Should Keyboard Skills Affect the Game?

[ibusoe]

I've recently noticed that a few players of this game have problems typing.  Obviously, this affects things like combat, etc.

A few of these players have recently lobbied to have changes to the game that have reduced the importance of typing/perception.

Is this good?  Should typing affect game-play?

[Olgaris]

A few of these players have recently lobbied to have changes to the game that have reduced the importance of typing/perception.

We've been lobbied?

[Yam]

Consider yourselves lobbied.

[valeria]

On most mud clients it's very easy to alias commands down to shorter, simpler phrases.  I do this all the time.  It's also pretty easy to hi-lite colors and things, if you want to pay attention to certain phrases, like combat hits against you.  So it's possible to customize the game to your own vision and typing styles, entirely on your own.

I'm not sure exactly what kind of changes you're lobbying for, but I think it would be hard to have a text based game that didn't factor in typing or perception very heavily.

EDIT - oh, could there be a third option for the poll?  I don't like the first, but there isn't one that says 'I don't think these factors can be eliminated'.

[musashi]

I laughed so hard at this thread.

Oi, alright ... *wipes a small tear from his eye* now then ... what kind of changes were you possibly thinking could be implemented to compensate for people who are slow typers?

Valeria said all that needs to be said I think. If you're slow to type, that should be compensated for client-side. There are many more ways to compensate for it client side than there ever could be coded into the game.

[Olgaris]

I don't think we're going to code any text-to-speech or speech-to-text just for Armageddon. So, other than client aliases and whatnot... You kind of need to be able to read and type to play a text game.

[Cerelum]

Where twitch firing and circle strafing are the skills required of a good First Person Shooter.  On text based games, typing is key.

So if you can't type, fix that on your own, don't make the game dilluted and watered down for the needs of the "peck" typer.

[Yam]

You could probably input commands with Dragon Naturally Speaking.

[Synthesis]

Isn't basic keyboarding pretty much a required skill for -everything- nowadays?

I will say this:  MUDding nearly tripled my typing speed.

[MarshallDFX]

I don't think we're going to code any text-to-speech or speech-to-text just for Armageddon. So, other than client aliases and whatnot... You kind of need to be able to read and type to play a text game.

Language conversions too.

PK's could also be considered hate crimes to the codedly challenged, methinks.

[Cerelum]

You could probably input commands with Dragon Naturally Speaking.

LOL

"east"
"look north"
"Look South"
"look east"
"Look west"
"Forage salt"
"Emote pulls up his pantlegs and waddles into a loose shift of salt, digging at it for anything valuable."

Yeah, I'd rather type.

[Yam]

No way man. It would be fun. Especially if you had friends over.


"Uh, Yam... did you just say 'emote pulls down his trousers and ravages (TILDE)tressed with his kank'?"

[Fathi]

I'm curious as to how you think staff could compensate for somebody who has vision problems.

I mean, I'm picturing blind people trying to Arm while taking advantage of a braille embosser.

[Gunnerblaster]

This must be some form of humorless joke.

If you can't type/read properly - A text-based roleplaying game probably isn't something you should be playing. If you do decide to play it, regardless of your own physical short-comings, you can't whine and complain.

Since you, ibusoe, seem to be the only one "lobbying" for this - And the rest of us seem against it - Consider your lobbying effort DENIED.

P.S. - I voted incorrectly so that's the only reason you have 1 vote for No. 

[Manhattan]

Why are people so mean on the GDB 

[Akoto]

I think someone with typing/vision problems would likely do better in a MUSH/MUX environment, where speed is less of a factor. Over the years, I've made online friends with one or two people who were blind, and they did very well on said types of games.

[FantasyWriter]

I don't really know what to say...
If you can't read or type well enough, MUDs are not for you.

It's like asking should WoW stop having awesome graphics because they can cause seizures in epileptics.

I believe games should continue to cater to their niche of players, not change to be more widely acceptable and "water them down" for their current players

PS - Arm has tripled my typing speed as well.

[Wasteland Raider]

I don't really know what to say...
If you can't read or type well enough, MUDs are not for you.

It's like asking should WoW stop having awesome graphics because they can cause seizures in epileptics.

I believe games should continue to cater to their niche of players, not change to be more widely acceptable and "water them down" for their current players.

It's more like asking WoW to not use a keyboard and mouse, because I have no hands.

[Clearsighted]

They could give us unlimited aliases.

It's not like we can't get around it a hundred different ways with our mush client, certain keyboards and other software.

[valeria]

They could give us unlimited aliases.

Better to do aliases on your client, so it saves from character to character, I've found   

Unless maybe it's really character specific.

[musashi]

They could give us unlimited aliases.

It's not like we can't get around it a hundred different ways with our mush client, certain keyboards and other software.

I dunno but ... I think the limit on aliases server-side might be more of a server space issue than caring how many aliases we actually have to use in game.

[Sephiroto]

Reading and typing well in English are skills that are necessary for playing this game.

Lobbying for us to make things an even playing field for those who do not have, or lack proficiency in these abilities is ridiculous.  This is Armageddon, not the U.S. Government.

I hate to say it, but if you can't read/type, either find a way to get better or find another game.

Suggestions:

Staff: More aliases would be grand.  I often use all of mine and wish I could have more.  Storage devices are in Terra-bytes now, unlike in the early 1990's when they were Megabytes, so server space shouldn't be an issue, right?

Players: If you can't see well get a bigger monitor, use a larger font, or try some different colors.

It's 2009 and typing is a necessary skill.  If you're no good, there are plenty of typing applications to help improve skill.  Learn to type correctly.  *ding*

[Xeran Van Houten]

I've only got one working eye and I have to wear sunglasses all the time - I won't be bitching because I chose to play a game that more or less equals staring hard at a scrolling block of text for hours anytime soon...

[spicemustflow]

I don't think ibusoe is talking about blind people with no fingers here. It's just, if you're a slow typer, then forget the combat emotes and things like that.

[Lizzie]

If you're a slow typer, you can set up combat emote macros. You can mix them up...toss one in now and then, -not- toss one in now and then, make them variable-add macros so you can switch weapons without having to retype or make a whole new macro just for that weapon..

Macros used to be my absolute favorite thing to use, before I started typing everything out. Now, even if I'm playing a magicker, I type it out, or I'll open my excel file and copy/paste spells to the buffer.

As long as it's not a script..you should be fine. Scripts suck. Mostly because I get tired of watching someone do the same thing the -exact- same way, every single time they do it, without any variation, ever, and especially when they do it often (like the "I am about to leave the city, get ticket pack, get coins pack, offer ticket, hitch mount, title mount, n, w, w, w, w, draw dagger draw shield scan" script. I hate that script. With a passion.)