[MUD-Dev] Text Parsing

[Koster]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt [mailto:hhs at cbs.dtu.dk]
> Sent: Thursday, June 03, 1999 7:28 AM
> To: 'mud-dev at kanga.nu'
> Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 2 Jun 1999, Koster, Raph wrote:
> > > 
> > > I think you'd be surprised at what they are typing :)
> > 
> > This is a typical log from a total newbie at LegendMUD:
> > 
> >   (HP:100% MA:100% MV:100%)>hello
> >   You wave hello to the world!
> > 
> >   [Chat] Groth: *bounce* hi hi!
> > 
> >   (HP:100% MA:100% MV:100%)>what do I do here?
> >   Huh?
> > 
> >   (HP:100% MA:100% MV:100%)>hello groth
> >   You don't see Groth here.
> > 
> >   A cat stretches.
> >   A cat goes off in search of a nice plump mouse.
> > 
> >   (HP:100% MA:100% MV:100%)>How do I talk?
> >   'Do I talk?' you howl.
> > 
> >   (HP:100% MA:100% MV:100%)>quit
> >   Use QUIT Y if you really want to quit.
> >   If you quit you will lose all your equipment.
> > 
> >   (HP:95% MA:99% MV:100%)>quit y
> >   Totalnewbie has left the game.   
> > 
> > -Raph          
> 
> Very interresting :-)  (is it real or compused by you?)

Composed by making a newbie and logging it. But I've monitored newbies on
Legend many many times, and this is pretty much exactly how it goes. They
may try a few more commands before they quit, but I thought I might as well
compress it.

> .. It suggest that a newbie would expect their text to be 'spoken'.
> Perhaps the interface should be 'dual' moded (like vi(1)?). 
> 'talk' mode,
> where you have access to very few commands, and all else would be 
> spoken.

In UO the default keyboard input is ALWAYS speech. It requires an additional
keystroke to execute any other keyboard command (except movement, if you set
Num Lock off on your keypad). Being graphical, we can do this with relative
ease, of course. In EverQuest, default keyboard input is ALWAYS macros. It
requires an additional keystroke to execute any other keyboard command--eg,
A by itself is "autoattack." H is "/say Hail!" But speech is /SAY, etc. The
slash makes the interface essentally modal.

I've gotten into large debates with people over whether the basic commands
should be considered to be combat commands or speech; my position is that
speech is paramount because other people is what this sort of game is about,
and that advanced combat players will remap their keyboards to taste anyway.
As I recall, we had a brief thread about it here on MUD-Dev.

However, many EQ players disagree with me, since they spend most of their
time in combat. Personally, I detest the modality of the interface. 

> and an 'act' mode, that is more traditional, where you specify your
> actions. Newbies would start in talk-mode, and could reenter it by
> using a specific command ('talk').

Long ago, I specced a command for Legend which was CONVERSE. Basically, it
put you into talk-mode with specific targets, precluding the need to type
TALK WHOEVER or TELL WHOEVER every time you exchanged a sentence. It would
just remember whether it was talk or tell, and would remember who you were
conversing with until you ended the conversation. Sort of an extension of
the common REPLY command. YALFTNGI. (Yet Another Legend Feature That Never
Got Implemented...)

-Raph


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