Indeed Cx2, assumptions don't help when people are using different programs. in fact, it's people who make assumptions are always evil, fowl corrupt pot noodle eaters! ;D.
I'm already using Hal's version of the same key in KoL, I just think it would be preferable if I didn't need to, as in sryth.
Now, as to stats. Jayde, I have no objection to stats in games, in fact, handled well they can be a highly useful thing, allowing the charactor freedome while stil keeping elements of danger in the game.
My big problem is with those hundreds of so called Rpg's that actually don't have a plot, just various stats to grind and ranks to attain, with almost no game areas to explore or other tasks to perform, just links on the main page to the item shop, and fight a random monster.
Imagine a tabletop game run by a gm like that ------ it just wouldn't work at all!
While I agree, there are points in sryth where the plot is a litle shaky, and finding a reason for you to do in random monsters is a litle thin, at least there actually is! some plot, and a litle more reason given than the usual "You want to be a stronger warrior" or "You want lots of treasure"
Also, I have no objection to leveling up charactors abilities, so long as this isn't the be all and end all of the game, and there actually is a reason why being a higher level is a good thing, other than that you have bigger numbers after your name.
In Sryth, as in World of Warcraft and quite a few other mainstream graphical rpg's, improving your charactors stats lets you perform more difficult tasks (killing stuff only being one of them), and advance the plot. take for example the curing of the Sea captains' daughter in Talinus.
To get my charactor in a position to do that I had to spend quite a bit of Xp on the power of restoration, and in the end, I didn't actually get much from it in terms of rewards.
It was however a nice litle episode in my charactor's life, which might have significance later on.
In the end, it all comes down to what the main emphasis of the game is. Plot? or stats.
Interactive fiction is all plot, but finds certain situations extremely difficult to represent, such as combat, a charactor's reflexes and involuntary reactions, and the learning and improvement of different skills or jobs.
i'd personally love to see more games that can balance these two things accurately. Sryth is, at the moment, the only game that even attempts to manage this task in a world that goes beyond about 500 pages of text. Though hopefully your game Jayde will do it as well, ----- and maybe improve upon Sryth in the process.
With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)