On Writing Areas
Another Interlude...
The #MOBILES area header, of the four main area headers including the #ROOMS. #OBJECTS, and #RESETS, tends to be the most coding intensive section of the area file. Not just because of the many various flags that a builder needs to associate with the mobiles under the #MOBILES area header, but because, at least in the case of Dawn of the Ages, the mobiles may have triggers and mobprogs, or mobile programs. Mobile programs are snippets of programming which provide mobiles with an illusory artificial intelligence. They also can provide atmosphere to a room or area, can act as transporters, can begin quests, can end quests, can furnish rare spells, and so forth. Mobile programs will be covered more in-depth in the chapter on #MOBPROGS. Here we will limit our discussion to mobiles.
Mobiles are the "creatures" with whom players interact. Players may also interact with other players, and they may fiddle around with some of the objects found in the MUD. However, when players want to gain experience, to perform a quest, to make money, and, in general, to live "MUD life", they will seek out the mobiles that give them what they want.
Mobiles are fairly easy to describe. Unlike rooms, mobiles do not "contain" much; they are as you see them, singly and in contrast to everything else. For example, in real life you may meet a friend at a park. Your friend is a young man of medium height and build, average looks, wears glasses, has a scar right below his left eye where a dog bit him as a child. You see your friend in contrast to the park, which "contains" a swingset, a slide, a barrel and other playground equipment. The park also has a few trees, a parking lot with several parked cars, children running around making a lot of noise, a mother sitting at a park picnic table reading a book, an overfull trash can with flies buzzing over it, and so on. The park description contains a lot of little details which make describing it a bear for the writer; the friend description, while it contains details, does not come close to the detail of the park. Your friend is but one detail of the park; the park is a collection of many, many details of objects and people which together form a "park".
Let's stop with the differences before we become philosophical about it. Instead let's take some time to soak in the fact that describing mobiles isn't nearly as word-intensive as describing rooms.
As you may recall from the first interlude, there are certain suggestions to keep in mind when building rooms. The same is with mobiles: there are not as many suggestions, but there are a few a builder should remember when creating a mobile. As we did in the first interlude, let's take an example mobile and tear it apart:
#9568 adventurer traveller~ An adventurer~ A dustcovered man suited with leatherclothing crosses the street. ~ Still not every corner of the grand desert has been explored. And many a man has come to the city of New Thalos to make a living in the famous guard of the sultan. Noone respects the city of Thalos more then these people. After having crossed the hot desert or the stormy ocean, this is a true oasis where the wanderer can find enlightenment and peace. ~
The mobile above is okay as far as mobiles go, but can use improvements. This mobile is part of a stock ROM area called "New Thalos", a desert city found on many MUDs.
We'll begin with the long description of the mobile, which is line number four, or the line that reads "A dustcovered man suited with leatherclothing crosses the street." The long description is what a player sees when she first enters the room, and will usually contain the keywords needed so the player may look at the long description of the mobile. The problem with the mobile above is that the long description contains no keyword the player can use, or if there is a keyword, it is not placed in the name list right beneath the virtual number, or vnum, of the mobile.
The name list (line two) is the list of names by which the players can reference a mobile when they type at the command prompt "look xxx". For the mobile above, if a player typed "look adventurer", she would see the long description that starts with "Still not every corner...". She can also type "look traveler" and get the same thing.
However, where in the long description, that is, "A dustcovered man suited with leatherclothing crosses the street.", are the names by which the player may look at the mobile? This is the point where a player may become frustrated with the mobile: she expects to be able to look at the mobile by any of the words in the long description, for example, "dustcovered" or "man". But neither word is in the names list. What is the player to do?
One option for the player may be to "scan" the area. Many MUDs contain a command whereby a player may "scan" from a room and see the mobiles and other players in the same room as the player and in adjacent rooms. This will sometimes give away the keyword of the mobile in question. Many MUDs have this command, but not all MUDs. What is the player to do then if she cannot "scan"?
Suggestion number one, then, is to include in the long description at least one keyword by which a player can interact with the mobile. Or, coming from a different angle, write out the long description first, then take words found in the long description and add them to the name list found beneath the vnum. Let's update the description of the mobile above to reflect our suggestion:
#9568 adventurer traveller dustcovered man~ An adventurer~ A dustcovered man suited with leatherclothing crosses the street. ~ Still not every corner of the grand desert has been explored. And many a man has come to the city of New Thalos to make a living in the famous guard of the sultan. Noone respects the city of Thalos more then these people. After having crossed the hot desert or the stormy ocean, this is a true oasis where the wanderer can find enlightenment and peace. ~
Better. At least the player will now be able to interact with the mobile if she were to type "look dustcovered" or "look man".
The long description still needs work. Let's look at it again, "A dustcovered man suited with leatherclothing crosses the street." We do not provide the code to the mobile, but it is what we call a "wandering mobile". That is, the mobile wanders from room to room, never stopping, never resting, it keeps going and going and going much like the Energizer Bunny™. So, let's suppose the mobile wanders into a building, say, one of New Thalos's shops, Abdul's Armor. When a player walks into the same room the mobile is in, what does she see? That this dustcovered man is crossing the street. Where in Abdul's Armors is this street?
Suggestion number two: when describing a mobile, do not include descriptions beyond the mobile's control. This is much like the suggestion we made for describing rooms (see first interlude) and works equally well here. A mobile may be crossing the street, but that's assuming there is a street to cross. A mobile may be standing in front of the full length mirror, but that's assuming a player hasn't teleported the mobile away from the mirror. A mobile may be holding the legendary sword "Excalibur" in its gloved fist, but that's assuming the unique object isn't in the hands of a player. A mobile may be sunbathing at the pool, although doing so at two o'clock in the morning seems strange. Assumptions may be made about the mobile, but it's when a builder goes beyond the mobile that the best made plans of the builder go awry.
So we rewrite the long description of the example mobile above:
#9568 adventurer traveller dustcovered man~ An adventurer~ A dustcovered man suited with leatherclothing wanders around purposefully. ~ Still not every corner of the grand desert has been explored. And many a man has come to the city of New Thalos to make a living in the famous guard of the sultan. Noone respects the city of Thalos more then these people. After having crossed the hot desert or the stormy ocean, this is a true oasis where the wanderer can find enlightenment and peace. ~
We're almost there; now to tighten the grammar a bit:
#9568 adventurer traveller dustcovered man~ An adventurer~ A dustcovered man dressed in leather clothing wanders around purposefully. ~ Still not every corner of the grand desert has been explored. And many a man has come to the city of New Thalos to make a living in the famous guard of the sultan. Noone respects the city of Thalos more then these people. After having crossed the hot desert or the stormy ocean, this is a true oasis where the wanderer can find enlightenment and peace. ~
By revising the long description, we avoid the humorous situation of a New Thalos adventurer crossing the street while trapped in the Astral Plane. But we have a ways to go because, while we revised the long description, we see that the look description, or the sentences that begins with "Still not every corner of the grand desert...", supposes the adventurer to be in a locale that he may not be in, that is, to be in New Thalos. Remember, the man is a wanderer, and sometimes may wander outside the city.
Unfortunately, in this case, the whole look description depends on the man being in a specific place in the desert, the city of New Thalos. Before we rewrite the description, remember above when you supposed in real life you were to meet a friend in the park? Can you describe your friend without making any kind of reference to the park?
#9568 adventurer traveler dustcovered man~ An adventurer~ A dustcovered man dressed in leather clothing wanders around purposefully. ~ What the man has on his mind you cannot be sure, but the intense look on his sun-baked face suggests he has yet to find the object of his desire. Dust covers his clothing and traveling pack, and his beard is home to many particles of sand. His dark skin and hair leads you to think he is a desert wanderer; perhaps he is here looking for a diversion from his daily routine? ~
The look description above may not be the best of descriptions, but it is generally better in that no matter where the adventurer is at, he looks the same. In other words the mobile's look description no longer contains details beyond the mobile's control. The mobile is generally found in New Thalos, but should he be teleported to Midgaard, players won't find him too out of place. He's just like your friend in that, no matter if in a park in Chicago or in a burger joint in Paris, France, his appearance (generally speaking) will not change.
So, for mobiles, there are only two suggestions to keep in mind when writing them. First, include "name list" keywords in the long description so a player can interact with the mobile more easily. Second, do not include descriptions of places or objects or other things beyond the mobile's control. There is a third suggestion, but it is more a rule of usage than a suggestion: when placing an article before the mobile's short description—eg. the short description "An adventurer", line three, in the mobile above—make the first letter lowercase. In other words, we will have "an adventurer" and not "An adventurer" in the following revision:
#9568 adventurer traveler dustcovered man~ an adventurer~ A dustcovered man dressed in leather clothing wanders around purposefully. ~ What the man has on his mind you cannot be sure, but the intense look on his sun-baked face suggests he has yet to find the object of his desire. Dust covers his clothing and traveling pack, and his beard is home to many particles of sand. His dark skin and hair leads you to think he is a desert wanderer; perhaps he is here looking for a diversion from his daily routine? ~
The MUD server will, in most cases, force an uppercase where needed.