[MUD-Dev] Introductions and

[coder at ibm.net]

On 10/12/97 at 01:33 PM, s001gmu at nova.wright.edu said:


>On Tue, 9 Dec 1997 coder at ibm.net wrote:
>> On 18/11/97 at 07:47 PM, Mike Sellers <mike at online-alchemy.com> said:

>> Because I expect namespace viruses to become very common...

>can you give a definition for 'namespace virus' please?  I'm having 
>problems pickup one up from the context clues. :}

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.

>> thinking about this one.  I currently have two types of mappings:  a name
>> string that maps to an internal unique ID value, and a name string that
>> maps to a list of such ID values (ie individuals and groups).  Creating a
>> group is a special process as compared to creating an individual name
>> assignment.  In the general case I have newer name assignments override
>> ones, thus:
>> 
>>   > l
>>   There is a troll here.
>>   > name troll Bubba.
>>   > l
>>   Bubba is here.
>>   An elf walks in.
>>   > name elf Bubba
>>     // I'm in debate over whether to warn the character over the prior 
>>     // existance of the Bubba name assignment, or to prompt directly into 
>>     // a Bubba group name assignment.  Currently I do the latter, but 
>>     // allow replacement for:
>>   > l
>>   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.

>I personally know several Mikes.  

No, you know several people whom you happen to call, "Mike",  The fact
that they also prefer to be called "Mike" and are commonly called "Mike"
is both coincidental and convenient.  

I don't encourage either that convenience or coincidence in my game.  I
almost encourage the reverse.

>I don't concieve of them as a collective group called 
>Mike, and I don't ignore all but the most recent one's name.  They are 
>all different ppl with the same name, Mike.  Granted, they have different
> last names.  Do you allow for that, or just have one name ppl can assign
> during an introduction?

Agreed, the current handling is inelegant.

>> What I'm thinking of doing is creating name stacks, such that there would
>> be no warnining or alert of the name collision above.  Thus "Bubba" would
>> end up refering to the elf, but could be prompted for earlier assignments:
>> 
>>   > l
>>   Bubba is here
>>   There is a troll here.
>>   > l at Bubba?  // The '?' request assignment stack expansion
>>   Do you want:
>>     1) Bubba the elf (current default).
>>     2) Bubba the troll.
>>     0) Cancel command?
>>   >> ...etc...
>
>this seems to be an inconcistancy within the system.  I see Bubba and a 
>troll.  Yet, if that troll was the one I named Bubba, when I get to the 
>list and type 2, I look at the troll that I previously didn't recognize 
>as Bubba the troll?  I don't know him, and then I do? 

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.

>> Ideally the list would be keyed by most recent reference, most significant
>> interaction with character etc rathe than simple race.

>I think this idea solves the problem... just show (for the above case):

>>l
>You see:
>Bubba the elf (or other defining characteristic)
>Bubba the troll (...)

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.

>This ties in nicely with another thread which appears to have died off, 
>about determining what characteristics of a character are most striking, 
>to generate a decent description when you don't know the person's name 
>(IE: a man with striking blue eyes is here).  you can apply the same 
>algorithms to the subset of Bubbas the character knows and tag them by 
>their striking characteristics (IE: Bubba w/ blue eyes, Bubba the Troll, 
>etc).

True...

>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.

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
----------(*)                              Internet: coder at ibm.net
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...