[MUD-Dev] When the interface becomes the challenge.

[Koster]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alex Kay
> Sent: Monday, June 18, 2001 10:12 PM
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] When the interface becomes the challenge.
 
> What I don't understand is why developers insist on almost always
> trying something different when it comes to basic control
> input. Ever since Doom/Quake there has become a defacto standard
> layout of keys and mouse use. Why change what ain't broke?

We are running into this right now, actually, and it gets rather
tangled.

For me the issue isn't mouselook--it's keyboard use. The convention
for talking in the cited games is hitting ENTER, typing, then
hitting ENTER again. They also tend not to have any typed
commands. Some games use T for talk.

Muds use a SAY command input at a command line; many abbreviate to
the apostrophe (').

IRC is just type to talk, and then you have a prefix character, the
/, to indicate special commands.

UO had no command-line commands other than chat and emote. As a
result, the keyboard was "type to talk" at all times. Extra commands
were mapped to CTRL key combinations. We also supported the common
mud abbreviations--hitting ' was actually ignored if it was the
first character so that mudders would feel comfortable, and : was
still emote.

EverQuest uses the ENTER convention, and all the keys are mapped to
commands instead. If you forget to hit ENTER to talk, you do strange
things (and early on, you died, since you likely typed "H A I
L"--you were supposed to "hail an NPC" and the H key was HAIL and
then the A was Attack, and you died to the shopkeeper you just
hailed.) On top of that, the chat bar was ALSO used as a command
line, with the IRC convention used.

All of this makes for a tangled mess. :)

Many FPS players want the W, A, S, D keys to be movement. That
shoots type to talk down right there.

A lot of it comes down to, what do you believe is the most basic
activity in an online game? Whatever it is, that should be the most
obvious and basic command to reach, without needing to hit modifier
keys.

For me, the answer is chat and movement. So I want both of those
available without modifier keys or modes. But many people different
answers.

So that's why developers keep trying different things. Because
what's there is actually a mess. :)

-Raph
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev