Sep 10 2008
Dani Bunten & M*U*L*E
It’s been a busy start of a new semester, but I want to try to keep posting to this blog on a somewhat regular basis in spite of everything going on. Yesterday’s lead story in our university newspaper the Collegian was “K-Staters urge equal rights, respect for transgender people“. It was an unusual story about one of K-State’s computer science professors who is a transgender person.
I was immediately reminded of computer game pioneer Dani Bunten, software programmer and designer of my all-time favorite computer game M*U*L*E. Born as Daniel Bunten, Dani struggled with issues of gender identity and had a sexual reassignment surgery but later regretted it.
I remember the surprise and amazement I felt when I first learned of Bunten’s story. I was a M*U*L*E fan since the 1980’s, but I had no idea of the struggles faced by the genius behind the game. I first heard of M*U*L*E when I was a young kid in the Navy around 1986. One of my chief petty officers told me that the game was one of the finest lessons on free market economics he had ever seen. Looking back, he was right.
Game play was simple but engaging. Up to four players could play the game at once, each staking out a claim as colonists on Planet Irata (Atari spelled backwards). We played this game for hours aboard ship, and although the 8 bit graphics were quite primitive, the game was compelling enough to play again and again because it was a wonderful multi-player experience. If you have ever played Civilization, or Age of Empires, where the multi-player experience includes buying and selling of resources, you have played a game that was directly influenced by M*U*L*E.
In M*U*L*E, each player obtains plots of land and places “mules” on them to gather resources necessary for the success of the colony. The resources all influence each other; for example food and energy can be produced, but are also consumed in the process, while smith-ore can be mined to build more mules for additional resource gathering. Each month, the players meet in the market place to buy and sell the resources needed. If there is a shortage of a needed item, if one player happened to have a surplus, he could become wealthy by demanding top dollar for his extras.
If you search the internet, you can find emulators to play the original game of M*U*L*E to try it for yourself. This blog post by Steve Steiner gives some pointers on how to do so. This game stands the test of time, because even though by modern standards it is primitive, it is still very fun and very playable because it addresses something that many modern games ignore– interactive game play with other players. It is non-violent and represents the best of what computer gaming could be.
Dani Bunten was truly a genius. Although she struggled with personal identity, I believe her work in this single game demonstrates a true understanding of what it means to be human. Although she passed away in 1998, her legacy lives on in the computer games that are still being played today.
One response so far
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It is often amazing to here or gain a glimpse behind brilliant minds and work. Thanks for introducing me to the game and to Dani. Once again I have learnt something new and gained another insight.
Thanks