Re: [bookclub] Prose style in 'Losing Your Grip'

[Nick Montfort <nickmontfort@my-deja.com>]

In article <87f3sp$gge$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, irene <icallaci@my-deja.com>
wrote:

> The question is: do I write the description as best I can and get
> docked for not implementing every object mentioned in it, or do
> I limit the description to objects I can code and get docked for
> not providing rich descriptive text? It's very difficult to strike
> a balance between these two extremes, and I'm *very* interested in
> how other i-f authors handle it.

I find it very difficult, too. I've tried to allow the interactor to
"drill down" through all the objects mentioned -- chairs and tables in
a coffeehouse, and the counter and the espresso machine, and light
fixtures hanging from the ceiling, for instance. We don't say anything
about the legs, back, and seat of the chair, so those aren't defined. I
stop at the level of materials. If the counter (which one can place
things upon and try to sit upon) is made of wood, one can't "examine
the wood." Even this is a plausible thing for an architecturally-minded
character to do, though! So it's a failing, from a certain perspective.

It seems that everything mentioned should be defined as an object,
unless something meaningless has been mentioned. On the other hand, it
does make sense to describe things for atmospheric reasons, rather than
becuase everything needs to be manipulated. So the question is real,
for all varieties of IF. Is there a middle ground between "you don't
need to refer to that" and full-fledged object-hood?

This problem -- how deep to go in description and definition of objects
-- is exacerbated by the autistic/kleptomaniacal perspective of
adventure games, in which everything must be looked under and all
takeable objects must be picked up. But the fundamental interesting
thing about IF (to me) is that it simulates a narrative world beneath
the layer of text that appears. Doing this does involve using
abstractions like distinct parts of the setting ("rooms") and objects,
even if the "examine all" mode of adventuring isn't used. So this
question is, I think, fundamental.

-Nick M.


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