| Chapter 12: Advanced Actions |

| 12.6. Spontaneous actions by other people

The player's actions happen not only when he types a command, but can also happen spontaneously as a result of a "try" phrase.

> try going west
> try asking Will to try going west

The latter might, of course, result in Will trying going west: or it might not - that depends on the persuasion rules. But as the author, we have the ultimate powers of persuasion, and can make Will act in any way we like, without asking:

> try Will trying going west

Nobody in the simulated world requested this: it is an impulse felt by Will alone, so that - from the player's point of view - Will is acting spontaneously. The player need not be anywhere nearby, and may never know what happened. Recall that when actions work their way down through the flow-chart, they are stopped before reaching the "report" stage - when the player is told about them - if they are running "silently". This is also where Inform stops an action which is not witnessed by the player.

To repeat a point in the previous section: "unsuccessful attempt" rules do not apply to actions which the author has caused to happen, using "try". When such actions fail, they invoke no special set of rules.

| Inform does not (yet) support "try Will asking Elanor to try going west", but we hope to add actions of the form eventually.

157
| Example IQ Test Introducing Ogg, a person who will unlock and open a container when the player tells him to get something inside.

158
| Example Boston Cream A fuller implementation of Ogg, giving him a motivation of his own and allowing him to react to the situation created by the player.

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