September 1997
- META: Archive report coder@ibm.net
- Virtual World Theory Jon A. Lambert
- Virtual World Theory Jeff Kesselman
- Virtual World Theory Jon A. Lambert
- Virtual World Theory Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Virtual World Theory Nathan Yospe
- Virtual World Theory Jeff Kesselman
- Virtual World Theory Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Psychology, psychiatry, and other such coder@ibm.net
- Psychology, psychiatry, and other such Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- OT: Attributions Shawn Halpenny
- OT: Attributions Jeff Kesselman
- OT: Attributions Chris Gray
- OT: Attributions S001GMU@nova.wright.edu
- GURPS v Hero v RuneQuest clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- combat and hit points clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Modeling spells/skills as collections of affects S001GMU@nova.wright.edu
- Modeling spells/skills as collections of affects Travis Casey
- Modeling spells/skills as collections of affects Shawn Halpenny
- Modeling spells/skills as collections of affects Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Modeling spells/skills as collections of affects Miroslav Silovic
- Modeling spells/skills as collections of affects S001GMU@nova.wright.edu
- Modeling spells/skills as collections of affects Miroslav Silovic
- Modeling spells/skills as collections of affects Chris Gray
- Modeling spells/skills as collections of affects S001GMU@nova.wright.edu
- Everybody was Kung-Fu fighting.. [was AI and NPCs] Matt Chatterley
- Everybody was Kung-Fu fighting.. [was AI and NPCs] Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Everybody was Kung-Fu fighting.. [was AI and NPCs] Matt Chatterley
- Everybody was Kung-Fu fighting.. [was AI and NPCs] Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Everybody was African fighting.. Jeff Kesselman
- MUD Design Fundamentals (Was: Looking for clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Critical Hits clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Critical Hits Jeff Kesselman
- MAGE 2 MAGE Spell System clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- MAGE 2 MAGE Spell System Travis Casey
- ramblings on resets and other random things Travis Casey
- ramblings on resets and other random things Adam Wiggins
- Porn threads clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Porn threads Jeff Kesselman
- Porn threads Nathan Yospe
- Invitation to mudlist, a mailinglist for concepts in mud design Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Mud Games Jon A. Lambert
- Affecting the world Marian Griffith
- Affecting the world Matt Chatterley
- Affecting the world ##Make Nylander
- Affecting the world Miroslav Silovic
- Affecting the world Maddy
- Affecting the world Jon A. Lambert
- Affecting the world Marian Griffith
- Affecting the world Matt Chatterley
- Affecting the world Jon A. Lambert
- Affecting the world Matt Chatterley
- Affecting the world Jon A. Lambert
- Affecting the world Matt Chatterley
- Affecting the world Nathan Yospe
- Affecting the world Matt Chatterley
- Affecting the world Jon A. Lambert
- Affecting the world clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Affecting the world Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Affecting the world clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Affecting the world Matt Chatterley
- Affecting the world Adam Wiggins
- Affecting the world Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Affecting the world Jon A. Lambert
- Affecting the world Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Affecting the world clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Affecting the world Matt Chatterley
- Affecting the world clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Affecting the world Marian Griffith
- Affecting the world clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Affecting the world Chris Gray
- Affecting the world Jon A. Lambert
- Affecting the world Chris Gray
- Affecting the world Jon A. Lambert
- Affecting the world Jon A. Lambert
- Affecting the world Marian Griffith
- Affecting the world Derrick Jones
- Affecting the world coder@ibm.net
- Affecting the world Jon A. Lambert
- MUD Development Digest Matthew R. Sheahan
- NPC AI and Learning. Michael Hohensee
- NPC AI and Learning. Travis S. Casey
- NPC AI and Learning. Michael Hohensee
- NPC AI and Learning. Alex Oren
- Getting players to cooperate (was Modeling spells/skills as collections of affects) Maddy
- Problems with admin thru consensus (long) clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Problems with admin thru consensus (long) Jon A. Lambert
- Mud Games (fwd) Make Nylander
- Resource management Felix A. Croes
- Resource management clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- PK again (was: Character evolution) Marian Griffith
- PK again (was: Character evolution) Adam Wiggins
- PK again (was: Character evolution) Nathan Yospe
- PK again (was: Character evolution) Chris Gray
- PK again (was: Character evolution) Jon A. Lambert
- PK again (was: Character evolution) Matt Chatterley
- PK again (was: Character evolution) Marian Griffith
- PK again (was: Character evolution) Matt Chatterley
- PK again (was: Character evolution) Maddy
- PK again (was: Character evolution) Jon A. Lambert
- PK again (was: Character evolution) Marian Griffith
- PK again (was: Character evolution) Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- PK again (was: Character evolution) clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- PK again (was: Character evolution) Adam Wiggins
- PK again (was: Character evolution) Jon A. Lambert
- (subject missing) HALE2 Root
- (subject missing) HALE2 Root
- (subject missing) HALE2 Root
- (subject missing) HALE2 Root
- (subject missing) HALE2 Root
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Chris Gray
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Maddy
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Matt Chatterley
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Miroslav Silovic
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Travis Casey
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Miroslav Silovic
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Nathan Yospe
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to coder@ibm.net
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Marian Griffith
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Marian Griffith
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Maddy
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing, anyway? ##Make Nylander
- Something complete different Marian Griffith
- Something complete different Brandon J. Rickman
- Something complete different Marian Griffith
- Something complete different Brandon J. Rickman
- Something complete different Marian Griffith
- Something complete different Brandon J. Rickman
- Something complete different Matt Chatterley
- Something complete different Jon A. Lambert
- Something complete different clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Something complete different Travis S. Casey
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Chris Gray
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Travis Casey
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Travis Casey
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Travis Casey
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Chris Gray
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Nathan Yospe
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Maddy
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Todd Lair
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Travis Casey
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Chris Gray
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Nathan Yospe
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Shawn Halpenny
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Chris Gray
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Travis Casey
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Maddy
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Travis Casey
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Brandon J. Rickman
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Travis Casey
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Brandon J. Rickman
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Michael Hohensee
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Miroslav Silovic
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Travis Casey
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Matt Chatterley
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Travis Casey
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo coder@ibm.net
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Maddy
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Matt Chatterley
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Chris Gray
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Chris Gray
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Marian Griffith
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Chris Gray
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo Travis Casey
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Michael Hohensee
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Marian Griffith
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Adam Wiggins
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Marian Griffith
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Adam Wiggins
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Jon A. Lambert
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Marian Griffith
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Marian Griffith
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Marian Griffith
- games gender bias (Affecting the world) Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface Travis Casey
- Usability and interface Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface Travis Casey
- Usability and interface Alex Oren
- Usability and interface Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface Dan Shiovitz
- Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface Maddy
- Usability and interface Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface Nathan Yospe
- Usability and interface Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface Broly
- Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface Maddy
- Usability and interface Maddy
- Usability and interface Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface Matt Chatterley
- Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface Matt Chatterley
- Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface Shawn Halpenny
- Usability and interface Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface Shawn Halpenny
- Usability and interface Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Usability and interface Koster, Raph
- Usability and interface Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Usability and interface Chris Gray
- Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface Maddy
- Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface Maddy
- Usability and interface Travis Casey
- Usability and interface Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Usability and interface Broly
- Usability and interface Nathan Yospe
- Usability and interface Marian Griffith
- Usability and interface Broly
- Usability and interface Marian Griffith
- Usability and interface Matt Chatterley
- Usability and interface Marian Griffith
- Usability and interface Matt Chatterley
- Usability and interface Broly
- Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface Broly
- Usability and interface coder@ibm.net
- Usability and interface Jon Leonard
- Usability and interface Chris Gray
- Usability and interface Todd Lair
- Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface Maddy
- Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface Jon A. Lambert
- Usability and interface Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Usability and interface Koster, Raph
- Usability and interface Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface Chris Gray
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Chris Gray
- Types of game Matt Chatterley
- Types of game Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Types of game Koster, Raph
- Types of game Marian Griffith
- Types of game Matt Chatterley
- Types of game Adam Wiggins
- Types of game Travis Casey
- Types of game Travis Casey
- Types of game Marian Griffith
- Types of game coder@ibm.net
- Types of game Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Types of game clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- To flame or not to flame (was: Usability and ...) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- To flame or not to flame (was: Usability and ...) Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- To flame or not to flame (was: Usability and ...) clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- To flame or not to flame (was: Usability and ...) Nathan Yospe
- To flame or not to flame (was: Usability and ...) Adam Wiggins
- META: To flame or not to flame (was: Usability and ...) coder@ibm.net
- (fwd) Avios 1.2.0 clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be Maddy
- META: To flame or not to flame (was: Usability and ...) clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- META: To flame or not to flame (was: Usability and ...) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- META: To flame or not to flame (was: Usability and ...) clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- META: To flame or not to flame (was: Usability and ...) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface Koster, Raph
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface Chris Gray
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface Miroslav Silovic
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Broly
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Caliban Tiresias Darklock
On Wednesday, September 24, 1997 4:47 AM, Maddy [SMTP:maddy@fysh.org]
wrote:
>
> Well I've never been to a games-con (missed the last local one) so I
can't
> really say I've seen that, but the kinds of games I play don't have
clerics.
> There might be players with healing skills, but they're refered to the
> player with healing skills.
Right back to 'this doesn't apply'. "Who is specialised in this highly
specific area that we MUST have at least one of?" (No hands go up) "Um...
how many people here are specialised in this area that we only need one or
two of?" (Eight hands go up) "Um... you didn't raise your hand, what
exactly is YOUR specialty?" "I play a mean bagpipe..." (collective screams
and stampede for the door)
> There must have been something about trolls that convinced you to want to
be
> one in the first place. The fact that you've started the game in a large
> troll city (which you'd expect to be full of trolls) seems like a silly
> excuse to want to get rid of the character. Would you want to start
again
> if you were a human and saw hundreds of humans running around?
Uhhh... when did I say it was a troll city? Let me be more specific. I
choose race X from a list of twelve races, because race X is an odd race
and I want to be different. I get into the game, and after a couple hours
of wandering about I notice that across the entire MUD approximately thirty
percent of the combined PC and NPC population is of race X. I am therefore
not different at all, my goal is not realised, and I'm dissatisfied. I
decide I would prefer to play a less common race, like race Y which appears
to be about two or three percent of the population, so I try to abandon the
character (being a nice guy, I want him deleted to save you the time, disk
space, and trouble of maintaining a character I have no interest in). Now
you tell me the character is too new, and I haven't played him long enough
to be able to delete him.
What if I choose a race under an assumption that turns out to be false?
Let's say I choose to be a half-elf figuring that means half human and half
elf, and then discover that you randomly selected what the other half is so
I'm half elf and half pixie -- or in other words, the physical equivalent
of a skinny hairless halfling with pointy ears, no hair on his feet, and
useless vestigial wings that look stupid? Yuck! What a moronic combination!
I hate this! Get me out of this character!
> Ah well it looked like you were saying that we were all saying X and only
X
> and X was bad, when in fact we were just suggesting X as addition.
Yeah, sometimes I'm not clear enough. I apologise.
> > > I don't see how this equates to they shouldn't be allowed to do stuff
by
> > > themselves.
> >
> > It doesn't. But you still shouldn't say that, and I thought it was
worth
> > mentioning that you shouldn't say that, even though you didn't say it.
>
> [Clutches head in agony] Are you confusing me on purpose *P).
Actually, yes, but it was intended to be humorous rather than cruel, so let
me state more simply: I was just offering a cautionary note, rather than a
critique; the cautionary note was not applicable to what *had* been said,
but to what I feared might be inferred from it.
Is that still confusing? Looking at it, I can see where someone might look
at it and go 'oh, yeah, THAT makes perfect sense, now if I could just
figure out what it means'.
> > This goes right back to target audience.
>
> Well ok - target audience == me then.
Then why discuss it? You'll only have one player, so you don't need network
capability or user management or even an efficient system... and you know
better than we do what that one player wants ;)
> > No, it doesn't. People constantly complain about how difficult it is to
get
> > things done on a MUD. You don't hear it here, because we already know
what
> > we're doing.
>
> Well yes - I find it really hard to break into houses and steal things (I
> like playing thieves), but most muds don't let me do this. Usually
because
> there aren't any houses.
Usually because people have no reason to go home. There's nothing there. I
for one think there's a BIG need for people to have their own space in a
game... potentially something like a barracks, where you the player would
log in and create you the character. If you died, you would go back to your
barracks and make a new character. If you wanted to log off, you would go
back to your barracks and quit. People need a place for their stuff, you
know?
Potential problem: player takes really good character and goes out
gathering really good equipment. Leaves equipment and a lot of money in the
barracks. Character goes out and gets killed. Player makes new character
and gathers up nifty equipment and piles of gold. *Is* this a problem? Is
it any less of a problem if player has a friend whose character gives him
that same stuff out on the street? Is that somehow prohibited?
> Most MUDs are aimed at powergamers because the sole
> goal in the MUD is to amass vast amounts of XP and rise rapidly up
through
> the levels.
And therefore the command set is specifically geared toward that goal --
without supporting a lot of the other niceties, like communication and
expression.
> > Levels are very convenient for keeping score, but we certainly have our
> > share of powergamers on WoD MUSHes, and there's no concept of levels
> > whatsoever there.
>
> Levels are a limited goal for people to attain. What did the powergamers
do
> on the MUSHes? From what limited experence I have, there aren't monsters
> that you can go around killing once an hour, there weren't vastly
> overpowered weapons to collect & horde.
Well, you're perfectly capable of beating people up, for one, and of using
selected skills to achieve an effect. I recall one player who was
constantly hypnotising people on a MUSH and implanting suggestions that
they should go to a particular area and start a fight. There are always
people who go and get concealed weapons permits and then walk around waving
their gun at the slightest excuse. While there's no actual 'level'
involved, and there's not likely to be any experience award involved
either, power pursuit is still alive and well on MUSHes. Not to mention the
people who fake power: we had a player on one MUSH (both will remain
nameless) who repeatedly implied the supernatural nature of his completely
normal character; eventually, this snowballed and got out of control, and
staff became involved -- at which point it came to light that the player
had been lying all along, and in fact had deliberately and maliciously
abused the trust-based nature of the game to convince people of his
character's power and ability. The player was permanently removed from the
game, and several dozen players had to 'retcon' (retroactively contradict
-- "that never really happened") months of effort and roleplay.
It's also important to point out that *representing* a character as
possibly being something he is not is completely acceptable in a roleplay
situation, but to deliberately lie about the results from sensory abilities
and supernatural perceptions is just plain cheating; I could certainly take
a character on a MUSH and never go out during daylight, which might
convince people I was a vampire, but if I told people that my skin was pale
and cool to the touch I'd start getting a little iffy, and if I told
someone I happened to be holding in my arms that they couldn't feel or hear
a heartbeat things would definitely have gone a little too far but not
*quite* to the point of no return. You go beyond any possible defense when
you tell someone using a thermal scanner that your character doesn't show
up on it, or an EMT trying to take your pulse that there isn't one, or your
character gets angry and casually punches a hole through a concrete wall.
What's the benefit? I don't know. More or less the same benefit you *might*
get by telling someone you're a black belt when you aren't. It causes more
or less the same problems, too; sooner or later you hit someone who goes
'wow, me too, we should spar'. ;>
> Well I'll treat "get" to mean pick up the object and hold it/put it
rucksack
> or whatever. Unless of "get" is followed by a preposition, in which case
> it's a different situation. "get on the horse", "get out of the pit" are
> valid examples of how "get" isn't "get" any more.
I've always wanted to see a workable implementation of 'go get <item>' on a
MUD. For example, when in a town, you could type 'go get food' and it would
take you as far as it could; like for example, to the nearest tavern or
bakery. If you typed something specific, like 'go get pie' it would take
you to the nearest bakery and actually buy a pie. This would probably have
so many pitfalls it could be too much of a pain in the butt to implement,
but I'd love to see it done; it would vastly simplify a lot of things
people usually macro, like 'get scroll pouch; read scroll; n; nw; w; w; s;
buy pie; put pie sack; n; e; e; se; s'. Now you have to get back where you
were, which may be difficult; with a 'go get' command, you could strip a
lot of the deadwood from that.
> The elf can repeat what the human says (ie say "Ifmmo xpsme") and because
> the mapping from elf to human reverses almost perfectly the human will
see
> "Hello world" from the elf. Now that example is very simple and with the
> little experiments I've fiddled with you do get mistakes when the
> translation is repeated. Not nice mistakes like whole words transposed
or
> even the wrong word, but simple mistakes like "hello" becomes "hillo".
Ahh! Problem! If I speak four languages, and someone says something in a
language I don't know... shouldn't you translate that into all four
languages in case it means something in more than one language?
> Well here is where the NLP comes into play. "lost in the music" is
vastly
> different to "the dragon is coming" and it should be fairly easy to spot
> that the way you want to dance makes no sense. The only way around it
> would be to construct the sentence such that it warps the message into a
> form that is acceptable, and you're more than likely going to warp the
> message too much.
Not likely. The NLP will fall down quickly given things like this:
Bubba dances the tango.
Bubba dances the waltz.
Bubba dances the twist.
Bubba dances the mashed potato.
Bubba dances the running man.
Bubba dances the butterfly dance.
Bubba dances the Eastern elf dance.
Bubba dances the Western dwarf's lament.
All of these are perfectly reasonable, and thus so is:
Bubba dances the Northern dragon's approach.
Buffy dances quickly toward the south.
It's also worth saying that in many Eastern cultures, it is perfectly
possible to dance such a message, or even something more complex. ;)
Bubba peers north.
Bubba says "Ph'nglui mglw'naph Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah-nagl fthagn!"
Buffy says "Yt'thkapg Nyarlathotep?"
Boffo says "Ia, Shub-Niggurath!"
Bubba dances the dragon's approach.
Bubba dances the dragon's arrival.
Bubba dances the grim death of everyone in the room.
Bubba runs south.
Boffo scratches his head.
Buffy peers north.
Buffy runs south.
Boffo picks his nose.
The dragon arrives from the north.
Boffo screams!
From the south, Buffy shouts "You dumb shit!"
The dragon belches fire and brimstone.
Boffo dies.
You know, I usually have more fun typing out these example sessions than I
do writing the rest of the message. ;)
> > Yes, languages do make a very useful reason to have NPCs that can't be
> > spoken to. But I thought we had already agreed that there shouldn't be
a
> > way to tell them apart?
>
> I didn't say the dwarf was an NPC though. He could well be a player.
And why is there a benefit in players not being able to communicate?
> > Remove the who command, and I log on and see a series of people that
may or
> > may not be PCs. I try to find out where something is. I can't tell
who's a
> > PC, who's been here a while, who's high level, who's of an appropriate
> > class, it becomes a major pain in the behind. I see plenty of NPCs who
> > would be able to help me, *if* they were able to understand and respond
to
> > the question, which they aren't.
>
> Where something is? NPCs should be able to answer simple questions like,
> "where is the bakers". Since you've not really given any clear idea
about
> what kind of question you might have asked it's hard to really give an
> answer.
There are SO many questions, it's impossible to list them all...
Where can I get mandrake root?
Where can I buy food?
Where can I buy a decent weapon?
Where can I find decent armor?
Where can I learn to dance?
Where can I learn magic?
Where can I get laid?
Where can I make suggestions about the game?
Where do I report a bug?
> Yes but as someone else pointed out, they'd end up with a load of poles
> sticking out of the ground. The mud has no concept of telephone poles
and
> even if the player named them as being telephone poles, only she would
seem
> them as such.
A telephone pole is 20 to 40 feet tall and has two parallel 6 foot or so
crosspieces near the top. Such a construction is instantly recogniseable to
most people.
> Well you said you didn't like groups, or NLP or languages or anything
else
> from what I could tell. The only things you seem to like are standard
> diku/lpmuds.
I like games that I can play without assistance for extended periods of
time. I like character development. I like puzzles and intricately designed
areas. I like realistic and 'living' areas where the NPCs actually do more
than one thing. I like the way the Ultima series handled the environment
(although as you mention, the command interface is pretty bad). I like old
games like the Zork series and the Nethack/Moria/Rogue types. I like being
able to suspend disbelief, and actually feel like this is a real world and
the character is a real person. I like NPCs being able to develop
persistent opinions of things. I like NPCs having a variety of reactions to
the same stimuli. I like worlds which are familiar, and which operate on a
similar set of rules to the real world. I like being able to ignore morons,
talk to other players, and more or less be secure in the fact that if I
wander around exploring I'm not likely to have anything ruin my game unless
I do something dumb.
=+[caliban@darklock.com]=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=[http://www.darklock.com/]+"It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more
doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a
new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by
the preservation of the old institution, and merely lukewarm defenders in
those who would gain by the new one." -- Machiavelli
=+=+=+[We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams]+=+=+=+ - Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Adam Wiggins
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- (fwd) Key, new server code in Java coder@ibm.net
- A place of my own Jon A. Lambert
- A place of my own Shawn Halpenny
- A place of my own Maddy
- A place of my own clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- A place of my own Koster, Raph
- A place of my own Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- A place of my own Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- A place of my own Marian Griffith
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- OT: Usability and interface Jon A. Lambert
- OT: Usability and interface clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- more classes (Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- more classes (Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo) Brandon J. Rickman
- more classes (Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo) clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- more classes (Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo) Brandon J. Rickman
- more classes (Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo) Matt Chatterley
- more classes (Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo) Matt Chatterley
- more classes (Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo) Marian Griffith
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Brian Price
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Travis Casey
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Adam Wiggins
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Brian Price
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Travis Casey
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Shawn Halpenny
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Adam Wiggins
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Shawn Halpenny
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Adam Wiggins
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Travis Casey
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Broly
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques coder@ibm.net
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Marian Griffith
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Brian Price
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Travis Casey
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Adam Wiggins
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Brian Price
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Brandon J. Rickman
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Brandon J. Rickman
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Travis Casey
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Brian Price
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Maddy
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Maddy
- UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques coder@ibm.net
- UI Issues: Dealing with Lag Brian Price
- UI Issues: Dealing with Lag clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Michael Hohensee
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Shawn Halpenny
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to Michael Hohensee
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing Shawn Halpenny
- Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be Maddy
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface and Maddy
- War and language (Was: Usability and interface and who Matt Chatterley
- Focus (Was: Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo) Matt Chatterley
- Usability and interface and who the hell is suppon Adam Wiggins
- Balance of Character Power Jon A. Lambert
- Balance of Character Power clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Balance of Character Power Travis Casey
- Balance of Character Power Shawn Halpenny
- What to do with the first summary? Marian Griffith
- NPC AI Brian Price
- Reusable plots for quests Brian Price
- Reusable plots for quests clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Reusable plots for quests Brian Price
- Reusable plots for quests Travis Casey
- Reusable plots for quests Brian Price
- Reusable plots for quests Travis Casey
- Reusable plots for quests Brandon J. Rickman
- Reusable plots for quests Travis Casey
- Reusable plots for quests Adam Wiggins
- Reusable plots for quests coder@ibm.net
- Reusable plots for quests Travis S. Casey
- Reusable plots for quests coder@ibm.net
- Reusable plots for quests Adam Wiggins
- Reusable plots for quests coder@ibm.net
- Reusable plots for quests Travis S. Casey
- Reusable plots for quests coder@ibm.net
- Reusable plots for quests Derrick Jones
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface and Maddy
- Stranger in a Strange Land Adam Wiggins
- Stranger in a Strange Land clawrenc@cup.hp.com
- Stranger in a Strange Land Adam Wiggins
- Stranger in a Strange Land coder@ibm.net
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface Adam Wiggins
- Dupes coder@ibm.net
- Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface Ola Fosheim Grøstad