Fed II Star newsletter - masthead The weekly newsletter for the Fed II game by ibgames

EARTHDATE: May 21, 2006

OFFICIAL NEWS
Page 6

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HOW OBJECTS WORK - PREVENTING LITTERING

When you request a custom object which players are going to be able to carry around with them, you need to think about how to prevent littering.

Remember that in Fed II, there can be multiple copies of the same object. Littering is when lots of copies of an object get dropped somewhere, leading to unsightly heaps of litter like this:

You can see a rose, a rose, a rose, a rose, a rose, a rose, a rose, a rose, a rose, a rose, a rose and a rose.

A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but a whole heap of roses just looks stupid.

You might think that this isn't really a problem. Objects vanish at reset so trash heaps will get cleared up by themselves. And if a planet-owner doesn't care about litter on his, her or its planet, then what's the big deal?

The big deal is that unlike in classic Fed, you can move objects from one planet to another. Customs officers do not hover around the link confiscating things - they stick to the Solar System where they can harass general shipping, which is more lucrative. As a result, if someone decided to be a nuisance, they could create a trash heap on somebody else's planet.

So how do you prevent littering? There are two different methods you can use: you can limit players to one copy of an object at a time, and you can ensure that when the object is dropped it vanishes, so there are never any lying around on the ground.

The first method is used with the top hat you buy from Tux Deluxe on Mars:

> buy hat
The salesdroid is delighted to sell something when business is so bad these days. It debits your account with the 10 groat payment, blows the dust off one of the hats and hands it to you with an obsequious flourish.

> buy hat
You are already carrying one top hat - which is surely enough for anyone!

The second method is used with the butterfly net you buy from the WWT gift shop on Earth:

> drop butterfly net
You drop the butterfly net. It bounces on the ground a couple of times, then a small droid appears from nowhere and, crowing with delight, grabs the net and wheels off again.

When you request a custom object, as a default I will program in the second method, using a standard message, but you can come up with your own message if you want.


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