[MUD-Dev] Text Parsing

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

On 08:53 PM 6/9/99 -0700, I personally witnessed J C Lawrence jumping up to
say:
>
>I've long been a fan of the concept of the game "Diplomacy".  I
>don't own a copy, I've never done more than read Diplomacy web sites
>and commentaries on the rules.  Frankly, I find myself rather in awe
>of the game.  Certainly I've withheld myself from it partially due
>to the fact that I realise how complex, difficult, and
>time-consuming it would be learn, let alone gain even a pitiful
>ability at.  It doesn't stop the attraction however, not for me.  

This is a reasonably accurate description of how I feel about Diplomacy. I
have known people who were fanatics about the game, and I could see why.
However, it was debatable whether it was worth the effort to even attempt
to play -- there are just so many rabid players, and they're so incredibly
*good* at the game. The game itself doesn't intimidate me... after all, I
own a vast collection of RPGs, which are arguably among the hardest types
of games to learn effectively... but the *players* do. I used to play a
card game much like MtG, called Jyhad (now Vampire: The Eternal Struggle),
but now I live in the Seattle area. Wizards of the Coast is a twenty minute
drive. The people who play there are absolutely unreal world-class players.
I watch them play, and I feel like a member of a high-school chess club
watching Kasparov. I'm just plain out of my league. 

Which leads me to the point of this post. Difficulty of learning, in my
experience, is not a barrier to entry. The barrier is difficulty of
*success*. If you see no likelihood of meeting the goals set before you, it
is less worthwhile to play. If you can't compete effectively, you may as
well not play. It's an attitude which I see a lot of, stemming both from
fear of and distaste for failure. Nobody *likes* to fail. It's okay if your
game is hard and takes time, but it's *not* okay if the user is expected to
fail repeatedly in the process of learning it. 

-----
| Caliban Tiresias Darklock            caliban at darklock.com 
| Darklock Communications          http://www.darklock.com/ 
| U L T I M A T E   U N I V E R S E   I S   N O T   D E A D 
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