Though hard to understand at times, Conietic has valid opinions and arguments. I will go through some of his points, and give you both sides when I can.
-Kada’s. Is it gone? No. Is the feel it used to have gone? In my opinion, yes. What used to be a place for live person with a true personality that would converse and jibe with folks in chat has now been replaced with a motionless statue that is there for the sole purpose of giving quests and selling drinks. Sure, you can try to RP with an NPC, but to what extent? As stated in another post of mine, talking to an NPC does not really matter one way or the other. Playing a barkeep mattered to people, as the interaction was true. The NPC placed there felt as if it was taking the place of the players that chose to fill that role, and indeed it has. I have not seen a single Player barkeep in there since the NPC was placed. There is no possible way to interact with an NPC in the same way as a player. THAT is what Coneitic means, and I agree.
To fix this, the answer is as simple as giving the bar back to players, and make it truly mean something at the same time. Make it a job. Leave what’s her name behind the bar, but move her away from stage center. That is where a player belongs if they choose. Now, create a new command called /bartend, /shop, or some other such thing. A single person who takes the position of barkeep for that time types /bartend, and a menu of inventory pops up, showing what is for sale. It is very much like opening your own inventory, only it would be the bar’s inventory. If a player asks for a drink, you simply open a trade with them and move the item from the bar inventory to the buyer’s inventory, automatically taking the proper amount of tria from them when they click [Buy]. Yes, that is exactly how NPCs do it. To make it worthwhile for the barkeep(player), as small commission would be put into his own pocket for each sale. Hell, the barkeep could even have access to quests to give out, such as sending another player to get a new barrel of beer from Brado’s when stocks started to get low (in a future system, that is. I know very well the one right now can not handle such a thing)
-<censored>. The <censored>. To tell you the truth, NO ONE has the right to say who is a hero to someone, and who is not. To people who were getting sick of the <censored>, actions taken against it are seen as heroic. To <others> <who wanted to do something in another way> those same actions are seen as stupid. However, you have no right to thrust your opinions on each other as the only ‘right’. <some people> are heroic to some, and an ass to others. Leave it at that and shut up. BOTH sides.
-lol’s, smilies, and netspeak. Yes, I find these disruptive as well. I camouflaged the problem by editing my chat filter to turn the inane gibber into something resembling ‘normal’ speech. Yes, I could have stood there and corrected everyone who spit out an ‘lol’, but is that really my job? Not really. The client could be set up with a filter that auto detected such things and then send a Main Tab message requesting that player uses ‘common’ language in open chat. The nuisance of the message (in bright red) would be more than enough of a hint, and players would never have to step out of character to try to correct someone.
- ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’. Talked to death already. I like to call this lawful and lawless instead, as folks who break the law for their own benefit do not often see themselves as ‘evil’. In any case, though, there is no support for an ‘evil’ character to exist outside of player to player chat. This is a huge determent to actually playing such a character. I do not mean that as only being able to do ‘evil’ onto others, but having to worry about the consequences for doing such an act. I have talked in depth how I would change this already, so will not bother you folks with it again.
- Roleplay. There is still great argument as to what RP exactly is. Some say it is only reacting to the mechanics of the game, what can be seen, heard, and done. To others, it is the person experience of creating and existing as a character. Both are right, and are only two of many, many opinions that are also right. I saw one poster say that power leveling is the opposite of roleplaying. To him, perhaps. But to me, that is just another ‘right’ way to RP if it is done while staying in character. That is the key to RP. Staying in the character you create, whether it is using game mechanics, or only in chat with other players. People who go into the game ‘Just to do stuff’ with no thought put into who they are trying to be is one of the things I would say is NOT RP to me. That mentality seems to be growing a bit, though, and RPers find that scary. The reason for this is that once again the game falls short on telling folks exactly what is expected of them, with no prominent hints or nudges if they start to wander form the accepted path. It is left up to players to try to regulate that, and it should not be. I am not sure what kind of system could enhance the ‘knowledge’ of new players besides a full, step by step training tutorial, and a better Creation system.
That is what I have to say, long winded as it may be. Take it as you may, but remember that they are -my- opinions, and as such can NOT be wrong to me or those that agree with me, just as your opinions can not be wrong for you, and those who agree with you. Respect what others say, or do not open your own mouths.
