[MUD-Dev] Article on Proxes

Fri Apr 7 23:52:26 CEST 2000

We have a number of teaser technology articles on our web site at
<http://www.skotos.net/articles/index.html> -- this is a new one 
that will going up next week.

I think that the concept that it discusses has not been discussed
here in the past, so I thought that you all would appreciate an early
look (and hopefully comment before the final version goes up.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
.. Christopher Allen                                 Skotos Tech Inc. ..
..                           1512 Walnut St., Berkeley, CA 94709-1513 ..
.. <http://www.Skotos.net>               o510/649-4030  f510/649-4034 ..

An Evening at Chez Skoot - Proxes Part 1: Consent
=================================================
(c)2000 by Skotos Tech Inc. <http://www.skotos.net>

A complete stranger walks up, hugs, and kisses you square on the lips.
What!?! How did they do that!?! Easy, the stranger just told the
computer that he did. While a degree of friendliness is very nice and
community building, entirely unchecked it, can also invite unwanted
attention. The Skotos system is designed to help players select who they
associate with and how.

Let's climb into the somewhat clammy skin of Vlad, a young vampire. He's
a snappy dresser and popular with the ladies, but his non-beating heart
is held by only one girl, the lovely Miss Borgia. Tonight he's getting
together with Miss Borgia, along with two mutual friends, TJ Toreau and
Red Sawnya. Vlad and Miss Borgia have set their friends up on a blind
date.

See No Evil
-----------
Early in the evening, Vlad goes to meet his girlfriend and friends at 
Chez Skoot. He enters the restaurant lobby, and walks up to the podium 
to check in with the hostess.

Looking through the doorway into the restaurant, Vlad glances into the 
room. He notes various groups talking at different tables; but he can't 
make out what they are saying to each other without straining to listen 
in. From here, if he studied the groups, he could discover his friends, 
but it's easier to walk into the restaurant. He knows his friends are 
here because his known list flags them when he enters the room. 

    >Enter Restaurant
  The high-ceilinged, artfully stark restaurant is packed too tightly 
  with small black metal tables and many people. You recognize Miss 
  Borgia, TJ Toreau, and Red Sawnya sitting at a table. You are near 
  the exit. [Vlad's promity begins near the entrance he arrived from]

    >Look at Miss Borgia
    Miss Borgia is an attractive female Rogue Demon, dressed in black 
    studded-leather armour; she is sitting at a table near a window with 
    TJ Toreau and Red Sawnya.

    >Approach Miss Borgia
    You saunter toward Miss Borgia. She is sitting at a table with TJ 
    Lorue and Red Sawnya. [Vlad's "proximity" is now at the table that 
    Miss Borgia is at] 

    >Miss Borgia looks at you.
    Red Sawnya looks at you.
    TJ Toreau looks at you.

    >Smile broadly, "How is everyone this evening?
    You smile broadly, "How is everyone this evening?"
    TJ Toreau stands and smiles enthusiastically, "Never better old man!"
    Miss Borgia smiles at you lovingly.
    Red Sawnya thinly smiles.

    >Kiss Miss Borgia on cheek

This is a request requiring Vlad to enter Miss Borgia's close proximity, 
and requires her approval. This action sets off a timer that ticks down 
five seconds to either Deny/Accept/Return/Counter. The default reaction 
is Deny. Accept is a simple acceptance and the act goes forth, Return 
responds to the action in kind, Counter takes advantage of being inside 
a close proximity to perform another close proximity act, typically that
of obvious rejection.

    [5... 4... 3... 2...]

Miss Borgia could take this opportunity to move away, but she is Vlad's 
girlfriend, and doesn't want to go anywhere, so she Accepts.

    You kiss Miss Borgia on the cheek.
    Miss Borgia grins at you pleasedly.

    >Sit close to Miss Borgia

Vlad is already inside Miss Borgia's "close prox" space; thus she has, 
by accepting the kiss, given him permission for any "close" 
interactions. Thus there is no delay in sitting next to her.

Now Vlad is positioned to settle in for the evening, next to his lady 
love. Vlad curls his arm around her waist, and holds her . They both 
settle in for one of TJ's famous yarns.

Hear No Evil
------------
Our other "couple" however, is not nearly so settled or so comfortable. 
Let's see how the blind date between TJ & Red Sawnya is progressing.

TJ Toreau is a gregarious guy, with his white straw Panama hat perched 
high on his head, tropical blue tie and rumpled white linen suit, he 
projects all the charm of a Hawaiian used car salesman. TJ relates story 
after story of his grand adventures in archaeology. Vlad and his 
girlfriend, pay polite attention, and are even amused from time to time 
His story stars himself, his exploits and his heroic deeds; frankly, 
they are a ghastly bore. 

Red Sawnya finds herself struggling against the urge to flee, and 
finally decides to tune him out completely. After five minutes or so, 
her player goes so far as to use the "Selective Attention" system. This 
allows her to filter out any dialogue by a selected character or a place 
such as a table. She could just filter out "mature language" but in this 
case, the entire content is dreadful, she chooses to eliminate all 
spoken words emanating from TJ. 

Meanwhile, confident that he's impressing his date with his tales of 
daring-do [not noticing that she is entirely ignoring the conversation 
at the table], TJ is inspired by the coziness of the other couple. 
Without skipping a beat in his storytelling -- he tries to put his arm 
around Red Sawnya, which like kissing requires close proximity.

His "approach" immediately gets her attention. TJ gives a whole new 
shine on the word sleaze for Red Sawnya and she has six seconds to 
respond to TJ's advance. She Counters his attempt to get into her 
"close" prox. She could choose to slap him, or perform another act that 
requires being near, but instead, not wanting to create a gory scene in 
front of her two friends, she decides to only use the default, which is 
to move away. Other players see:

    Red Sawnya backs away from TJ Toreau.

Nonplused, he goes on with his story, shortly interrupted by the arrival 
of the group's meals. 

Say No Evil
-----------
Once commencing with eating, Vlad has to remove his arm from around Miss 
Borgia. After ten seconds, this breaks their "close" prox. A few minutes 
into the meal, Vlad offers some of his filet mignon [very rare] to his 
girlfriend, again this sets off the Deny/Accept/Return/Counter system. 
She accepts. Later dessert comes and she offers him some of her creme 
brulee, and once more this sets off the system. 

After such cuddly flirting all night, Vlad looks into his girlfriend's 
eyes and realizes she's really the one for him -- he changes the setting 
for her to "Always Accept," then he goes to kiss her. Like always, she's 
a little ahead of him, and has already changed and refined her own 
settings. Undelayed this time, she returns his kiss [having set all 
kisses from Vlad should be Returned, which is more active than just 
Accepted].

In the mean time, despite one side of the table being populated by the 
undead, the other side is no more warm. So as to not look too odd by not 
hearing requests like "pass the salt," Red Sawnya turns her Selective 
Attention back off to include all members at the table. Still, she looks 
like a condemned prisoner quietly rearranging her last meal on her 
plate. 

Exercising his storied perceptive abilities, TJ judges Red Sawnya's 
behavior to mean she doesn't like her food. Ever the gentleman, he 
offers to let her try his. Again the Deny/Accept/Return/Counter system 
kicks in. Sonya can't help but appear subtly stunned. While she sits, 
still shocked,, the system automatically defaulted to Deny, thus keeping 
her safe with no effort on her part. 

Pleased with his own gracious effort, TJ again continues with his 
story.... Meanwhile, Sawnya carefully considers the affect of yelling 
"FIRE!" in a crowded restaurant -- then remembers to change her prox 
settings; she initializes settings for "Always Avoid" for anything 
related to TJ. She finally relaxes, contentedly knowing she can no 
longer be accosted while they await the check and the end of the longest 
evening ever known at Chez Skoot.

Touch No Evil
-------------
It's too bad TJ didn't steal the heart of Red Sawnya, but in his favor, 
few ever have. Even so, he's a lover not a fighter, and it probably 
wouldn't have worked out anyway. The good news for her, is with the 
SkotOS, she can retain her composure, without having to compromise her 
vow, or challenge him to an unfortunate duel. At the same time, people 
who really do enjoy each other's company can do so as much or as little 
as they want, by simply electing to do so [and setting their proximity 
preferences correctly].

-- L.D.

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