Letters Any letters or e-mails received on an adventuring-related topic may be reprinted in here unless marked 'not for publication'. ------------------------------------------------------------------ @~Last issue I asked for suggestions for the new SynTax website. @~This was the first received from: MerC, by e-mail Best of luck with web page authoring - it's a steep learning curve, not helped by tiny anomalies like MS FrontPage Extensions only working on Unix servers. No doubt you've got this in mind, but on the SynTax website, you could make your e-mail link 'live' so it can be used to contact you directly. In time, you will also need a site search engine and an interactive index - and if you're going to have surfer-downloadable files, you'll need extra web space (a lot of it) to store 'em on...... ---------------------------------------------------------------- @~We also talked about unlimited access net access last time. @~Here is an email on that subject from: Carolyn Brown, Sandysike by e-mail You mentioned these new 'unmetered access' ISP's in SynTax. Well, I have taken the plunge myself in that direction. Last weekend there was a lot of advertising going on for 'LibertySurf'. You buy a CD from any Comet store for 20 quid, and use that to log on. Once registered with them, you have unmetered off peak access for one year. In this case, 'off peak' means from 6pm until 8am the following morning during the week, and all weekend of course, unlike BT, whose idea of weekday off peak is only until midnight, I believe. Anyway, being me, I had a problem getting started. My registration went well until the final screen, when you had the opportunity to follow a link to an explanation of all their other deals. I did this, but when I went back to finish registering, the previous screen had disappeared, with a message that it had timed out. I wasn't sure at that time whether I was registered with them or not, but I couldn't get through when I tried. Not really daring to register again in case it messed everything up their end I finally went into Comet and a very helpful chap told me to uninstall, then reinstall and start again. This I did, and now everything is wonderful. It does sometimes take a while to get into the system, but that is only to be expected, and the feeling of not having to watch the clock is fantastic. Part of the deal is that you also get daytime access for 1p per minute, and (I believe) 75% off voice calls. You don't have to change your phone provider, or anything like that; you stay with BT, but just enter a number before you dial. I haven't tried this yet, but I don't make a lot of phone calls anyway. You also get the usual web space and email address, but I haven't organised that yet. Another good thing is that the install doesn't interfere with your previous ISP, and I can still use FreedotNet if I want to, and I still do, for emails, at the moment. The URL for LibertySurf is www.libertysurf.co.uk @~That sounds a really good system and I'm glad that Comet were @~helpful when you had problems, Carolyn. Steve has written a @~short article on the same subject and service ... see later. ---------------------------------------------------------------- @~We all like a bargain - don't we? - and here's some good news @~from ... Alex Ainslie, Motherwell Has anyone mentioned ASDA selling fairly cheap PC games? @~No, they haven't. I'll check that out next time I go there. ---------------------------------------------------------------- @~All the Contributor of the Year winners liked their prizes, @~here are emails I received from Andrew and Tom. Andrew Wielochowski, Cilycwm by email Thanks! The Myth and Magic figure is really good. Its weird though to see one on top of the your computer, because I'd never have it expected it there :) you expect to see them in a large glass cabinet slowly revolving in the middle of a BHS or a craftstore, usually accompanied by beady eyed little children. But it really is fabulous. Thank you. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Tom Lorimer, Glenrothes by email After returning home thoroughly disappointed from a holiday where it rained constantly every day, I was quickly cheered up when I found the latest issue of SynTax waiting to be downloaded. Not only that, but the postman had delivered a package while I was away which contained a beautiful Myth and Magic figure of a dragon guarding its treasure chest. After many years of writing solutions to text adventures with the aid of my speech synthesiser and screen reader, it was great to finally meet up with the dreaded dragon which had thwarted my attempts at stealing its treasure on countless occasions. Now he'll be my buddy as he sits by my computer guarding his precious jewels. Many thanks Sue, it's the first thing I've ever won since I lost my sight and I'll treasure it forever.. ----------------------------------------------------------------- @~Finally some comments from ... Bev Truter, Carnegie, Australia, by email I had a squizz at SynTax last night, and first of all congratulations to Alex, Tom and Andrew on winning their awards. Secondly, I noticed a letter from MerC asking about saving a game while using the ST emulator WinSTon. I've also been using WinSTon (mainly for text-only games), and so far it seems a very hit-and-miss affair as to whether I can get the emulator to save. The AGT games are OK - they just use the original SAVE and RESTORE commands as used in AGT; a game called "Once a King" wasn't obviously saving when I typed SAVE, but on checking afterwards, lo and behold, the saves were indeed there; but in a game called "Seventh Heaven" I'm absolutely stumped as there's apparently no save facility at all. I know the Spectrum and C64 emulators have their own way of creating saves, either by the F6 or F11 keys respectively, or by using the menus-and-mouse system. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to discover a similar "Winston" method of saving - is there in fact a "Winston" method of saving, that I'm just too thick not to have spotted yet? My version of Winston came with no .DOC file on how to use it, but there is an in-built HELP file, which didn't seem to cover SAVE and LOAD. @~Can anyone help? @~Bev also wrote the following about last issue's Psychology @~of Gaming article, and further comments are used as the @~basis for THIS issue's article - see later. I thoroughly enjoyed your article on controlling, or being responsible for, characters in simulation games like The Sims, etc. I know just how you feel! Even in SETTLERS, I'd always try to attack the opposition with the minimum number of knights possible, as I didn't want to get more of them killed than was strictly necessary ....pathetic, or what?! And I noticed to my horror that in the later stages of some games in Settlers 2, that if you destroy your military buildings (to recover your knights and make them return to your headquarters) too far away from your headquarters or a warehouse, they simply wander about in a baffled way for *ages* without seeming to find the correct path "home"; and then they simply disappear! Vanish into thin air! This really bugged me - not only was it a waste of valuable men, but I was worried about them just disappearing like that, all very spooky. Anyhow, building storehouses at regular intervals as you expand into new territory seemed to save them from this dreadful disappearing fate, and saved me from worrying about them. I guess it all goes to show how involved we get in the games we play. And obviously THE SIMS would be even more involving to play. I know it sounds silly to admit becoming that involved in the lives and happiness and progress of a bunch of pixels on the screen, but you do! And they're NOT pixels; not while you're playing the game; they're *real*! @~Too right they are! Just wait until you see Knights and @~Merchants, Bev - even more engaging than Settlers. ----------------------------------------------------------------- @~Thanks again for your letters this issue! - o -