Is EXAMINE necessary? (was Fyleet, Crobe, Sangraal)

[Iain Merrick <im@cs.york.ac.uk>]

J R Partington wrote:

> Peter Killworth writes:
>
> > As one of the authors potentially involved in some of the
> > re-releases which are being discussed, can I just make a loud
> > noise.
> > I HATE EXAMINE!
> > There, I feel better...
> 
> I can only agree:
> 
> N
> You are in a room.
> 
> EXAMINE ROOM
> This is the slab room. [2 screenfuls of purple but irrelevant prose
> omitted here]. There is a mat on the floor.
> 
> EXAMINE MAT
> On careful examination you observe that there is a creature on the mat.
> 
> EXAMINE CREATURE
> The creature is a dragon.
> 
> EXAMINE DRAGON
> This is a black, sentient, 32-foot dragon, breathing out a deadly
> vapour that smells of a mixture of sulphur dioxide, beefburgers,
> sour milk, aniseed and potted shrimps. "Who do you think you're
> staring at?" it asks, but does not wait for a reply...

I can only disagree. Very strongly.

That's a horribly contrived example. Obviously that would make for a bad
game, but _nobody_ writes games like that. And without this silly
exaggeration, I don't think your argument holds.

Okay, I do agree with you to a point. Inform games tend not to tell you
about objects inside containers unless you explicitly look inside them.
This can be really annoying; but you can change this behaviour, you
know: just change a few lines in the standard library. If I was
beta-testing such a game, I'd report particularly annoying containers as
bugs.

But if you get rid of _all_ object descriptions, what does that leave
you with? Something like Fyleet, Crobe or Sangraal?

I'm afraid I found all three of these games unplayable. First I tried
Sangraal, having been told that that was probably the easiest of the
three; and at first, I found it rather enjoyable, in a minimalist kind
of way. But it's full of bizarre puzzles which can kill you or close off
sections of the game without warning, and pointless mazes, and -- well,
and there are no descriptions!

This doesn't help. With a two-word decription, you can often get the
wrong idea about what an object actually _is_. A proper response to
EXAMINE can stop you going on a wild-goose chase. It can also provide
subtle hints. It can even be fun to read.