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[personal profile] amul
Okay, so in order to explain this, I have to first admit that one of the reasons I've been so absent on LJ is that I've been sucked into that sin of all geek sins, that addiction for which there is so little redemption, a MUSH.

This one is a sort of Call of Cthulhu mush, called Lovecraft Country, and has been pretty nifty for the four days or so that I've been playing it. Horribly stuck in alpha-testing, though they insist they're at beta.



Anyway, today this new player signs on and starts running around asking about Innsmouth, deep ones, etc. Everybody keeps trying to tell him, "D00d, you're a college student fresh off the train. You don't know any of that," until the guy flat out asks where the horror elements are. We try to explain that you get a far greater sense of horror when you firmly establish a daily grind that can be shattered. He goobs for a little bit more and then disappears.

About an hour later, my character is quietly talking to this girl who showed him around the first day he arrived. Neither of us are quite sure if we're flirting with each other, and it being the mid-1930s, we're sort of comfortable with that gray area. We're talking at the local hang out spot, and a bunch of people slowly filter in, so our conversation gets quieter and deeper, trying to filter out everyone else, until I hear someone at the other end of the room say, You didn't see it! It had dead eyes, don't tell me it was a cat! It was scratching at my window with its teeth!

A shiver went up my spine. Such a sweet set up for me! One moment, my character is talking to a pretty girl, asking her if she liked the present he'd bought for her, and the next he's swept up in a supernatural sighting.

The scene played out, and as everyone left, the charming, innocent, ever to be protected girl whispers to me, "Fog Creatures." Then her cheerleader friend asks, "Why would fog creatures attack her?"

Before I can do more than gape at them, this complete stranger walks in, preventing me from asking any further questions.

And to think, I'd just been telling someone how important it was to set up a routine before shattering it!

Date: 3 Aug 2006 15:21 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] elissa-carey.livejournal.com
Wow, MUSHes... that takes me way, way back. Used to play those a lot. (Heck, for the longest time they were pretty much the only 'game' in town. I didn't visit BBSs or join mailing lists, so MUSHes were the only online fun I knew of.)

Date: 3 Aug 2006 17:48 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] angelbob.livejournal.com
Heh. Lovecraft Country. I'm amused, because they use the MUD driver (DGD) that I've done almost all the online documentation for :-P

Well, okay. The *public* online docs. Skotos has a fair amount of internal stuff.

Date: 3 Aug 2006 18:06 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amul.livejournal.com
You know, there was a point in my life when I could read assembly, when I prefered to write my emails in pseudo code, but the one thing I never figured out how to do was program a text parser.

God damn string arrays.

Date: 3 Aug 2006 18:08 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amul.livejournal.com
The parser is pretty impressive, considering the level of such things available back when I last looked at them.

This is the first time I've ever been seriously in danger of mush addiction, though. Tuesday, I actually cancelled plans with someone so I could stay home and mush. I gotta keep an eye on that.

Date: 3 Aug 2006 18:08 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amul.livejournal.com
Yeah, I['d agree that your pitfalls are not escapism-based.

Date: 3 Aug 2006 18:43 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] elissa-carey.livejournal.com
Yeah, that would be a good idea. Being a hermit is OK, but don't forget your friends. :)

Date: 3 Aug 2006 18:46 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] angelbob.livejournal.com
Easier than they sound, especially these days.

DGD also has a ridiculously powerful and very obscure sub-language called parse_string() which replaces lex and yacc quite ably. It also does a couple of things they don't do with parser ambiguity, which can be either a blessing or a curse :-)

Date: 3 Aug 2006 18:47 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] angelbob.livejournal.com
Yeah, Skotos' parser rocks.

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