Just a bit of musing

[coder at ibm.net]

On 02/03/97 at 11:14 AM, GnomesHome at aol.com said:

> Send a small stream outlining points of interest, but then build up to a
>full picture over time, if they stay there long enough?  

cf PNG, and ohhh, err, damn, I forget the name of the other (proprietary)
format that does precisely this "ressing" in.  (NO, I'm NOT talking about
interlaced GIF's)

>Hard to do, but
>not impossible (the server has to do a lot of work to determine if the
>image is available to the client, how far along the previous rendition
>was when the room was last visited, and other considerations)

Actually all that can be done client side with client-side requests of the
server for a graphic at a stated res etc.

>In the past, when I've been "lurking", reading everyones contributions,
>there seems to be a lot of emphasis on making things more realistic
>(unique, I suppose, which is good), but it seems to me what is often
>overlooked is the "fun" factor.  It's a game.  With approximations,

True.  However what is easy to ignore in such discussions is that adding
such "realism" also allows really neat unrealistic items to be coded more
easily.  Consider the simple case of character names:

In my current server the users name everything.  There are no default
names (well, except for a very few "special object" which are unique
enough to require remote referencing as well as nodes in the global
namespace).  There is no clear distinction between mobiles and player
characters (they're all just bodies anyways, and players can steal mobile
(and other player's) bodies, use them for whatever they want, control
multiple bodies simultaneously, give them away, trade them etc, but that's
another story).  However, players can "name"  characters they meet.  The
only requirement is that name assigned is unique as far as the player who
assigned it is concerned (ie it is context sensitive on the naming
player).

  > l
  There is a large ugle troll here.
  > name troll bubba
  Done.
  > l
  Bubba is here.

Now of course there is nothing to prevent 50 different players naming 50
different characters "Bubba", resulting in what we called the Silke
effect. More usually of course the exchange will be something like:

  > l 
  There is a large troll here.
  > "Hey troll, what's your name?
  The troll says, "My name is Bone Gnasher."
  > name troll bone gnasher

or possibly more humourously:

  > l 
  There is a large troll here.
  > "Hey troll, what's your name?
  The troll says, "My name is Bone Gnasher."
  > name troll bone gnasher

Obviously the tendency is for players to _try_ and name themselves.  As
such scenes ala:

  There is a troll here.
  > say Want to help me do Castle Krak?
  The troll says, "Sure!  What's your name?"
  > say Most people call me Bubba.
  The troll says, "Got it.  My name is Boffo."
  > name troll Bernard
  > say Right!  Lets go!

will be common.  Of course the pattern could also be:

  There is a troll here.
  > say Want to help me do Castle Krak?
  The troll says, "Sure!  What's your name?"
  > say Most people call me Bubba.
  The troll says, "Got it.  My name is Boffo."
  > name troll TwitFace
  > say Right!  Lets go!

or:

  There is a troll here.
  > name troll victem
  ...
  > ...travel to favourite killing fields...
  > summon victem

FWIW this are was under fairly heavy discussion as of when the last list
folded,

>because without them, it would be like real life, and not a lot of fun
>(how many feel their life is THAT much fun?  If you say "yes" <blurgh!>,
>then what are you doing here then? <g>)

Err, because I also see a major application for MUD servers in academic
and research simulations, where the game rules and values just don't
apply?

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