[viewer]

So after a recent polemic discussion about if there is a true meaning of "isInCombat", I've decided to do some research on online dictionaries to find the answer and this is what I found:

From http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/combat
"Combat is fighting between two groups of armed forces..."
"...an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals)"
"combat to overcome an opposing tendency or force"

From http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/combat
"a fight between two people or things"

From http://www.thefreedictionary.com/combat
"a fight, struggle, or controversy, as between two persons, teams, or ideas."

From http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=combat
"When two or more opponents fight."

From http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/combat
"a fight, especially an organized fight,between two people"

So I've found from 5 different sources that combat means two or more people fighting each other, not just one attacking or being attacked, so what do you guys think? Should we accept that as absolute definition atleast to be included on API?

 

[aidden]

Runescape doesn't care whether the player is fighting back or not, they still tell you you're in combat if you try to open settings.

 

[fontkodo]

The RuneScape meaning of is in combat tends to mean that simply being attacked is equivalent to initiating combat. By going near aggressive NPCs you are essentially attacking them by violating their territory. In such cases this would mean attacking, and being attacked, is equivalent to being in combat.

Now that I think about it, combat doesn't have to be physical for it to be counted as such. The problem is that most people will think it is when you are attacking and being attacked back.

To counter confusion we should just include isBeingAttacked and isAttacking and not use isInCombat, we can get the same results with less confusion this way.

 

[viewer]

Runescape doesn't care whether the player is fighting back or not, they still tell you you're in combat if you try to open settings.

But in this case I'm talking about a good definition to be implemented on API, and an absolute definition of combat like this seems nice.