[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions

[Chris Gray]

[quzah:]

 >Personally, I liked this room description (pharaphrased) that I saw
 >on a mud a long time ago:

Well, a possibly relevant question to ask, is that of what the descriptions
were like on some of the oldest games. After a bit of searching, I found my
sources to a variant of an old one, and extracted this bit, which is one of
the most memorable descriptions (for me) in the game. I vaguely recall saying
'wow!' when I read this.

thing _volcano:
   LIGHT,
   SHORT "You're at Breath-Taking View.",
   LONG "You are on the edge of a breath-taking view. Far below you is an"
      " active volcano, from which great gouts of molten lava come surging"
      " out, cascading back down into the depths. The glowing rock fills the"
      " farthest reaches of the cavern with a blood-red glare, giving"
      " everything an eerie, macabre appearance. The air is filled with"
      " flickering sparks of ash and a heavy smell of brimstone. The walls"
      " are hot to the touch, and the thundering of the volcano drowns out all"
      " other sounds. Embedded in the jagged roof far overhead are myriad"
      " twisted formations composed of pure white alabaster, which scatter"
      " the murky light into sinister apparitions upon the walls. To one side"
      " is a deep gorge, filled with a bizarre chaos of tortured rock which"
      " seems to have been crafted by the devil himself. An immense river of"
      " fire crashes out from the depths of the volcano, burns its way through"
      " the gorge, and plummets into a bottomless pit for off to your left. To"
      " the right, an immense geyser of blistering steam erupts continuously"
      " from a barren island in the center of a sulfurous lake, which bubbles"
      " ominously. The far right wall is aflame with an incandescence of its"
      " own, which lends an additional infernal splendor to an already hellish"
      " scene. A dark, foreboding passage exits to the south.",
   CONTENTS (),
   VISIT 1,
   south _warm,
   exit _warm,
   down _vmess,
   jump _vmess;

This has a bit of personal affects, but is mostly just description. That
combination may well be the most successful, on average. As many have
pointed out, getting too personal only works if the character is
appropriate, and the player doesn't mind it.

Out of curiousity - how many of the MUD-Dev readers out there *don't*
recognize the above description?

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