Objects and Inventory

AresMUSH
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A few folks have asked why Ares has no inventory/objects system, so I thought I’d elaborate and also invite discussion on the subject.

Over the last decade or so, I’ve noticed a shift away from @created objects throughout the MU community. Objects are used principally to store code (which of course is done in a completely different way in Ares) or to store descriptions like signs and rings (which is done in Ares with a more elaborate “detail” system).

Other uses of objects - like coded weapons or vehicles - have mostly fallen by the wayside. But even if you did want to do something like that in Ares, you’d do it differently.

As an example - say you wanted to have a radio-like communicator system, and you wanted to limit it so only people who purchased a comlink could use it.

The “Penn/Tiny Way” would be to create a comlink parent object, and create a bunch of clone comlinks that you give to people. You’d then have some kind of comlink store object that tied into the economy system to deduct money and dispense comlinks. Whoever was holding a comlink could use the comlink code, and there’d probably be some stationary comlink objects in places like the command center that anybody nearby could use.

The “Ares Way” is different. You’d still create commands to talk on comlinks, but those commands would be global (as all Ares code is global). You’d also have to create economy commands to buy/sell/trade things. That economy code would set database attributes on the player based on what they purchased/acquired. Now the comlink commands could be locked to either: “This room has been designated as a comm center” or “this player has acquired a comlink via the economy system”. There’s no need for you to @create a bunch of objects to do that.

And if you just had comlinks,and not a whole economy, you could just make a single admin command to give them out, tied to a simple database flag.

Since this all ties back to an economy or custom code system, I saw no value in trying to make something like that generic. Each game would have its own unique approach.

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I generally like the lack of objects. The one situation that I would like to have them in is if there are restricted objects (like magic weapons or super-rare tech armor) that you wanted to track if players had access to, and restrict their ability to use those weapons in the combat system unless they had the item (and you didn’t trust your players to police themselves like usual on FS3 games). But I suppose that you could always use the database attributes for that too, couldn’t you?

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Exactly. All it would take is a custom code change to the combat/weapon command to basically say “you’re not allowed to use that weapon” if whatever criteria isn’t met. That criteria could be a skill, a faction, a permission from the roles system, or a custom database field set by admin or by some other code system.

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Yeah I see absolutely no purpose in objects at all. I haven’t played a game which had any use for objects besides loggers in forever.

Even in MUSH the state of the art has moved into data/virtual-items over concrete objects. Ares going the objects route would be backwards IMHO.

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