Re: [Fwd: Gamasutra article]

[WFreitag@aol.com]

Hi Chris,

>I won't object to your characterization. There's no 
>question that the Erasmatron system needs more work.

Actually, I've been changing my mind about that. I've held that opinion, and 
I certainly asked for the moon and stars back when you invited suggestions 
for new built-in features. But I'm starting to realize that the system may be 
closer than I thought to the point where it should be up to the craft of 
storyworld authoring to make further progress. 

I got vibes at Phrontisterion that the progress of the 'tron wasn't really 
open for discussion, possibly because Weighty Decisions on that question were 
in process. So I've been waiting for you to broach the topic. I'll consider 
your comment a very small broaching, to ask some very specific questions.

1. I noticed that CandidateVerb and CandidateEvent now appear on the Picking 
Stuff menu. Does that mean there's a PickBestEvent or possibly even a 
PickBestVerb function hidden away somewhere? (PickBestEvent is something I 
lobbied for. I can't get my brain around PickBestVerb since verbs as 
uninstantiated event prototypes don't seem to have any properties that could 
be the basis for Acceptable and Desirability equations.)

2. The SetAlarmClock procedure appears to offer a way for a reaction to 
causally link to a variable verb, such as (if the answer to #1 is yes) a 
verbObject from an event returned by pickBestEvent. If so, this could have 
radical implications. But there's no documentation for this. Does it actually 
work? What happens if the alarm clock's subject and dirObject aren't on the 
same stage at the set time?

Feel free, of course, to defer answering if things are still in flux.

Best wishes,
Walt