[MUD-Dev] What about goal oriented interfaces? (was Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing)

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad <olag@ifi.uio.no>]

Chris Gray wrote:
> Ola wrote:
> >       > use golden key
> >       The door is now locked.
> 
> Oh, look! You had to use an adjective. :-)

Nyeaooooh... In norwegian I would prefer "goldkey", but supporting
abstractions like "key" is nevertheless a good idea, so you will need
discriminators. Nothing wrong with adjectives if you know what you are
doing. :P
 
> I *hate* the 'use' command, even though I have one. It lets the user
> just try random things, without having any explicit action in mind.

I am not fond of "use" in a text interface, but it isn't random.  I call it
"item based functionality extension".  A "lock" verb wouldn't hurt, the
point is to make the interface model easy to understand and a lot of fluff
can be avoided by conscious design.

	> push door
	The door closes. *click* It is locked.

*grin*

--
Ola Fosheim Groestad,Norway      http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~olag/



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