~JJ~ Merlin's Useless Assistant

~JJ~ Merlin's Useless Assistant

As useless as this little bugger is, it sure has a lot of features! Let's take a look at them now.

To use the object you can either rez a copy in-world or attach it to your avatar straight from inventory. By default it will attach to your right shoulder but you can attach it to any attachment point on your avatar you like and use the viewer's Edit features to position it or re-size it to fit how and where you like.

Once it is rezzed or attached it will immediately begin "working." The eyes will track the position of the nearest avatar if it is rezzed in-world (even if that avatar is behind it) and it's conversational features will activate. On initial rezzing it may take a few seconds to load it's phrases into its memory. Progress will be reported in nearby chat.

The object can be interacted with in several different ways. In its default state it will randomly speak phrases into nearby chat every so often. It will say something within an interval of 30 seconds to 5 minutes without provocation. This feature can be disabled (or enabled) by typing into open chat:

toggle comments

The owner must issue this command in order for the object to comply. The command can be said, whispered or shouted and as long as the object is within listening range of the command it will obey. The command is not case-sensitive.

You can provoke a remark by touching the object. In fact, anyone can touch it to get a verbal response from it! If you poke it in either eye you will get a different response than if you touch any other part of it. ;)

The phrases that the object uses for these touch responses are stored in the notecard that is in the object's contents. This can be edited! Each line of the notecard is a different phrase that may be randomly selected when provoked by a touch. It is best to not use more than one phrase per line or have any lines that are just spaces or blank, even the first and last lines of the notecard. You can add, delete or edit any of the lines of the notecard to customize it as you wish then save it. Do not change the name of the notecard or the object will not recognize it. Once you have finished editing and saving your changes the object will reinitialize and report the progress in open chat. Once it has finished it will start using the edited changes in it's routine.

It does have a name! The default name is "Skully" which can be changed by the owner at any time. To rename the object, you must change the object's Description (in edit mode) to the name you would like it to have then in open chat type:

rename skull

The owner must issue this command in order for the object to comply. The command can be said, whispered or shouted and as long as the object is within listening range of the command it will obey. The command is not case-sensitive.

Although it is a very limited-use feature, the item thinks it knows what gender you are. If it assumes incorrectly you can correct it by typing into open chat:

toggle gender

The owner must issue this command in order for the object to comply. The command can be said, whispered or shouted and as long as the object is within listening range of the command it will obey. The command is not case-sensitive.

The object has additional features of artificial intelligence. You can prompt the item to answer yes-or-no style questions by typing your question into open chat and including it's name and a question mark. It does not matter where the name or the question mark appears in the phrase and it is not case-sensitive. Anyone can use this feature, not just the owner.

Similarly, to get a different kind of response, just include the item's name somewhere in the chat without a question mark in the phrase. It works like the feature noted previously but evokes different responses.

I hope you have a lot of fun with Merlin's Useless Assistant! Some of the AI can generate some well-timed laughs! Play and poke but remember, I am not responsible for any trouble this thing may cause! However, if you run into any operational difficulties, let me know and I can try to help! Thanks for your support!

~Love~

Jeanette Doobie