Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Path: gmd.de!xlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!wupost!waikato!canterbury.ac.nz!huia!greg
From: greg@huia.canterbury.ac.nz (Greg Ewing)
Subject: Re:  Re: I.F. Realities (was Re: More rambling)
Message-ID: <CGv6oI.L93@cantua.canterbury.ac.nz>
Nntp-Posting-Host: huia.canterbury.ac.nz
Reply-To: greg@huia.canterbury.ac.nz (Greg Ewing)
Organization: University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
References:  <CGpwpn.4t9.2@cs.cmu.edu>
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1993 23:02:39 GMT
Lines: 37

In article <CGpwpn.4t9.2@cs.cmu.edu>, pww+@A.GP.CS.CMU.EDU (Peter
Weyhrauch) writes:
|> I would be satisfied to learn what
|> you thought a simple world mechanics for your type of interactive
|> fiction could be.

It probably wouldn't be much different from what we see in IF now.
Perhaps the boundaries could be spelled out more explicitly, so
the player had a better idea of what to expect to be able to do.

On the other hand, fictional literature of all kinds plugs into
the imagination by creating the illusion of a world much bigger
than it really is; making the edges too visible might interfere
with this process and make the game less appealing. I don't
really know if the illusion would be shattered worse by bumping
into the edge expectedly or unexpectedly.

|>  I mean, when the player
|>    is getting into some conversation with a character about the plot
|>    point at hand, it hardly seems relevent to dwell on the mechanics
|>    of water.  Now, LOVE, on the other hand, is very important to model...

Seems to me that human interactions are *much* more difficult
both to simulate convincingly and to draw clear boundaries
around than physical phenomena.

Maybe if we were modelling dogs instead of humans. Hmmm... Is there
an idea in there somewhere?

|> 
|> 	Peter
|> 

Greg Ewing, Computer Science Dept, +--------------------------------------+
University of Canterbury,	   | A citizen of NewZealandCorp, a	  |
Christchurch, New Zealand	   | wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan Inc.|
greg@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz	   +--------------------------------------+
