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Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 16:23:42 -0400
From: John Colagioia <JColagioia@csi.com>
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Subject: Re: Timed pauses (no longer about Inform or glulx per se)
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Jonadab the Unsightly One wrote:

> "Aris Katsaris" <katsaris@otenet.gr> wrote:
> > My thoughts were to use it in a couple of places, for pauses less than a
> > second long each - something like:
> > What... <pause> did... <pause> you... <pause> SAY?!
> > (the above is just an example btw)
> If I saw anything like that, I'd immediately go looking for
> the runaway background app chewing up so many processor cycles
> that a _text game_, for crying out loud, had delays.  I'd be
> looking for a hung browser window or Java console or some
> such thing.  Failing to find any such, I'd start killing
> off system tray utilities...

I go for system tray stuff, first.  Those things scare the heck out of me,
sometimes.  Actually, these days, I usually start by killing off anything in
the "process list" that I can't identify immediately.  If I can't pronounce
it, I probably didn't start it on purpose.


> I'd probably end up rebooting at least twice before ever
> considering whether the pause might have been deliberate.
> For me, blank lines would better create the effect of a
> dramatic pause without distracting me from the game.

I'm a fan of the ellipsis for these things (possibly on multiple lines, yeah)
myself.


> I suppose I'm probably unusual in this respect, but
> there you have it -- a data point.

Well, you're not alone, at least.

