Re: CODE: Intros Revisited

From: ks white (white@net2.intserv.com)
Date: 06/28/96


Hm..this is interesting, but it seems unnecessarily complicated. I
play a mud that uses short descriptions without intros, and it seems
many of these things could or already do work well there without them.

> * Suppose you find a dagger and you cast a Read Object (vaporware) spell
>   on it.  If you have intro'd the previous user, it will tell you the
>   name of the user who had it last.  Otherwise, all you'll know is that
>   some dwarf had it... :)

I dunno, I think that there will still be little division between the
memory of the player and of their character, no matter what the code
says. The code may say you remember this person that you met once ten
mud years ago, but you may not remember, and not recognize 'Joe' 
in the flesh even if you can tell that someone named Joe touched
your backpack last. If your character really knows Joe, odds are
he/she'll attach the name Joe to 'the jovial dwarf' automatically,
mentally.

> * If you haven't intro'd someone, you can't teleport to them.  You
>   need the mental familiarity that comes from having been introduced
>   to someone, to teleport to them.
> * A cool spell in a PK MUD with intros - True Name.  It lets you get
>   someone's intro without having been introduced to them, so that you
>   can use nasty long-range spells on them (like teleport/summon).
> * Intelligent pets can be told to find a specific person.  "My raven,
>   travel far and wide to find Armand, and give him this note."  Don't
>   know Armand?  Uh...

Here's the reason i mentioned the other mud at all - certain spells
like this require the castor to be aware of the victims true name.
(the true name being the name they login with. in character
creation players set their own keywords, and nicknames are popular
keywords.) Joebob goes by Joe, and if you try to summon Joe,
it wont work.

> * Secondhand intros!  Suppose you know Armand, but your friend doesnt.
>   So you describe him to your friend (e.g. describe armand to person).
>   Next time Armand walks into the room, your friend will probably
>   know him - but maybe not, if he blew his INT check.  Maybe your
>   friend will mistake someone else for Armand, or maybe he'll mistake
>   Armand for someone else :)

The more imaginative players are likely to describe 'the portly dwarven
cleric' in ways other that 'the portly dwarven cleric' anyways.
(they arent looking at the text anyways...the player is)

Lastly, who initiates the intro? Can you trust the players to set their
intro for an enemy of theirs who just heard their name?

-K



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : 12/18/00 PST