[MUD-Dev] Dynamically changing room descriptions

[Ling]

On Fri, 14 May 1999, Travis Casey wrote:

> A brainstorm I had while replying to another post in this thread...
> apologies if the idea has already been brought up -- I haven't been
> able to read everything coming in to the list the last few days.

This is the problem with the list.  A variation of this was brought up a
few years back.  I apologise profusely for having such a long memory.

[snip intro + description with a demon]

> Thus, in the example above, the demon would be described first -- and
> quite possibly might be the *only* thing that would be described!  If
> the players want to see more, it would be possible to make commands
> that do that -- e.g., look.  (This could also help resolve the old
> problem of "how much is too much in descriptions" -- you only see the
> most important stuff unless you stop and look.)

This is why, on some muds, having the living animated objects listed after
the main body of the text is an advantage.  The player will skip the
description, check out who is in the room, whether they're a threat then
read the passage.  Of course, it can also be accused of being a
disadvantage. 

> Some more random thoughts...

[snipped ideas I quite like]

>  - Importance could have a slight random variation to it -- thus, if
>    two things are of nearly equal importance, sometimes one would be
>    described first and sometimes the other.

Or possibily weighted with the character.  Such that a character that
likes green things will be more likely to notice them.  Which would give
the amusing affect of a party entering a location and each person picking
out something different.

How many times have you entered into a room with someone else and the
first thing you say to each other concern what you see in the room?

>  - Items added to room descriptions by functions (e.g., the
>    weatherdesc() function mentioned in another post) could have
>    variable importance.  Thus, if it's raining heavily and thundering,
>    that might be one of the first things listed in most outside room
>    descriptions.  However, if it's a nice day, the gentle breeze might
>    be listed last or not at all in many room descriptions.

I find it fairly irritating that the weather is listed in every single
room description.  Then again, I mentally blank out weather descs.  Mainly
because the weather seems to be tagged on at the end of a description and
causes certain effects but it stops there.  It's not like I can hold out a
bottle and fill it up or I pick out a newspaper and notice it is dripping
wet.  In life, weather has an impact on what I wear and how I stroll down
the street, it doesn't get conveyed on muds.  Seems pointless really. 
Then again, implement the full effects and players say it is irritating. 
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. 

Another idea is 'bulking'.  I'm not sure if this is actually a real term
or one that has emerged from the list.  Bulking is analysing a number of
objects then presenting them as a collective to the user.  So six
independent player characters in punk dress just having a friendly meeting
could be bulked together and appear to be a gang to another character.  I
have a hunch that implementing a system like this will gain you a number
of PhD's.

> This seems like a fairly obvious idea, now that I've thought about
> it... has anyone else suggested it, and/or is anyone already using it
> in their mud?

Can I point back into the mist of time at a post on a mechanism that spits
out a short description every few seconds?  No idea when it was posted
tho.

I'd like to see a working example myself.  Such a system would be
processor intensive.  As JCL pointed out, the cycles used is proportional
to the number of receptive objects in the room squared.  It'll be a
nightmare with a large assembly.  Fun tho.

  |    Ling Lo
_O_O_  kllo at iee.org



_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev maillist  -  MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev