WXPQ

Example 380

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Creating a more sensible parser error than "that noun did not make sense in this context".

The parser error "That noun did not make sense in this context" arises instead of "You can't see any such thing" when the player uses a command that could apply to any item in the game -- that is, a command such as

Understand "go to [any room]" as going directly to.
Understand "talk about [any subject]" as discussing.

…and so on. The idea here is that "You can't see any such thing" isn't a sensible rejoinder when the player doesn't really need to be able to see the object.

Nonetheless, "That noun did not make sense…" is itself a fairly dry and uninformative response, and we may want to override it to something more appropriate for the specific kind of context in which it might appear. For instance:

Play/modify in Borogove

Play in Quixe

"WXPQ"

WXPQ Studio is a room. "After about 2 AM, no one is listening anyway, so you can more or less make up whatever you like to fill the airwaves."

John F Kennedy, Elvis, Ralph Nader, Tony Blair, and single-origin chocolate are things.

Understand "talk about [any thing]" or "discuss [any thing]" as discussing. Discussing is an action applying to one visible thing.

Carry out discussing:

say "You babble for a while about your [one of]interest in[or]hatred of[or]passionate devotion to[or]conspiracy theory concerning[or]mother's secret love affair with[as decreasingly likely outcomes] [the noun]."

Rule for printing a parser error when the latest parser error is the noun did not make sense in that context error:

say "For once, you're at a loss for anything to say."

Test me with "discuss Elvis / discuss Kennedy / discuss chocolate / discuss narratology vs ludology debate".

WXPQ Studio
After about 2 AM, no one is listening anyway, so you can more or less make up whatever you like to fill the airwaves.

>(Testing.)

>[1] discuss elvis
You babble for a while about your hatred of Elvis.

>[2] discuss kennedy
You babble for a while about your passionate devotion to John F Kennedy.

>[3] discuss chocolate
You babble for a while about your hatred of single-origin chocolate.

>[4] discuss narratology vs ludology debate
For once, you're at a loss for anything to say.

Note that this solution works as simply as it does because we only have one command in the game that can apply to an "[any]" token. If we had several, we'd need to distinguish between the parser error attached to "discuss" and the parser error attached to "go to" (for instance). In that case, we might instead write something like

Rule for printing a parser error when the latest parser error is the noun did not make sense in that context error:
if the player's command includes "go":
   say "There's no such place you know how to get to.";
otherwise:
   say "For once, you're at a loss for anything to say."