FW: [MUD-Dev] Interesting EQ rant (very long quote)

[Kevin Littlejohn]

Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services wrote

>   Matt:  Hey Paul, you can say "porkmelon" to this statue to move it.
> 
> vs.
> 
>   Matt:  /{formalized_share_secret_command} {target} {secret}

How about using "give" as the "formalized_share_secret_command", and
calling the secret something like, I don't know, "key"?  ;)

My problem is this works for that sort of information, but how do you
extend it out?  The above is surely the _most_ trivial example - how
many of us actually have many quests of this sort in their games?  How
many are faking the above mechanism with, say, a string of untradable
items that need to be taken from one NPC to another to complete the
quest?

The above is the trivial case, and is already being solved by a slight
remodelling of the quest - instead of a password, most places will use
a key, and make people collect it.  The hard case, the one that's
really useful for the players, is "hey, where would I find the key for
this statue?", or "hey, what's the best place for xp for a level 12?",
or "hey, what does the burning blades spell do?", or "how tough is
this giant ape, really?".  For all of these, your AI modelling thing
is going to have a _real_ hard time tracking knowledge-transfer, and
disallowing it via non-sanctioned channels.

It seems to me _that's_ the kind of information that JB doesn't want
his chars learning from his players, and it's _that_ information
that's almost impossible to codify.

KevinL

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