Merc 2.0 Beta
Mike Smith
Obviously I gave it a fair chance, as I had intended to work with the Merc team
to try to improve it. But it's apparant that their idea of "improvements" aren't
much more than "change commands, remove features, destroy playability". In
short, 2.0 SUCKS! If it makes it past the Beta (Actually Alpha if you ask me)
stage without people laughing too much, it'll be a miracle. 1.0, for all it's
bugs (And I've never seen more) was at least interesting. But it seems that
the Merc folks felt that a Mud should NEVER be interesting, so they put out 2.0
which simply REMOVES anything interesting that was in 1.0, and switches a lot
of command names around (just to make getting used to it more difficult mind
you, there's no REASON in HELL for the changes), and in the end, what you have
is a crippled (we uncripped it and let people play it btw, the overwhelming
majority (as in EVERYONE) said "THIS SUCKS! GET RID OF IT!") stripped to death
mud. Granted, the code work that was done is great, it's much more solid than
1.0, in fact, 1.0 (vanilla) doesn't last for more than 20 minutes, max, without
crashing, when there are players on. So it is a lot more solid. But to me, heh
I'd rather run NO MUD AT ALL than run 2.0. IT SUCKS BADLY! I can't seem to
find one single thing that they did to it, in so far as changes are concerned,
that I can point to and say "I like this". They killed the bulletin board, in
favor of writing notes (We had fixed the notes and the bulletin board in 1.0,
and had BOTH working fine), they killed bags and backpacks, now you're limited
to carrying what you can in your inventory. I dunno about you folks, but when
I'm connected to a mud somewhere in bumfuck egypt, and there's lag out the ass,
and I need to do an Inventory list, I'd rather not have to see 50 pieces of
waybread. That was something that obviously wasn't even given a nanosecond's
thought. Merc needs to wake up and smell the coffee if that's their idea of
an IMPROVEMENT. That's just 2 examples of how they totally fucked up. 2.0,
screw it. If you've got a working version of 1.0, DON'T TOUCH IT! Keep it!
And count your blessings, 2.0 is a piece of shit. I have a funny feeling it's
some kind of sick April Fools joke.
In the meantime, if ANYONE has 1.0 code that works and doesn't crash every 20
minutes, PLEASE mail me and tell me where I can get a copy of the code!!!!!!
Thanks
And Merc, get a clue boys!
Igor Divjak
>and had BOTH working fine), they killed bags and backpacks, now you're limited
>to carrying what you can in your inventory. I dunno about you folks, but when
>I'm connected to a mud somewhere in bumfuck egypt, and there's lag out the ass,
>and I need to do an Inventory list, I'd rather not have to see 50 pieces of
>waybread. That was something that obviously wasn't even given a nanosecond's
>thought. Merc needs to wake up and smell the coffee if that's their idea of
WHAT?? Can someone verify this? NO CONTAINERS??? Please, someone, tell
me this something peculiar to the MERC Beta code, not a permanent descision!
*shudder*
--
Mitchell Tse
>Well, for the past few days I've had the displeasure of running Merc 2.0.
>Obviously I gave it a fair chance, as I had intended to work with the Merc team
>to try to improve it. But it's apparant that their idea of "improvements" aren't
>much more than "change commands, remove features, destroy playability". In
> [Blah blah blah] ...
We never asked you to run it, it's free code, if you don't like it, don't use
it.
>Thanks
>And Merc, get a clue boys!
I don't ever recall you ever helping by sending us any improvements or even
a shitty bugs list, so I wouldn't talk. Now, if you're talking about us
removing bags so that you have to ACTUALLY count your items and follow item
limits, well, I don't sympathize with you. If you have anything more
legitimate to criticize and help us with, I'd be glad to hear them from you,
and hopefully, will help make the mud better for all those people who wish to
use them free. I recall a recent post by you telling some other person to
not just bitch and whine and instead do something constructive.
Well, I'll tell you one thing now. The kind of people I hate most in this
world are hypocrites. So, either help us, or shut up.
Thank you for your attention.
Hatchet
Merc Industries
mitc...@soda.berkeley.edu
Chris Herringshaw
you have got a big problem on your hands. Checking the contents of
containers when checking items carried is a TWO LINE fix. The impression
you gave is that you eliminated bags because people could carry over item
limits. If this is your solution....well...to put it mildly...there are
much, much better solutions.
Daemon
David Hawks
SGC...@psuvm.psu.edu
Tse) says:
>We never asked you to run it, it's free code, if you don't like it, don't use
>it.
Now, thats not quite true.. you may not have asked him specifically to run it,
but your touting of the wonders of MERC on these newsgroups was aimed at
getting people to run MERC code.
>Hatchet
>Merc Industries
>mitc...@soda.berkeley.edu
>
Instead of removing features of the original diku just because there are bugs
scattered about, why don't you try fixing the bugs.. It's a much more intuitive
solution ;)
Scott
VampLestat
>WHAT?? Can someone verify this? NO CONTAINERS??? Please, someone, tell
>me this something peculiar to the MERC Beta code, not a permanent descision!
>*shudder*
No, this is now just another part of the stripped down beta, it is a
normal "feature" of Merc code.
As Merc doesnt have a rent system, you can simply quit with everything
in your inventory. You normally have a set number of items you are
allowed to have in in your inventory, so players simply used bags to
carry much more, and thus be able to rent out with a huge amount of
items.
I can see the problem here, but the Merc fix for it was simply to
eliminate bags, and IMHO a bad way to fix it. And before "Merc
Industries" tries to yell at me for not making any suggestions, I had a
number of long conversations with Furey and a number of emails about
this and some other horrible "Merc Solutions" to thier problems.
--
:: Ryan L. Watkins :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:::: rwat...@cmcvx1.claremont.edu :::::::: "people need to be shocked" dan ::
:::: va...@eskimo.com :::::::::::::::::::::::::::: "love never dies" dracula ::
:::: aka VampL...@fajita.engr.ucdavis.edu 3000 :::::::::::: "woosh!" nina ::
Scarrow
>In article <1qnqq0$5...@agate.berkeley.edu>, mitc...@soda.berkeley.edu (Mitchell
>Tse) says:
>>We never asked you to run it, it's free code, if you don't like it, don't use
>>it.
>Now, thats not quite true.. you may not have asked him specifically to run it,
>but your touting of the wonders of MERC on these newsgroups was aimed at
>getting people to run MERC code.
Which part would you say wasn't true? That they never asked you to run it?
No, you restate that yourself. That it's free? As free as the original
Diku distribution is, at least. That if you don't like it, you don't have to
use it? Well, I picked it up just to have a gander ... don't remember the
license agreement stating anything about having to use it if you don't like
it.
I'm a bit sick of pointless squabbling over this. If you don't like
Merc 2.0 beta just open up your mouth and say so, don't beat around the bush
with stupid arguments about whether or not it's a beta, whether or not it
was "falsely" advertised, etc. Christ. If you want my opinion (if you don't
go ahead and cover your eyes), 2.0 beta isn't worth getting ... then again,
1.0 wasn't either in my opinion. I have occasionally found discussion with
the creators to have been interesting.
--
Shawn L. Baird (Scarrow) | "By all means, take the moral high ground --
bai...@ursula.ee.pdx.edu | all that heavenly backlighting makes you a
-------------------------| much easier target." --Solomon Short
mic...@webworm.berkeley.edu
sets of armor out of bag #4, along with ten wands and twenty healing potions.
Furey
Merc
Dan Brumleve
>That's right, no containers. We got tired of seeing people pull complete
>sets of armor out of bag #4, along with ten wands and twenty healing potions.
What about adding a 'size' field to the object structure (like Scarrow
has done with his server)? To remove containers entirely is simply absurd.
Besides, you're not going to solve an inflation problem by restricting
the amount of stuff someone can carry... That will just lead to a
database clogged with "storage" characters.
>Furey
>Merc
--
_______________________________________________________________
Dan Brumleve, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
(brum...@atropa.stat.uiuc.edu, brum...@imsasun.imsa.edu)
"A computer chattered away to itself for no apparent reason.
This was because reason had in fact gone out to lunch."
-Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
Gnort, God of Chaos
>That's right, no containers. We got tired of seeing people pull complete
>sets of armor out of bag #4, along with ten wands and twenty healing potions.
That's _no_ argument!
I'm not sure how buggy this is in gamma0.0, but it _should_ be possible to
control how much is in a container with the max_contain attribute, and some
suitably adjusted weights on the various objects. A bag need not be able to
contain more than 20--30 weight-units, which is the same as 10--15 breads.
Removing bags from your mud with this argument is the same as making unix
into a single-hierarchy file-system for reasons of quotas.....
Only thing no containers will lead to is player-resentment...
>Furey
>Merc
Lars
--
Gnort @ { DikuII | Unicorn | Discworld } gn...@daimi.aau.dk
Alan Krantz
The problem weren't the bags but rather the parameters on the bags,
potions and armor. One could argue that diku use of weight to simulate
volume is a bit lame but none the less the concept of a bag of holding
is a bit lame in itself not to mention that items held or worn have no
weight. While I don't nec suggestion you add the concept of volume to
diku code clearly the other things are trivial to adjust.
atk
sama...@chorizo.engr.ucdavis.edu
>mic...@webworm.berkeley.edu () writes:
>
>>That's right, no containers. We got tired of seeing people pull complete
>>sets of armor out of bag #4, along with ten wands and twenty healing potions.
>
>That's _no_ argument!
>I'm not sure how buggy this is in gamma0.0, but it _should_ be possible to
>control how much is in a container with the max_contain attribute, and some
>suitably adjusted weights on the various objects. A bag need not be able to
>contain more than 20--30 weight-units, which is the same as 10--15 breads.
The inherent problem w/ dikumuds is the fact that a container bases how much
it can hold soley on the weight of the object. No account is taken for
the objects physical dimensions...a suit of armor weighs as much as say
50 breads, thus a bag that can hold 50 breads can hold the armor in the same
way. While this is a simple way, it leads to the "problem" (and i use this
term loosely) the MERC people perceive. Bags shouldn't hold that much -
any loaf of bread that can fill me for 1/2 a day is going to be pretty
good sized, and I'd can't see carrying around, along with normal "mundane"
items, like 3 or 4 recall scrolls, a few potions, a bag with 10 or 20
loaves of bread. Sorry, but the old term 'encumbered' comes to mind.
(If you cringe at this thought from old, horrific Gygaxian days, I
apologize). Rather, objects might want to have a generic "size" flag
say from 1-5 or 1-10, and have bags of varying degree, that have a
max_sized_item value:
a normal bag can hold items up to size 4, max_contain of 20#
a magical bag (bag of holding, many pockets, etc..) more...
a chest...a footlocker...etc...
yea, this will add a lot of tedious coding and problably change your mem.
usage (since EVERYONE is so concerned with it) but I think its a better
solution to the "problem" than just removing the containers themselves.
>
>Removing bags from your mud with this argument is the same as making unix
>into a single-hierarchy file-system for reasons of quotas.....
See above statements/argument.
>
>Only thing no containers will lead to is player-resentment...
>
>>Furey
>>Merc
>
>Lars
>--
>Gnort @ { DikuII | Unicorn | Discworld } gn...@daimi.aau.dk
Sean
Baradon @Grimne, @Renegade Outpost(unless i've been deleted)
sama...@chorizo.engr.ucdavis.edu
Jeffrey Stine
>
>The inherent problem w/ dikumuds is the fact that a container bases how much
>it can hold soley on the weight of the object. No account is taken for
>the objects physical dimensions...a suit of armor weighs as much as say
>50 breads, thus a bag that can hold 50 breads can hold the armor in the same
This is not true. While the variable and/or macros may mention weight,
there is no restriction on you to treat them as such. It is possible to
treat size and weight in one value. The only code adjustment you may
want to make is in the max can carry values. The rest of the 'weight'
values on objects should have been properly adjusted before hand to
account for size.
>Sean
>
>Baradon @Grimne, @Renegade Outpost(unless i've been deleted)
>sama...@chorizo.engr.ucdavis.edu
>
If this still isn't to your liking, a "more practical" coding restriction
is the number of bags/containers a person can carry -- or at the very least
the total number of items you can carry. There are all kinds of "solutions",
but there never really was a "problem" at least not with the diku code.
When I was a player the orginal balance of diku held its own. Perhaps
the problem is in the total imbalance created by people adding on that
which they don't understand.
-jeff