Object -> ignores object which has a name reference to parent about inform6

[erkyrath]

It's not ignoring it. The algorithm is: for an object with N arrows, it searches backwards through the list of defined objects for an object with a (true) depth of N-1. That becomes the parent.

So, for example, you could do this:

Object Kitchen;
Object bag selfobj;
Object -> -> hammer;

The hammer winds up inside the bag, because the bag's depth is 1.

I agree that this rule gets weird when the -> notation intersects the older Object foo parent notation. There are weird cases even if you stick to arrows. E.g.:

Object Kitchen;
Object -> bag;
Object Bathroom;
Object -> -> hammer;

The hammer still winds up inside the bag -- not intuitive.

However, I'm not sure any alternative algorithm is free of weird corner cases. And, as you say, old code may rely on the current behavior.

[fredrikr]

Ah, that makes sense then, in a weird way.