Login to BatWeb
Forgot your password?
BatMUD Forums > Flame > Re: What's with MUDs and
being illiterate? MUDs are text-based yet there's SO MANY typos. The least that
needs to be done is to not be illiterate and proofread the text or run a spell
checker before committing it to the game. You had one job!
needs to be done is to not be illiterate and proofread the text or run a spell
checker before committing it to the game. You had one job!
Rating:
-7
Votes:
7
Pazovian wrote:
being illiterate? MUDs are text-based yet there's SO MANY typos. The least that
needs to be done is to not be illiterate and proofread the text or run a spell
checker before committing it to the game. You had one job!
needs to be done is to not be illiterate and proofread the text or run a spell
checker before committing it to the game. You had one job!
descriptions so having one job is not actually factually correct. If you find
typos, you can use 'typo' command to report them, and they might be eventually
fixed once some random wizard finds the time to look into them.
Rating:
6
Votes:
6
Darol
A r c h w i z a r d
9y, 113d, 5h, 47m, 29s old
Level:
600 [Wizard] Darol wrote:
Pazovian wrote:
being illiterate? MUDs are text-based yet there's SO MANY typos. The least that
needs to be done is to not be illiterate and proofread the text or run a spell
checker before committing it to the game. You had one job!
needs to be done is to not be illiterate and proofread the text or run a spell
checker before committing it to the game. You had one job!
descriptions so having one job is not actually factually correct. If you find
typos, you can use 'typo' command to report them, and they might be eventually
fixed once some random wizard finds the time to look into them.
here are all volunteers. They do this as a hobby, not a job. Because it is a
hobby, there is no paid, dedicated editorial team. Have a little grace when
encountering typos and other errors, and report them.
Rating:
2
Votes:
2
Hair wrote:
Darol wrote:
Pazovian wrote:
being illiterate? MUDs are text-based yet there's SO MANY typos. The least that
needs to be done is to not be illiterate and proofread the text or run a spell
checker before committing it to the game. You had one job!
needs to be done is to not be illiterate and proofread the text or run a spell
checker before committing it to the game. You had one job!
descriptions so having one job is not actually factually correct. If you find
typos, you can use 'typo' command to report them, and they might be eventually
fixed once some random wizard finds the time to look into them.
here are all volunteers. They do this as a hobby, not a job. Because it is a
hobby, there is no paid, dedicated editorial team. Have a little grace when
encountering typos and other errors, and report them.
I can forgive a typo here and there (and I do), but the amount I've come
across, as a new player it really ruins my immersion since what I'm immersed in
is the text.
I get the hobby thing but I don't buy it because as a developer/contributor,
even without getting paid, you should be wanting to ensure what you contribute
is of good quality out of love for the game, otherwise you shouldn't be a
developer. Given this is a MUD, the bare minimum of "good quality" is to ensure
that text is literate by doing a simple proofread/spellcheck. Perhaps there was
no internal rule reminding people to ensure their text is literate?
Some of the typos are more understandable given how old the game is as it
would've been a lot easier for typos to go through unnoticed back then because
it was probably like living under a rock compared to now in terms of tooling.
With that said, in this modern age, although I despise AI, you could literally
get AI (copilot?) to search your codebase for all typos, give you a list of
diffs, and then go through each diff and quickly approve/reject each.
Can I volunteer to be a typo fixer?
Rating:
-6
Votes:
6
Summarizing Pazovian's post here about typo reports and providing insights
on what was said before. Apologies if missed something.
Thank you! It's appreciated.
Sad to hear that it affects you so deeply. We actually try our best to provide
you with a good experience. At the same time, while we are here for you, we
are not actually here for _YOU_.
I completely agree and I'm confident that no one makes bad content on purpose,
but mistakes are inevitable when dealing with humans. In this MUD there are
people who have contributed to the game for years, even decades in some cases.
Considering that the developers in this community contribute for free, I think
it can be argued that its developers actually love the game, even if there
are sometimes disagreements on how things are presented, how tunes are
decided, or what kind of content enters the game. What constitutes as good
quality is of course always open to debate, but I think the general consensus
in the past has been that an odd typo here or there (which can usually be
quickly fixed) hasn't been the best meter to evaluate developers' motivations
or qualifications.
We actually do have internal guidelines, but mistakes do happen. Also I'd like
to point out that the bare minimum of "good quality" from developers'
perspective is that code compiles and loads up properly. While this seems
obvious, there are occasionally bugs that result from bad communication
between objects, with objects being destroyed before they're being
interacted with and so on. Thus, the primary objective is to verify that the
game is functioning properly without runtime errors. Even if the compiler
reports no errors, we need to ensure that the programs are logically correct,
meaning that the code does what it's been intended to do, which isn't always
a simple thing to do.
Then there's the game design considerations. Is this a good story? Does this
fit thematically? What does this interact with? Are there any balance
implications? Can this be abused somehow?
The list above is not at all comprehensive. Eventually it's also about
resources. While we care about fixing typos, they are not considered a top
priority because, as you mentioned, their nature is immersive. A typo doesn't
make you stuck, you can still move around, and you can interact with the
environment. For this reason, we often prioritize serious bugs that
require urgent attention. Also, sometimes we want to invest time in further
content development, as there are people wish for more content, and also
because it is often interesting to us too.
This is definitely the case here. There's a lot of old content that is not as
"great" as some content made today. Professionality back in the days was not
as high. How deep professionality should exist in a volunteer community is a
profound question though. That topic should definitely be explored in length
by the administration, preferably on an all-expenses trip to some island
paradise, such as Bora Bora or Tahiti, or if not by everyone from the
administration, then at least by me. As a disclaimer, it should be stated that
the question may lose some of its profoundness, if the designated location
for this philosophical meditation spot turns out to be subpar (poor access
to meditation Mojitos, and so on, you know the drill).
While certainly a plausible possibility, setting up such is a task itself and
will also demand a lot of manual work from developers to verify that fixes are
proper. Going through thousands of typos is not trivial either, nor is it easy
to find a person who wants to dedicate their own time for this kind of quality
control.
Our developers fix typos directly from codefiles. We don't have built-in
tools that could be given to players for this purpose. Additionally, we have
to make sure that these kind of powers wouldn't be used inappropriately, which
is always a consideration to be made.
--Darol
on what was said before. Apologies if missed something.
Quote:
I do already report all typos I find.
Quote:
I can forgive a typo here and there (and I do), but the amount I've come
across, as a new player it really ruins my immersion since what I'm immersed
in is the text.
across, as a new player it really ruins my immersion since what I'm immersed
in is the text.
you with a good experience. At the same time, while we are here for you, we
are not actually here for _YOU_.
Quote:
I get the hobby thing but I don't buy it because as a developer/contributor,
even without getting paid, you should be wanting to ensure what you
contribute is of good quality out of love for the game, otherwise you
shouldn't be a developer.
even without getting paid, you should be wanting to ensure what you
contribute is of good quality out of love for the game, otherwise you
shouldn't be a developer.
but mistakes are inevitable when dealing with humans. In this MUD there are
people who have contributed to the game for years, even decades in some cases.
Considering that the developers in this community contribute for free, I think
it can be argued that its developers actually love the game, even if there
are sometimes disagreements on how things are presented, how tunes are
decided, or what kind of content enters the game. What constitutes as good
quality is of course always open to debate, but I think the general consensus
in the past has been that an odd typo here or there (which can usually be
quickly fixed) hasn't been the best meter to evaluate developers' motivations
or qualifications.
Quote:
Given this is a MUD, the bare minimum of "good quality" is to ensure
that text is literate by doing a simple proofread/spellcheck. Perhaps there
was no internal rule reminding people to ensure their text is literate?
that text is literate by doing a simple proofread/spellcheck. Perhaps there
was no internal rule reminding people to ensure their text is literate?
to point out that the bare minimum of "good quality" from developers'
perspective is that code compiles and loads up properly. While this seems
obvious, there are occasionally bugs that result from bad communication
between objects, with objects being destroyed before they're being
interacted with and so on. Thus, the primary objective is to verify that the
game is functioning properly without runtime errors. Even if the compiler
reports no errors, we need to ensure that the programs are logically correct,
meaning that the code does what it's been intended to do, which isn't always
a simple thing to do.
Then there's the game design considerations. Is this a good story? Does this
fit thematically? What does this interact with? Are there any balance
implications? Can this be abused somehow?
The list above is not at all comprehensive. Eventually it's also about
resources. While we care about fixing typos, they are not considered a top
priority because, as you mentioned, their nature is immersive. A typo doesn't
make you stuck, you can still move around, and you can interact with the
environment. For this reason, we often prioritize serious bugs that
require urgent attention. Also, sometimes we want to invest time in further
content development, as there are people wish for more content, and also
because it is often interesting to us too.
Quote:
Some of the typos are more understandable given how old the game is as it
would've been a lot easier for typos to go through unnoticed back then
because it was probably like living under a rock compared to now in
terms of tooling.
would've been a lot easier for typos to go through unnoticed back then
because it was probably like living under a rock compared to now in
terms of tooling.
"great" as some content made today. Professionality back in the days was not
as high. How deep professionality should exist in a volunteer community is a
profound question though. That topic should definitely be explored in length
by the administration, preferably on an all-expenses trip to some island
paradise, such as Bora Bora or Tahiti, or if not by everyone from the
administration, then at least by me. As a disclaimer, it should be stated that
the question may lose some of its profoundness, if the designated location
for this philosophical meditation spot turns out to be subpar (poor access
to meditation Mojitos, and so on, you know the drill).
Quote:
With that said, in this modern age, although I despise AI, you could
literally get AI (copilot?) to search your codebase for all typos, give you
a list of diffs, and then go through each diff and quickly approve/reject
each.
literally get AI (copilot?) to search your codebase for all typos, give you
a list of diffs, and then go through each diff and quickly approve/reject
each.
will also demand a lot of manual work from developers to verify that fixes are
proper. Going through thousands of typos is not trivial either, nor is it easy
to find a person who wants to dedicate their own time for this kind of quality
control.
Quote:
Can I volunteer to be a typo fixer?
tools that could be given to players for this purpose. Additionally, we have
to make sure that these kind of powers wouldn't be used inappropriately, which
is always a consideration to be made.
--Darol
Rating:
3
Votes:
3
Darol
A r c h w i z a r d
9y, 113d, 19h, 59m, 20s old
Level:
600 [Wizard] Pazovian wrote:
Hair wrote:
Darol wrote:
Pazovian wrote:
being illiterate? MUDs are text-based yet there's SO MANY typos. The least that
needs to be done is to not be illiterate and proofread the text or run a spell
checker before committing it to the game. You had one job!
needs to be done is to not be illiterate and proofread the text or run a spell
checker before committing it to the game. You had one job!
descriptions so having one job is not actually factually correct. If you find
typos, you can use 'typo' command to report them, and they might be eventually
fixed once some random wizard finds the time to look into them.
here are all volunteers. They do this as a hobby, not a job. Because it is a
hobby, there is no paid, dedicated editorial team. Have a little grace when
encountering typos and other errors, and report them.
I can forgive a typo here and there (and I do), but the amount I've come
across, as a new player it really ruins my immersion since what I'm immersed in
is the text.
I get the hobby thing but I don't buy it because as a developer/contributor,
even without getting paid, you should be wanting to ensure what you contribute
is of good quality out of love for the game, otherwise you shouldn't be a
developer. Given this is a MUD, the bare minimum of "good quality" is to ensure
that text is literate by doing a simple proofread/spellcheck. Perhaps there was
no internal rule reminding people to ensure their text is literate?
Some of the typos are more understandable given how old the game is as it
would've been a lot easier for typos to go through unnoticed back then because
it was probably like living under a rock compared to now in terms of tooling.
With that said, in this modern age, although I despise AI, you could literally
get AI (copilot?) to search your codebase for all typos, give you a list of
diffs, and then go through each diff and quickly approve/reject each.
Can I volunteer to be a typo fixer?
purpose and to create that said immersion, AI would have hard time figuring
out what is supposed to be there.
Pazovian wrote:
being illiterate? MUDs are text-based yet there's SO MANY typos. The least that
needs to be done is to not be illiterate and proofread the text or run a spell
checker before committing it to the game. You had one job!
needs to be done is to not be illiterate and proofread the text or run a spell
checker before committing it to the game. You had one job!
three decades, started by a group of Finnish RPG/Computer
enthusiasts.
~/A
© 1990-2025 Balanced Alternative Techniques ry. All rights reserved. BatMUD™ is a registered trademark of Balanced Alternative Techniques ry.
The individual comments are the property of their posters, and may not reflect the views or opinions of the administration.