[MUD-Dev] Room-based vs. coordinate-based

[Chris Gray]

[General stuff on neighbourhoods]

I've been letting these ideas percolate a bit before saying anything, but
one thought that has oozed up to me is that the definition of a neighbourhood
should really be defined by the purpose of the neighbourhood. That doesn't
say much! For example, the neighbourhood of relevance for a character's
noticing something would depend on what events are significant to that
character. Two RL humans in a given environment will notice different
things, both because of their differing interests, and because of their
differing perceptions and backgrounds. Even different senses will result
in them noticing different things. In a roomfull of chirping birds, a
lion's roar will be noticed by most people. A slightly different chirp
would likely only be noticed by a bird-watcher who's ears are attuned to
such things (e.g. from a different species).

In the example of Shoehorn and his rabbits, I would guess that most humans
would continue to notice things that Shoehorn did, so long as the volume
of rabbits didn't block the view, or cause some other physical problem.
A fox, however would likely soon stop watching Shoehorn and become very
exited at all the rabbits.

Assuming all else is equal, then physical regions as discussed sound like
a good approach, but I think they have to be secondary to other critera
for noticing things.

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