On Fri, 23 Jun 1995, Alastair Neil wrote: > >The problem was that some people (me for example) don't like to see > >something like: > >A waybread is lying here [3] > >(first reaction, what's that [3] doing there?, second reaction, quit 0) > > > >My advice is: > >If you don't like > >A waybread is lying here > >A waybread is lying here > >A waybread is lying here > >A waybread is lying here > >Change it to: > >There are 4 waybreads lying here (or something simular) > >instead of > >A waybread is lying here [4] > > > >In addition you can prevent big numbers of the same object being > >in the same room. > > > >Maybe it's a little more difficult to do it my way (It realy isn't that hard) > >but it surely is a lot nicer. > > > >I just think that translating the world-structure to text should > >be done entierly by the mud and not partly by the players. > > > > I agree that "(N*) a longsword lies here." is lame, but solutions such as having > built in plural decriptions are only partial solutions. They work acceptably > for only small numbers of objects. The problem is similar to the problem of > generating descriptions for piles of gold. When I imped different coin types > I had to rewrite the gold pile generator to make smarter guesses at what an > acceptable description would be e.g.: > > A copper coin. > A pile of copper coins. > A silver coin. > A small pile of copper and silver coins. > A gold coin. > A pile of gold and silver and some copper coins. > A pile of gold an silver coins. > A large pile of gold coins.... > > etc. This is a very good idea, i have only ever seen it once before... not on an internet mud, but on a BBS mud in my city. > > To handle items correctly a casual glance at a room should make a distiction > between piles that are numerable and innumerable. > i.e. > > There are 97 longswords here in a pile. > > is dumb, better: > > There is a large pile of longswords here. > easy. use the same idea as gold piles > and hopefully you would have enough imagination to include different collective > nouns: > > A darkness of flies buzzes around. > A storm of crows perches here staring balefully. > A crash of rhinoceroses mills about here. > easy. just have a separate col.noun. in each mob/item > You would also have to check the collective noun for looks: > > >look storm > There seems to be more than twenty crows fluttering about. > >look darkness > There is an unimaginable number of flies buzzing about. i dunno, this could be an interesting task... > > Ideally if you should have several different types of items in piles i.e. > > You see a large pile of weapons. i dunno if you'd WANT this... hmm, maybe 'A pile of x, y, and z are here' ??? > > instead of: > > (4*) A longsword lies here. > (3*) A flail lies here rusting. > Someone has dropped a splendid halberd here. > (2*) A sharp looking dagger lies here. > > Just my tuppence worth. > > -- > Ich habe Dinge gesehen, die ihr Menschen niemals glauben wuerdet. Gigantische > Schiffe, die brannten draussen vor der Schulter des Orion. Und ich habe > C-Beams gesehen - glitzernd im Dunkeln nahe dem Tannhaeuser Tor. All diese > Momente werden verloren sein in der Zeit...so wie Traenen im Regen. > Zeit zu sterben...
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