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Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 15:06:08 -0400
From: John Colagioia <JColagioia@csi.com>
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Subject: Re: How much autopilot is too much?
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Peter Seebach wrote:
[...]
> So... how annoying would it be for the *character* to react with some basic
> common sense?  Would you find it annoying, or would it be reasonably
> tolerable?  How frustrated would you be at a character who did something that
> might not be your first choice?

I tend to find such things very annoying *unless* the game is written
in such a way that I don't notice the author shoving me into the
plot.

Some examples:  if most game turns do lots of stuff anyway (if the
writing's bad, you'll lose most players early, but do it well, and it
can fly), or if it's an explicit characterization of the character
(he'll always shoot first, which is going to give the player some
trouble down the road), then it's probably going to work out.  If, on
the other hand, you're just trying to force the player to type a
specific transcript, then you might as well publish the transcript,
in my opinion.

