Re: Olympia Lore Sheets for PCs

From: cedman@714-725-3177.nts.uci.edu (Carl Edman)

Date: Thu, 14 May 1992 20:59:02 +0000

Scott Hauck writes
> I like this idea, but I agree with SRT - anything based
> solely on what players say about themselves and others
> will not be used, because the Times and e-mail are so much
> more effective at this.

Well, in another post I made some counter arguments to this, but
generally you are probably right. Hence it is very important that there
are lots of rumors which are generated automatically.

But I think that your system of rumor classification is too artifical
and rigid. Essentially any action which could be observed by a member
of the public should have a certain chance of generating a rumor. Most
everyday actions should only have a small chance for generating rumors
and if they do only very high level rumors (which would be purged from
the rumor database after a few months at the latest). After all, who
wants to spread the rumor that 902 has bought 2 longswords in Drassa
last month ? On the other hand is he had bought 100 pieces of ring
mail, that would certainly be a more interesting rumor.

And it is in the context of this that the RUMOR command becomes useful.
Once lots of people start relying on good information, spreading some
bad information is anything but a futile task.

Carl Edman

References

Re: Olympia Lore Sheets for PCs
hauck@cs.washington.edu (Scott Hauck)
Thu, 14 May 1992 18:38:42 +0000