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<H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing, anyway? (Was: PK Again)</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: [MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing, anyway? (Was: PK Again)</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: <A HREF="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</A> (Caliban Tiresias Darklock)</LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 23:29:25 GMT</LI>
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<PRE>
On Thu, 25 Sep 1997 08:50:47 PST8PDT, Adam Wiggins
<nightfall#user1,inficad.com> wrote:
>This raises a valid issue for any mud, actually. Not sure if this is
>what Caliban was aiming at originally, but I find it incredibly annoying
>to get a character creation sequence that goes something like this:
[snip]
>The morals being: character creation should ask questions in the correct order
>- general to specific; and second, documentation about character creation
>should be availible before you actually waste your time creating a character
>that you'll decide to redo an instant later now that you know what your
>choices are. This gets even more important as your character creation
>process gets longer and more involved (which I vastly prefer).
EXACTLY. Exactly exactly exactly. Give me downloadable printable
documentation and the freedom to chuck a character and start over at any
time. Of course, your example looks so Diku-like, are you sure you
aren't an idiot or something? ;)
Let me add another example. I gave the various 'specialist mages' in one
of my AD&D campaigns appropriately atmospheric names, for example
instead of 'necromancers' we had 'jaak-tsarin'. If you come across
something like this in a MUD chargen, particularly in a list of twelve
similarly inscrutable names, what the hell are you supposed to do?
>Get is possibly the worst verb in the english language as far as this goes.
>How about:
>
>> get down
>You boogey down.
>> get high
>You whip out a fatty and light up.
>> get busy
>You get to work.
Hey, 'get busy' is often synonymous' with 'get down'. Not to mention
once in Italy my parents were out with friends at a disco when it was
robbed at gunpoint. A gunman fired a shot, the DJ yelled 'Get down!',
and one of my dad's (admittedly completely wasted) friends was up there
going 'Yeh, yeh, man, get down...' ;)
Even the wetware can't do NLP appropriately, I guess.
>I have a hard time envisioning a mud where 'get
>laid', 'get down', 'get high' and 'get busy' are all valid commands that
>cause your character to do something. Although it might be funny..
Which is an admirable aim! :)
>> get laid
>You go to the store.
>You buy some make-up and a tight miniskirt.
>You spend an hour making yourself up.
>You squeeze into your new miniskirt and a tight top, showing plenty of clevage.
>You drive your car down to the local pub.
>You order a drink.
>You wait.
>You see a man with a cute pair of buns.
>You approach him and begin making flirtatious small-talk.
>He buys you a drink.
>He buys you another drink.
>You leave the bar together.
>He drives you back to his place.
>
>etc. While I'm all for getting rid of super-atomic commands, I think that
>this is taking it a tad far. :)
Especially if the character is male @_@
>The only thing I don't like about this is that the text output on 'say'
>looks ridiculous - not even pronouncable.
Ever try to read Arabic? ;)
>I've always wondered - how does one roar softly, exactly?
Chewbacca managed it several times in the Star Wars trilogy, or at least
that's how I always sort of figured it would work...
>However, I've been considering a way to, as you say, come up with the
>minimum name necessary to avoid ambiguity.
[...]
>Of course, managing this is a bit trickier than it first seems.
Nooooooo. Really?! ;)
=+[caliban#darklock,com]=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=[<A HREF="http://www.darklock.com/]+=">http://www.darklock.com/]+=</A>
"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]+=+=+=+=
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<li><strong><A NAME="01498" HREF="msg01498.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing, anyway? (Was: PK Again)</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Marian Griffith <gryphon#iaehv,nl></li></ul>
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<UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Adam Wiggins <nightfall#user1,inficad.com></LI></UL></LI>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] more classes (Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo)</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
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<LI><strong><A NAME="01497" HREF="msg01497.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] more classes (Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo)</A></strong>,
Marian Griffith <a href="mailto:gryphon#iaehv,nl">gryphon#iaehv,nl</a>, Fri 26 Sep 1997, 18:38 GMT
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<LI><strong><A NAME="01408" HREF="msg01408.html">[MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing, anyway? (Was: PK Again)</A></strong>,
Maddy <a href="mailto:maddy#fysh,org">maddy#fysh,org</a>, Wed 24 Sep 1997, 10:42 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01414" HREF="msg01414.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing, anyway? (Was: PK Again)</A></strong>,
Broly <a href="mailto:broly#mail,bcpl.lib.md.us">broly#mail,bcpl.lib.md.us</a>, Wed 24 Sep 1997, 17:21 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01432" HREF="msg01432.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing, anyway? (Was: PK Again)</A></strong>,
Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:nightfall#user1,inficad.com">nightfall#user1,inficad.com</a>, Thu 25 Sep 1997, 07:27 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01462" HREF="msg01462.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing, anyway? (Was: PK Again)</A></strong>,
Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Thu 25 Sep 1997, 23:28 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01498" HREF="msg01498.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing, anyway? (Was: PK Again)</A></strong>,
Marian Griffith <a href="mailto:gryphon#iaehv,nl">gryphon#iaehv,nl</a>, Fri 26 Sep 1997, 18:38 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01508" HREF="msg01508.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing, anyway? (Was: PK Again)</A></strong>,
Matt Chatterley <a href="mailto:root#mpc,dyn.ml.org">root#mpc,dyn.ml.org</a>, Sat 27 Sep 1997, 10:21 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01526" HREF="msg01526.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing, anyway? (Was: PK Again)</A></strong>,
Broly <a href="mailto:gunther#online1,magnus1.com">gunther#online1,magnus1.com</a>, Mon 29 Sep 1997, 03:20 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
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<LI><strong><A NAME="01450" HREF="msg01450.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing, anyway? (Was: PK Again)</A></strong>,
clawrenc <a href="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</a>, Thu 25 Sep 1997, 21:04 GMT
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