[MUD-Dev] Stranger in a Strange Land (was Usability and interface

[Chris Gray]

[Ola F:]

:I'm not going to add mail in my system, but I'm not designing a
:complete system, and it's difficult to make a useful mail system
:integrated in the world context.

I'm curious as to what you want in a mail system that makes it difficult
to implement. Is your world such that no reasonable materials for writing
exist?

My in-mud mail system took a few days to get polished, but I don't consider
it to have been all that hard. You have to buy a pen and a writing pad at
the store - both are essentially infinite (trivial to change, but why?)
You then enter something like	"write letter to <character>"	 If you
are running the special client, it will throw you into your favorite
editor to write the letter, otherwise you are prompted line-by line. When
you are done, you are holding a "letter for <character>". You then have
to "post letter" at one of the mailboxes. Sometime later, Postman will come
by doing his rounds and pick up the letters. When he gets back to the
"Mail room" in the mall, he leaves the letters there, and a special hook
for "get mail" will deliver your new mail into your hands. When that
happens, the name changes from "letter for XXX" to "letter from YYY". You
can keep them if you wish, or drop them in the garbage room.

It's fairly simple, as much in-game as anything in my mishmash of a world
is, and wasn't all that hard to do. Later I added bulletins in a similar
fashion, the only differences being "write bulletin", and minor details.

It wouldn't be all that hard to allow builders to register a delivery
location for their mail, although some care would have to be taken with
the Postman, to make sure he goes by all the mailboxes safely! Needless
to say, all this is going on in a non-combat area of the world. Although
it might be interesting to have the Postman occasionally get killed off
or wounded by family pets or wandering baddies, a lot more in-game stuff
would be needed in order to realistically provide a replacement.

I think it all depends on what your goals are. If you just want a mail
system that fits not too bad into your world, then it shouldn't be all
that hard. If, however, you demand that the details of it fit properly
with all aspects of your world, especially if you try to do it in an
area where other NPC's or players can kill off your postman (or perhaps
even just steal his letters), then you have a lot more work to do. Might
be more interesting if that kind of stuff can happen, but then it likely
won't be a very reliable mail system.

--
Chris Gray   cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA