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.
> That said, you’ve surely noticed that I continue to refer to Dani as “Dan” and “he” in the article above. I understand the logic of those who would say that Dani was always a woman, merely one who was by an accident of birth born into a man’s body. Certainly this is the argument most advocates for transsexual rights would make. For myself, I am all for transsexual rights, but also believe that gender and sexual identity may be more fluid than much transsexual rhetoric would have it. In the end, I have continued to opt for clarity and reality as all of Dani’s friends and colleagues knew it in the 1980s: of her being the man Dan Bunten. Referring to “Dani” and “she” in these articles would be confusing to the reader and at least at some level anachronistic, opposed to the consensus reality shared by everyone around her. I understand that this decision may not seem ideal to everyone, and even that it runs counter to some journalistic style guidelines. If you disagree with it, I can only ask you to believe me when I say it was made in good faith, with no intention to slight. For what it’s worth, reports are that post-op Dani was never offended in the least about being referred to as a man when conversations came around to her years of living as Dan.
I believe you are reading the text too lightly. "Consensus reality shared by everyone around her" and "reality as all of Dani’s friends and colleagues knew it" is an explicit way to say that this was not "reality" but only what people believed was reality in the early 1980s.
I thought I understood what you meant by "set protocol." Now I don't. Could you tell me what it means? Why doesn't he get to set the protocol? (You may disagree with it, but that's different, no?) If not the author, who does? The subject? If the author is correct, then "post-op Dani was never offended in the least about being referred to as a man when conversations came around to her years of living as Dan."
The blog series is a historical progression of the evolution of computer games, with an emphasis on adventure-style games. It tries to place the reader in the context of the times, and include quotes culled from various references. At that time, she was known as the man Dan Bunten.
Consider the quote "(Speakeasy’s founder Brian Beninger: “Dan called out of the blue one day and spoke to Toni [Brian's wife]. She had never experienced an accent from the southern United States and had trouble understanding him…”)". Should the author rewrite the quote to use "Dani"/"her" instead of "Dan"/"him"?
BTW, are you basing your response only on the first essay and the single quoted paragraph from the second essay I linked to? Because the author goes into more detail which I didn't quote but might be relevant. Based on the paragraph previous to the one I quoted, I believe the author has decided the protocol will be to include a bit of explanation of future events, before settling in on a non-anachronistic telling. For example, Bunten is not the only important trans individual in gaming. Consider http://www.filfre.net/2014/03/10/ :
> According to Hales, it was he and another of Wolosenko’s favorite programmers, William Mataga, who planted the idea of doing adventure games in Wolosenko’s head in late 1983. (William Mataga had a sex change some years ago and now lives as Cathryn Mataga. I refer to her by her previous name and gender in this article only to avoid historical anachronisms.)
I think this is similar to, say, a history of Malcom X which covers the historical period when he was still called by his slave name of Little, or of "many young women [in the feminist movement of the 1960s who] changed their patronyms to more descriptive ones or dropped them altogether", quoting from Jo Freemen's description of her movement name Joreen.
It's hard to say really about protocol. I guess whatever the legal name is (current or at time of death) is probably appropriate, but I wouldn't pretend to know how she felt about it without something written about that specifically.
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.
But before I do so, I wanted to echo your sentiment. M.U.L.E. was my favorite game of its era. Thoroughly enjoyable to play. Terrific simple graphics. Delightful chip music and sound. Gameplay that was so fun that I miss it any time I am reminded of it. And I've often thought it could serve as a good aid for learning the basics of market economics.
Some day I plan to spend several hours reviewing the variety of spiritual successors that fan have developed over the years.
Born in the wrong era, I guess. Today we have the resurgent boardgaming industry embracing innovative designs for social gaming, and in the late '90s, the N64 made 4-player group gaming into a booming genre.
Not to mention the progress with transgendered life.
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.
My friends and I in college had a blast playing it on the C64. One of them would occasionally buy and release mules, more to screw over the other players that wanted to deploy them for production, but I'm sure driving up the price of smithore was also a benefit. Good times.
I don't care about Dan Bunten's sexuality any more than I care about President Obama's or a billions long list of other people.
What I do know is that M.U.L.E. Is one of the greatest games I played as a child on my Commodore 64. Unlike many other games of the era, I still have fun playing it when I fire it up in an emulator. Saw in a comment in the site about www.mulereturns.com. Will have to buy that for my kids today.
What an amazing game. I still play it from time to time with my kids. It does teach a lot of things, including a taste for gambling (and not at the pub.) When you learn to hold crystite to wait for a high price, but the pirates haven't hit yet....
20 comments
[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 59.9 ms ] threadI 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.
> That said, you’ve surely noticed that I continue to refer to Dani as “Dan” and “he” in the article above. I understand the logic of those who would say that Dani was always a woman, merely one who was by an accident of birth born into a man’s body. Certainly this is the argument most advocates for transsexual rights would make. For myself, I am all for transsexual rights, but also believe that gender and sexual identity may be more fluid than much transsexual rhetoric would have it. In the end, I have continued to opt for clarity and reality as all of Dani’s friends and colleagues knew it in the 1980s: of her being the man Dan Bunten. Referring to “Dani” and “she” in these articles would be confusing to the reader and at least at some level anachronistic, opposed to the consensus reality shared by everyone around her. I understand that this decision may not seem ideal to everyone, and even that it runs counter to some journalistic style guidelines. If you disagree with it, I can only ask you to believe me when I say it was made in good faith, with no intention to slight. For what it’s worth, reports are that post-op Dani was never offended in the least about being referred to as a man when conversations came around to her years of living as Dan.
So, he doesn't get to set protocol.
I thought I understood what you meant by "set protocol." Now I don't. Could you tell me what it means? Why doesn't he get to set the protocol? (You may disagree with it, but that's different, no?) If not the author, who does? The subject? If the author is correct, then "post-op Dani was never offended in the least about being referred to as a man when conversations came around to her years of living as Dan."
The blog series is a historical progression of the evolution of computer games, with an emphasis on adventure-style games. It tries to place the reader in the context of the times, and include quotes culled from various references. At that time, she was known as the man Dan Bunten.
Consider the quote "(Speakeasy’s founder Brian Beninger: “Dan called out of the blue one day and spoke to Toni [Brian's wife]. She had never experienced an accent from the southern United States and had trouble understanding him…”)". Should the author rewrite the quote to use "Dani"/"her" instead of "Dan"/"him"?
BTW, are you basing your response only on the first essay and the single quoted paragraph from the second essay I linked to? Because the author goes into more detail which I didn't quote but might be relevant. Based on the paragraph previous to the one I quoted, I believe the author has decided the protocol will be to include a bit of explanation of future events, before settling in on a non-anachronistic telling. For example, Bunten is not the only important trans individual in gaming. Consider http://www.filfre.net/2014/03/10/ :
> According to Hales, it was he and another of Wolosenko’s favorite programmers, William Mataga, who planted the idea of doing adventure games in Wolosenko’s head in late 1983. (William Mataga had a sex change some years ago and now lives as Cathryn Mataga. I refer to her by her previous name and gender in this article only to avoid historical anachronisms.)
I think this is similar to, say, a history of Malcom X which covers the historical period when he was still called by his slave name of Little, or of "many young women [in the feminist movement of the 1960s who] changed their patronyms to more descriptive ones or dropped them altogether", quoting from Jo Freemen's description of her movement name Joreen.
She did have this to say about her transition though: http://web.archive.org/web/20110725030149/http://www.anticlo...
But before I do so, I wanted to echo your sentiment. M.U.L.E. was my favorite game of its era. Thoroughly enjoyable to play. Terrific simple graphics. Delightful chip music and sound. Gameplay that was so fun that I miss it any time I am reminded of it. And I've often thought it could serve as a good aid for learning the basics of market economics.
Some day I plan to spend several hours reviewing the variety of spiritual successors that fan have developed over the years.
I haven't given up hope, though. Some of my favorite gaming memories in my family are due to M.U.L.E.
Not to mention the progress with transgendered life.
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.
I believe Apple has even used this approach at various times with memory and displays.
What I do know is that M.U.L.E. Is one of the greatest games I played as a child on my Commodore 64. Unlike many other games of the era, I still have fun playing it when I fire it up in an emulator. Saw in a comment in the site about www.mulereturns.com. Will have to buy that for my kids today.
Then why mention it?
See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7929436
I am proud to say that I still own a Commodore 64 and my original floppy still works after 30 years. Shocking frankly.
Ironically, my teenage son become so good he can beat me fair and square. :)
Multiplayer mode with up-to four players. Gamepad support and almost original ruleset for auctions. The land exploration is crea
The Linux version is free.