12.12. Check rules for actions by other people

| Chapter 12: Advanced Actions |

| 12.12. Check rules for actions by other people

If we want to impose the restriction about carrying the camera on other people, we need a rule like the following:

> Check someone photographing: if the person asked does not carry the camera, stop the action.

Implicitly, that "someone" excludes the player. Note that we say nothing in this rule, stopping the action without a word: after all, Clark might well be out of sight when trying this. If he is within sight, then we read:

> >clark, photograph me
> Clark Gable is unable to do that.

We saw before that Inform's built-in rules all have handy names (the "can't drop what's already dropped rule", and such), and that these are useful when writing better "unable to..." messages. So for a deluxe version, we end up with:

> Check someone trying photographing (this is the other people can't photograph without the camera rule): if the person asked does not carry the camera, stop the action.

And now, with ACTIONS on, we find that:

> >clark, photograph me
> [asking Clark Gable to try photographing yourself]
> [(1) Clark Gable photographing yourself]
> [(1) Clark Gable photographing yourself - failed the other people can't photograph without the camera rule]
> Clark Gable is unable to do that.
> [asking Clark Gable to try photographing yourself - succeeded]

which means that we could have, say,

> Unsuccessful attempt by Clark photographing:
> if the reason the action failed is the other people can't photograph without the camera rule, say "Clark is too suave to be embarrassed. 'Frankly, my dear, I don't have a camera.'";
> otherwise say "Clark tries, and fails, to take a photograph."

206
| Example Get Axe Changing the check rules to try automatically leaving a container before attempting to take it. (And arranging things so that other people will do likewise.) |
RB

207
| Example Barter Barter Allowing characters other than the player to give objects to one another, accounting for the possibility that some items may not be desired by the intended recipients. |
RB

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