RP summary or a What's Happening window

[SAristo]

As an ex-journo who subs and now runs an obscure newspaper in RL, I'm putting this idea out there for those (like me) who aren't huge readers at (by) the end of the day, failed the captcha, or who've been away but want a quick update on what's going on. Cos face it - reading everything in the RP forum, no matter how well written, to get (back) into the game is only ideal if you have loadsa time and can't get enough of forums. Same with hanging in the taverns getting your news IC. What about something in the game that headlines current open RPs and just provides the gist of the plot (no spoilers) or perhaps who to contact? RP-ly, this:

http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=40555.msg457092#msg457092

seems like a useful start - just read the headlines and if interested, read more. No newspaper worth its print is entirely objective, however, and there are all sorts of illegal other interesting things that wouldn't make it into a newspaper, so my idea is for an updatable list, perhaps like the quests window. No idea how workable this is, but I'm sure I can count on someone here, if not a whole crowd, to tell me if it's not, and why.

[Rigwyn]

Well, a newspaper like this could be posted in an IC thread such as the town message boards or posted on the in-game message board.. I think the biggest thing is that someone needs to keep it up to date with information that they received ICly - hopefully not being too verbose. There have been many folks who started writing an in-game paper but most (those that I've known about at least ) have fizzled out after a few issues.

[SAristo]

The newspaper is an RP solution but I'm really also talking about including an RP summary window accessible via the menu. And yes, I suppose it entails admin.

[RlyDontKnow]

and who would keep that up to date?
after all there's no way to programmatically know who's playing which plot with whom or such

and personally I doubt even anyone actively playing knows about all plots going on atm, so this seems a little... off imo.

[LigH]

The only valid in-character way to get to know what's happening in Yliakum is probably:

Look for people.
Listen to their talk.
Read the billboards.

Out-of-character, we have a few RP Event and Message Board threads; but neither Game Masters nor Players currently have any feature to "register a RP event in a public live schedule", and I doubt that the development would agree to such a wish.

Game Masters may have their own GM Event schedule, but that is not publicly readable, and roleplaying events with GM leader are usually not much announced, it is just luck if you get involved in the rather few events happening. So you can't plan taking part for collecting rewards.

[Aramara Meibi]

I really don't understand how this would work, considering not all of us RPers are actively plotting. I for one prefer to keep things organic, let plots develop naturally through character interaction. That being said, the boiled down version of this would strictly be the list of online characters.

[Mariana Xiechai]

An interesting idea. There is a journalist character in game, who runs around collecting information and posting it in character (I'd presume.) However, yes, Aramara's statement is accuarate. See I don't even know where "quote unquote" my RolePlay is going. (By my, I loosely control a core character, but the point is to hope people pick it up and make it entirely their own, so it becomes "ours.") That's what you should aim for, but when that happens she's right, things become very unpredictable (which is half the fun.) After the fact, this might work, but it would take a lot of effort.

[novacadian]

Perhaps where such a development may belong is in the MyPlane development. It could be made to allow a player input current RP of the character; which would take the heavy lifting from any one person.

The input of what RP(s) the character is currently embroiled in could be flagged by type (kidnap, romance, etc.) and then that table in the database could be searched by other players.

The entry could be dated as well so that the search could make its display ranked on date.

The same access privs could be placed on the entries so one could have it made public, for only those on their buddies list, guild members, etc..

- Nova

[Rigwyn]

Talking about what's going in ic can make for some interesting rp... Also, your character(s) won't know everything that's happening.. So he/she/kra will at times end up in situations where that lack of knowledge will affect them... That's quite normal.


Some players choose not to read the forums simply because they donkt want to accidentally be biased by ooc information. When posting on the forums, I generally try to delay posts so as to reduce this effect.

[Aramara Meibi]

dear rigwyn,

i love that you have a borges quote in your sig. 

[SAristo]

I'm not talking about godmodding the plots anybody's characters are in.

See I'm saying, if you're a new player entering PS to make swords, you have ic and ooc ways of getting right into it. But if you're new and you enter to RP (and yes, of course making stuff and RPing are not mutually exclusive...), we're to be satisfied that it's down to chance that you find it before 6 months? *shakes head* I'm just thinking of ways to make the game better as a game by creating more open channels for easy info access for those who want it. Many of you here wouldn't need it. But I think the RP base is bigger and more diverse than is currently being tapped.

... neither Game Masters nor Players currently have any feature to "register a RP event in a public live schedule"...

That is much more what I mean. Leave aside for now the IC ways of knowing what's happening (which I myself enjoy) cos we can all make a case for the merits of such RP.

Some players choose not to read the forums simply because they donkt want to accidentally be biased by ooc information.

  That's gotta be one of the most optimistic reasons I've heard given for not reading the forums, but hey . One more channel for information wouldn't impinge on any of these rights not to know, would it? It would just give people a choice, imo, opt in/out.

Perhaps where such a development may belong is in the MyPlane development. It could be made to allow a player input current RP of the character; which would take the heavy lifting from any one person.

The input of what RP(s) the character is currently embroiled in could be flagged by type (kidnap, romance, etc.) and then that table in the database could be searched by other players.

The entry could be dated as well so that the search could make its display ranked on date.

The same access privs could be placed on the entries so one could have it made public, for only those on their buddies list, guild members, etc..

- Nova

Yes! I was hoping for something more integrated into the game but the closest example I could see was a day-to-day version of the Event Calendar that is updated by players working with the Dev team. Novacadian this is sounding way better than that - do you know how hard/easy it would be to do? Would also be a (welcome, imo) step up for MyPlane, from just being FacebookForPS.

[novacadian]

Novacadian this is sounding way better than that - do you know how hard/easy it would be to do?

It would be very easy to implement in my option. My guess is an hour or two tops.

It would have been something that would have been of interest to add to my Cooperative Plot Creation Project if the project had not been made redundant by MyPlane.

- Nova

[weltall]

if you want an event in the event calendar just contact gm.

[SAristo]

Right, thanks all, seeing if I can catch the MyPlane folks. Any other thoughts on how to make this work, or work better, please post.

[derula]

The entry could be dated as well so that the search could make its display ranked on date.

Seriously? Are you thinking this like a Facebook status? Sure that would even be noticed much?

I'd rather have the possibility to have an RP list for each character. You can add as many RPs as you like, but you should also remove ones that are not active any more / ended / you're not participating any longer. Each RP could have its own page on which it says how many people (maybe which people) are currently participating. You can simply "join" the RP like a group (well if it's open for joining), and it will show up in your list.

An RP could have a "news" section, where any member could post quick details of what's going on. The list of RPs would then be sorted by date of last news AND number of participants (weighted in some appropriate way). Characters who haven't logged in in a while should be counted as not part of the RP if the RP has progressed in their absence. (Would need some heuristics to guess that)

It would be very easy to implement in my option. My guess is an hour or two tops.

Bwahaha. Forgot how funny you are.