17.10. Printing the name of something

| Chapter 17: Activities |

| 17.10. Printing the name of something

1. When it happens. Whenever the name of a thing or room is printed.

2. The default behaviour. For items other than the current player, the "printed name" property is printed out; but for the current player, "you" or "yourself" is printed. (That doesn't necessarily mean that the "printed name" of the player is never used. Suppose there are two people, Alice and Bob, and the narrative switches between them: when Alice is the player, she appears as "yourself" but Bob is "Bob"; but when Bob is the player, he is "yourself" and Alice is "Alice".)

3. Examples. (a) A pen which is described differently in inventories:

> Rule for printing the name of the pen while taking inventory: say "useful pen".

"Taking inventory" is a condition which is true if that's the current action and not otherwise, so the effect is that the pen is called "a useful pen" only in inventory listings. "While looking" is a similarly useful one.

(b) Italicising the names of novels:

> A novel is a kind of thing. Dr Zhivago and Persuasion are novels. Before printing the name of a novel, say "[italic type]". After printing the name of a novel, say "[roman type]".

(c) Telling the time:

> After printing the name of the wrist watch while taking inventory: say " (time: [the time of day])".

(d) Merging containers with their contents:

> Rule for printing the name of the bottle while not inserting or removing:
> if the bottle contains sand, say "bottle of sand";
> otherwise say "empty bottle";
> omit contents in listing.

This example makes use of a special phrase:

omit contents in listing

This phrase changes the form of an inventory listing, room description, etc., so that it will simply list "a bottle of sand" or "an empty bottle", rather than "a bottle (in which is sand)" or "a bottle (which is empty)". It should be used only when the listing is imminent, and does not have permanent effect.

The clause about not inserting or removing is to prevent messages like "You put the sand in the bottle of sand.", where it's confusing to refer to the bottle as anything other than "the bottle".

326
| Example Shipping Trunk A box of baking soda whose name changes to "completely ineffective baking soda" when it is in a container with something that smells funny. |
RB

327
| Example Trachypachidae Maturin 1803 Bottles with removable stoppers: when the stopper is in the bottle, the bottle is functionally closed, but the stopper can also be removed and used elsewhere. Descriptions of the bottle reflect its state intelligently. |
RB

"Trachypachidae Maturin 1803" A bottle is a kind of container. Bottles are usually openable, transparent, and closed. A cork is a kind of thing. A cork is in every bottle. Understand "cork [something]" as corking. Understand the command "stopper" as "cork". Understand "uncork [something]" as uncorking. Corking is an action applying to one thing. Check corking: if the noun is not a bottle, say "[The noun] cannot be corked." instead. Carry out corking: try closing the noun. Uncorking is an action applying to one thing. Check uncorking: if the noun is not a bottle, say "[The noun] cannot be uncorked." instead. Carry out uncorking: try opening the noun. Understand "close [something] with [something preferably held]" as corking it with. Understand "cork [something] with [something preferably held]" as corking it with. Corking it with is an action applying to one thing and one carried thing. Check corking it with: if the noun is not a bottle, say "[The noun] cannot be corked." instead; if the second noun is not a cork, say "[The second noun] will not fit in [the noun]." instead. Carry out corking it with: try inserting the second noun into the noun instead. Instead of closing a bottle: if a cork (called the item) is carried by the player, try inserting the item into the noun instead; otherwise say "You need a stopper of some kind." Instead of opening a bottle: if a cork (called the item) is in the bottle, try taking the item instead; otherwise say "[The noun] has no stopper." Carry out inserting a cork into a bottle: now the second noun is closed. After inserting a cork into a bottle: say "You stopper [the second noun] with [the noun]." Before taking a cork when the noun is in a closed bottle (called the item): now the item is open. Instead of taking a cork when the noun is in a bottle (called the item): move the noun to the player; say "You pull [the noun] from [the item]." instead. Before printing the name of a bottle (called target) while not inserting, taking, searching, or removing: if the target is closed, say "sealed "; otherwise say "now open ". After printing the name of a bottle (called target) while not inserting, searching, examining, or removing: if the target contains a noncork thing, say " containing [a list of noncork things in the target]"; omit contents in listing. Instead of examining a bottle: say "[The noun] contains [a list of noncork things in the noun]." Definition: a thing is noncork if it is not a cork. The Doctor's Cabin is a room. "A dark, cramped triangle, like a slice of cake, except that its sharp end has been cut off: and so low that a moderately tall man would strike his head on the deck above if he were to stand upright. Every free surface is covered with sheets of best Venetian looking-glass, to increase the light filtering in. Long use and the carpenter's ingenuity have packed in a folding cot and table, and lockers are built into unlikely places: lockers filled with specimens, skeletons, sketches, drafts and serial letters." The jug is a bottle in the Doctor's Cabin. The jug contains a beetle. The description of the beetle is "The doctor assures you that it is a nondescript." Test me with "get jug / x jug / open jug / x jug / i / x cork / cork jug / i / uncork jug / i / x jug / get beetle / i / close jug / i / x jug".

328
| Example Chronic Hinting Syndrome Using name-printing rules to keep track of whether the player knows about objects, and also to highlight things he might want to follow up. |
RB

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