[MUD-Dev] Alright... IF your gonan do DESIESE...

[Nathan Yospe]

On Mon, 23 Jun 1997, Shawn Halpenny wrote:

:Alex Oren wrote:
:
:> Apart from rumors and "wanted" lists there are other possibilities:
:> 
:> * Bards singing the praise of Boffo the dragonslayer of Biffy the newbie
:>   protector.
:> 
:> * Guild quests centered on reputation.  "Go forth an bring me the
:>   left ear of the most evil person in Ankh-Morpork" (which may be a
:>   mobile or a player at the time).
:> 
:> * Deliberately spreading false rumors.  "I saw Humperdink kill two
:>   dragons and an elderly lady!" (which may mark you as a liar if you
:>   are caught, depending on the trustworthiness attribute of the
:>   challenger).
:
:Did the discussions about rumor-spreading touch on this?  (The parts of them
:that I saw did not).  It's easy enough to create a rumor based on the
:occurrence of an event (e.g.  witnessing someone slaying a dragon), but in
:this case, spreading a false rumor implies there was no event that caused
:it, so how does the rumor get created?

I've already mentioned that, if I do create a rumor system, I intend to
make rumors autopassable by PCs, IE "tell X about Y". This post started me
thinking that this sort of thing could be extended further. For example:
"Did you hear about Y?" <rumor recorder starts recording> Later, your
listener can pass the rumor on normally. Now, to be effective, the
triggers need to be the same as the output.

:It could be created and carried solely by players who choose to pass
:it on to other players.  That's only a partial solution, since a
:rumor will only travel if someone tells it to a player.  The other
:part of the solution requires NPCs to be able to carry false rumors
:(though not start them--I think it would be fantastically difficult
:to automatically create sensible, at least somewhat believable false
:rumors).  So how does an NPC overhearing or being told a false rumor
:pass that rumor on?  And let's say that it must be done without using
:something silly like a "rumor" command.  I think natural language
:processing is buried in there somewhere...

:    # l
:    You see Bubba and Boffo on the side of the street.
:    A shopkeeper is sweeping his front steps.
:    # 'I saw Humperdink kill two dragons and an elderly lady!
:    You say it.
:    Bubba says 'No kidding!?'
:    Boffo says 'The murderous rogue!  I knew she was no good...'
:    The shopkeeper looks aghast in your direction and scurries inside.
:    # snicker
:    You snicker to yourself.
:    # 'Oh, did I mention that my new china and flatware finally arrived?
:    etc.

This sounds murderously impossible.

:Now the shopkeeper heard the Humperdink and elderly lady bit and
:chalks that up as a rumor which he can pass on to as many people as
:he wants to (a rumor juiciness factor comes to mind).  However, the
:bit about the china and flatware would make a pretty shoddy rumor,
:IMO, and the intent is to have NPC passers-by disregard things like
:that.  I cannot, however, think of how an NPC would distinguish the
:two.

:Thoughts?

Fully functional AI?
   __    _   __  _   _   ,  ,  , ,  
  /_  / / ) /_  /_) / ) /| /| / /\            First Light of a Nova Dawn
 /   / / \ /_  /_) / \ /-|/ |/ /_/            Final Night of a World Gone
Nathan F. Yospe - University of Hawaii Dept of Physics - yospe at hawaii.edu