Listening radius configurability

[novacadian]

Not sure if this would just be a computational nightmare or not.... but during the Elemental Light's anniversary party today (which was great by the way) it occurred to me that it would be handy to be able to lower the radius of the conversations that one could hear. With such a large crowd it would have been nice to tune down the radius that one was listening to to zero in on the conversations of the group one was standing with and not hear conversations from across the plaza. It seems it would be more realistic as we tend to shut out the sounds from far off most of time time yet with all the crowd assembled one could discern each and every word uttered. In real life this could produce sensory overload; which it did for me at the gathering.

- Nova

[Aramara Meibi]

This is a problem I've too noticed at large gatherings such as events. Part of me agrees with you that there should be a way to adjust your hearing radius, much like you can adjust your viewing distance in camera options. Then again, part of me says that it speaks to the caliber of your RP how you're character reacts to such situations. If you become overwhelmed with the amount of chatter in an area, perhaps your character does to, and will want to withdraw to a quieter location. Also, wouldn't it be more realistic for your character to lean into a conversation if trying to speak to someone in a large crowd, such as the following hypothetical chat log:

random person A: Blah Blah Blah Blah
random person B: Yeah? well blah blah blah blah
Menki: Did you hear about the new museum?
random person C: Blah Blah Blah
random person B: Nuh uh, blah blah blah!
Fenki leans in closer to hear Menki better,"There's beer where I can see 'em?"
random person A: HAHAHAHAHA! BLAH!

again, I think RP should be considered, and players should ignore the conversation taking place on the other side of the crowd, because it would be unrealistic for anyone to discern what was being said. But, the fact that conversation to us is represented as chat in a text field, such a feature would reduce the clutter and make the RP easier.
also, perhaps different races should have different default hearing radii. Enki are said to have a heightened sense of hearing, and I think other races too. Shouldn't their hearing radius reflect this?

I'm half and half on this one. I think it's open for some healthy discussion though.

[MishkaL1138]

Solution: Use temporal /ignore

Or make a group

[novacadian]

Solution: Use temporal /ignore

Or make a group

Although they could be a hackish solution, Mishka, it seems to do so would make the RP even worse. Already sitting and trying to RP with someone or a group of people that you can almost hear the other OOC channels taking their attention is a big thing to remove the immersion for me. To walk around a crowd that was gathered at the EL gathering and not hear anything would seem down right weird.

To be able to walk through such a crowd and come in and out of conversations would seem very real and thus lead to much better immersion to me at least.

- Nova

P.S.

If you become overwhelmed with the amount of chatter in an area, perhaps your character does to, and will want to withdraw to a quieter location.

Yes Aramara, that is exactly what happened. My character left.... yet that seems what my old rpg group would have called Character Bleed. That is to say my character has little in common with me. It seems a shame that game mechanics should force that upon her.

[Aramara Meibi]

To be able to walk through such a crowd and come in and out of conversations would seem very real and thus lead to much better immersion to me at least.

I'm picturing this and I like the idea more and more. Mishka's solution would be entirely unnatural in a large crowd. For one, a crowd is a fluid and dynamic structure, people moving in and out of groups and clusters and the like. If you were using group chat, you would constantly be inviting and disbanding the group, same with /ignore. The dynamic situation would be too much.

But, if you had a smaller hearing radius, you could move through the crowd and pick up on the tidbits of conversation of those closest to you, while the other voices would be diminished.

It might also be a good idea to make this an adaptive option, like the adaptive distance option for graphics. Let's say you can set the number of characters to fill your hearing radius, for instance, you set your number to five. That means, if more than five characters enter into the default radius, your hearing radius will shrink until only five characters are in it. Your hearing radius will be reduced to the 5th closest person to you. Everyone outside the dynamic radius will be excluded from chat. Of course, /shout will overpower this rule. The default hearing radius will be the maximum.

[MishkaL1138]

I offered that solution because I can imagine the devs team is currently busy enough with other things. I really hope the GSoC guys are successful.

[Dannae]

I'm often overwhelmed with the chat while bar tending  at the Den when there is a large crowd leading me to sometimes miss the chat from characters close who I should be paying attention to. I'd love to have options that would help with this situation too.

An alternative I thought of to adjusting hearing distance, and which seems even more natural to me, would instead be the ability to adjust your own characters loudness of speech. This could enable you to truly whisper, talk naturally, or shout when needed. It could also give very close characters the possibility to overhear your whisper if they are snooping. The default level of loudness (hearing distance) I think should be lowered from what it now is.

[Phantomboy86]

My character is a spy, and he spies a LOT. If you notice me on the server, your conversation is 7 out of 10 times not safe in main.

So i think this is an absolutely stellar idea. My number 1 rule for spying is by NO means make any sort of /me action that implies you can hear them, even if its '/me sits to listen quietly) because You. Will. Be. Found.


What would be better than creeping up on someone who couldn't hear you even if you accidentally put a whisper or guild talk in main?