Show known characters only (option)

[Under the moon]

The following images should be self explanaitory.

Here we see it as it is now.




New option for lables. Click it. Also, turn off invisible.




Let's pretend this one says Enki, rather than Kran, and the name is Boon. Set Boon, who is your friend, as known. Also can be done with /known Boon.




Now you can pick out the folks you know in a crowd. This has no affect on the chat box, but could with more advanced options, such as 'lighting up' the (?) above the speaker's head for a few moments.

[Seytra]

This option would be very good for guild names, but for names it still seems cumbersome.

The visibility option should affect the showing of the unknown names (i.e., if "visible on mouse" is ticked along "known only", then always show known names, and have the unknown names show on mouseover). In any case the system should display unknown names in a different colour (except for those that have special colours). Same for NPCs of all sorts. The "Mark as known" should be accessible from the context menu, not just from the description (less cumbersome).

Lighting up the speaker's name / "(?)" is a good idea, and the chatbox could also become sensitive, so if you hover the mouse over a message, then that speaker's name lights up in a special way (like repeatedly fading in and out, added brackets, etc.) / different color. Same for all types of messages (/tell, etc.).
While we're at it, we might also make the messages of known people (at least /tell, /group and /guild) a different color than all other's messages, which might make it easier to pick out "your" conversation, but may also have the opposite effect.

Still it would require one to associate avatars with messages instead of just looking at the name tag, which will be very confusing if there's a group of (close to) identical avatars, at least if they are moving. It's like separating twins that you don't know very well.

As I said, great for guild names, but (at least for my taste) too cumbersome for names.

[emeraldfool]

I don't see the point of this. Are you really so popular you need to be reminded who you know and don't know?

It might stop noobs from OOCly knowing your name, but they're a lost cause anyway...

[Nurahk]

Isn't this replica #100 or so of this topic?

[Induane]

Maybe its a replica - but those happen - I think his point here was an idea for implementation not that the idea itself is new.  Not that the idea is bad.  In real life I'd never be able to run into a crowd of people and name everyone there because I wouldn't know them.  I've suggested going as far as having some names "fade" from memory if your encounters with them are rare, while others eventually get committed to permanent memory.  The labels are they are are totally OOC, and if the focus is on RP as much as it seems to be claimed then something eventually needs to change.   

[neko kyouran]

reposting the exact same thread after a mod locked and then deleted the first thread is a VERY bad idea. 

[Karyuu]

Unless the mod gave him permission - and actually reopened the same thread. I'll be sure to be more obvious with my actions next time. Don't worry, Neko.

[Under the moon]

* Under the moon smiles.

I guess I was not clear enough on the purpose of this wish, and should have included a screenshot of when there are twenty people or more surrounding poor Harn. I like to call it the Neon Green Blob of Scrambled Names, or Namespam. The use of it is the same reason you have a buddylist that alerts you to players you know logging on and off, rather than every single player. It is more of an OOC tool that an IC feature, just like the other label options. It is much like the /ignore command.

Seytra, filtering known guild names could be an option as well, as well as those other options you spoke of. I had thought of those as well, but wanted to keep it simple in my example (and was too lazy to edit the XML or edit the pic to show more). I would like the option just to show known guilds, known characters, know friends, known enemies, etc. This might best be done with a clientside filter for each of your characters to take pressure off the server. As for being cumbersome, a simple /known <name> does not seem all that hard to me for the benefits of recognizing a character running across the plaza as someone you might know, and killing the Neon Blob.

I do not think it should affect the chat window as a default, but maybe an option. I do like the way it changes color if someone says your name. It could also change if you hear the voice of someone you know. I would like to note here that you can know someone -without- knowing their name. I have worked on and off with a guy for over a year, and know his face and voice very well. never actually asked his name until a week ago. But, I would have been able to pick him out in a crowd as someone I knew.

Now, if you are in a larg group, and want to know who is saying what, just turn the option to Names only. Just like turning off invisible. No big deal.

e-fool: Read the post TWICE  before you start spitting out incoherant drible. This is to filter -your own- view of other's labels, not how others see you. I guess the images were not self explantory enough after all. Next time I will draw them in crayon, and hire you a tutor. (sorry, Mods, if that was overly flame-y. Remove it is you think it is uncalled for)

Nurahk: No, it is not. Similar to the other topics, but not the same. This has more in common with the buddy list and label options than a system of forced recognition. That is why it is in a new thread rather than the others I found. Search is my friend.

Induane: This would be mostly OOC tool for telling you who your character knows IC at a glance. It is up to you to RP who your character sees. And it gets rid of the Blob. I am against a forced name system, after thinking about it. If a few newbies, or even a player that has been around slips and says your name, just glass it over, and play it up. It is not a great problem. The Blob scares me more. In fact, I was just in the tavern fireden, and did not know my character's good friend Einnol was there until he spoke. Then it took me a while to actually find where he was sitting. There was less than seven people down by the fire at the time.

neko: I still love you, and forgive you.

Karyuu >me

[neko kyouran]

neko: I still love you, and forgive you.

Karyuu >me

  you too moony.

offer you a cookie?

[bilbous]

I like this idea a lot and think it should be the default state. You can still click on another character and see the name on the status bar or examine using the context menu. I would further suggest that the context message box should not list the players name until  you have been /introduced or you have had enough encounters that the likelihood of someone having let slip the name in your presence is high enough. This may not be practical though.

[Idoru]

I really do llove this idea. It makes totaly sense to me and seems perfectly reasonable.

[Under the moon]

Default, no. Too anti-newbie. No affect on the chatbox either. Too greif-able.

This is a tool for once you get to know the game, not a detrerrent from others who do not know you from saying your name. That -has- been talked to death in other threads, and shot down for good reason.

[emeraldfool]

Hey, screw you. I'm just asking why you need the game mechanics to help you pick your friends out in a crowd.

If you are a good RPer, which you do seem to be, the character names floating over their heads don't make a difference. The only thing they do is clear up OOC confusion as to who's saying what, and where they are, etc.  But that's OOC anyway, and everybody knows it, so why try to make things harder for yourself by hiding them...?


Besides, I'm not sure why you seem to hate me so much, but I think I have a right to be misinterpret 4 pictures and a few lines of text without being attacked, no matter how clear you think they are

[bilbous]

I was not talking about the chat box, I was talking about the character desciption window access by using the eyeball icon of the context menu. After all you cannot usually tell sobodies name by looking at them. Of course bilbous has his stamped on his forehead, though I really am thinking of having the skin grow over the tattoo.

You do not mention it, but I think this should only apply to players and not gms or npc's

[Under the moon]

It is up to RP to decide who your character knows. I am not in favor of hiding names in descrptions. That would be irritating more than anything.

Emeraldfool, I have explained very well the 'why' of this, but you seem to have missed it yet again. So I have taken the liberty of making another screenshot. Sorry it is not in crayon.


That is the formation of a minor Blob of five or so characters. They are not too bad, as they are about as dangerous as a Green Slime. The problem really starts when you add a few more folks to the mix, and end up with a major Blob. We are talking 20th level Red Slime territory. Now, I have witnessed Uber Blobs before, of twenty or more characters in a crowd. Have you ever faced a 100th level Metal Slime? The characters under that Blob seemed to be unaware of the danger.

Now, pick out the folks you might know in a Major, or Uber Blob. Then get back to me on why you might need game mechanics to help.