[MUD-Dev] Depth of realism

[J C Lawrence]

On Sun, 21 Nov 1999 11:51:41 +0000 
Jo Dillon <emily at thelonious.new.ox.ac.uk> wrote:

> Travis S. Casey (efindel at io.com) spake thusly:

> You could also have a system whereby individuals are generated
> out of a unit only when someone actually takes an interest in them
> - e.g.  Colonel Buffy the player character looks at a unit of
> pikemen and tells one of them to accompany him. Boffo Blackadder
> is then generated and joins Buffy as a servant.

Ahh!  The ur-object joins the ranks of the anonymous aggregate
object!

You have a regiment of pikemen, comprised of a single anonymous
aggregate object.  Buffy then calls to one and an ur-object
individual pikeman is generated and seperated from the aggregate
object.  The Pikeman remains an ur-object until later when he is
suddenly recognised as the Lost Prince of GooGoo at which time his
object is realised and finally fully instantiated...  Of course
prior to that instant any ur-object character had a chance of
turning out to actually be the Lost Prince of GooGoo.

The really pleasant thing about using the ur-object mataphore is
tjhat you don't have to to keep track of any of the specifics you
care about until you actually care about them.  As such you objects
can remain small and flexible with the descriminating process
overhead avoided in their general use left aside until
instantiation.

The problem of course:

  There is or was a Lost Prince of GooGoo.

  It is known what all descendents of the line of GooGoo are wildly
  allergic to horses.

  Bubba is an ur-object character.

  Bubba has lives as a street sweeper, collecting and selling horse
  manure.

  There is a catastrphic event.

  Bubba ends up on the wharfs unloading ships.

  Bubba is recognised (and thereby instantiated) as the Lost Prince
  of GooGoo.

Less tortored examples are easy to devise.  The base principle is
that an object has a prior condition and determining if that prior
condiction is met/supportable in the selection of instantiating that
object.  Amusingly enough the following example is trivial to
handle:

  There is or was a Lost Prince of GooGoo.

  It is known the Great Gem of GooGoo glows brilliantly in the
  presence of a Prince of GooGoo.

  Bubba is an ur-object character.

  Bubba has lives as a street sweeper and was present when the GGoGG 
  passed by on a state visit.

  The gem didn't glow.

  Much time passes.

  Bubba is recognised (and thereby instantiated) as the Lost Prince
  of GooGoo.
  
Of course -- who cares?  Its the essential debate between the game
world as an accurate simulation (Hi Raph!) and a strung together
stage play that somehow conspires to seem whole (despite a cast of
three actors playing several thousand different characters). 

--
J C Lawrence                              Internet: claw at kanga.nu
----------(*)                            Internet: coder at kanga.nu
...Honorary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...


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