[MUD-Dev] (fwd) Re: Issues from the digests and Wout's list

[Raz]

On Wed, 7 May 1997 20:00:02 PST8PDT, Chris G wrote:

> I will also point
> out that as a player, I'm not at all sure I would be comfortable with
> such suspended commands hanging around like that - I would hope there
> would be a way to tell the system to never ask me questions like that,
> and to just fail commands that fail.

I'm not sure what you mean about "suspended commands hanging around like
that".  I'd like the parser to ask these questions an attempt to resolve
ambiguity, but the most important aspect of it must be that it never =
traps
players in requiring an answer.

> :And because the parser doesn't/shouldn't *require* a particular =
response
> :from the player, you can just as easily respond 'yes' or 'no', give up=
 =3D
> :and
> :wander off, or pull out your sword and stick it through the pesky =
woman's
> :ribs.
>=20
> OK, but then you have to somehow decided that some semantic action of
> the player is such that it silently cancels the outstanding state of
> the question.

=46rom my position as a designer, it seems to me that any command issued
immediately after a question prompt would be assumed to be a response to =
the
question - if the response fails to satisfy the requirements of the =
prompt,
then the prompt is cancelled and the 'response' is handled as the regular
command that it is.

> Do you allow any user-level programming of objects, etc?

Nope, and from the discussions between some of you guys on here it seems =
I'm
saving myself some considerable headaches ;)

Seriously, I have a mainly DIKU/LP background.  I've logged into a MOO =
only
once, and was traumatised by the experience =3D) - I suppose its just a
different kind of game to the one I want to design.

Raz