NITETIME MUD // FIELD CAMERA
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VERIFIED / DEPLOYED

The NITETIME Field Camera is a real object in the living text world,
not a detached image generator. First something happens in the MUD.
Then SNAP freezes that moment as an immutable scene record. An
external photo lab can later develop the record into an image: a real
artifact of a virtual event.

GET READY

The camera is portable, two-handed and holds 20 exposures.

  get Field Camera
  hold camera
  camera                  check hands, battery, mode and current frame

It must be carried and held to frame or snap. Carrying it loose in an
inventory is not enough.

FRAME THE SHOT

  frame room              wide view of the current room
  frame <object>          nearby visible object
  frame <Character>       deliberate portrait; consent required
  frame <exit>            visible side of a nearby exit
  frame <subject> = <composition>

Room, Character, and object/exit frames default respectively to wide,
portrait, and medium. Composition after the equals sign is free text,
not a fixed menu. Exit names and aliases such as north, n, outside or
stairs work when visible.

An exit photograph records only this side: the threshold, its authored
details, visible known state and any explicitly established view. It
does not peek into the destination or turn unknown facts into canon.

SNAP THE MOMENT

  snap

Framing is a free live preview. SNAP resolves the scene again. If you
moved, the subject vanished, consent expired, the camera is empty, or
the lab queue cannot accept the job, capture fails without spending an
exposure. A successful SNAP spends one exposure, clears the frame and
creates a private photograph with an ID like NT-PHOTO-000001.

RECHARGE IN THE GARAGE

  recharge camera
  charge camera           alias

Carry the camera into the room named NITETIME.NET Garage. It need not
be held. Recharge immediately refills it to its capacity of 20; there
is no partial or timed charge. There is no live daily exposure limit.

PORTRAITS AND CONSENT

Targeting another Character always needs current consent:

  frame <Character>       photographer sends the request
  photoaccept <name>      subject accepts
  photodecline <name>     subject declines

The request is tied to the room and lasts five minutes. After an
acceptance, FRAME the Character again, then SNAP before it expires.
There is no self-portrait mode.

  photoprivacy never
  photoprivacy background_only
  photoprivacy ask_for_portraits
  photoprivacy allow
  photopresence ...       alias for photoprivacy

NEVER excludes you from incidental background capture. At present the
other three settings all permit incidental presence; none removes the
consent requirement for a deliberate portrait.

Next: /mud/photo-history-and-lab.txt