[MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo

[clawrenc at cup.hp.com]

In <9709230336.8grm at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA>, on 09/23/97 
   at 08:44 AM, cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA (Chris Gray) said:

>Another excellent example. Your point is taken. Having said that, I
>am now in a quandary as to what *should* be done! My current
>implementation allows the use of the syntax like     "get rock #3"   
>and I will find the 3rd rock in the room's contents, as counting down
>in the list of items in the room. It seems to me that a system has to
>have *some* way of handling this, else the player cannot do some
>things. Users have suggested an additional form (from NLP!), where
>"get a rock" would specifically allow the system to chose which one
>to get. I could also allow a per-player toggle, allowing "get rock"
>to do the same. Is this putting in too much complexity, and making
>the user interface needlessly difficult?

What is wrong with:

  > get rock
  Do you want the:
    1) stone
    2) pebble
    3) gem
    4) boulder
    0) Cancel command
  >

?

No ambiguity, simple interface, obvious, easily learnable,
predictable...

>To clarify what I'm getting at, here is a trivialized example: Boffo
>has just defeated a dragon, and is faced with its hoard. There are
>seventeen swords, including three two-handed swords. How does Boffo
>pick one up, or examine it? Can anyone think of a better solution
>than any of the ones previously listed (or mine)?

>This is a pretty low-level detail to be talking about, but at least
>its a start!

  > examine sword
  Do you want the:
    1) two handed sword...
    2) ...
    ...etc....
    0) Cancel command
  >

Same interface yet again.

--
J C Lawrence                           Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                           Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------------(*)               Internet: clawrenc at cup.hp.com
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