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KaVir · 09-29-2003, 04:13 AM

So what about those who aren't using mud clients? And even of those who are, you're going to need to add colour support anyway (because there's no way that the client can know how to colour a wilderness map, for example). So why not put that extra little bit of work in in order to give everyone the same possibilities?

Actually I said "there's no way to know what other players prompts are". That was in response to your statement "A game has a much more cohesive atmosphere to it if everyone's look and feel are the same".

So to put my question another way, how does it provide me with a "much more cohesive atmosphere" if Bubba the Barbarian isn't allowed to remove mana from his prompt? There's no way that I can even see his prompt. All it does is limit his user interface.

What possible advantage is there in forcing everyone to use the same prompt?

I hate coloured room descriptions. In fact, I dislike them so much that I would simply switch off colour if that was the only other option. That would be a shame, however, because I like having colour for some things (such as highlighting or underlining keywords in a helpfile, differently colouring OOC and IC channels, wilderness maps, etc).

I can understand providing default prompts and colour configurations (ideally a variety of recommended/popular versions of each), but I cannot see any possible advantage in forcing people to remain with those defaults, rather than customising their own.

In fact at one point I even planned to add player-configurable score layouts, and actually created a snippet to that end. The only reason I never got around to adding to my mud was because of time constraints and more important tasks.

Such configurable options have one of the most desirable characteristics of any mud feature - they provide useful and desirable functionality for the players who want it, without causing any impact on those who don't.

09-29-2003, 04:13 AM	#26
KaVir Legend Join Date: Apr 2002 Name: Richard Home MUD: God Wars II Posts: 2,052	So what about those who aren't using mud clients? And even of those who are, you're going to need to add colour support anyway (because there's no way that the client can know how to colour a wilderness map, for example). So why not put that extra little bit of work in in order to give everyone the same possibilities? Actually I said "there's no way to know what other players prompts are". That was in response to your statement "A game has a much more cohesive atmosphere to it if everyone's look and feel are the same". So to put my question another way, how does it provide me with a "much more cohesive atmosphere" if Bubba the Barbarian isn't allowed to remove mana from his prompt? There's no way that I can even see his prompt. All it does is limit his user interface. What possible advantage is there in forcing everyone to use the same prompt? I hate coloured room descriptions. In fact, I dislike them so much that I would simply switch off colour if that was the only other option. That would be a shame, however, because I like having colour for some things (such as highlighting or underlining keywords in a helpfile, differently colouring OOC and IC channels, wilderness maps, etc). I can understand providing default prompts and colour configurations (ideally a variety of recommended/popular versions of each), but I cannot see any possible advantage in forcing people to remain with those defaults, rather than customising their own. In fact at one point I even planned to add player-configurable score layouts, and actually created a snippet to that end. The only reason I never got around to adding to my mud was because of time constraints and more important tasks. Such configurable options have one of the most desirable characteristics of any mud feature - they provide useful and desirable functionality for the players who want it, without causing any impact on those who don't.