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<H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</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] Introductions and</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: Matt Chatterley <<A HREF="mailto:root#mpc,dyn.ml.org">root#mpc,dyn.ml.org</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 09:14:15 +0000 (GMT)</LI>
<LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:neddy#itl,net">neddy#itl,net</A></LI>
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<PRE>
On Tue, 18 Nov 1997, Mike Sellers wrote:
> At 10:05 AM 11/18/97 PST8PDT, Matt Chatterley wrote:
> >> Hi there, thought you might be interested to know that I had a go at the
> >> player recognition system I was talking about before I lost access.
> >
> >Oo..
> >
> >> Description is currently determined by gender and age - so you might be
> >> 'a handsome elderly gentleman' or a 'pretty young teenage girl', etc.
> >> However, to get around the problem of 'silly names', each player gets a
> >> random first and surname when they connect (over 100 first names for
> >> each gender and almost 1000 surnames means duplicates are unlikely).
> >
> >Now this, is a VERY interesting twist! Does the player get to choose a
> >'connection' or 'account' name to log in under, and then have the 'game
> >name' assigned, or is the 'game name' synonymous(sp?) with the 'account'
> >name?
>
> This *is* interesting. Given that we randomly generate character stats all
> the time in games, I'm surprised randomly generating names isn't more
> prevalent. After all, how many of us got to choose our names? :) (And I
> suppose for a fee, you could go to city hall or whatever and register to
> change your name if you wanted...)
Heh! Fascinating perspective - and you're quite right too. We have some
choice in our name, as we can simply lie about it, ditto in the game. I
really do like this. Richard was at one time toying with 'parentage' of
some form - are you still thinking of this, and would you pass family
names down?
> >> Players descriptions are also determined automatically, although players
> >> can chose their eye/hair colour when they create their character, and
> >> these basically sum-up the appearance. Character descriptions are still
> >> a long way from completion though.
> >>
> >> I'd be interested to hear any of your player-recognition ideas -
> >> particularly on how you intend to generate descriptions.
> >
> >This is another interesting area actually, and the first point I'd keep in
> >mind, is that if you are aiming at a very rp-centric game, fully automated
> >descriptions are probably a bad idea (note: for the benefit of anyone in
> >the audience, rp-centric mainly refers to Tiny-derivs, but could
> >technically be anything. Most tiny-derivs have player-written descs, but I
> >know at least one which does not).
>
> Perhaps you could let people write their own descs as a function of their
> level/rank/score in the game? Or, perhaps better for RPing, keep the desc
> automatic, but include a bit more spice if the character is powerful in the
> game, where this 'spice' accentuates the character's most powerful
> attributes. Frankly, if I never see another desc along the lines of
> "flaming red hair and lips to match, ice blue eyes that at once chill your
> soul and inflame your desire..." (ugh) that'll be fine with me! :)
Heh. This reminds me of what you might consider the 'cardinal rules' of
descing, in all aspects (descing objects, rooms, and players). Personally
I find the biggest rule is:
Do not tell a player what their character is feeling, doing, or
thinking, unless you are *absolutely sure* they they will be
feeling/doing/thinking this.
A good example is making a statement like '.. and you find her very
attractive.'. The character who is looking at said attractive female thing
of undescribed qualities and nature may be a gay man, or a straight woman
(although this *does not* mean they can't find a woman attractive!), but
may also be a member of another race who finds her race repulsive and so
on. Such statements must either change dynamically to suit the situation,
or not be put in at all.
> While we're talking about names, how do you propose to deal with
> name-collision? I've never really liked the fact that all names in typical
> MUDs must be unique. It seems like you could easily allow for multiple
> name instances by keying off the combo of character name and player name
> internally. The only problem comes up in areas where, for example, I want
> to talk to "Joe" or send game-mail to "Joe." If there are a dozen Joes out
> there, how do I know which one I want? Even in the scheme described above,
> you could have several "Joe Doe" characters. I suppose you could list
> further, publicly known information for each, such as occupation, general
> area where they live ("Joe Doe of Tos, who is a merchant"), or in a
> graphical environment, a picture of them -- anything to help other players
> differentiate their Joe from all other Joes.
Hmm. Interesting. I suspect I'd answer this thusly:
Out of character communiques must go c/o the account name, which solves a
huge problem.
In character communiques might function using addresses, telephone numbers
and such, since Richard is in a fairly modern environment (aren't you?).
It is actually something I like the sound of - you can't just send someone
mail and label it 'ic', because you need to actually know all their
details.
Regards,
-Matt Chatterley
<A HREF="http://user.itl.net/~neddy/index.html">http://user.itl.net/~neddy/index.html</A>
"I shall never believe that God plays dice with the world." -Einstein
</PRE>
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<li><strong><A NAME="00319" HREF="msg00319.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Adam Wiggins <nightfall#user1,inficad.com></li></ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="00317" HREF="msg00317.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Richard Woolcock <KaVir#dial,pipex.com></li></ul>
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<LI><STRONG><A NAME="00310" HREF="msg00310.html">Naming and descriptions (was Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and descriptions)</A></STRONG>
<UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Mike Sellers <mike#online-alchemy,com></LI></UL></LI>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00868" HREF="msg00868.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
Mike Sellers <a href="mailto:mike#online-alchemy,com">mike#online-alchemy,com</a>, Thu 18 Dec 1997, 18:52 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00887" HREF="msg00887.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
Richard Woolcock <a href="mailto:KaVir#dial,pipex.com">KaVir#dial,pipex.com</a>, Sat 20 Dec 1997, 02:27 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00931" HREF="msg00931.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
coder <a href="mailto:coder#ibm,net">coder#ibm,net</a>, Tue 23 Dec 1997, 07:26 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
</ul>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00310" HREF="msg00310.html">Naming and descriptions (was Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and descriptions)</A></strong>,
Mike Sellers <a href="mailto:mike#online-alchemy,com">mike#online-alchemy,com</a>, Tue 18 Nov 1997, 19:40 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00313" HREF="msg00313.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
Matt Chatterley <a href="mailto:root#mpc,dyn.ml.org">root#mpc,dyn.ml.org</a>, Wed 19 Nov 1997, 08:14 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00317" HREF="msg00317.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
Richard Woolcock <a href="mailto:KaVir#dial,pipex.com">KaVir#dial,pipex.com</a>, Wed 19 Nov 1997, 22:10 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00339" HREF="msg00339.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
Marian Griffith <a href="mailto:gryphon#iaehv,nl">gryphon#iaehv,nl</a>, Fri 21 Nov 1997, 19:35 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00344" HREF="msg00344.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
Sauron <a href="mailto:dlove#kusd,kusd.edu">dlove#kusd,kusd.edu</a>, Sat 22 Nov 1997, 02:54 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00349" HREF="msg00349.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
Marian Griffith <a href="mailto:gryphon#iaehv,nl">gryphon#iaehv,nl</a>, Sat 22 Nov 1997, 10:24 GMT
</LI>
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