Posted by The Arcane(VIP) on February 28, 2000 at 20:03:46:
In Reply to: Triggers, the "illegal" part of mudding. posted by Sinakil on February 28, 2000 at 19:46:28:
Before everyone says how obviously unfair this is, allow me to point something out.
You are neither a tactically skilled nor successful player. You recently played a gnome master conjurer who nearly con-died before deleting. I remember thinking this typical of your characters, and I wish I could cite further examples, but they were alas so entirely lacking in merit that I fail to recall even one.
I guarantee you I am faster and more successful in tracking and hunting people without the use of a single trigger (I use triggers, but for mundane things like saving on skill improvements) than you ever will be so long as you rely on brute force techniques like using a scan/track trigger. Unless someone is lagged, chasing and catching them requires active prediction of what their likely next move is going to be, which no script you ever write will accomplish.
Absolutely no one that I know who uses triggers in this manner comes anywhere near the so-called upper eschelons of PK ability. Nepenthe has often noted how a majority of his mudding time was done through raw telnet, and I know many other imms and mortals who have achieved great success without the aid of triggers.
In conclusion, triggers.... They're available to everyone to use in theory, and they're not cheating. They help those who suck, but serve to place an artificial cap on skill so long as they are relied upon. They're not worth complaining about.
Think of it this way...
If someone were allowed to use a little go-cart that could only move at 5mph in a major marathon, you could complain how unfair this is as it makes it so easy and effortless for them, and how it runs counter to the very ideals of the race itself. Or you could just keep in mind that they'll never finish the race in under five hours, and just laugh.