RE: [pbmserv-dev] Scramble languages self-implemented.

["Bob Lafleur" <bob_lafleur@technologist.com>]

Just some comments on this idea:

(1) Over a period of time, yes, a dictionary of words would be built up,
but NEVER enough to be relied upon as a strict word guide. This would
never happen even with english games, which are played the most. There
are just too many odd words that could be played.

(2) If someone plays a word that really isn't, then we have a bogus word
in the dictionary. They may do it accidentally, and then request it be
removed, so now we've got an administrative function to maintain the
dictionaries; or they may do it unknowingly, and now we've got a bad
word in the dictionary, but no one knows it.

(3) Dealing with the international alphabets is tricky - something I've
been thinking about, but has stopped me from implementing other
languages. Also, the lack of other "official" language dictionaries in
computer format has stopped me.

(4) The idea of specifying the point value and letter distribution is
interesting, even for english for french players who want to try
something different for variety. Maybe we could even allow specifying a
board format. Although I don't know how many people would use this.

I think the best solution for allowing non english for french games, is
to allow any language, but no dictionary would be used, and the user
MUST specify an alphabet, letter distribution, and point value. It's up
to the users to use correct words of their language, and if they don't,
oh well. I think the biggest hurdle in implementing this is dealing with
the other "non-standard" letters.

   - Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pbmserv-dev@gamerz.net [mailto:owner-pbmserv-dev@gamerz.net]
On Behalf Of Douglas Zander
Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002 10:24 PM
To: Richard's Developement List
Subject: [pbmserv-dev] Scramble languages self-implemented.


I was thinking of this for a long time, and I might have asked about it
here once before.  Let me know what you think of this idea. 
Allow anyone to start a board of Scramble in any language!  The server
stores the words that are played in a dictionary of that particular
language. (Of course it would be played as -nostrict by default)  We
assume that the people who play in the new language will use genuine
legal words.  (When the board is started a new option like
-language=russian  or -language=esperanto must be used)  After a long
time, a dictionary of words will be built up in that language and the
players may decide to try to use the -strict option.  I think this would
be a great way to allow *anyone* to play the game in their native
language.  Of course, we would allow the 
players to include on the "challenge" line an option to designate the
letters of their alphabet like: -language=esperanto
-letters=a,b,c,cx,d,e,f,g,gx,h,hx,i,jx,k,l,m,n,o,...  I forget the rest
of the alphabet at the moment  :-) 
(now I see that this would need to be included in the body of the email
since it would be so long)  also, I do not know how to represent the
letter c with a caret above it.  My screen only shows American letters,
not the international alphabet.  We would need to allow letter
combinations like cx and gx for the special letters for those users of
older mail readers. We could also have an option to use the original
binary values for users 
who can see the international alphabet (see Quoridor for the "grid="
option
to display the binary dots or the non-binary crosses.)   The users would
also be able to designate the point value and distribution count of each
letter in their language in the body of the challenge command.  The
program would keep track of this and again after awhile, it would use
the most common point values/distribution as the default.  The main
thing is that the server would keep the words and build a dictionary for
each language after the game was played.  After awhile I envision that
the only thing a challenger would need to do is specify their language.
(most languages are given an international three-letter designation,
correct?  Or am I thinking about airports? :-)

--
 Douglas Zander 
 Did you know about the Plakoto and Moultezim Tournaments I will be
running at Richard's PBeM Server?  There will be prizes!  Sign up now:
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