Neon names over everybody's heads...

[provisionist1]

Yeah, this is a thought I had when reading a post in the general discussion forum, concerning the lack of roleplaying and reality in that everyone has a big sign over their head saying this is my name and this is my guild (if applicable).

I don\'t know if this has been suggested, I did do a search with no results... Anyways...

I propose a system where all people begin without any names floating over their head nor guilds. However, there is then a command /introduce or /meet towards a player or NPC. The  command would put your name and guild above your head, but visible only to the person you met. Then, for them a window would pop up (and can be set to automatically do this in options) that would be along the lines of introduce yourself as well which would make them visible to you. This would be saved in the client and every time you log in the names of all people you have met would be above their heads, and those you haven\'t would simply be a stranger.

Now that I think about it, it is an exension of the /greet command, but yeah, same thing applies.

GM\'s of course should still have Game Masters visible to everybody and should be able to see everybody\'s name and guild, but for the community, I think this would add a wonderful depth to the game. People could then remain anonomous to others (except to the GM\'s) adding a sneaky insidious aspect that would be excellent. Perhaps there should also be an option in that window that tells the person your name, but not your guild. Yeah...

The same type of thing can be applied to monsters though this has probably been suggested. The first time you see a monster, there should be no description of it, but (now that books are being implemented) there should different books that describe individual monsters. When you learn about them, then the name shows above their head. When you have a higher and higher intelligence and/or experience fighting them, perhaps there should be more in-depth descriptions about that particular monster.

For example, I have experienced an Ulbernaut once (i.e. fought but quickly lost). When I click on the description of the Ulbernaut I should see something like \"an incredibly strong creature.\" If I proceed to use magic on it and I fail because it is intelligent, then it should say \"an incredibly strong and intelligent creature\" replacing intelligent with will or charismatic depending on what spell I used that failed, or succeeded.

Ok, I feel like I have been rambling on here, but this is an idea I think would really be cool for this game. Please tell me your thoughts and/or comments about this concept.

Cheers,

Xirius

[Uloim]

Introducing eh?  This reminds me of a game I used to play, AGES ago.  There were always those assassin people who never introduced themselves.  Good times...

Say, if the person doesn\'t introduce themselves, they should have SOME kind of name.  Perhaps... Someone ((188983)), where each person gets their own number.  That way, you have a brief idea of who the guy was that just stole your purse or something...  Maybe it should be in that character\'s information, it would get annoying seeing so many numbers above people\'s heads.

I\'d vote for introducing for future releases.

[Taurenthefirst]

for now, people have to have names above their heads because everyone of the same race looks exactly the same... if somone never introduced themselves to you and then you had a duel with them and lost, you would never be able to possibly find them again to get your revenge
but i assume once there is a little more character customization something along these lines will be implemented, because alot of people complain about it messing up the roleplaying.

[Uloim]

Well, in the game that I played which had introduction (and a form of the number idea which I came up with), every race looked the same, like they do in Planeshift these days.

[provisionist1]

I started thinking of that Uloim, there would need to be some sort of identification (number like you said would work) in case you need to report the person to the GM, but yeah, I think it still works without having differences in the way the character looks. However, perhaps there should be a way to mark someone (through magic) so that you could now the person even if they didn\'t choose to tell their name. Hmmm,

Yeah,

Xirius

[Platyna]

I think it would be alot easier ask developers to change the default settings in
data files so names will be not shown or only shown on mouse over them.

Regards.

[Taurenthefirst]

would it work if we made names like the phonebook?
you get to choose wether you want your name listed or unlisted... like in the phonebook.

if you choose listed... well that could be the equivilant of
you being famous IC, therefore everyone knows who
you are. although, then we could have problems with
noobs going around \"i\'m famous woot! bow before me
i\'m famous!\"
and that would be lame... so i don\'t know

[Zan]

Well if we build from that idea there should be a fame system. Simply a grading system like the duel points, only fame points can be won in other ways. For example by finishing certain major and/or temporarily available quests, winning grand tournaments, being the leader of a major guild, ... For each of these things a character recieves fame points and with enough fame points one\'s name could be known to all. As well as NPC\'s acting more friendly, perhaps even discounts at their shops, etc.

In general I do like the initial idea that names aren\'t visible unless introduced or perhaps being uncovered by certain magic spells. Of course a means of identification should still be present. A specific code that could be checked with the /info command, not shown over their heads like names are at the moment.

If this happens it should be extended to NPC\'s as well though, aside from famous ones you shouldn\'t see their names before you talked to them. We could also let unfriendly or paranoid NPC\'s remain unknown while most others would introduce themselves when you talk to them. Of course this would depend on your charisma as well. A character with a low charisma would have a harder time learning NPC names than one with a high charisma.