PlaneShift
Gameplay => Wish list => Topic started by: Under the moon on August 06, 2006, 03:56:25 am
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Command Parameters Description
/shout message Talk to everyone within 100 meters of you. Only use /shout in emergencies.
Player response: What? So....? Emergencies? Huh?
n00b response: CAN any 1 gvie me a sword ktnx!
I know you all know what I am talking about. So, we need a better solution that can please all sides. The main thing is, shout is not good for anything as it stands. I have pondered this for some time, and think /shout needs to be changed drastically. The following are my suggestions.
Let's end with a roar, but start with a /whisper
/whisper (or /wh for quick typing): this would only be heard by those very close to you. The radius could be modified by your 'skill' at steath. However, to counter this, players could also have a listening radius. Also based on stats. If the two radiuses overlap, the whisper is heard. If not, the system give out a /me whispers in /saylow radius. Dev says? Do-able, but with some changes in coding.
/saylow: half to 2/3rds the radius of /say. Good for quiet conversations in the Tavern. Dev says? Easy. Good job for a prospect.
/say: done. this is default for just typing as well.
/sayloud: 1/2X larger radius than say. Dev says? same as above.
/yell: 3-4x (or what is called for) larger than /say. Alt command= /speech for RP needs. ""
/shout: Larger than yell, but not as crazy as it is now. the next command is for that.""
/areashout: same as shout now. n00bs can't type that long of a command without leet. ;) Dev says: Well, didn't ask about this one, but it is just renaming shout, after all. maybe it should be left out...?
Now, things that could be done 'soon' (meaning sometime in the distant future) would be a toggle to lock you into the /talk of your choice. This would save on [oops, wrong chan]s. Others would be tabs to filter /speech, /shout, and /areashout. Along with /auction and /system as well. In fact, it would be nice to have a custom chatbox to show just what you wish to see. Soon. :)
That is the end of my ideas on this subject. Please continue to add to it. But remember to keep ideas simple. (it is easier to code)
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I have a better idea. Let's get an active GM to mute everyone who says crap like that. :P
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heheomgarofllolz0r no
mirashi.... no
I like UTMs idea. I think the current system could use improvement.. However adding all those other ones people would either be majorlly confused. Or they would just use the /areashout one.
Maybe its fine at the moment, just decrease the range on shout and just add a areashout for people who have been active a LONG time like a few months or something... That would surely be better than making lots of different channels.
Customising the chatbox = Good idea.
HOWEVER: This could just be fixed by undoing an older edit to the box and adding a "Shout" Tab. that was removed a long while ago. Then people could filter just chat and not have to read the shouts. People who want to hear the shouts could just change to shout and hear only the shouts. Simple change: Simple solution: Problem solved.
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I love the ideas, utm.
Before the costumizable chatbox can be introduced and that could also be left additionally, I like to have the /shouting (everything that has bigger radius than sayloud) in a seperated channel.
/sayloud and /saylow are not good to distinguish in auto-completion. A /sayweak and /saystrong might be easier to type.
I had a similar idea just before, about that.
a /shout [strength] [message] with {strength = [weak | normal | strong]} could be an easier way with less fiddling with command names.
That system, together with a dedicated area like an auctionhouse, actually could also make /auction chat irrelevant.
/auction caused a lot of confusion before and is considered now really as a pure OOC chan, which shouldn't be.
I'd like to see all that as soon as possible, but the highest priority IMO is to give /shout a dedicated channel and stop the troubles about the mere usage of it. It's just nonsense to have such a feature but not really being able to use it without disturbing people.
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Mirashi you oversimplify some in my opinion. I agree with the sentiment that something must be done, and i think whatever long term solutions there are for this a short term one might help clear the air.
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@ Kerol:
Why would /auction be OOC?
Maybe the GM's feel that way, but the players don't.
Now auctions mostly go through websites, and such, but a long time ago people would just shout offers and biddings,
and that's exactly what you do with /auction, so it's not OOC.
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i still tink a means of global comunication (eaven if ooc) is a necessety, maybe a option to turn the channel on/off in a chat panel options.. for those that do not wish to see it.
about "voice" volume strenght i agree with kerol in the sub commands for shouting command
this seems the best solution for me atleast :flowers:
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A global chat is a bad idea, and I very much doubt that it will be implemented again. Again, because /shout was global in MB and we couldn't wait to get rid of it, it was abused so much. So noooo thank you. Wait for that OOC server.
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i see, hmm, i wasnt here in the mb i tink, i did try planeshift sometime ago when the rubys spawned in the dungeons but didnt stay that much to be able to talk about it :sweatdrop:
still global talk is the best way to help those that are new, i dont know about the disadvantages since i wasnt here to see them..
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I think that the /help channel is the best way to help newcomers. Players who would monitor the global /shout instead of turning it off should just turn on advisor mode right now, and you have the same effect.
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Why would /auction be OOC?
Maybe the GM's feel that way, but the players don't.
Now auctions mostly go through websites, and such, but a long time ago people would just shout offers and biddings,
and that's exactly what you do with /auction, so it's not OOC.
I have to tend to agree with TomPhoenix. I don't see the auction channel as OOC. I think anyone who does or who wants to see it an OOC act in the game really needs to take a look at how auctions are run in real life. Until given a good reason why the auction channel is OOC, I will not accept that it is and continue to see it as IC.
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HEY! Auction is not the topic here. Stay focused. Auction has been talked about, and I don't want it here. Find the thread on that and post there. :)
Ah yes, I forgot to add one more thing that had been talked about as a good idea. A multi /tell command. This could be done with a modified, categorized buddy list (which I have discussed with Venge, and was received as a very good idea, and good task for a prospect), and a /tellall command. Click on on of the categories of your 'buddies' and either /tellall <list> in the chatbox, or click the tellall tab in the list. I will detail the buddy list in another thread to keep this one on topic.
The other option for this could be /tellall Karyuu, Kerol, Sov- Hey guys!
The message received might be: Moon tells you, Kerol, Sov: Hey Guys!
Global chat? Hell no. That should be a GM only command. Use? "Thunder booms loudly in the skies overhead!" or "Please be advised that the server will be shutting down in a few minutes. Save any work you have been doing and secure your inventory"
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HEY! Auction is not the topic here. Stay focused. Auction has been talked about, and I don't want it here. Find the thread on that and post there. :)
:) Thats fine moon, but I do have the right to my opinion when statements are made and I was focused even though you implied I wasn't. I am sorry you don't want it here, but I felt it had to be said. Responding to ThomPhoenix statement in another thread would have been quite confusing and may have been over looked, so I am sure you can understand why I posted here.
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yes bigger range of shouts is needed, especially for merchants, people selling items, annoucing stuff.
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Merchants don't scream at the top of their lungs when they are selling their wares. I think the distance of /shout right now is just fine and should not be increased.
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no you mis understood, I did not mean increase the RANGE of the shouting, I meant range of "shout" options, like mentioned. :p
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Woops (http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/2497/usedusedusedcx3.gif)
Well, personally I would avoid too many options. I think adding /whisper and /yell (maybe ending with /scream) would be enough.
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No problem Karyuu, it was easily misread :).
Altough perhaps there could be a kind of voice "HP(?)", if you constantly yell all the time you will strain your voice and thus can't yell or even talk normally at all.
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Why would /auction be OOC?
Maybe the GM's feel that way, but the players don't.
Not long ago, there was a big discussion about the usage of /auction.
The problem is that actual RP in that channel makes it impossible for other people to auction (because it's simply too much chat), whether OOC or IC.
So we agreed on minimalistic usage of that channel in order to make it possible for everyone (but OOC) to offer things to the public.
The actual bidding should be done in /say, in an RP fashion.
It's exactly the same issue with /auction as with /shout. With that many people, a usage as intented is doomed to become undesired due to being simply too much.
I think that the /help channel is the best way to help newcomers.
I thought /help is global? And I agree that /help :should: be the best way to help newcomers. But it needs a lot of improvements to become the prefered way over all.
A /tellall command would be amazingly useful.
Sometime ago I had a discussion with Nethrys and other people about similar things, and Netrhys suggested to have permagroups.
A permagroup works just like a normal group but gets restored at next login.
I think this can elegantly can be combined with your /tellall command.
Just imagine a buddylist like that:
|--------------------------------------------------------------|
NAME TELL Group1
Utm [ ] [ ]
Karyuu [ ] [ ]
Miadon [ ] [ ]
Zorbels [ ] [ ]
The TELL buttons can be used for /tellall like you suggest, that gets reset with relog simply with a /tellall reset.
The Group1 column shows the people you are in group with. Can be used for a /permagroup 1 Hello! . Those settings don't get reset with a relog.
The clue is that you can /permagroupadd, which adds a new column in the buddylist like that:
|--------------------------------------------------------------|
NAME TELL Group1 Group2
Utm [ ] [ ] [ ]
Karyuu [ ] [ ] [ ]
Miadon [ ] [ ] [ ]
Zorbels [ ] [ ] [ ]
and it opens a new group window (similar to the group window now).
So you could /tellall for a one-time "shout" to all, and use invites into /permagroup (maybe the command name is a bit long..) for session-indepedant group talks.
Take into account that the buttons in the TELL column can be clicked on and have direct affect on the command while the "buttons" in the Group1 and Group2 columns
can't be clicked but only indicate who is in the permagroup. To get people in the group, same invite system as it is now for /group.
I see that related with /shout as grouping often is the only way to /shout things without the disadvantage of spamming other peoples chat.
It also is the only way to organise complex RP without using an external IM or teamspeak (or /guildchat).
One idea about /shout: with the different ranges of /shout, one wouldn't have to give a chat output like "Bla shouts strongly: Omgftw!" or "Bla says aloud: Hello!"
It all could be generalised by whisper - say - shout and indicate the steps inbetween by different (more or less bright) colors.
Actually, why not having a /shout [percentage] [text]?
/shout 60 Hello! would only give 60% of the maximum shout range. The maximum shout range could be dependant on the strength and shouting itself could eat up (mental?) stamina just like spells, dependant on the energy you put in.
Thats much more flexible (because of individual ranges) and is also more RP like.
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First of all, you're all giving some suggestions that are waaaayy too complicated. Do you really think a field of checkboxes or added parameters will be used, especially by the idiots who are shouting too much?
Secondly, you aren't allowed to shout for the first hour of your character's life. This should be helping, but I guess there are a lot of people who stay idiots forever. :P
Thirdly, I thought we had already settled this here? The idea was to make all chat ranges dynamic, based on the overall sound level of the area. In a crowded area, the plaza for example, with lots of people (talking) chat range is shorter, and shouts really don't go that far. In a quiet area, the sewers for example, with few people the chat range is longer, and shouts go rather far. This way, all the user needs to know is /say is normal and /shout is far, with each adapting to only reach relatively nearby people and not go insanely far. Aditional ideas such as dimming far off chat in the box have come up, and might be nice too.
Oh, and please don't say "/shout is broken". It's not; it's just wildly abused. I've used it properly many times. Most common of which is to yell at someone a ways off as they're about to be attacked. Though, I guess me doing "/shout Do you need help?" probably isn't that useful to most newbies, as by the time they type out the response they're dead. ;)
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i'm going to toss this in, i don't think it has been mentioned. but maybe limiting shout to the map and then a range on top of that. for example, i think the tavern is a separate map, and you can't shout outside of the tavern from with in it.
don't know how complicated it would be to code. it feels like it would just be a check against who is in what map to hear the shout, and then a check against range.
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No, chatting has to cross all sector boundaries, or it makes no sense. What we need is for it to automatically be dampened by walls.
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Well, they do make it so people who talk to someone right next to them across the line between the tavern and the plaza can't hear eachother, but if you step outside you can hear them and they can hear you.
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What..? No no, that's not how it's supposed to work... And not how I remember it working. Are you sure?
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I'm positive. Check it yourself.
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DaveG: This is a constructive idea thread. All thoughts that are constructive are welcome. You may want to edit your post to remove the 'idiot' remarks and anything else of condescending nature. You may also wish to add something constructive.
Things are only settled until a better idea or way of doing things comes along. Refusal to admit this leads to stagnation.
I, for one, like most of the ideas I have seen here. But, in PS terms, the ideas are only pre-alpha. They can be improved to suit player's needs.
In closing, any system that can be wildly abused is broken. If that was not the case, we would still have uber swords of Doom ingame. :)
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I don't think calling abusers "idiots" is that bad, to be honest ;P
And you'll be surprised at just how much can be abused. There is no interactive feature that can be completely abuse-proof.
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It's too early in developement to worry about stuff like this anyway.
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I think its counterproductive to call ideas that actually could make those features more "abuse proof" "too complicated" and state that it's "too early in development to worry about stuff like that".
We are here to think about possible solutions to problems, and this problem here is an actual problem and nothing yet to come. IMO this thread actually shouldn't be in the wishlist but in development deliberation.
And I too think that /shout is broken, as the mere usage by many people (but in the intented way, not "abusive") makes normal /say very hard to use.
It is impossible to use /shout in a bit bigger RP event without disturbing everyone else who is not participating but in range.
I wouldn't say that blocking /shout by walls should be priority here but putting /shout in a seperate tab (again) and create a "PERSONAL" chat tab, enabling people to select what other channels they want to see in that tab. Just like switching on and off the system messages about fighting, but for channels. If you want to concentrate on organisation, select /guild, /tell and /group for your personal chat tab; if you want to RP take /say and /shout in the tab...
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UTM: You're really missunderstanding things. I was calling people who run around doing "/shout were can 1 fnd MONEY!!1" idiots; the people who are abusing this command...
The broken vs. not thing is a symantics issue. It works exactly as intended, so it's not broken. Basically the it's difference between a flaw and a bug. It's working fine, just abused to death. Anything can be abused, so it's just a matter of trying to make things as idiot-proof as possible and kicking the rest.
With respect to complexity, no new player is going to use 7 different say commands or a pile of checkboxes. It has to be simple, or it will not be used.
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surely if there is some kind of "voice box stat", and you shout to much your voice becomes damaged and takes a while to recover, In that time, its impossible to shout, so stops anyone from a constant spam of shouts? Also if anyone is going to constantly shout IC they would loose their voice. :\
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Hmm... that might be a good idea, actually. Limit shoutting repeadiately.
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Alright. It's not broken, but heavily flawed.
no new player is going to use 7 different say commands
According to my suggestion, it only takes at max 3 commands (whisper, say, shout). If you include a variable in the /shout command how far it reaches (reducing the range, not going over a max), you can leave out all extra commands.
Actually, this way it would require only one command /communicate, but thats silly.
or a pile of checkboxes.
It's really not an act to ignore them if you don't need them. If you want to reduce complexity for newbies, disable the extra chat stuff by default and put the possibility to enable it in the options.
And again, this discussion isn't taking place because people abused the feature! It's because people actually used it for RP, but as it is, /shout simply is not fit for that.
Hmm... that might be a good idea, actually. Limit shoutting repeadiately.
I thought that is covered by the repetition-prevention system?
But well, as said above, it wasn't abused by people repeatedly shouting crap or OOC shouting. A marriage was held over /shout and a sermon. Both was hard on the limit of being too much, simply because of the sheer amount of text flooding the chatwindow. After the sermon, there followed a discussion (still RP, no abuse!) which made further RP outside the event about impossible.
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Yeah, there is flood protection, but I'm saying it should be stricter with shouts.
All in all, the biggest problem here is /shout is too long range. Most of the time we'd want it at half what it does now.
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DaveG: "With respect to complexity, no new player is going to use 7 different say commands or a pile of checkboxes. It has to be simple, or it will not be used."
We cater to new players alone, now? What of those players that crave a more advanced system of communication? You know, the ones that actually stay around for a while? The players are bending the /talk commands to try to do some of these things now. I see no problem with making features that not everyone is advanced enough to use. Just as long as they are not -required- to use them. I have been told before that this game is "Made for all types of players." Then why do a lot of the people, the devout roleplayers, that I have talked to seem to feel left out.
I for one, would find a modified version of the 'checkbox' idea very usefull. It was a new idea for the Buddy List that I talked to one of the other Devs about before I ever posted here. I was told to post here so the idea was not forgotten. I was also told it would be a good job for a prospect. Kerol's suggestion is not only a good one, it is PERFECT for those of us that try to use the crippling current system for organizing role-plays.
I ask that you do not speak for all the players, as we have voices of our own. If we did not want features like this, we would not be asking for them.
However, I would like to thank you for giveing us what we have already. :)
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ot long ago, there was a big discussion about the usage of /auction.
The problem is that actual RP in that channel makes it impossible for other people to auction (because it's simply too much chat), whether OOC or IC.
So we agreed on minimalistic usage of that channel in order to make it possible for everyone (but OOC) to offer things to the public.
The actual bidding should be done in /say, in an RP fashion.
It's exactly the same issue with /auction as with /shout. With that many people, a usage as intented is doomed to become undesired due to being simply too much.
Well, I thought /auction was created to get offers and biddings out of /say.
Frankly, I've never seen any "RP spamming" in the auction channel, and I've never seen anyone getting confused with multiple auctions.
Auctions should stay where they belong, in the /auction channel.
By the way, have you ever played games like guildwars? If you auction there, after 1 sec it's spammed out of the chat window, but still you always get offers. People are simply not that slow and stupid as you would think.
The only thing that shouldn't be allowed is people using the auction channel to have conversations, as the range is bigger.
Well, ontopic again! :whistling:
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Sorry to say that but you seem to have little idea on what problems I get confronted with as GM.
If you can keep up with the chatwindow being flooded and you still can RP in that, good for you.
But that isn't the case with all the people who complain to me about such stuff, and those aren't necessary stupid and slow.
By the way, have you ever played games like guildwars? If you auction there, after 1 sec it's spammed out of the chat window, but still you always get offers.
I haven't played it, but one thing I heard about it from many people: it has about nothing to do with the kind of RP we have in PS. Therefor I see that comparison in that case as invalid.
Forwarding peoples suggestions and complains to the right place is one part of the duties of a GM.
My opinion on that subject reflects to a major part the people complaining about stuff and giving me input about how it could be done better.
Feel free to complain about my competences, but please give some stronger arguments than those stray ones you tried.
The only thing that shouldn't be allowed is people using the auction channel to have conversations
What RP auctions are, to 99%.
On topic:
The only thing that shouldn't be allowed is people using the auction channel to have conversations, as the range is bigger.
One solution to that could be to lower the range of auction dramatically.
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what about a area specific for RP auctions..
insted of making it able to be done anywere
1: people knows were to go for auctions
2: it would be easier to mark its limit range
the problem would be if there were several diferent characters doing auctions, in another way it would open some roles up by the apearence of this auction places were specific people could get known and manage the auctions
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I seem to recall Vengeance being the first person to suggest the "checkbox chatwindow" several years ago. I am not sure why a filtering system like this hasn't yet been created, but I think it is still a very valid idea and would certainly help alleviate many of the concerns posted above.
Newbies or just "lazy people" may not bother to use the filters, but there is no harm in that. On the other hand, those who find issue with RP and other chat flooding their windows would be able to just uncheck "Shout" and go about their merry business.
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what about a area specific for RP auctions..
insted of making it able to be done anywere
Actually I find that a very good idea, if we had already appropriate areas for that. If we had auction houses or a market hall or similar and /auction limitted to those areas, that would be awesome, IMO.
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I haven't played it, but one thing I heard about it from many people: it has about nothing to do with the kind of RP we have in PS. Therefor I see that comparison in that case as invalid.
The "spam" we have in the auctions channel is nothing, really nothing compared to big MMO's, so why move auctions of their intended channel?
That's why I made the comparison.
What RP auctions are, to 99%.
I meant /say like conversations, that have nothing to do with auctions, people sometimes use the auction channel for that. I didn't mean auction related RP.
There isn't much auctions related RP anyway, 99% of the time it's just "Selling 6 slash short sword" etc.
I see no problem, really.
One solution to that could be to lower the range of auction dramatically.
Agreed. When at an auction, people have the tendency to talk louder than normal, so the range should we a bit bigger then /say.
And of course the best solution would be an auction house or market, but that takes time as it would need to be designed and developed first.
Feel free to complain about my competences, but please give some stronger arguments than those stray ones you tried.
Where the hell did I complain about your competences?
My post wasn't intended with any sarcastical tone whatsoever, if it seemed that way, I'm sorry.
edit:
Now I re-read my post I agree this statement:
People are simply not that slow and stupid as you would think.
was stupid, I meant so say "as one would think". It wasn't pointed at you. I meant to say people can deal with a little spam.
(I had to make said post in a hurry and had no time to re-read it properly after writing, so certain statements can be misinterpreted, like Kerol did --sorry)
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(I had to make said post in a hurry and had no time to re-read it properly after writing, so certain statements can be misinterpreted, like Kerol did --sorry)
Ok, forgiven and forgotten :flowers:
About RP in /auction:
You need to think the other way round. Why is there so little spam in the /auction channel? Why is there no RP in that channel?
1. The repetition-spam prevention of DaveG does a good job in general.
2. We GMs are very strict on spamming, plus that is supported by the majority of the players.
3. There is about no RP in that channel because the few times people tried it, it was frowned upon because of "blocking" the channel while the RP was running.
The "spam" we have in the auctions channel is nothing, really nothing compared to big MMO's, so why move auctions of their intended channel?
I know exactly what you mean and I also can give you the answer on that.
You need to differenciate between auction-spamming and RP auctioning.
Take a look at the auction chat of the "big MMO's" you compare it with. You see messages like "SELLING 10/99 BS FOR 100k! /tell Kerol!!!" all over the place, again and again.
It is more like a notice board where everyone "pins" his/her offers for everyone to see. You pick out the offer you like and /tell the guy. Everything further is usually done in a private chat or with very simple language in the auction chat.
In an RP auction, you don't simply put your items for sale, you also show your emotions, describe actions like "/me jumps on the stool and yells the next offer" and so forth.
You have a lot of "unnecessary" text in RP auctions, flooding the chat, thus blocking it for more "notice board - auctions".
Now we have the "notice board - auctions" in /auction (which is OOC, to 90%) but the /telling as mentioned above in "everything further is usually done in a private chat.." is done or should be done in /say instead.
I myself find that solution a pretty poor compromise, but it satisfies most needs.
My favourite auctioning system would only require a /shout with either flexible ranges like I proposed and/or having walls blocking the shout, as DaveG stated while having the auction in buildings. PLUS having a notice board at a central place where everyone actually could pin their offers and needs on.
A notice board would make the "notice board - auctions" redundant while the /shouting with very limitted range would simplify the systems while minimising the disturbing effects.
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Thanks for the flowers, have some too! :) --> :flowers:
Well, I understand your plan, and that would be really great, but I was talking a bit about the best solution for the short term, which is difficult to solve either way. About the better auction system:
Yes, we would need a central "notice board".
We would need an auction area.
But before that's created, these might be good solutions too:
Make auction channel 1,2 and 3. Once players have posted in one channel, they can't post in another channel for 5 minutes to prevent cross-channel spamming of auctions. Of course this is completely OOC, but this makes RP during auctions more possible, as players can simply avoid a channel were an auction event is going on. This is a short term solution of course.
Make a chat system, where for each auction a "link" is created in the /auction channel. If you click on the link another extra auction window will open where everybody can RP whatever they like, people who don't want to see the RP, don't see it and everybody can join in! Once the auctions is finished the auction starter will do /auction finished or something and the extra auction windows will disappear again.
This would be a good solution, but also requires a bit more coding. Also it's very much OOC, but hey, if we want GM's to spend less time on stopping spammers and make /auction RP possible, we could need this. There might be better solutions though.
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Pardon folks, but /shout and its /talk underlings were the subject here. In hopes of thread cohesion , and easier searching, I give you /auction: http://hydlaa.com/smf/index.php?topic=24966.0
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if /tell is used to whisper to someone, why it has so big range?
you can /tell to someone who is miles from you.
i sugest making /tell [/whisper?] command, that you can use only standing near to someone (range the same as when working with furnace for example).
i think disabling the long range of /tell will be good for RP. it could produce some comunication about seeing someone, about where are we going.. more shouts in the terrain.. returning to towns just to look for your friends.. maybe some ingame message system (boards in towns?).
if long range communication you find absolutly nessesery (i dont), i think the function of /tell could provide /OOC tab. working just like /tell now. but this will be less confusing in my opinion.
and just like there is /away, there would be /OOC away, for those, who want to stay RP only.
if you need to ask a GM to unstick you for example, there is HELP tab, and also GM could use this tab for reaching you.
going further - i am for deleting the "guild" tab as this is another long range tool that is not RP at all.
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The main thing that keeps an MMORPG going is the "meet new friends and play with them" part. If you can't contact your friends conveniently, you don't only lose a main aspect of the game but also make it impossible to organise RP OOC.
In the beginning it was discussed to reduce /tell just as you said, but it was decided to not go that way. You can skim the forums about it. The relevant threads should be somewhere on the first pages of the wishlist board.
For /guild it's similar but for most guilds probably less about organising RP than about keeping in touch with friends.
If you like, you can try to turn off the guildchat for your guild by removing the privileges of the members and see what happens :)
While I agree that people should be able to contact GMs conveniently, using /help for this is a bad idea.
Everyone can see the what's being said in the /help tab by simply turning on /advisormode. This way regular players can give advices to other players and with GMs watching the channel the bad advices should be minimised.
However, noone guarantees that GMs watch the channel continuously and the more players join the game the less we will try to keep a permanent eye on it. Drawing samples and using a yet-to-be-implemented means to prevent players from activating /advisormode should ensure the high quality of the advices given.
With this it'd be gambling to try and reach a GM over this channel. The means of choice to reach a GM is /petition.
I was and still am for implementing a command /gmcall with which players could call for GMs when they need immediate help as /petition may take a while till someone gets back to you. This would make any other suggestion redundant on how to reach a GM in urgent situations.
Getting back on topic:
I was pondering about ranges in the open channel communication (/say, /shout). How would it be to substitute all these distinct commands by a slider on the left side of the /main channel which could be used to directly set the distance of what you say?
In direct command syntax this would look like /say [range] [message]. Normally the slider would remain in the position you set so you could have convos in lowered voice that only the people next to you could hear without learning and switching to new commands. Especially in mass-events I felt this needed and (inconveniently) emulated over /group.
As an additional idea one could set the color for minimum range and maximum range (as you can for /say and /shout already) but now the engine would mix the colors automatically according to the "volume" (range) of what's said.
Another additional idea building on the above would be to have a skill or spell that treats the outgoing messages of all people around as if they were said "louder" than they were with the effect that you can eavesdrop on whispering from farther away.
Opposing to that, one could think of a "dampening area"- spell that reduces the range of all messages - which (if strong enough) could also render spell casting with vocal elements useless.
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A volume slider for chat sounds like a great feature. It would be nice if there was some feedback on just what range you will be heard in... something as simple as making the name-labels of people in-range a bit brighter would suffice. Being unsure whether someone can hear you can be pretty irritating.
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Oddly enough, I was thinking a voice level slider would be a great addition as well as I read this thread over yesterday. Simple (usage-wise, not to code), easy to use, Small footprint (would take up a tiny space in the chat window), and intuitive.
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As a corollary to this functionality it might be good to have auditory (and possibly visual) acuity included in character creation so that those with poor acuity have shorter ranges and those with good acuity have longer ranges by default. I would suggest that this could be developed as a result of various life event choices and not something specifically set.
This is probably pie in the sky thinking however it does seem to follow from recent posts in the thread.
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hm, the slider.. sounds very good.
cant wait.
for now, to stay RP only, i am using /away command with comment i dont use /tell (to avoid voices from other side of the world, because after long chat in /tells, i had problem when meeting my friends in game with acting like we doesnt spoke already for 1h).
but this makes me not available for anyone who is near and whants to talk only to me.
so until the slider apears, i am for adding /whisper tab, working only in close range (if /tell will stay unchanged).
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Here's an idea that might help... limit shouts to single words or very short sentences.
Shouting something like "HELP!" or "STOP IT!" or "KILL THEM!" or "OVER HERE!" makes sense... it's the sort of thing one might realistically need to shout. Shouting "HELLO MY FRIEND, HOW ARE YOU DOING TODAY? VERY WELL I HOPE!" does not make so much sense. It's just too long, it starts to sound like a bad slapstick comedy movie or something. Of course that MIGHT encourage some people to try and shout long sentences by splitting them into short fragments and shouting them in sequence, but preventing people from using too many shouts in a short time period because their voice is gone would work well for fixing that as well.
On a slightly :offtopic: note regarding some of the earlier posts about /tell... I understand that the /tell command itself is not going away, and I agree... but perhaps a version of in-character /tell could be done using some sort of magic spell or item that could be used to allow two-way communication between someone and another person they choose. Would be kind of neat, anyway. Sorry if my ideas make no sense I am kind of a n00b around here :)
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Well ... remember the great conference of Queen Xillix ... I am glad that I could hear it because "/shout" allows also some larger text. ;)
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/shout HEYA, WAIT UP!
/shout ...
>You can't shout right now, you just shouted, wait and catch your breath.
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Yeah, why not make shout use physical (maybe mental) stamina?
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/shout HEYA, WAIT UP!
/shout ...
>You can't shout right now, you just shouted, wait and catch your breath.
I've seen this used pretty effectively in a MUD. You could shout only so much, then it would say "You are getting hoarse" as a warning and finally wouldn't permit you to shout at all because you were hoarse. It makes sense from both an IC and OOC perspective. (Note: I'm not speaking on behalf of the dev team or the settings dept. when I say this. Just my own 'pinion.)
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Yeah, why not make shout use physical (maybe mental) stamina?
I've had that idea years ago already but didn't think it would be accepted. Today I think differently and I love the idea, still.
Maybe it's feasible and acceptable in combination with the other proposals in this thread.
A relatively simple implementation would be to check if the range (with slider etc.) is above a certain level and if true decrease stamina with each message according to a maths script. The louder the more stamina is needed.
Stamina already is depending on different factors like stats.
In future implementations one could have a special skill or talent (gained via quest/char creation) which affects the formula that determines the stamina reduction. Thinking of the "you was local politician"/ "one of your parents was octarch/vigesimi" options in CC or quests with titles like "learn to speak" "rethoric training for priests", "sing me a song" or whatever :)
EDIT:
Even spells like "sickness" could affect this script.
EDIT2:
I understand that the /tell command itself is not going away, and I agree... but perhaps a version of in-character /tell could be done using some sort of magic spell or item that could be used to allow two-way communication between someone and another person they choose. Would be kind of neat, anyway.
I don't quite get this. Do you mean to have an alternative version of /tell just IC so people accept it in RP?