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Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 08:31:31 -0400
From: John Colagioia <JColagioia@csi.com>
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Subject: Re: NPC Interaction Syntax (and also some TADS stuff...)
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Joao Mendes wrote:

>Hi, all, :)
>I was just wondering: where did the 'Miron, push button' syntax for
>ordering NPCs around come from?
>

Standard English, as far as I know.  It's generally considered polite
when ordering people around (or "making requests" as the polite people
like to call it) to use their names.  At a kitchen table, I might be
inclined to ask you, for example, "Joao, would you please pass the
salt?"  Dump the niceties, since parsers don't do that well, and we're
left with "Joao, give salt to me."

>And why was I wondering this? Because, to me, it feels hideous and
>unnatural. :) And also because I always find myself trying either 'ask
>Miron to push button' or 'tell Miron to push button'.
>

I like those, too.  It puts it on the same level of abstraction as "ask
Miron about button."

[...]

>2) Is that even advisable or would you scuttle such a game?
>

No.  It is generally a bad idea to make a major interface change without
an extremely good reason (better than "I, the author, dislike it").
 Otherwise, you have confused users/players who will curse your name,
and who will likely dislike your game on principle.  Expect the phrase
"Guess the Verb" to pop up frequently in reviews and bug reports, even
if it's all documented...

Providing *both* options is a good idea, though.

[...]

