|
Urden | Sun 17-Aug-03 12:29 AM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
97 posts
| |
|
#1999, "'Look' and 'Scan', a lack of a feature that has always irk'd me."
|
First of all, when you 'look' in a direction, you don't get any echo to indicate that direction, like you would if you were scanning.
Example:
<100%hp 100%m 100%mv 99999tnl> l n Nothing special there.
<100%hp 100%m 100%mv 99999tnl> sca e You scan east. ***** Range 1 ***** A cityguard is strolling through here, keeping the peace. A cat is sneaking through the shadows here.
======================================================================
When you 'scan' it will at least echo "You scan east."
What's the significance? Well the main one that I will point out is that it gives you a very important bit of text to highlight. For instance, if you are scanning some place and you get three ranges in each direction, with each range having three mobs/PC's, that's a LOT of text, and it is easy to get lost.
I propose that "look" be upgraded so that the above example would be more like this:
<100%hp 100%m 100%mv 99999tnl> l n You look northward. Nothing special there.
This way the line "You look northward." could be highlighted in any hue granted by your MUD client's technicolor wonder-brush.
Now, to address "scan". I propose that each range contain the relevant direction when you scan. For instance, the above example would look like this:
<100%hp 100%m 100%mv 99999tnl> sca e You scan east. ***** EAST: Range 1 ***** A cityguard is strolling through here, keeping the peace. A cat is sneaking through the shadows here.
...or something like that. By putting different directional keywords in there, it enables the player to highlight text and ultimately be more effective at keeping track of what's going on.
Anyone else with me? Bizarro I'm helping!
|
|
|
|
It would be real simple...,
robturner,
19-Aug-03 01:24 AM, #8
Why I fail to see the point,
Quislet,
18-Aug-03 07:57 PM, #4
Heh.,
Marcus_,
18-Aug-03 08:10 PM, #5
RE: Heh.,
Quislet,
18-Aug-03 08:21 PM, #6
Well...,
Urden,
18-Aug-03 11:23 PM, #7
RE: Well...,
Quislet,
20-Aug-03 12:59 AM, #10
*sigh* Ok now, once again...,
Urden,
20-Aug-03 05:04 PM, #11
RE: *sigh* Ok now, once again...,
Quislet,
21-Aug-03 01:32 AM, #12
One other thing, very tangential.,
Quislet,
21-Aug-03 01:40 AM, #13
RE: Heh.,
Ululari,
19-Aug-03 09:27 AM, #9
RE: 'Look' and 'Scan', a lack of a feature that has alw...,
Ululari,
17-Aug-03 07:57 AM, #2
possible solution and thoughts,
incognito,
17-Aug-03 03:54 AM, #1
RE: possible solution and thoughts,
Urden,
17-Aug-03 02:03 PM, #3
| |
|
robturner | Tue 19-Aug-03 01:24 AM |
Member since 24th May 2003
47 posts
| |
|
#2025, "It would be real simple..."
In response to Reply #0
|
to set up your client to do this for you.
|
|
|
|
  |
Marcus_ | Mon 18-Aug-03 08:10 PM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
681 posts
| |
|
#2019, "Heh."
In response to Reply #4
|
There is a argument 'all' to scan, which lets you scan all directions at once. It's not much harder to type 'scan all' than 'scan e'... So I don't really see why you need an alias to scan all rooms.
But on the other hand the requested feature is sort of unnecessary since it's not too hard to get the same result through substitutes. Wintin example:
#action {You scan %0.} {#var scandir $0} #substite {*** Range %1 ***} {$scandir: (Range %1}}
Or something like that I'm not currently logged on so I don't know exactly how the scan syntax looks.
|
|
|
|
          |
Urden | Wed 20-Aug-03 05:04 PM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
97 posts
| |
|
#2049, "*sigh* Ok now, once again..."
In response to Reply #10
|
What I was 'knocking' is the idea of adding the direction to another line when the direction you're scanning is already in the line right before that. I also don't see the point to scanning any less than your level allows, since if you only scan one direction at a time there isn't really spam. (unless of course you're one of those people who walks around all the time without room descriptions)
THE POINT of switching the normal ***Range 1*** with something like ***NORTH: Range 1*** should be very obvious at this point. But to clarify further, there are SEVERAL ranges that a person can see when they scan...not just ONE. And again, it is stupid to scan (and I'm quoting you) "one direction at a time", especially in a PK situation where you might need to see your directions quickly. Remember, the 'scan' command is CF's way of looking at a distance. In real life this occurs almost instantaneously, so we can see what is around us...in CF it often needs to be as quick as possible. Now, if players could only see one range at a time, I'd understand your gripe a little better...but three, four, and sometimes five ranges per direction can really clutter things up. Bizarro I'm helping!
|
|
|
|
            |
Quislet | Thu 21-Aug-03 01:32 AM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
240 posts
| |
|
#2054, "RE: *sigh* Ok now, once again..."
In response to Reply #11
|
Apparently my offhand comments have annoyed you, but that's just a guess from all your boldface highlighting.
I fully comprehend why people scan multiple directions at once, and I comprehend why I don't do it.
What I don't comprehend is why you want the added word. I guess I haven't been spammed enough to be unsatisfied with only having the "You scan (direction)." line. If it's really as bad as you say, in your shoes I'd just use the highlighting function most clients seem to have. Even if it doesn't work like you'd want it to, it would at least make the line for each direction stand out, and probably in a different color for each.
I may not use most client functions, and the ones I do use are rarely bothered with, but if I think the pay off is enough to bother with it, I sometimes do.
--Quislet, annoying & confusing at times, but still means well overall.
PS. If your suggestion ever gets added, I'd suggest the direction words not be in all caps. Speaking from experience with similar things elsewhere, it gets very harsh on the eyes very quickly.
|
|
|
|
              |
Quislet | Thu 21-Aug-03 01:40 AM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
240 posts
| |
|
#2055, "One other thing, very tangential."
In response to Reply #12
|
It seems like I have to mention this every so often to somebody, maybe someday I won't have to:
If I ever sound bitter, angry, insulting, or as if I'm just generally flaming or putting someone down:
I didn't mean it. Not really anyway. Sometimes I'm in a bad mood and say something negative, but it's not really meant that way. I try to be impartial and say things how I see them, but there's no need for emotions to enter into saying my views on something.
Also, if I'm not making any sense, I'm either half asleep, distracted, or going off on some tangent. So if you think what I'm saying might be something worth hearing, just ask me to explain what I mean, and hopefully it will make sense the second time.
I'm really a nice guy, but sometimes I sound way too Vulcan online.
|
|
|
|
      |
Ululari | Tue 19-Aug-03 09:27 AM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
120 posts
| |
|
#2028, "RE: Heh."
In response to Reply #6
|
>Anyhow, from being in groups with people who do scan multiple >directions at once, it appears that most of them use aliases >rather than 'scan all'.
It might be worth noting that the use of "scan all" spams six lines to the room, of the form:
XXX scans north. XXX scans east. XXX scans south. XXX scans west. XXX scans up. XXX scans down.
|
|
|
|
|
Ululari | Sun 17-Aug-03 07:57 AM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
120 posts
| |
|
#2001, "RE: 'Look' and 'Scan', a lack of a feature that has alw..."
In response to Reply #0
|
I'm going to chip in with a bit of agreement here.
When you look some direction, there's other things that can go on (weather, gechos, etc.) which can be confusing.
Usually, you can sort it out (sometimes by looking several times, that sort of thing, and the "nothing special" message is pretty obvious), but I've been confused more than once. It doesn't help that sometimes the exit descriptions are wrong (I remember filing a typo report where one of the wall descriptions was on the ceiling).
Mostly that vauge confusion doesn't affect anything critical. But I sometimes think that I might have figured some stuff out whch I haven't, if I could have put that mental energy to more useful ends.
|
|
|
|
|
incognito | Sun 17-Aug-03 03:54 AM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
4495 posts
| |
|
#2000, "possible solution and thoughts"
In response to Reply #0
|
I have an alias in my client that does
LL = l n l e l s l w
Having used this for a bit, I know the last result is always the west one, first is always the north etc. It works pretty well for me and if do up and down manually (in order to cut down on spam the rest of the time I use it).
For scan, what you propose does have big advantages in that I don't need to scroll back to determine what direction the creature at the top of my screen are in.
However, it also has disadvantages in some senses, because it adds lines of text and therefore will force you to scroll back in some cases where you otherwise would not have.
On the whole, I think I'd be in favor of the change so suggest (but I'd also like my "ranged" scan).
|
|
|
|
  |
Urden | Sun 17-Aug-03 02:03 PM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
97 posts
| |
|
#2002, "RE: possible solution and thoughts"
In response to Reply #1
|
My alias is : /l
that makes me look in all directions as well. I know the order and everything, but if I had a line of text saying "You look north," etc, then I could highlight and keep things much easier to keep track of.
For scan, what you propose does have big advantages in that I don't need to scroll back to determine what direction the creature at the top of my screen are in.
However, it also has disadvantages in some senses, because it adds lines of text and therefore will force you to scroll back in some cases where you otherwise would not have.
My 'scan' upgrade adds no new lines, it only alters one that has always been there.
Remember, currently when you scan you'll see...
You scan east. ***Range 1*** So and so is here, mooning you.
My idea only changes the "range line"..
You scan east. ***EAST: Range 1*** So and so is here, mooning you.
See how that would help a ton? Even if you couldn't highlight stuff in your client, you'd still have a big, glaring EAST on your screen. Bizarro I'm helping!
|
|
|
|
|