Odin
In recent years there has been a strong trend towards providing unique descriptions for all implemented objects. Often this is a good idea, but there are also contexts in which we may want to discourage the player from looking too closely at some things and concentrate his attention on just a few interesting ones.
The trick here is that leaving items completely undescribed leads to rather dull exchanges like this:
…which can leave the player with the impression that the author was simply too lazy to describe everything. So it can be a good idea to replace that default message with a different one more appropriate to the game. For instance:
Because the description is attached to a whole kind ("thing"), it is really a blanket instruction about many objects at once. More specific instructions always override less specific ones, so we can easily make exceptions. For instance, the following will work correctly:
Test me with "x table / x chair / x infant".
Having two separate rooms, this house testifies to considerable wealth and success at agriculture.
You can see a table (on which is a loaf of bread), a basket (in which is an infant), a hearth and two chairs here.
>(Testing.)
>[1] x table
You give the table a glance, but it is plainly beneath your attention.
On the table is a loaf of bread.
>[2] x chair
You give the chair a glance, but it is plainly beneath your attention.
>[3] x infant
So strong and fat that you wonder whether one of your fellow gods is acquainted with the mistress of the house-- but it's no concern of yours, of course.