I've been seeing people use this word 'Toon' when talking about characters and character creation, etc. Where did this come from and what does it mean?, well I know what it means, but... you know what I'm asking?
I suspect the term is older than WOW; the use of the "cartoon" character dates back to at least Everquest. Even if the style of many of the older games isn't technically "cartoonish," the avatar is still a drawn character in any visually rendered MMO.
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There are lots of sources for a word like this.
Avatar is traditionally what you'd use when your talking about a character from a video game.
Toon seems to have come out of the 1980's. Gary K. Wolf (the writer of Who Censored Roger Rabbit?) seems to be the source of the term "Toon" to start off with.
I'm having trouble figuring out where exactly Avatar and Toon crossed into each other. It could be Everquest or something of that ilk, or some other random game that wasn't terribly popular but had an active community.
It is older than WoW. It is at least as old as Everquest.
It's just slang for "character."
I'm so disappointed...I thought we were going to share our memories of the game "Toon". Sigh.
many associate it's origin with world of warcraft, but it technically originated in a poorly made children's MMO crafted by Disney called "Toontown" where you threw pies at Tuxedo Clad "boxmen" and collected "jellybeans" as currency. i remember that my 12 year old stepbrother was into that undesirable game around 5ish years ago. i had to remove it to save my computer from some odd species of virus. Toontown took the word from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". and invented it's current use as another way of saying "Player Character". Disney used to do fairly well at childrens movies, but i beleive they should stop treading further into the videogame market. i wasn't a big kingdom hearts fan but i did have fun in the first one beating up "loli Selphie" on a specially reserved save file.
I'm so disappointed...I thought we were going to share our memories of the game "Toon". Sigh.
Sorry Hogarth.
I am kind of a latecomer to MMO's but before I started them, I played NWN shortly after it came out. Many referred to their online character build as a 'toon'. So it has been around at least as long as 2002. I was under the impression that it was much older than that though. I seem to remember a friend playing Dark Age of Camelot and calling his character a toon as well. But things get fuzzy for me then :P
@Hogarth My favorite Toonie was a 4ft stuttering crow named K-k-k-Kevin. He spoke quite loudly and carried a small schtick.
Greg
Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games
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I'm so disappointed...I thought we were going to share our memories of the game "Toon". Sigh.
Wow! That's a blast from the past! I remember playing a bumbling wombat who thought he was a super hero. One of my buddies actually played a door...
That was a great change of pace game!
I'm so disappointed...I thought we were going to share our memories of the game "Toon". Sigh.Wow! That's a blast from the past! I remember playing a bumbling wombat who thought he was a super hero. One of my buddies actually played a door...
That was a great change of pace game!
My favourite memory was playing a greedy snail who had a penny stolen from him by a thinly-veiled version of Richie Rich.
But the strangest character I can remember was a package of Starburst (tm) fruit chews.
I'm not familiar with the game, but it sounds interesting. Could someone please enlighten me on the details?
LOL!
Not 5 minutes ago I asked on another Thread what a "Toon" is.
So I guess here I should just ask "What was the game "Toon"?"
It was a very simple game made by Steve Jackson Games in the mid 80's where you played a cartoon character, like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, or Bart Simpson. It was part of a small contingent of "comic" themed RPGs that included "Tales from the Floating Vagabond" and "Paranoia".
Sounds like an interesting game, though I'm not sure how safe playing a fairly popular candy would be, even if it was just cartoon candy.
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many associate it's origin with world of warcraft, but it technically originated in a poorly made children's MMO crafted by Disney called "Toontown" where you threw pies at Tuxedo Clad "boxmen" and collected "jellybeans" as currency. i remember that my 12 year old stepbrother was into that undesirable game around 5ish years ago. i had to remove it to save my computer from some odd species of virus. Toontown took the word from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". and invented it's current use as another way of saying "Player Character". Disney used to do fairly well at childrens movies, but i beleive they should stop treading further into the videogame market. i wasn't a big kingdom hearts fan but i did have fun in the first one beating up "loli Selphie" on a specially reserved save file.
While correct that toontown did refer to their avatars as toons the term itself was around long before then. I remeber it being used, albeit only rarely, back in the EQ and UO days. My guess is that it harkens back to the days of MUDS and MUSHes although my google search-fu couldn't find the exact origin.
While correct that toontown did refer to their avatars as toons the term itself was around long before then. I remeber it being used, albeit only rarely, back in the EQ and UO days. My guess is that it harkens back to the days of MUDS and MUSHes although my google search-fu couldn't find the exact origin.
I'm not sure when 'Toon' became popular slang for a character. Or what the etymology is... is it from 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?' (cartoon) or is it from 'Ender's Game' (Platoon)?
I started playing MUDs (Both Tiny and Diku) and MUSHes in the early 90s, and we never used the term 'Toon'. You were normally a 'Character' on a DikuMUD, and a 'Player' on a MUSH or TinyMUD.
I do know that Everquest and World of Warcraft were almost certainly where it became commonplace. I was always under the impression that your 'toon' was your group of alts, separate from your main account (And thus would be the Ender's Game reference), and that people would say 'I'm playing a character from my 'toon right now'. And this naturally was shorted to 'I'm playing my toon', and then at some point the distinction between being 'one of your toon' and 'your toon' was lost, and all characters became toons.
However, I'm also aware that I'm pretty much playing connect the dots, and just because we used it that way (short for platoon of alt characters) at that time (2004-2006), has no actual bearing on the real etymology.
I continue to believe that my version is correct, though, because toon being short for 'cartoon' is just stupid when referring to your character.
Sounds like an interesting game, though I'm not sure how safe playing a fairly popular candy would be, even if it was just cartoon candy.
I agree, that added a certain amount of dramatic conflict. :-)
I'm so disappointed...I thought we were going to share our memories of the game "Toon". Sigh.
I think I have a copy of that game in my collection. It was a fun game to play.
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While correct that toontown did refer to their avatars as toons the term itself was around long before then. I remeber it being used, albeit only rarely, back in the EQ and UO days. My guess is that it harkens back to the days of MUDS and MUSHes although my google search-fu couldn't find the exact origin.I started playing MUDs (Both Tiny and Diku) and MUSHes in the early 90s, and we never used the term 'Toon'. You were normally a 'Character' on a DikuMUD, and a 'Player' on a MUSH or TinyMUD.
I agree. I played a lot of MUDs back in the day, and never heard "toon" used in the context of a text-based game.
LOL!
Not 5 minutes ago I asked on another Thread what a "Toon" is.
So I guess here I should just ask "What was the game "Toon"?"
It was a very simple game made by Steve Jackson Games in the mid 80's where you played a cartoon character, like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, or Bart Simpson. It was part of a small contingent of "comic" themed RPGs that included "Tales from the Floating Vagabond" and "Paranoia".
That's like saying Catherine the Great, Attila the Hun, and Bozo the Clown belong in a group together because they all share a middle name. Those are three very different games, and three very different forms of comedy.
The best way to think about Toon is that it's a game about cartoon logic.
LOL!
Not 5 minutes ago I asked on another Thread what a "Toon" is.
So I guess here I should just ask "What was the game "Toon"?"
It was a very simple game made by Steve Jackson Games in the mid 80's where you played a cartoon character, like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, or Bart Simpson. It was part of a small contingent of "comic" themed RPGs that included "Tales from the Floating Vagabond" and "Paranoia".
That's like saying Catherine the Great, Attila the Hun, and Bozo the Clown belong in a group together because they all share a middle name. Those are three very different games, and three very different forms of comedy.
The best way to think about Toon is that it's a game about cartoon logic.
Excuse me for not understanding the profound differences between Toon and Tales from the Floating Vagabond.
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Well it took a bunch of digging, but the earliest references I can find to calling characters "Toons" seems to come from The Realm Online (dating back to 1995). The game's appearance was pretty cartoony, which does coincide with the idea that it was a derivation of the word "cartoon" to refer to a character. It also explains why it was a common term in games like EQ, UO, and AC, since they were the "next generation" of MMOs.
I still contend that like many MMO terms (such as MOB referring to a "mobile object") its origin might originate from even further back, but that's what my research uncovered.
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I'm so disappointed...I thought we were going to share our memories of the game "Toon". Sigh.Wow! That's a blast from the past! I remember playing a bumbling wombat who thought he was a super hero. One of my buddies actually played a door...
That was a great change of pace game!
My favourite memory was playing a greedy snail who had a penny stolen from him by a thinly-veiled version of Richie Rich.
But the strangest character I can remember was a package of Starburst (tm) fruit chews.
I remember Toon! I had a big strong rabbit that wore a Superman costume - he was dumb as a box of rocks (dumb rocks) but had a heart of gold. His name was Stud Bunny. He even has the big 'S' on his chest.
Fun game and good times ;)