3.6. Either/or properties

| Chapter 3: Things |

| 3.6. Either/or properties

Some containers, like bottles, can be opened: others, like buckets, cannot. If they can be opened, then sometimes they will be open, and sometimes closed. These are examples of properties, which can change during play. The following source sets some properties:

> The cardboard box is a closed container. The glass bottle is a transparent open container. The box is fixed in place and openable.

There are only four different properties referred to here. Closed means not open, and vice versa, so these two adjectives both refer to the same property. (As might be expected, when a container is open, one can see inside and place things within, or take them out.) The glass bottle and the box being containers is a matter of their kinds, which is something fundamental and immutable, so "container" does not count as a property.

A "transparent" container is one which we can see inside even when it is closed, and the opposite is an "opaque" container.

The property of being "fixed in place" ensures that the player cannot pick the item up and walk away with it: this is useful for such things as oak trees or heavy furniture. The opposite condition is to be "portable".

A container which is "openable" can be opened or closed by the player. This property has no friendly adjective for its opposite, so we would need to write "not openable". (Inform does not guess that, say, "unopenable" means "not openable". Such guesses are too risky, when so many "un-" words are irregular: "unified", "uncle", "ungulate" and so on.)

With a really large cardboard box, we might imagine that the player could get inside: such a container should be declared "enterable".

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| Example Tamed Examples of a container and a supporter that can be entered, as well as nested rooms. |
RB

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