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12-05-2006, 05:01 PM

Obviously any time the subject changes, the full name would be used. The MUD would keep a running tally for each individual player of who the most recent male and female and neutered subjects were, and pronouns like "him", "his", "he" would only be used when the subject of the current line was the same as the subject of the previous one.

Example.
The female guard's punch bruises the female slave!
The female guard's kick pelts the female slave!
The male guard's slash wounds the female slave!
His stab cuts her!
He changes his target to the male slave!
The male guard's slash devastates the male slave!
The male guard changes his target to the female slave!
His stab maims her!
The slavemaster's whip massacres her!
She is DEAD!
He takes 5 gold coins from her corpse*.

There is no ambiguity here: each time a pronoun is used, it refers to the agent of appropriate gender who most recently had their name expanded to the viewer. Thus in line 4, there is no doubt that "her" is the female slave, not the female guard. The ordering is based on line number and ignores position within the line, so in line 3, the MUD sees that there are two candidates tied for "generic female" role, and so does not use the pronoun. In line 5, the male guard is still unchallenged as generic male, because the male slave's claim to that position won't come into effect until AFTER this line. Hence the word "he". In line 6, both actors' names are fully expanded, because they are tied as most recent.

*the final line illustrates a less trivial, more ambitious extension of the idea to objects. Certain specific objects indicate ownership in their shortdescs, eg corpses, Godwars style soulblades, etc. With more work, pronouns could be extended to these as well. Which brings up another point, some mobs would need to be specifically flagged as nonpronoun, for example "the king's guard". Otherwise the following would be ambiguous:

The king's guard's slash hits you!
His pierce cuts you!

In the second line, whose pierce is cutting you -- the king's guard, or the king himself?

EDIT: on further reflection, I think for certain objects it'd be worth doing this project even if the larger project were not done. For example, "Erdos stops using his soulblade" looks much better than "Erdos stops using Erdos's soulblade", no matter how you consider it. To someone who can't see Erdos, "Someone stops using Erdos's soulblade" gives away too much info (as would "Someone stops using his soulblade", since invisibility masks gender too. A better line would be "Someone stops using their soulblade")

12-05-2006, 05:01 PM	#7
erdos Posts: n/a	Obviously any time the subject changes, the full name would be used. The MUD would keep a running tally for each individual player of who the most recent male and female and neutered subjects were, and pronouns like "him", "his", "he" would only be used when the subject of the current line was the same as the subject of the previous one. Example. The female guard's punch bruises the female slave! The female guard's kick pelts the female slave! The male guard's slash wounds the female slave! His stab cuts her! He changes his target to the male slave! The male guard's slash devastates the male slave! The male guard changes his target to the female slave! His stab maims her! The slavemaster's whip massacres her! She is DEAD! He takes 5 gold coins from her corpse. There is no ambiguity here: each time a pronoun is used, it refers to the agent of appropriate gender who most recently had their name expanded to the viewer. Thus in line 4, there is no doubt that "her" is the female slave, not the female guard. The ordering is based on line number and ignores position within the line, so in line 3, the MUD sees that there are two candidates tied for "generic female" role, and so does not use the pronoun. In line 5, the male guard is still unchallenged as generic male, because the male slave's claim to that position won't come into effect until AFTER this line. Hence the word "he". In line 6, both actors' names are fully expanded, because they are tied as most recent. the final line illustrates a less trivial, more ambitious extension of the idea to objects. Certain specific objects indicate ownership in their shortdescs, eg corpses, Godwars style soulblades, etc. With more work, pronouns could be extended to these as well. Which brings up another point, some mobs would need to be specifically flagged as nonpronoun, for example "the king's guard". Otherwise the following would be ambiguous: The king's guard's slash hits you! His pierce cuts you! In the second line, whose pierce is cutting you -- the king's guard, or the king himself? EDIT: on further reflection, I think for certain objects it'd be worth doing this project even if the larger project were not done. For example, "Erdos stops using his soulblade" looks much better than "Erdos stops using Erdos's soulblade", no matter how you consider it. To someone who can't see Erdos, "Someone stops using Erdos's soulblade" gives away too much info (as would "Someone stops using his soulblade", since invisibility masks gender too. A better line would be "Someone stops using their soulblade")