For those who have played DragonRealms for any length of time, scripting is a very interesting topic. If you are new to DragonRealms and do not know what scripting is this article will introduce you to it. Scripting has become less of a problem in the current times, however the scripting engine is not used anywhere like it could be. Hopefully this article will introduce those who wish to learn more about scripting to more positive and expansive uses of the scripting engine.
Scripting, like anything else, is a tool. It in itself is not "evil" or "cheap" -- only those who use it incorrectly can be labeled as such. Outlined in this article are ways to use scripting to enhance the role-playing environment. Not detract from it as scripting in its current phase has often done.
Well, to start with scripting is the use of a program to insert commands that you the user, would normally type in. This is a very popular concept. Who wants to type "Crush yelith root with my pestle" 47 times when you can write a script to do it for you? It is no wonder it is as popular as it is. With this popularity there is a lot of controversy surrounding scripting. Why? Well since it is so easy to tell the game what the character is supposed to do without the effort of manually typing it, some will take advantage of this feature and use it just to gain experience. This is where the controversy usually comes in.
A lot of people care because this is a role-playing game. Many people put a lot of time and effort into their character, building up a history and persona. It can be difficult to work so hard on a character, only to see someone come along who has no other goal than to hit level 150 before anyone else without any regard to role-playing. Oftentimes this person puts forth no effort in building a character. They often will not stay in character while in the game. This lessens the experience for others around this person.
For example, you and a few friends are playing and happen to be in a good bout of role-playing, based upon your characters’ respective created histories and personas. Also present is a player who is scripting and in doing so has a message similar to the following which will scroll across the screen: "(<Player> snores in his sleep)" or "(<Player> is out of body)". This not only happens once, but over and over. This can get very annoying and distracting. Keep in mind that not everyone who scripts announces it. Those who do tend to be the most annoying.
Another problem with scripting is what is called AFK (away from the keys) Scripting. This is when someone starts up a script and leaves the keyboard, as well as the game to go do other tasks. Whether it be to clean the house, walk the dog, or take a nap it results in experience for the character, yet the player was not there. This is what bodes a lot of the controversy about scripting, as many people consider it a form of cheating. Many players within the realms have used this to their advantage for a long time. Even back when DragonRealms charged by the hour to play. This does not mean that every higher level player scripts, but many of those who are well advanced within their respective guilds do or have scripted to some extent.
An important item of note -- Simutronics has made AFK scripting "Officially" against policy. This means that if a GameMaster catches you running a script while you are away from the keyboard, or if another player reports you to a GameMaster. You can and probably will be warned. If enough warnings are accumulated, the account is locked out of the game for a time.
On the other side of the coin there are those who do not do any of the items that are listed above. They run little scripts every so often, and are usually present at the keyboard. It can be hard to tell if they are running a script. Is there any problem with this? "Officially" there is not.
The wizard front end has the scripting engine built in, as a feature. There is a timer which Simutronics installed into the wizard to combat AFK scripting. The timer will stop running the script after five minutes. After the time limit, you would need to start up the script again. As long as you script within these guidelines, you will have little problem in scripting with Simutronics
Scripting in its current form within the realms has quite a few problems with it. Simutronics has to put forth a lot of effort for any new addition to the game and any new addition for example, has to be designed, written, tested, retested, and then finally implemented. Keep in mind that a lot of the GameMasters are part-time employees or volunteers. The time they can devote to the game is not always as much as one would expect as they have lives, families, and other jobs out there which can eat away on the time they may wish to devote to developing these new additions to the game.
Scripting has made it so easy for people to work on all the skills they need to advance within their guild that they advance more rapidly. This is even so for the casual scripter. Simutronics for a time did not take into account the scripting and players were starting to advance beyond the game’s scope. As with any development project, they planned for players to reach a certain level/circle at a certain point in time. This happened a lot sooner than expected. Players ran out of places to hunt, as the middle to higher level areas were becoming very crowded. This is still the case today. It appears that Simutronics is fully aware of the rapid advancement due to scripting and all current and future additions to the game will account for scripting in some shape or form.This will not always be to the players benefit.
This will be the very basic in script creation, it will be up to you to learn the limits of the scripting engine and some techniques for scripting.
There are two ways to make a script. The first one is to record one during normal play of the game, then edit the script. The other option is to create a script from scratch. Choose which way you would prefer to create one.
Whether you choose to record a script or create one from scratch you will need to edit it. The script editor is where all of the work is done. You will need to input the wait times for the command, or else the script will run over itself. The following is a list of some of the commands for the scripting editor.
PUT = This command will insert the type in to the text buffer.
Example: PUT Say Hello.
PAUSE = This command will pause between passing the next line of the script to the text buffer. This is in seconds.
Example: Pause 15
WAITFOR = This command will have the wizard wait for a line of text before the next line of the script is passed to the text buffer.
Example: WAITFOR The bandages binding your
The scripting engine is a tool like all else, at present it is a tool which is not used at all like it could be. The scripting engine within the Wizard is quite comprehensive in regards to the game. Today the most common use of scripting is for experience, whether the player uses it for ATK scripting or AFK scripting, it is used to do actions to gain experience. The user designs the script and usually will take little regard to the role-playing potential of the tool.
Many players who have played a while and have characters who are well advanced in certain skills will offer to teach others, either for the teaching experience, or because they can. While they do so they usually run a script to work on the skills they do not like to advance. For example, foraging for herbs, making bows and arrows, crushing the herbs they have foraged. While they do this, they just sit there and practice the skills. They do not add to the role-playing around them. They may carry on conversations, but oftentimes will only respond to direct questions.
Some players will often try to teach to new players in the realms, and will take them about the town, show them around and help them find and choose basic items to survive. Then, once they are finished with a tour they will return to the guild and sit, lecture others and oftentimes run a script. There are a ton of verbs in the DragonRealms vocabulary for players to use to role-play. People will often use these when they are with their friends and at social events, but when they start a script they just sit, and repeat the same tasks over and over and over again to gain experience. Those who script need to start to learn how to use the scripting engine to role-play their character. One way this can be done is to create situational scripts. Two very easy examples are Bards and Clerics.
Bards: They are the storytellers and song weavers of the realms. They perform and by doing so pass on the lore which they know to others. Bards have an excellent opportunity to script events and performances. Players could create detailed and expansive scripts for performances, including verbs and actions, as well as expansive detailed text and player created songs. To this date I have seen very very few even attempt something such as this. For bards the scripting engine is a very powerful tool, yet a little used one.
Clerics: They have the gift of life, they can bring someone back from the dead. To rejoin the living, this is a very powerful gift, and one that realistically should be surrounded by a large amount of ceremony. Clerics have a wealth of role-playing tools and props for use in the resurrections of other players. They can light candles, pray, chant mantras, and hymns, all to enhance the experience. Although most clerics that attempt to do this do not use the scripting engine, still a greater number do nothing more than type in the lines to prepare the spell to raise the player. The GameMasters were generous in not making up a predefined ritual to follow for using the gift of life that should be used to it fullest to create many different rituals for each different god.
Other guilds and races have just as many opportunities to use the scripting engine to role-play. Your character has moods and habits use the scripting engine to enhance those features and play up upon them. When you are in front of the guild teaching take the time to create an expansive lecture about a topic you know well. Add a few gestures, to make emphasis on certain points, and mix in the verbs you have available to you with the lecture. If what you want to do is longer than five minutes then segment the script into parts. You can also create multiple parts of a script which branch off in different directions. This can allow you to be flexible, as to where it goes based upon the reaction of others around you. Realistically, the potential is endless. Take the time to give it some thought. Experiment with the scripting engine to enhance certain parts of your character.
One last item for thought. Once a script is created it is not set in stone. If you create an expansive script, remember that the more you use it the more it will grow stale. If you constantly use a script for role-playing enhancements be sure to update it regularly and alter parts of it, so it is not that same old script running over and over. Once the script is created it is very easy to alter parts of it. The initial creation of a script is the hardest part. Once you have one, you can use that as a template for many other variations of the same script, or even as a model for completely new scripts.
This article is primarily to provide the basics on how to create a script, as well as provide some things to think about before creating a script. Hopefully this will help to improve the role-playing within the realms.
Nestev Au'lilten.
Warrior Mage
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Last revised: July 20, 1999.