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From: neilg@fraser.sfu.ca (Neil K. Guy)
Subject: Re: Non-English adventures (was Re: Adventure design)
Message-ID: <neilg.730460492@sfu.ca>
Sender: news@sfu.ca
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
References: <)> <1lp2faINNeb@life.ai.mit.edu> <greg.730420810@duke>) <1mc35rINN3dn@life.ai.mit.edu>
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1993 09:41:32 GMT
Lines: 28

dmb@case.ai.mit.edu (David Baggett) writes:

>In article <greg.730420810@duke> greg@Quotron.COM (Greg "Maddog" Knauss) writes:
>>	I, personally, hate reading room descriptions like, "I see a small,
>>dusty chair, leaning up against the door."  But "I don't see how kicking
>>you would help matters" is at least a correct response in that context.

>You mean, "I don't see how kicking you would help matters, and besides
>that I can't, since you're on the other side of that glass screen."  :)

 Well, it's part of the whole thing of what role the computer is
playing. In my TA I've consciously phrased every comment by the
computer as an omniscient narrator. But it can get confusing at times.

 I mean, say the player types "walk north." Well, according to
convention, the player is really saying "walk ME north." Okay. Fair
enough. But if the player says "kiss me" then is the player saying
"kiss myself" or "computer, you kiss me?"

 I get kept up at nights thinking about this problem, lemme tell ya!

 - Neil K.

 (actually, Zork had an interesting inconsistency this way. If you
said "drink water" the computer would say "Thank you. I was feeling
thirsty" or somesuch, as though the command had shifted from having
the player being the subject of the verb to the computer. Kinda
confused me when I was a kid. :)
