Re: [MUD-Dev] handling ambiguity, and prompts

[Raz <muddyraz#mushroom,demon.co.uk>]

On Mon, 19 May 1997 20:02:49 PST8PDT, Chris G wrote:

> [Raz:]
> :From my position as a designer, it seems to me that any command issued
> :immediately after a question prompt would be assumed to be a response to =
> :the
> :question - if the response fails to satisfy the requirements of the =
> :prompt,
> :then the prompt is cancelled and the 'response' is handled as the regular
> :command that it is.
> 
> I could probably handle that, but I would still like a way to turn off any
> such prompting.

Fair enough.  I don't suppose it'd be too hard to implement a preference
toggle for this, so I'll try and remember to add it to my spec =)

> If you have an RL interruption, or even an in-MUD one,
> the command and prompt can disappear off your screen and out of your
> memory. If the prompt itself is always visible, and indicates that a
> question is pending, then you should be able to enter something that
> will specifically cancel *any* outstanding question.

I hope I don't sound like I'm stubbornly clinging to my cherished ideals or
something =), but I'm still not sure why this'd be needed...  Simply, the
'something' that the player would enter would be his next command.  Do you
mean purely for aesthetic purposes?  Ie, to stop the following happening:

 Get the big bag or the smelly bag?
 >
 A human known to you as Soenso approaches.
 Get the big bag or the smelly bag?
 >
 Soenso rummages in his pack as if looking for something.
 The sky clouds over.
 Get the big bag or the smelly bag?
 >
 Soenso smiles at you, annoyingly.
 Get the big bag or the smelly bag?
 >

...etc?

Raz