Monday, August 24, 2020

Proposal: Scientific Naming

Self-Killed. Failed by Derrick

Adminned at 24 Aug 2020 21:55:03 UTC

Change:

A name, which is a string, and which when created is formed from a random Prefix followed by a random vowel (if the Prefix ends in a consonant) or a random consonant (if it ends in a vowel)

To:

A name, which is a string, and which when created is formed from a Prefix followed by a vowel (if the Prefix ends in a consonant) or a consonant (if it ends in a vowel)

Change:

To generate a valid Name for an Animal: Select a random Prefix, then add either “on”, “os”, “ox” or “us” at random (if the prefix ends in a consonant) or “don”, “raptor”, “saur” or “tops” at random (if the prefix ends in a vowel) to the end.

To:

Valid Names for an Animal consist of: A Prefix, followed by “on”, “os”, “ox” or “us” (if the prefix ends in a consonant) or “don”, “raptor”, “saur” or “tops” (if the prefix ends in a vowel) at the end.

Change:

To generate a valid Name for a Vegetable: Select a random Prefix, add an “a” to the end if it ends in a consonant, then add a space and another random Prefix, then add “ia” or “um” (chosen at random) to the end.

To:

Valid Names for a Vegetable consist of: A Prefix, followed by an “a” to the end if it ends in a consonant, then a space, then another Prefix, followed by “ia” or “um” at the end.

Change:

To generate a valid Name for a Mineral: Select a random Prefix, add an “s” to the end if it ends in a vowel, then add “ite” or “ium” (chosen at random) to the end.

To:

Valid Names for a Mineral consist of: A Prefix, followed by an “s” to the end if it ends in a vowel, followed by “ite” or “ium” at the end.

remove:

If a generated Name would exactly match the Name of an existing Discovery, add the prefix “mega” or “ultra” (selected at random) to the generated Name.

Change:

Generate a valid Name for it, and give it that Name

To:

Choose a valid Name for it, not yet used for any other discovery, and give it that Name

The name generation is nice, but I feel like its slowing down exploration. Allow us to just choose appropriate names of the appropriate format.

Comments

Raven1207: he/they

24-08-2020 04:15:04 UTC

So much….

Kevan: he/him

24-08-2020 07:49:26 UTC

This is pretty much just replacing “a random prefix” with “a prefix”, isn’t it?

It’s good that this simplifies the process, but I’m a big believer in the power of random text generation - I think it takes away a lot of the sense of discovery if the game world becomes something that we choose at will. Encountering a wild Tyrannox at random would feel momentous, finding one immediately because someone searched down the list looking for interesting words, less so. And it always creates the temptation for some players to skim through looking for the silliest possible joke names.

The Auto-Lookup proposal seemed the way to go here, since it also sped up all the other dice rolls, reducing it all to one input that gave two lines to copy-and-paste as output.

Josh: Observer he/they

24-08-2020 08:42:44 UTC

against per Kevan. I also don’t have time to check all the lists to make sure that there isn’t a scam in here.

Kevan: he/him

24-08-2020 09:03:15 UTC

Names are explicitly declared as flavour text, at least.

Kevan: he/him

24-08-2020 10:19:24 UTC

against in favour of automating it.

derrick: he/him

24-08-2020 12:02:29 UTC

I’m fine with automating it. Just as long as it happens.

Raven1207: he/they

24-08-2020 15:07:02 UTC

against

derrick: he/him

24-08-2020 16:38:59 UTC

against sk