nu.kanga.list.mud-dev

7322: [MUD-Dev] Re: Spellchecking

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Travis Casey [mailto:efindel@polaris.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 1998 9:26 PM
> To: mud-dev@kanga.nu
> Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Spellchecking
> 
>  - What will be done with words the spellchecker doesn't recognize?
>    Personally, I wouldn't play on a mud that limited the words I
>    could use in conversation, or on one which kept "fixing" my
>    spelling when I used words that weren't in the dictionary.
> 
>  - There are cases where someone might want to misspell something;
>    for example, in quoting something which was itself misspelled,
>    to abbreviate long words, or to represent an accent or dialect
>    (e.g., "Cap'n, I canna change the laws of physics!"  Or, to give
>    an example relevant to a fantasy mud, "M'lud, 'tis summat wrong
>    here.").

On LegendMUD we have a speech system that I haven't seen anywhere else.
A topic for a different thread, but in a nutshell, its output doesn't
look like this:

   Buffy says 'Hello! Are you new here?'

but rather like this:

   'Hello!' Buffy says cheerfully. 'Are you new here?'

This was explicitly designed as a roleplaying feature. Because of
resistance from some players, we provided options settings so that
players could choose to not see the text altered in this fashion. The
reasons given by those who disliked it:

- it was supposedly harder to read.
- it alters their text, and they felt that their text should be
inviolate.

Statistics show that in fact 99% of Legend's players prefer to see the
text this way. We don't have statistics on how many players expressly
use moods but it's a significant amount of them--enough so that the
original speech-only system was expanded to include socials and for
extrance and exit messages, so someone can arrive in the room moping, or
bounce cheerfully into the room.

Just a sidelight on the "code is changing my text" issue. if anyone
wants further details on how the speech and moods system works (it's on
a Diku-derivative) just holler. :)

-Raph