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From: buzzard@TheWorld.com (Sean T Barrett)
Subject: Re: IF Conventions (was Re: [Dis]Advantages...)
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One problem with this whole idea, which I will offer in reply
to Peter's message but is meant as a reply to the thread in general:

Peter Seebach <seebs@plethora.net> wrote:
>> N
>Gaming room
>You are in the gaming room.  The fishtank is splashing; you should top it off
>when you have time.  Last night's pizza boxes are still out on the table,
>smelling faintly of pepperoni.  Another cat is here, washing herself quietly.
>
>> TAKE PIZZA
>You have a slice of pepperoni pizza.
>
>> EXAMINE IT
>Cold, a little greasy, and probably thoroughly inedible; it smells delicious.

All well and good until the player types

>> LOOK

at which point it will be difficult to keep the cat in the bag.
Responding to 'LOOK' with a room description is dishonest, and
disallowing 'LOOK' is going to be a dead giveaway, unless you
can come up with some OTHER reason to disable LOOK.

Two ways around it: write a lipogrammatic or other word-game-y
sort of game, like Ad Verbum, and set up the rules so that LOOK
is not a legal command; or set up the display with a 'room
description window' in which the room description is always
displayed, so there is never a need to type 'LOOK'.

SeanB
