[MUD-Dev] Introductions and

[Chris Gray]

[Adam W:]

[ChrisG rubs hands with glee - something to pick at!]

This is not at all meant as an attack, but more a reminder that there is
a lot that has to go on behind the scenes, in order to make a MUD do what
looks like simple things. We sometimes forget that in our discussions here.
Alternatively, some of the MUDs that are out there may just be a lot more
sophisticated than I imagine!

:You're confusing 'name' with description.  The situation you describe
:should look like so:
:
: ] n
: You enter Arms 'R' Us.
: This is a large, bare room.  On one wall are mounted quite a few different
: swords.  On another wall there is a myriad of armor.	On a third wall are
: several dozen helmets.
: Bubba the shopkeeper is standing here.
: ] look swords
: There seem to be around 20 different swords.	Most of them are typical
: longswords, but you notice two particularly rusty swords, three short-swords,
: two claymores, and a rapier.
: ] get short
: You get a shortsword from the wall.
: Bubba says, 'That's an excellent weapon for any use.	Sold to me by an older
:  hobbit fellow younger today, he said it served him quite well.'
: ] examine short
: You take a close look at the shortsword.
: It weighs around six stones.	The blade is about three handsbreath long.
: The hilt is wrapped in leather.  Delicate paterns are etched into the
: well-worn blade.  It could use some sharpening.
: ]
: Bubba says, 'Only fifty coppers for that fine item.'
: ] name sword Sting
: You will now call the shortsword 'Sting'.
: ] l in purse
: You have three copper pieces.
: ] doh
: ] return short
: You return the shortsword to its spot on the wall.
: Bubba says, 'You'll regret giving up such a bargain, my friend..'
: ] l
: This is a large, bare room.  On one wall are mounted quite a few different
: swords, one of which you recognize as the shortsword Sting.  On another
: wall there is a myriad of armor.  On a third wall are several dozen helmets.

This looks quite nice. Too nice, I think. Going through this with the eye
of an implementor, I see a lot of things that would take a lot of work to
implement. Some MUDs will have some of these, but does any have them all?

First, the description of the room is algorithmically generated. This
requires the code to be maintaining location of objects within the
room, in order to associate them with particular walls. The code also
has to be able to do dynamic grouping of objects based on their names.
Similarly, the description for 'swords' is generated, but uses some
different rules to extract more detail. It has had to decide what details
are important (perhaps the MUD scheme is that only "important" details
are actually stored on the objects). All of this has been done while
maintaining pleasing English output.

Sting: (hey, isn't that the Grey Mouser's weapon?) The output requires
that the MUD have recorded some history on the weapon (or perhaps it is
on the shopkeeper, but keyed to the specific item - is it there only
because the sword actually is special, or are such things generated and
maintained for all buy/sell transactions?).

Sting needs some sharpening. Well, is that added description given to
everyone who examines it? I would imagine that only those with some
experience with swords could make that judgement. Would an IQ 60 troll
see it? Should he?

Looking in the purse. Well, the output isn't generic for looking in a
container, since that would likely be along the lines of "the purse
contains ....". Does the 3 coppers total include all money that the
character is carrying, or does it purposely only report the money in
the purse (reasonable, but unclear given the output syntax). It is
quite reasonable to group money in reports, but it should be noted that
perhaps the purse contained a 2-copper piece as well as two half-copper
pieces, and the code had to add up the values.

[Aside: I've always thought it would be fun to use the old English
monetary system in a MUD - its so colourful, with farthings, ha'pennies,
thre'penny bits, shillings, etc.]

--
Chris Gray   cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA