At 08:30 9/03/99 -0800, Jeff Sonstein wrote:
>At 10:10 PM 3/9/99 +1000, Miriam English wrote:
> - username
> - password
> - avatar
> - xPos
> - yPos
> - zPos
> - xOrient
> - yOrient
> - zOrient
> - theta
Hmmm... what is theta (excuse my ignorance). Is it like in the rotation
node in VRML where xOrient, yOrient, and zOrient give an line of axis, and
theta is the rotation around that axis? The only other thing I could come
up with is a scaling value... but theta usually represents an angle doesn't
it...
>I have been thinking I will add
>a simple command processor...
>to date
>these are the commands I see providing:
>
> - @password newpassword
> [to set and save a new password for that username]
> - @avatar
> [to save their current avatar as their new default]
> - @save
> [to save their current position/orientation as their new default]
>
>comments anyone?
Avatar:
I don't really see a need for a command to explicitly store the default
avatar. It seems to me it would be best for the server to simply remember
what avatar you were last using. (Actually, it would be best if your own
machine did the remembering but with networked java this is probably
impractical.)
At the point of login, you currently get to choose an avatar. Would there
be a new item in the drop-down list: "saved avatar"? (Simply overriding the
avatar choice is not wise because you might want to alter your choice of
avatar in the future.) Or would the initial choice of avatar no longer
exist? In some ways I think that is the most sensible. For example, when
you enter ActiveWorlds you begin with a default avatar and can change it
once you are in the world. After that, any time you re-enter that world you
are wearing the last chosen avatar, and may change it again at any time.
But this means the avatar choice must be made from within the world... and
that means the drop-down list (or equivalent) has to be there... somewhere...
Position:
How about the server storing the position info after a timeout and upon
logout? If the person hasn't moved in x amount of time, or when the logout
signal is received, the server updates their setting. This would help with
crashing, and returning to the spot you left... but it wouldn't be much
good if you wanted to turn up at a specific spot each time you entered the
world. In that case a text command to tell the server to override the
exit-position and always enter at the preferred spot would be useful.
Hmmm... if the person gets tired of going to their once-preferred position
and wanted to go back to using their exit positions, how would they do
this? Perhaps: @SAVE ON and @SAVE OFF. The first would memorize a favorite
spot, and the second would return to using exit position. Perhaps both sets
of info could always be stored, but which one used is determined by the
@SAVE command, that way you could alternate between using exit position or
your favorite spot without having to go to that place and store it again.
But this requires a variant on the command. (It's getting more complex
isn't it :) Maybe @SAVE HERE to save this spot @SAVE OFF and @SAVE ON to
toggle the function off and on. If ya wanna get really fancy simply @SAVE
could return the status (ON/OFF) and position info. (Bet you wish you
hadn't asked now Jeff :)
Actually, until a way of saving the exit position is found then a simple
@SAVE command would be nice... but it would be good to be able to turn it
off again too.
Password:
If you crash and try to log in again, you often find that your avatar is
still stuck there, brain-dead (a drooler, as Jeff likes to call 'em :) and
still owning your name. Currently, if you try to log in using the same
name, it gets rejected, however having the password option would let the
server know that it really is you and let you enter using that name again,
taking up where you left off, and replacing the drooler. That requires the
password option to be available at login time. If the password is available
at login time, is extra flexibility gained thru having a command to
set/change the password later?
>BTW: sorry this is going so slowly...
> I haven't had much energy after work
I know how that feels. :-/
Cheers,
- Miriam
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