overly powerful) items without proper backstory or justification
can also be called a munchkin master. Many on-line roleplaying
games, such as Diablo II, Final Fantasy XI, and World of Warcraft,
foster this sort of roleplaying due to the limitations of MMORPGs
in terms of personality. The stimulus created by improving one's
equipment and stats can take the place of the emotion that is
sometimes attained in 'real life' roleplaying.
See also:
help is bat a roleplaying game
Vote for BatMUD:
TMC,
TMS© 1990-2021 Balanced Alternative Techniques ry. All rights reserved. BatMUD™ is a registered trademark of Balanced Alternative Techniques ry.
The individual comments are the property of their posters, and may not reflect the views or opinions of the administration.