Category:Coffee disambiguation (Example)

The point of this example is to show how to cleverly handle disambiguation problems when objects have similar names. In this example, the troublesome word is "coffee".

There are two rooms in this example:

• Test Kitchen
  • Description: This test kitchen is very clean. It's so clean, it hardly has anything in it. The living room is to the south.
  • Objects: coffee urn (containing an endless supply of coffee), coffee mug (which is empty).
• Living Room
  • Description: This pleasant living room is ever-so-lightly furnished with a coffee table. A kitchen can be found to the north.
  • Objects: coffee table.

The player begins in the Living Room and is empty-handed. One object is offstage at first: a cupful of coffee.

The objects in more detail:

• coffee table: "The coffee table is a modern piece of furniture with metal legs and a square glass top." This is an immovable surface/supporter. Don't let the player sit or stand on it. Allow players to put solid objects like the urn or mug on it, but not liquids like the endless supply or cupful of coffee. Assuming that the PC is by the table, and that nothing else with the word 'coffee' in it is near the table, "X COFFEE" should refer to the table.
• coffee mug: "The mug has the phrase 'WORLD'S BEST EXAMPLE CODER' prominently on the outside. The inside of the mug is empty|full of coffee." The mug is a portable open container. Assuming the mug contains coffee, DRINK MUG and POUR MUG should do the same as DRINK CUPFUL and POUR CUPFUL respectively. FILL MUG should do the same as POUR SUPPLY INTO MUG, assuming that the PC is near the supply.
• coffee urn: "The urn is large, round, and heavy. It has to be large to hold the endless supply of coffee inside it. Perhaps you'd like to pour some into a mug?" The urn is a immovable open container. POUR URN (INTO MUG) should do the same as POUR SUPPLY (INTO MUG). If the mug isn't here, POUR SUPPLY should complain "But you don't have a mug!" If the mug is full, POUR SUPPLY should complain "But the mug is full!" Otherwise, POUR SUPPLY should put the cupful into the mug, saying "Using the urn, you fill the mug with hot coffee." Disallow EMPTY URN: "You can't empty the urn."
• endless supply of coffee: "Hello, tall, dark, and endless." SMELL SUPPLY: "Smells good. Endlessly good." DRINK SUPPLY: "How rude! Use a mug!" Disallow TAKE SUPPLY or REMOVE SUPPLY because it's a liquid. Assuming that the cupful isn't in scope, X COFFEE, SMELL COFFEE, etc. should refer to the supply.
• cupful of coffee: "The coffee in the mug looks quite drinkable." SMELL CUPFUL: "Smells good. A cupful of good." DRINK CUPFUL: removes the cupful from scope and says, "You drink the mug of coffee. Aaah. The satisfaction." Disallow TAKE CUPFUL or REMOVE CUPFUL because it's a liquid. When the cupful is in scope, X COFFEE, SMELL COFFEE, etc. must refer to the cupful.

For simplicity's sake, equate TASTE object to DRINK object.