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From: erkyrath@netcom.com (Andrew Plotkin)
Subject: Re: [TADS] Default message for verbs?
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Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 02:13:38 GMT
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Neil K. Guy (nkg@vcn.bc.ca) wrote:
> Nulldogma (nulldogma@aol.com) wrote:

> : (And anyway, I disallow the use of "all" for verbs like "open" -- it makes
> : it way to easy to spot all the usable items in a room by typing, say, EAT
> : ALL.)

>  Really? But don't you, as a player, find it annoying to get "you can't 
> use multiple objects with that verb" messages when you try to do stuff? 

As a player, I *prefer* that message.

> In my game EAT ALL will return a list of all edible items visible in the 
> room, READ ALL will return a list of all items with text on them, etc. I 
> don't want puzzles based on forcing the player to examine every object in 
> the room individually... I think it's kind of unfair on the poor player.

I find it unfair to make use of that kind of information... it breaks the 
suspension of disbelief for me. And I like the kind of puzzle where I 
have to see an object in a new light, or with a new usage. (I did this 
all the time in _So Far_.) Your kind of game doesn't allow that. I mean, 
the player can solve it mindlessly -- it's the counterpart of a 
guess-the-verb puzzle, and equally bad. 

Or else the author can fiddle with the code to make "eat all" skip the
Cheez Key(tm) until the player learns that it's edible. Only that in
itself breaks my sense of immersion. What if I learned it last game? I 
prefer the game to be very close-mouthed about scope.

But I already said all this, in the thread which contrasted "I don't know 
the word 'book'" and "I don't see any such thing here."

--Z


-- 

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
