Were you trying to find out if something was possible/allowed, and the error message told you it wasn’t?
My question reminds me of the time in pre-internet days when I was trying to find out if a hardware store was open. I called the store, they answered the phone, and THAT told me everything I wanted to know. I then stood there mutely because I had no idea what to say and sheepishly hung up.
And then went to the store only to find out that they’d closed five minutes before you got there, or that they were closed the whole time but someone in there doing inventory had picked up the phone?
Is it that you gave a one-word command, hoping it would work in the game, and it didn’t, but it worked on the computer? For example, you tried to mute the game, and you muted the entire computer, something like that?
Jumping back in. Tell me if I’m summarizing correctly.
We’ve got a single word command, an older multiplayer game, an error message.
Command is intended for the game you’re playing but… it was sort of a command from a different game and sort of not directly related to the game you were playing.
Not a cheat code, not causing the character to take an action, not error checking.
Was the command from an operating system, business application, or a non-computer command?
Did the error message acknowledge what command you entered, as in, it was a customized message for the command you entered, the alternative option being it was a generic “command not recognized” type of error?
Was the display of the error message the very thing that accomplished your purpose, or was there another effect that accomplished what you were trying to do?
Were you trying to get the game to do something visual, auditory, or gameplay related?
Were you checking to see if the game allowed commands to be entered? Even though the specific command you entered failed you know that commands in general can be entered?