[MUD-Dev] Introductions and

[Richard Woolcock]

Maddy wrote:
> 
> Previously, Mike Sellers wrote....
> >
> > At 10:05 AM 11/18/97 PST8PDT, Matt Chatterley wrote:
> 
> > >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! :)
> 
> Well there is no real easy way you can tell someones rank just by looking at
> them - remember the tale of the Prince and the Pauper?  I'd be fairly
> annoyed if I was given the description that told everyone I was king, when I
> was dressed in rags and trying to get a feel of what the local populous
> thought of me.

This is a good point...but then if you were the King, it would be much more
difficult to disguise yourself anyway (although I suppose people would be
used to seeing you in royal finary...so maybe not).

> > 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.
> >
> > Thoughts on this?
> 
> Well they way I see it - you're talking about OOC contructs.  If you want to
> talk to someone, you go off and find them, don't you?  You don't send out a
> telepathic message.  Finding Joe, is simple a case of asking people if
> they've seen him - they might not know who you mean and will need a
> description - they might even assume you mean a different Joe and direct you
> to the wrong one.
> 
> The same goes for mail - you're at the mercy of the local population to
> deliver the mail.  It might seem a little harsh, but it does add flavour to
> the game.  If you want to keep in contact with someone, then you make
> arrangements to meet up, rather than disappearing off into the wilderness
> and then expecting to find them straight away when you come back.

Problem...my world is a little large...however if you knew where Joe lived
you could drop a letter at his house (or even wait at his house for him).
Equally there is no reason why you couldn't phone him up if he had a mobile 
phone...

However I think OOC channels are important to have, as a lot of players
are friends and do like to chat about OOC stuff.  It is particularly 
important when death will result in you getting a new body (and thus 
name+description), forcing you to remeet everyone.  At least OOC (using
your soul/login name to talk with) is a constant factor.

KaVir.