[MUD-Dev] Re: Using HTML for a Mud character generator

[John Bertoglio]

From: Holly Sommer <hsommer at micro.ti.com>
Date: Wednesday, May 13, 1998 10:42 AM


>Huh. I never got the original of this, so I'll be commenting "out of
>context," unfortunately.
>
>On Wed, 13 May 1998 s001gmu at nova.wright.edu wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 13 May 1998, John Bertoglio wrote:
>>
>> [...]
>>
>> You should be able to hide the entire contents of the javascript code by
>> referencing a file, rather than embedding the script code in the html
that
>> they DL.  The java script still gets DL'd (of course), and executed
>> locally, but should they choose to look at the html source, all they see
>> is a tag referencing a file.  I don't recall the details (I've never
>> worked in javascript), but I do know you can do it.
>
>You cannot "hide" Javascript - even through referencing a *.js file to be
>loaded at read-time of your webpage, people can go directly to the js
>file. The good folks at comp.lang.javascript have gone over and over this
>for quite awhile :)


This is correct. JS has to work that way. I have no interest in hiding the
code...its not that sophisticated.

<cut>
>
>As for the Subject: line... well <pedant>You don't really use HTML to
>generate a character - it's just a markup language</pedant>, why not
>write a CGI which does the same thing as your in-server character
>generator, including die rolling and random fuzziness. It wouldn't be
>that tough :)

Got me on that one. "Web-based character generation" would have been a much
better and accurate title.

What I was referring to was the previous discussions of building an
offline, web-based character builder for conventional muds. Part of the
idea of the doing all the calculations in the web-based form is not to
require any server-side CGI code to be run as part of the creation process.
Once submitted, the character program looks at the numbers to make sure
they are valid and then generates the character and sends back a summary to
the user.

Since we don't use random rolls, all the code can be contained in the
scripting. You could even put a dice roller in there but it would be like
posting a sign: "Please Cheat During Character Creation". I don't use
random rolls for character generation for the following reasons:

    --- Random means...roll until you get the numbers you want.
        This skews the average power level of starting characters to the
high
        end of the scale. The player who rolls a few thousand times will
        eventually get "perfect" stats for the character being designed.
        A player who accepts the initial roll (perhaps someone with a
_life_
        who doesn't have the time for such nonsense) starts out with a real
        disadvantage.
    --- Loss of design control. The key to balanced characters is requiring
        trade-offs in stats. If you want a Conan, you are not so bright. A
        Merlin can't carry much, etc. Forcing a similar stat "budget" on
each
        character should lead to more interesting characters and foster
        cooperation.
    --- Loss of control by players. The game (and RL) will throw plenty of
        randomness at the character. You want to be able to feel that you
        have made the best character your GoP or RP model would suggest.

>-Holly
>

John Bertoglio

>MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.




--
MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.