<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: Re: Just a bit of musing --> <!--X-From-R13: ptNnzv-pt.UenlEntr.Sqzbagba.OP.QO (Quevf Uenl) --> <!--X-Date: from babe.globecomm.net [207.51.48.8] by mx5.ibm.net id 858059116.77204-1 Tue Mar 11 05:45:16 1997 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 9703110543.7v4h@ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, Re: Just a bit of musing</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00085.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00087.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00080.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00088.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00086">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00086">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00086">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>Re: Just a bit of musing</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: Just a bit of musing</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: <A HREF="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</A> (Chris Gray)</LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Mon, 10 Mar 97 22:43:48 MST</LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> :I don't actually agree with this. This is where you end up with things :like "push" as a social, except for one room on the entire mud where it :pushes a button. In another room with a similar button but written by :a different person, you have to use "press." I dislike the effect you :get from the old adventurer games of "guess the verb" - I want to know :what commands I have availible to interact with my character right from :the start. Thus I know if I see a button in the room, I can alway use :a certain command straight off to try to push it. If that doesn't work :it means it's not a pushable button and I can start bending my mind to think :of other things to do with it, rather then "well...lemme try 'press'...hmmm, :maybe it doesn't answer to 'button', how about 'green'?" :This is in the same category as restricting the "steal" command to only :those in the thieves' guild. Huh? My character can't try to steal something :from someone? Why not? Is he just so incredibly sheltered that he's never :heard of or even thought of trying to take something from someone without :their knowning? Now, he'll probably fail, but this is just fine, and differen :from restricting the command altogether. Actually I tend to agree with this quite strongly. Even though I've got lots of exceptions in my system. I've played "guess the verb" way too many times! However, that said, I think you do want to allow some exceptions, else you end up with the different kind of "guess the verb", where the player knows that verb "balance" is used to find out their balance at a bank, but now they have to figure out what the verb is to try to get the see-saw to stay entirely off the ground. If you put everything into one complex verb, you end up with *no* modularity in your system, and changing anything has ramifications everywhere. Its also a lot more painful to change a complex verb on the fly than it is to add another simple verb. So, I vote for a balanced situation - have a good set of verbs in the main grammar, but allow special case verbs and grammars as needed. -- Chris Gray cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00085.html">Re: mud grammar (was Re: Just a bit of musing)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00087.html">Re: mud grammar</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00080.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00088.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00086"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00086"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>Re: Just a bit of musing</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00077" HREF="msg00077.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:nightfall#inficad,com">nightfall#inficad,com</a>, Sat 08 Mar 1997, 19:00 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00078" HREF="msg00078.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:nightfall#inficad,com">nightfall#inficad,com</a>, Sat 08 Mar 1997, 19:10 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00079" HREF="msg00079.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:nightfall#inficad,com">nightfall#inficad,com</a>, Sat 08 Mar 1997, 19:19 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00080" HREF="msg00080.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Sun 09 Mar 1997, 01:34 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00086" HREF="msg00086.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Tue 11 Mar 1997, 13:45 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00088" HREF="msg00088.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com">jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com</a>, Wed 12 Mar 1997, 03:39 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00089" HREF="msg00089.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com">jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com</a>, Wed 12 Mar 1997, 05:10 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00090" HREF="msg00090.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:nightfall#inficad,com">nightfall#inficad,com</a>, Wed 12 Mar 1997, 12:38 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00097" HREF="msg00097.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Thu 13 Mar 1997, 10:11 GMT </LI> </ul> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>