Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Path: gmd.de!ira.uka.de!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!destroyer!cs.ubc.ca!newsserver.sfu.ca!sfu.ca!neilg
From: neilg@fraser.sfu.ca (Neil K. Guy)
Subject: Re: TADS object system, and romance extensions
Message-ID: <neilg.732593616@sfu.ca>
Sender: news@sfu.ca
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
References: <C45MCt.LC8@chinet.chi.il.us>
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1993 02:13:36 GMT
Lines: 48

jorn@chinet.chi.il.us (Jorn Barger) writes:

>Thinking about the Pole-Position metaphor for romance, I realize 
>*clothing* ought to be donned (and removed!) in layers, revealing more 
>clothing, and/or bodyparts, underneath.... (The paperdoll-strippoker 
>model...)

 [...]

>(Any volunteers to work out TADS code for these improvements?  Bodyparts!  
>I need bodyparts...  And tactile-ldesc's: "You can't see anything, but you 
>feel an undergarment with some kind of fastener...")

 Hmmm... Not to flame you, but it sounds like this is all moving away
from a "romance" idea to a somewhat tacky sex fantasy game... But,
then, the mechanics of removing clothes is a lot easier to implement
than figuring out how software simulacra should respond in vaguely
human-like ways. I guess this is what makes me somewhat uncomfortable
about this idea. Since we can't really simulate the real world in a
text adventure - and we certainly can't simulate human beings worth a
darn - we end up simplifying to rather insipid levels. And human
beings become highly objectified creations. Character interaction
beyond the basic ASK JOHN AND MARY ABOUT THEIR SIGNS is also pretty
tough.

 Anyway, as for the clothing thing, in my game (TADS developed; as-yet
unfinished) I've implemented more sophisticated clothing, largely for
realism purposes. So it's not possible to take off a jacket while a
backpack is being worn, for instance. But it's possible to change from
shorts to trousers without affecting other wearable items, such as
wristwatches and T-shirts.

 However, I essentially stopped there. I didn't see the point
of implementing removable underclothes and the like. My game is
supposed to be reasonably realistic as they come, but if it turns into
a cheap thrill titillation game then it rapidly becomes veeeery boring,
IMHO.

 Likewise body parts. In my game you can refer to various body parts -
particularly useful ones like hands and feet which can wear gloves and
boots - but I didn't see the point of much more detail than that. If
teenage boys want braindead text adventure fantasies I reckon they can
they can go write their own. :)

 - Neil K. (n_k_guy@sfu.ca)

 PS: if this posting sounds like a flame, sorry. It wasn't intended
that way at all.
