This Is Interesting...

Figured this didn't quite belong in the General Forum, as it isn't strictly about Heroes Journey, but ah well.

As some of you no doubt know, I am a fan of Verb Systems in video games. Of my posts on the matter, most have referenced Simutronics' earlier text based game, DragonRealms, and the extensive verb system therein.

Well, I peeked at some of the new information about DR since I've lately been bantying about trying to decide if I should pick it up again after all these years. Anywho, I came across this nugget of information.

It seems they've been streamlining the verb system, largely to make it more uniform and sensible, and now they've implemented an experimental system. You type the command VERB [Letter] and it pulls up all game verbs that start with that letter. Handy that!

  • At first I thought, oh wow! That's really cool! That sounds really useful!
  • But then, I thought about how a significant portion of the depth of DragonRealms came from the immersive world that you didn't always know how to work with. Finding new verbs was always a treat, and this kinda ruins that.
  • But then I turned around and said, well hey, the actual fun isn't finding out what Verbs are actually coded into the game, but instead the fun is in finding new ways to use them throughout the game world!
  • And then I thought, well still, it does kind of take you out of the immersive world around you. But I countered that with all the other help commands, and with the character creation screen, and all the other OOC explanation stuff necesarry in the game to make the IC stuff possible.
  • So ultimately, I think I really like the idea!
Anywho, I'm curious as to what other people think about this kind of thing. Is it neat for DR, but not something you think has much use elsewhere? Or could it maybe be a solid step in a new direction, the much-praised-by-me concept of modern Verb based graphical games?

Talk amongst yerselves!

~Dune~
 
I almost always had atleast one, often two different verb lists opened in other windows while playing DR anywhoo. Great idea :smiley:
 
It's fun finding out new things. It's tedious when you know what you want to do, but not how to accomplish it.

Exactly. Besides, I think most things would be pretty obvious to the characters, and having the player be unable to figure out how he's supposed to go about buying, selling, licking, kicking, or poking something takes away from the immersion. And, well, enjoyment, if you're like me.
 
When I first played DR, it really took some getting used to.. Holding true to my character (mine, not the person I was making at the time), the first verb I tried to use was /lick pedestal just out of curiosity. It was the only thing in the room! The game told me I was too high to lick the pedestal.. Alright. /kneel /lick pedestal. Woo hoo! I get a bad taste in my mouth. Alright, that was fun to find out on my own..but later, I got annoyed and frustrated just because I couldn't figure out simple things like foraging. Lucky for me, I had tutors and they showed me lists!

I wouldn't have been able to keep playing beyond character creation if it weren't for those lists..The world was so dark to me without knowing what to do..
 
Why lick a pedastal? She's Pinn! She nibbles on people and stuffed animals, so of course she'd lick a pedastal.

I, myself, had a bench I slept on in my favorite tiny, courtyard-sized park. I would hug it, kiss it, rub it tenderly, and sing to it at times. I really like that bench! It served me well, and was my favorite home I ever had in a video game.

~Dune~
 
I, myself, had a bench I slept on in my favorite tiny, courtyard-sized park. I would hug it, kiss it, rub it tenderly, and sing to it at times. I really like that bench! It served me well, and was my favorite home I ever had in a video game.
~Dune~

So was dating in DR a lot harder than in other games that had you resort to a bench?
:P
 
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