[MUD-Dev] handling ambiguity, and prompts

[Raz]

On Mon, 19 May 1997 20:02:49 PST8PDT, Chris G wrote:

> [Raz:]
> :From 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 =3D
> :the
> :question - if the response fails to satisfy the requirements of the =3D
> :prompt,
> :then the prompt is cancelled and the 'response' is handled as the =
regular
> :command that it is.
>=20
> I could probably handle that, but I would still like a way to turn off =
any
> such prompting.

=46air enough.  I don't suppose it'd be too hard to implement a =
preference
toggle for this, so I'll try and remember to add it to my spec =3D)

> If you have an RL interruption, or even an in-MUD one,
> the command and prompt can disappear off your screen and out of your
> memory. If the prompt itself is always visible, and indicates that a
> question is pending, then you should be able to enter something that
> will specifically cancel *any* outstanding question.

I hope I don't sound like I'm stubbornly clinging to my cherished ideals =
or
something =3D), but I'm still not sure why this'd be needed...  Simply, =
the
'something' that the player would enter would be his next command.  Do =
you
mean purely for aesthetic purposes?  Ie, to stop the following happening:

 Get the big bag or the smelly bag?
 >
 A human known to you as Soenso approaches.
 Get the big bag or the smelly bag?
 >
 Soenso rummages in his pack as if looking for something.
 The sky clouds over.
 Get the big bag or the smelly bag?
 >
 Soenso smiles at you, annoyingly.
 Get the big bag or the smelly bag?
 >

...etc?

Raz