Boy these issues sure make for a hot debate!
On the side of having this program:
- Its cool
- It could come in handy for people like me who find games disorienting
- Would be a fun project to contribute to
But then again...
- Some think it ruins the "roleplay expirence"
- There is the chance of a spoiler factor
- It may violate the weird AB License
I understand the reason PlaneShifts art is licensed the way it is. In some ways it makes sense and keeps the "uniqueness" of PlaneShift intact. But I've been here for a reasonably long time and there are things about the game that astound me and things about the game that depress me.
[rant]
Why do we have a wishlist? It seems that Talad has his vision already rock center in place. The wishlist is looked at by few devs who rarely comment. I never post there anymore as I feel like no matter what I say or do I'll never have an idea that is 100% compatible with the "vision" of planeshift. Its like they already know what is and isn't going to happen with the game, so if we don't have ANY input whatsoever, why on earth do we have this forum board? It seems to me that it should feel more honest. The top sticky should say - feel free to waste your time posting something that is going to be completely ignored by every dev because they know it will never get past Talad anyways! No one can really contribute art no matter how good it is if they ever post it in the forums and get a group of people working on it. No one has the time to listen or care.
[/rant]
I feel a bit better. On to the issue at hand more directly - I don't personally have a problem with a map reader. In fact its kind of neat in a unique way. Sure planeshift doesn't have "google earth" but it could easily have a magical display of the charted terrority ingame somewhere. Its not out of the realm of roleplay to have good maps, even maps that turn as you do. When I'm out with a map in real life I turn it to orient myself with it (provided I have a map). I agree it should be a cartography skill ingame, but I don't see whats really wrong with a google map mod. It makes planeshift seem like its own world to me - something independent from earth, which is the way I LIKE to look at it. If people are afraid it will ruin their RP expirence then they don't have to use it. For the rest of us it could be neat! I think the devs and players would both have more fun if they wern't so uptight about some things. Some people will always be exploiters. You don't fix this by making anything that could possibly be construed as a exploit "illegal" as it discurages fun projects and innovation like this one. Already I think he is discouraged and the little Google PS project has died.
Being restrictive about certain things is fine, but you can be a bit too restrictive and the project can suffer as a result. I'd love to see what planeshifts potential would be if random art submissions were managed well and put ingame. All you'd need is one dedicated dev to take care of that process, and have Talad approve the art that the dedicated dev thinks is good enough. That would keep Talad from being bogged down by requests to "Hey look at my leet guildhouse."
And that is something else. Until we have it so you can buy houses and castles, why not have that dedicated dev be allowed to review guild specific art? Guildhouses for instance. Ones deemed good enough could be placed ingame in a certain designated area for guildhouses. This is of course after the dedicated dev takes the time to decide if it is good enough to spend his/her time getting ingame, and then confiirming that it meets Talads stardards for things like architecture styles, etc... The world of PlaneShift would open up into fantastic new realms and new buildings to explore.
But of course why should I bother with such a stupid suggestion? I'll be ignored or ridiculed by olderbies than myself because its not in "Talads Vision" DUH!
Urmmm I guess thats a rant too, so
[/rant]
