>In article <47j4or$2vk7@trout.ab.umd.edu>,
>David Leary <dleary@trout.ab.umd.edu> wrote:
>>Leaving aside the obvious comment that the TRS-80 predates the Amiga and
>>the 286 by a few years, the fact is that a text adventure - in ANY
>>incarnation - should not need to draw on as many CPU-intensive processes
>>as a real-time, graphics-intensive game of ANY sort. If it does,
>>something's amiss.
>1) If there were any doubt about my legitimacy in citing widespread
> *philosophical* opposition to the notion that IF can and should use
> whatever CPU resources are avaible, I hope this thread has finally put
> them to rest. :)
Well, I think David L. is completely wrong when he says that a
text-adventure should never need as much processing speed as a
graphics-intensive game. Obviously, I've never seen the code for an NPC
in a text adventure that could pass the turing test--but I'd think it would
be a lot more complicated than the code for a photo-realistic NPC in a
graphical game. Visual processes are complicated, but I don't think
they're as complicated as mental processes. And so a text game that does
a remarkable job of simulating mental processes ought to be more
complicated than a game that does an equally good job of simulating
visual processes.
Even so, Dave B, I don't think one response proves your point about
_widespread_ philosophical objections to using high-level machines. The
argument about whether it was OK to use TADS in the IF contest raged on
furiously, true--but as I recall, it was a handful of people who
participated.
Who knows, though--maybe there's a silent majority that firmly believes
that text adventures ought to all run on Mac Pluses and 286s. I'm curious
to know, so I'll volunteer to do a little survey.
Dave B, if you'll come up with a statement that you believe summarizes
the widespread philosophical objection to writing IF that requires a
high-level processor--a statement like "No text adventure should ever
require a powermac or a pentium"--I'll invite people to e-mail me whether
or not they agree. It will hardly be a scientific survey, but it'll give
us a rough idea of what the sentiment out there is. Sound interesting?
-Jacob