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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>: <A HREF="mailto:coder#ibm,net">coder#ibm,net</A></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Sun, 14 Dec 97 14:38:05 -0800</LI>
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<PRE>
On 12/12/97 at 05:02 PM, s001gmu#nova,wright.edu said:
>On Fri, 12 Dec 1997 coder#ibm,net wrote:
>> On 10/12/97 at 01:33 PM, s001gmu#nova,wright.edu said:
>> >On Tue, 9 Dec 1997 coder#ibm,net wrote:
>> >> On 18/11/97 at 07:47 PM, Mike Sellers <mike#online-alchemy,com> said:
>> Given private namespaces and free user programming, one of the first
>> targets to be attacked are characters private namespaces. Essentially a
>> namespace virus is something which attempts to corrupt, delete, or
>> re-write a character's namespace without the character's knowledge or
>> consent.
>Ahh... quaint. Sounds very similar to one of the side effects of a spell
> system I was thinking about. I was toying with storing the 'code' for
>spells in the game database. The interesting side effect is that since
>many spells would be designed to modify the database, what's to stop a
>spell from modifying another spell?
Precisely -- self modifying code as it were.
One of the things that I expect the users to provide extremely quickly are
introduction card type objects. These will be small virtual objects that
one character can give to another to have a preferred name assigned for
them. The main reason I'm not providing such a service object to start
with, or implementing any inbuilt sercurity wrappers for the namespaces
is to encourage namespace viruses and name wars.
>> >> Bubba is here.
>> >> There is a troll here.
>>
>> >mmm.. but what if they really are both named Bubba?
>>
>> Who cares? Remember: private namespaces. They have no names until you
>> name them.
>ok, better question, what if I want to name both of them bubba, in
>defference to their requests to be named as such?
That's where the rub currently lies. I don't have a solution I like yet.
The nickname etc type pattern I just suggested to Sellers might be an
acceptable solution.
>> I don't encourage either that convenience or coincidence in my game. I
>> almost encourage the reverse.
>Is this to 'solve' the problem by making sure it doesn't arise, or do you
> have other, in game reasons?
Purely because I expect to find the resultant confusions, attempted
solutions, and side-effects amusing, both as a player and admin.
>> True, this is a weakness. <sigh> I really don't want to have to do a
>> category deliniation every time I have two objects with identical assigned
>> names...(ie find a suitable deliniating difference). More thought is
>> required.
>I don't see how you can get around it.
Looking for unique names might be an approach.
>> If I do go for a graphical system I can of course ignore it for the
>> general case of the game telling the user what he sees. Just label each
>> body "Bubba". The interesting part arrives when the player attempts to
>> reference a specific Bubba.
>Well, technically, you're not ignoring it. You are letting the graphical
> image provide the more subtle, delineating differences. A picture is
>worth a thousand words, neh?
Quite. I'm relying on the human to do the distinguishing, not the system.
The problem is that I need to be able to have the human communicate to the
system which one he has distinguished.
>As for referencing a specific Bubba, I'd be tempted to fall back on a
>diku-ism. 'Say "hi" to 1.bubba.' Kludgy, but saves a LOT of typing and
>parsing. Heck, build the parsing in and allow the #.<name> as an option,
> if you insist. :)
<shudder>
Blech. I want a cleaner solution as I happen to find that one of the more
horrible and nasty perversions that DIKU's have foisted on the MUD world.
>> >I'd be tempted to take it a step further and allow the player to override
>> > the later descirption with a surname of sorts... so instead of getting
>> >Bubba the troll with a large nose, the player could just assign Bubba
>> >Bignose or somesuch.
>>
>> Yup, I currently have support for this, but it really is an incompleat
>> answer.
>How so?
The problem occurs when handling the collision when defining the N+1'th
name assignments. Given N Bubba's, each with a
surname/nickname/modifier/etc, and a new object I want to name "Bubba", I
now must arrive at a new Bubba-type name which is unique as compared to
all the other N Bubba names.
If you have a system that lets you fist assign the name 'Bubba' >to the
'Troll with a large nose', and then 'Bubba' to the 'Troll with >Blue
eyes', giving you
> >l
> Bubba, the large nosed troll,
> Bubba, the blue eyed troll
>when they are in the same room, and then the ability to further assign
>'Bignose' as a surname to the first Bubba, resulting in
> >l
> Bubba Bignose,
> Bubba, the blue eyed troll
>what situations doesn't it cover? If we can get a nice and convoluted
>example of where this fails, maybe we can work something else out to be
>more generalized. :)
Another possibility is to use sub-names, or to use the other, non-primary
aliases (essentially all names are aliases for the internal ObjectID), as
sub-names for the primary name assignment. Thus a particular troll might
have an effective full name assignment of:
Bubba(bignose, snotface, greenie)
Which maps to a primary name of "Bubba" and secondaries of "bignose",
"snotface", and "greenie". (Probably the list of names should be ordered)
The system would then use this to generate a unique name as applicable:
> l
Bubba snotface bignose is here.
Bubba snotface treekill is here.
<sigh>
--
J C Lawrence Internet: claw#null,net
----------(*) Internet: coder#ibm,net
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...
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<UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> s001gmu#nova,wright.edu</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="00612" HREF="msg00612.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
coder <a href="mailto:coder#ibm,net">coder#ibm,net</a>, Wed 10 Dec 1997, 04:29 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00641" HREF="msg00641.html">Introductions and</A></strong>,
s001gmu <a href="mailto:s001gmu#nova,wright.edu">s001gmu#nova,wright.edu</a>, Wed 10 Dec 1997, 18:53 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00737" HREF="msg00737.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
coder <a href="mailto:coder#ibm,net">coder#ibm,net</a>, Fri 12 Dec 1997, 08:39 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00755" HREF="msg00755.html">Introductions and</A></strong>,
s001gmu <a href="mailto:s001gmu#nova,wright.edu">s001gmu#nova,wright.edu</a>, Fri 12 Dec 1997, 21:37 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00821" HREF="msg00821.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
coder <a href="mailto:coder#ibm,net">coder#ibm,net</a>, Sun 14 Dec 1997, 22:52 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00758" HREF="msg00758.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
Stephen Zepp <a href="mailto:zoran#enid,com">zoran#enid,com</a>, Fri 12 Dec 1997, 23:41 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00801" HREF="msg00801.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:nightfall#user2,inficad.com">nightfall#user2,inficad.com</a>, Sat 13 Dec 1997, 23:18 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00803" HREF="msg00803.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
Richard Woolcock <a href="mailto:KaVir#dial,pipex.com">KaVir#dial,pipex.com</a>, Sun 14 Dec 1997, 00:34 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00807" HREF="msg00807.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Introductions and</A></strong>,
Stephen Zepp <a href="mailto:zoran#enid,com">zoran#enid,com</a>, Sun 14 Dec 1997, 01:47 GMT
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