|
I was specifically talking about building the scripting options into an automated ("The points you mention could also be built into an automated combat system as well"). Simply adding scripting functionality to an automated combat system doesn't make it into a manual combat system, surely?
Or are you referring to the ability to override the default manual commands? In that case you're not chosing when to attack, you're just choosing to replace your default "hit" with something more specific like a "sweep" or "headbutt" - the combat itself will continue regardless of whether or not you type anything.
As you yourself said, "the information the MUD sends your way is often times purposefully obfuscated and gets in the way of automation". If the goal of the mud was to create a game in which people could choose their own form of automated combat, then you might not want that obfuscation. You might also want to level the playing field between those who use clients (much like some muds add aliases), or simply have the feature as a side-effect of implementing a complex mob AI and feel that you might as well let players take advantage of it (particularly as you could then reuse their scripts, perhaps to give the impression that the mobs are learning and adapting).
However the main reason for the example was to try and draw the line between automated and manual combat.
If they don't involve typing anything (other than the toggle command), then I probably wouldn't consider them manual, no. If the toggling was part of the game (eg you have to choose to put up your defence, but it costs something, and can be knocked aside by the attacker) then I'd probably categorise that in the same way as the attack commands.
|