change the "mood" of a room. What this was, as they described it, was like
leaving an additional bit of text in or below the room description that
described any notable temporary details that would be of interest to anyone
entering later.
I'm sure that description alone has given you the gist of this idea, but I'll
go into some design details that I think would work.
The room state would be settable by anyone, and clearable by anyone. It should
obviously be understood that doing either for no reason, or to troll would be
bad form, and excessive abuse probably punishable by admin. For various
reasons that I'm sure many of you can come up with on your own, I don't
suggest including the character's name anywhere in the room state.
When setting the room state you would give the duration (preferably in
minutes) to a maximum of 24 hours (possibly 48?). Reason for the limit
being... well... I'm sure nobody wants to run around clearing ancient room
states. After that time, it automatically clears.
Now, for those of you who didn't immediately understand why this sort of thing
would be useful, a list of possible uses:
- You've murdered someone recently. It was a *bloody mess*, and you want to
let whoever enters that room next that something awful went down there.
- You want to decorate your apartment for your special moodate. You leave a
trail of rose petals leading toward the bed, light some candles, and turn
the lights down low.
- There's a special concert going on at the Drome. The stage is lit up, and
the crowd is going wild.
- Some asshole with a gun is shooting people up on Cordoba. Everyone's bolting
down the street. You know which way not to go... or go, if you're feeling
lucky.
- The character you were interacting with has disconnected or @quit for the
night. You'd like to give them some idea of anything significant that might
have happened while they were out, but gridmailing them or leaving a note
detailing it is awkward, and maybe doesn't make sense.
The list goes on and on. Of course, it should be noted that these kinds of
things should not be used as free replacements for code that already exists,
such as graffiti, or leaving people notes.
Thoughts?