bugs (was RE: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game")

[Jon A. Lambert]

Michael Sellers wrote:
> Holly Sommer wrote:
> > On Thu, 11 Nov 1999, Ola Fosheim =3D?iso-8859-1?Q?Gr=3DF8stad?=3D wro=
te:
> > > Adam Wiggins wrote:
> > > > On Thu, 11 Nov 1999, Ola Fosheim Gr=F8stad wrote:
> > > > > Note 3: Some designers are inclined to call design flaws "bugs".
> > > >
> > > > They are.  So are errors in the terrain (for example, a descripti=
on of
> > > > a door which claims to have a large lock on it, but trying to loc=
k or
> > > > unlock the door reports that the door has no lock), or anything e=
lse
> > > > which breaks the consistency and enjoyment of your game world.
> > >
> > > A bug is usually considered (for historical reasons) to be a defect=
 in the
> > > implementation, not the design.  It's when you didn't write what yo=
u
> > > intended to write. Or in the historical context, when a  wire has b=
een
> > > accidentally removed (by a bug :9.
> > >
> > > That's how I use the term anyway.
> >
> > At work here, I've heard more than one engineer refer to bugs as
> > "features without the tuxedos."
>
> Yep -- there's an old programmer's cartoon about this.  Bugs can be des=
ign
> flaws, logic flaws, or simple errors in programming.  Splitting hairs
> between design flaws and implementation flaws is a programmer's way of
> looking at the world: the user sure doesn't care if you meant to do tha=
t or
> not.  If it doesn't work the way it *should*, it's a bug.
>
> And, to return to the previous discussion, if a bug is known and someon=
e
> repeatedly uses it to their own advantage, well, they deserve whatever =
they
> get in the end.

I've noticed that end-users do not often use the term "bug".  Usually it'=
s
more along the lines of "Help", "Something is not working right", or "I'm
having a problem" or "What's going on?".   Once you've solved a
problem for a user and told them it was a "bug", further reports
from the user are more likely to contain the term "bug".
Some users are more knowledgeable than others and are able to
provide some helpful analysis.  I'd suggest the majority of the mud
players are not likely to provide very helpful problem analysis without
a lot of interrogation, unless they be longtime players or subscribe to
MudDev.  ;)   I'd guess that using a single command verb like "problem"
is sufficient enough for the user to use to describe any perceived
system anomaly.

--
--*     Jon A. Lambert - TychoMUD Email: jlsysinc at nospam.ix.netcom.com   =
  *--
--*     Mud Server Developer's Page <http://jlsysinc.home.netcom.com>    =
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n *--





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