[MUD-Dev] Re: OT, kinda, but yay :)

["Koster, Raph" <rkoster#origin,ea.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jon Leonard [mailto:jleonard#divcom,slimy.com]
> Sent: Friday, October 23, 1998 4:04 PM
> To: mud-dev#kanga,nu
> Cc: Jon Leonard
> Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: OT, kinda, but yay :)

> That reminds me of another idea I've toyed with from time to 
> time:  Machine
> translation in a MUD.  If you force all player communications 
> to be in a
> form that the server can understand (that's the bad part), 
> and have an on
> the fly text generation system, then you can allow players 
> who don't even
> speak the same language to communicate, at least in character.
> 
> The big problem is the immense amount of work invoved in 
> writing natural
> language parsers (even restricted ones) and the output text 
> generation.

We licensed Systran's software, included a "language number" in all text
packets, and grab the destination language right from the Windows
language settings. It's not perfect, but it's good enough to get the
sense across. And it's VERY cool. Plus you can download additional
language pairs (like English-Spanish, which isn't on the CD) as they
become available.

Plus we got an exclusive license (heh heh).

> It also imposes certain kinds of structures on the internal 
> workings of
> the mud.  It's no longer possible to create a room by just filling out
> the text descriptions, for example.

See my other reply. :)

-Raph