It's not "Affinity" dang it!

@DarkStarr
Ok little pet peeve rant here..

Affinity
NOUN
(affinity between/for/with)

1. a spontaneous or natural liking or sympathy for someone or something.

For a long time now a certain popular idea has been tagged "Item Affinity".. this is a most unfortunate error that came about when two separate ideas were first brought up around the same time.

One idea was that weapons could gain minor bonuses or even names/titles for achievement.

The other, was that a character could gain minor bonuses for using the same weapon over a long period of time.
The 2nd idea was more spontaneous and not really intended to be a thing, but Richard read it and started talking about it during an early live stream. I'm pretty sure he was the one who first started using 'affinity'.. or maybe it was a me? Was a long time ago but as I was the one who first brought it up this really stuck in my head.

It is based on the character becoming accustomed to the specific properties of a weapon. It's weight, it's balance, length etc.. If you use the same weapon enough, you naturally become attuned to those properties. Suddenly replacing it with a different weapon can make a difference between a hit and a miss. ie the new sword is 2 inches shorter than the one you're used to and you fail to compensate..

THAT, is weapon affinity.. or a character developing an affinity for a specific item.

The idea that stuck though.. what is being called 'item affinity'.. was inspired by Tolkien and weapons like Orcrist 'the Goblin Cleaver'.. the blade that sliced 1000 [goblin] necks! "Swords are named for the great deeds they do in war" This is NOT affinity.. this is Item Achievement. And I am personally looking forward to seeing it go in.. but for the love of my sanity can we please stop calling it 'item affinity' it makes no sense!

Ok.. just had to get that off my chest.. I feel better now.

 

okay, now get everyone to stop saying they're attuned when they're attenuated.

 

attenuated
[əˈtenyəˌwādəd]
ADJECTIVE

1. having been reduced in force, effect, or value.
   "it appears likely that the courts will be given an attenuated role in the enforcement of these decisions"
   synonyms:
   weakened · reduced · lessened · decreased · diminished · impaired ·
   thin · slender · slim · skinny · spindly · bony · gaunt · skeletal · narrow ·
2. thin or reduced in thickness.

"his attenuated fingers"
·thin · slender · slim · skinny · spindly · bony · gaunt · skeletal · narrow ·

 

Well, its arguable I mean not as to who and where the devs picked up the term from, but whether its appropriately named.

What they're after is a sympathy-antipathy kind of property, as its normally called in systems of magic. And I'd say simplifying that by just considering it sympathy. And affinity is often used as a synonym for sympathy (while aversion is used similarly for antipathy).

 

That.... doesn't make any sense to me.

 

Well, the idea that LB was talking at some point about was not just weapon titles, but the weapons would actually get better at what you used them for. If you killed a lot of goblins, they would get better at killing goblins and so have a +x bonus against goblins. That's why they would be "Goblin Cleavers."

This is, technically speaking, an antipathy to goblins, since its hurting the little buggers, but it is a positive affinity with the act of killing goblins, anyway.

 

ok I get it.. but feels like a stretch. I don't think many people will naturally come to that understanding. In any case, not going to debate it.

 

Perhaps it's that the weapon "likes" to kill a certain type of opponent.

 

For the weapon itself, it seems easy enough to call it "bla bla bla Longsword of Kobold-bane" or even to borrow from some of the D&D lingo, ala 'favored enemy' and such.
But trying to come up a word for the system itself, a system in which items 'learn' to be better at killing certain monster types, it could be said the items are levelling up, and you could call it Item Advancement or Item Progression, but these terms could be confused with the simple act of 'gearing up' your character. I agree that affinity definitely seems like the wrong word here. I'm just not sure what is better, lol.

 

Affinity, attenuated
Affinity, attenuated
It makes perfect sense to me...

Affinity, attenuated
Affinity, attenuated
Dang I have to go pee...

 

Why not just call it intelligent weapons?

 

Because that would be something completely different.

 

Then how about the "unlearned" crafting skill. Unlearned means that you knew it once and then lost it, forgot it, the knowledge was taken away, etc. Changing from unlearnt to unlearned did nothing as they are synonymous, just variants. Undiscovered would have been fine, but.... yeah, I already covered this in the bug report that wound up getting the unlearnt to unlearned which was not what I reported.

Words.
And I always thought it was the weapon liked to kill that "thing" after so long so I never thought affinity was incorrect.

 

Look at it this way. If I like chocolate, I have an affinity for chocolate. If my sword develops a taste for eating dragons after "tasting" them many times, then it has an affinity for dragons.

 

That implies intelligence and makes absolutely no sense. An inanimate object can't "like" something.

 

Yeah, magic doesn't exist either.

 

Are you guys just having me on here or what?

 

Likewise, an inanimate object can't "achieve" anything either, so your description of the process as item achievement makes no better sense. Then again, a weapon increasing in inherent power simply due to repetitive use as a tool to slay many of the same type of target also makes no sense, other than by the contrivance of magic as Barugon alludes to.

Empowerment could be used I suppose, on the premise the weapon must be exposed to the essence of a similar target enough times for the relational power to activate. Kindlement could be used instead as more flavourful (though fictional) term if such was desired to give it a more mystical feel.

 

Just a thought from reading this discussion - what about also having something kind of reminiscent of the U7 Black Sword — and/or maybe weapons that can be made to absorb souls or drink blood, or something - maybe throw in some curse type stuff in there too for using those items or crafting them.

 

Point. Better word needed.