[MUD-Dev] The grass is always greener in the other field

[Travis Casey]

On Friday, December 17, 1999, J C Lawrence wrote:

> On Fri, 17 Dec 1999 14:21:57 -0800 
> Sellers, Michael <MSellers at maxis.com> wrote:

>> seed = location seed + (obj ID | activity ID) + your skill level
>> randNum = rand(seed) 
>> if (your skill > randNum) success = TRUE;

>> Is that essentially what you were talking about?

> Given a rand() function that will always return the same value for
> the same argument, yes.  Without that you merely have a more
> expensive PRNG with odd distributions -- ie little to no gain.

It should be noted, though, that making the skill value be used as
part of the random number seed can lead to an undesirable result --
namely, that a character who is currently able to pick a certain lock
may go up in skill and find that he/she is no longer able to pick that
lock, even though nothing else has changed!

--
       |\      _,,,---,,_        Travis S. Casey  <efindel at io.com>
 ZZzz  /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_   No one agrees with me.  Not even me.
      |,4-  ) )-,_..;\ (  `'-'
     '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)





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