What's the origin of TAM?

[law.of.averages]

I thought it was Qbert B Tam....

[Prozac]

I FINALLY FOUND IT!!! Following is a brief description from the people who actually DID develop TAM and why they did it:

The ArenaMaster mod was first conceptualized in September of 2003. As part of a spirited plan to enhance Unreal Tournament, it introduces a new form of online tournament competition for the Unreal Tournament series.

Inspired by thoroughbred horse racing, the intention behind the mod is to introduce a type of natural handicapping that would even gameplay between the leet and n00b players, attracting an increasing number of players. The current gametypes and levels for Unreal Tournament have been so mastered by skilled players that match outcomes can be predicted even before they begin.

With ArenaMaster, the underdog in any given match will always have a chance to win. It is the belief of the ArenaMaster development team that by leveling the playing field, this dynamic has the beneficial outcome of enhancing the overall experience of all players in the online gaming environment. Upon releasing the first version for beta testing in late March 2004 after the launch of Unreal Tournament 2004, the team has play-tested this mod for tens of thousands of hours.

The team incorporated a tremendous amount of feedback producing over 40 revisions, and has added many features successfully meeting its overall objective: to create a game flow dynamic that leads to fun, exciting, and suspenseful gameplay. Features: • Contains ArenaMaster (AM), Team ArenaMaster (TAM), and Freon gametypes • Gameplay is based on rounds; Each player has only 1 life per round • In-game GUI administration menu for server-side settings • In-game GUI player menu for client-side settings • Custom Scoreboard • Enhanced HUD displays game relevant data • Enhanced brightskins unaffected by shadows and game lighting increases visibility beyond Epic brightskins • Force skins can now be done in the brightskins menu, and are configureable by team • Hitsounds can be enabled by administrator and configured by the player • Shock Combo ammo reduced from 5 to 3 • Overtime period drains all remaining players of health at the same rate

How To Play: 1. Player spawns with full health, armor, weapons, and ammo. 2. No player can fire or be damaged during the first few seconds of play. 3. Kill all other players on the board (or opposing team players for TAM). 4. Each Kill may have bonuses attached, such as adrenaline or health 5. The last player alive receives a point (or team point). Then a new round begins. 6. The more points a player/team has, the less health and armor they spawn with 7. Score enough points (i.e. 7) and the match is won.

quote from Mr. Porkinator Rocket:

As fior the origins of TAM it was generally credit to Hurbert B Tam who co-authored a book with Mario Pacman entitled " Great games for the computer when it is invented " back in 1904 . Both ironially died in insane asylums.

HA! I knew the info was out there! I stumbled upon this at the filefront 3spn download site. This answered all my questions. Suck on that Mr. Hubert B Tam and Mario Pacman!

[Porkinator]

You have waaaaaayyyyyyyy to much time on your hands Pro.

[Prozac]

You have waaaaaayyyyyyyy to much time on your hands Pro.

And you my friend have waaaaaaaaayyyyyy too much hand on your pecker, rockets and hot pockets.

[SugaFree]

I thought it originated from the Rocket Arena mod for Quake, then ported over to UT.
As for the initial intention, it was probably just to level the playing field for noobs.

[Porkinator]

I thought it originated from the Rocket Arena mod for Quake, then ported over to UT.
As for the initial intention, it was probably just to level the playing field for noobs.

Compared to you Sug we are all noobs.
Welcome to our world.
Just because we play like we belong on the short bus doesn't mean you have to trip us when we are getting off it.