From charlie Mon Aug 17 13:11:29 1987
Received: from weyr by moth; 17 AUG 87 13:11:29 PDT
From: charlie (Charlie "2 years to Dream Park" Kellner)
To: chip,farmer,aric,nancy,sda
Cc: charlie
Received: by weyr; 17 AUG 87 13:11:18 PDT
Subject: wish list
Status: RO
Here's a baker's dozen of ideas that Jo and I think would be improvements
to Habitat, for your consideration:
1. The penalty for dying is too severe. I don't mind having my avatar get
killed, as long as it's only an inconvenience -- but when I get penalized
for getting killed, it's a drag. We'd like to see it be like in cartoons,
where the character who just got killed walks back from his turf and punches
out the guy who killed him... and nothing else has changed.
2. There should be a wider range of facial expressions. We think a dozen
expressions would just about cover the standard range that people would be
most likely to wish for. The storage cost should be negligible.
3. In the same vein, each special (i.e. non-standard) head should have
one special gesture or animation that it can do, that no other head can do.
The propellor beanie is a good example. All non-standard heads should have
this capability. If a particular head isn't different enough to merit a
unique animation, you should consider dropping it from the database.
4. We'd really like to be able to teleport anywhere -- even places where
there isn't any teleport. If the region is too full to accept you, it should
simply tell you so and not allow you to teleport (this problem may occur even
in standard teleport regions, so I don't see why it should be any different).
5. An even more powerful option: a magic device that teleports you to
wherever another avatar is, by name. "Take Me To SPBlives!" ::bamf::
6. A matched pair of portable holes. You can pick them up and carry them
around, but whenever they're BOTH laying on the ground, you can walk through
from one to the other, both ways. Could be a great plot device.
7. How about a little suitcase that you buy for an exorbitant price (say,
50,000 tokens), carry to a suitable region, set down and DO -- and a house
appears. It's your turf, you paid for it, and you can just walk in and
set up housekeeping. When you get finished laughing, think about how much
it would simplify the process of creating new cities.
8. A pocket-sized door that you can buy in a vending machine, place against
a wall in your house, and DO -- and add an adjoining room. It should only
work in your own turf, of course.
9. A magic wand that turns an avatar into a tree. He remains in that form
as long as the avatar who changed him stays in the same region with him.
DOing it again reverses the transformation. The transformed avatar can't
walk around, so he can't pick things up unless he already happens to be
positioned correctly, but he can talk, write letters, take things out of his
pocket, and DO them. Making the magic user remain in the same region ensures
that he will get out of it reasonably soon, or if not, that at least he'll
have someone to talk to, because the other guy won't be going anywhere either.
In the worst case, it should be automatically cancelled when the system goes
down at the end of the day. This is necessary in the event anyone is foolish
(or clumsy) enough to use the wand on himself, and someone else just happens
to steal it before he can change himself back.
10. A universal "Dispel Magic" amulet that reverses or cancels any spell,
including the one above. Given the existence of such a device, it might be
possible to make certain wands or devices like the above even more powerful,
because there would always be an easy (albeit expensive) way to undo them.
Possessors of such amulets would always be in great demand.
11. A secret decoder ring that scrambles your speech -- and unscrambles
others' speech. Two (or more) people standing in the same region holding
identical rings would be able to talk to each other, but no one else would
be able to understand them. Great for secret Habitat guild meetings.
12. A way to know that someone is in the region next to where you are.
It would make the world seem a lot bigger, and a whole lot more connected.
13. A way to know who else is in Habitat, or at least in the city or area
that you're in. Specific locations aren't necessary, but it would be really
nice just to know that you're not alone.
- charlie