[DGD]Restrictions for players [Was: ansi again (sorry Erwin)]

[Mikael Lind]

This post has more to do with user interface - message content and
style - than driver or mudlib specifics. It may seem a bit off-topic
but there are some ANSI comments below, so bear with me.

I think that players should have limited control over the output of
the mud. The reason for this is, of course, that a few bad seeds can
ruin an otherwise great atmosphere.

On LP-muds, for instance, it is common to allow players (usually
high-level ones) to set their own titles and movement messages. Even
if the content is OK, spelling and grammatical errors are a lot more
confusing in descriptive messages than in whispers, says, shouts and
similar.

  Elemel is the killer (and you're the victim)

  Elemel kills you.
  Elemel drags your corpse west.

  Elemel come running in!!!!1.
  Elemel be now, runnign north.

There are better ways of differentiating the messages of individual
players, though they require more coding. Non-quoted emotes are also
problematic.

  Elemel gives you 1000 coins.
  Elemel says: Hand over the boots now.
  You give Elemel the pair of speed boots.

A common solution is quoting emotes, which is a good compromise
between expressive power and security for players.

  * Elemel gives you 1000 coins.
  Elemel says: Hand over the boots now.
  You say: No way.

Quoting Par Winzell from 14:20, September 18, 2000:

> > [...]
> 
> No, no, I love colour myself. It's just that there are so many
> clients out there that do ANSI badly or even crash on certain
> escape sequences and it's so easy for some lamer to log in and do
> a mud-wide shout that turns everybody's client inside out,
> reversed video, flashing, ...

The issue mentioned by Zellski, with players using ANSI support to
disturb other players, is another side of the same coin. Still, ANSI
has several potential uses. The neatest use that I've seen is for
drawing maps; Sieni showed me some very impressive stuff on his mud.

For players, ANSI support could mean being able to emphasize words
using bold or underlined style instead of the classic <word>, *word*
or _word_ style ...

Conclusively, I think that you can do more or less as well without
ANSI support. When used sensibly, however, it can add some
superficial flair to your mud without disturbing the substance.

// Mikael (Elemel)


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