[MUD-Dev] Remote client connection

[Phillip Lenhardt]

On Tue, Jun 20, 2000 at 03:52:36PM -0400, Travis Casey wrote:
> Tuesday, June 20, 2000, 2:33:03 PM, Phillip Lenhardt wrote:
> 
> PL> A multiple choice mud interface could be just the thing you need to help
> PL> direct players to the meaningful choices presented by a situation instead
> PL> of implicitly allowing them to do meaningless things.
> 
> That, to me, is a problem for roleplaying.  For good roleplaying,
> meaning should come from the *character*, not from the *scenario*.
> Things that are "meaningless" from a standpoint of "Do you defeat the
> monsters?  Do you get the treasure?" can be extremely *meaningful*
> from the standpoint of "What kind of people are these characters?
> What motivates them and how do they act?"

I don't see how giving a limited menu of choices in a situation prevents
players from giving meaning to their characters. Who says that "say" and
"emote" aren't choices on that menu? If you're character is a paladin
and that paladin is talking to a good priest, why should that paladin
have the option of attacking the priest? After all, it is not good
roleplaying to do so since it is totally out of character. And if the
paladin has a good in-game reason to attack the priest, then the menu
would present "attack" as an option.

> Now, for an adventure game, multiple choice prompts might work very
> well -- but for a roleplaying game, they're very limiting.

Limiting, yes. "Very" limiting, debateable. After all, text interfaces
in and of themselves are limiting and I would argue that the interesting
possibilities of the text interface are far from exhausted; otherwise,
why are we talking about them? :)

I don't see limits as walls to run into, I see them as walls to climb
towards new heights. 



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