Thanks Quinidain for letting me know about this thread.
My vote goes for "No introduction system". That is, to let things the way they are now.
If anyone cares about the opinion of someone who doesn't play the game, I try to state it here:
The code has to serve the players. Make their life easier when using the game.
A code that is not set in a game rule, should not force, nor coerce players freedom.
The way it is now, players already roleplay correctly unknown characters, as a general rule.
Some might happen to make the mistake of using accidentally the name because they see it there, green and flashy. In those cases, there is always the chance to explain the mistake to the player having done it, and, from my experience, none of them persists on the mistake. It becomes so strongly logic that their char couldn't know the others, just first time seeing them, that the player immediately realizes about the mistake as well as learning an important differentiation, which is IC from OOC. What you know, and what you see, doesn't have to always be what your char knows and sees. It is something that could be even explained (if not already) in the game tutorial.
A perfect /introducing system would end up achieving a status that would, generally, equal the one that already exists now by players behaving just naturally.
With the small burden of all players having to use the /introduce command to reach that status.
And with the addendum that code is always prone to have fails, or non-considered cases of use. Some ways have been already mentioned when someone might know about another's name, without having been /introduced first.
* The char name is eavesdropped in an ongoing conversation nearby.
* Another char introduces you to a third. (With the introduction system now the player using the third char is forced to use /introduce command to keep consistency)
* Someone shouts a name, and another replies as having been addressed to.
* Someone who rules a business, such as "Teckler Gofnary shoes".
* Someone who has a very particular trait, or a special disease. Enkidukai allergic of fur, Kran scared about butterflies...
* Someone who is famous or has a very specific charge, such as the octarch.
* Any other case that comes to mind.
All those are cases that are naturally dealt with by the players as of now, and without issues of relevance.
I think it is something that can be demanded from the playerbase, that such things are roleplayed correctly. There is no need to put a hard code behind it, in order to enforce such behaviors; this would rather seem as a lack of confidence towards the players capabilities.
When I was first told about this, I teased about the "reintroducing" command, due to names not lasting forever in memory.
I see Sajut has already put that idea into debate, in a serious fashion.
I disagree with having a "countdown" set on characters, based on time passed since last hearing a name or interacting with that same name. I am not saying that the char is to remember all the names correctly, as shown to you by the green labels. I'm just saying, let the player have the freedom to decide how much her/his character is meant to remember the names. Trust the players ability to roleplay correctly, and if you consider a char should have forgotten your one, feel free to state such a thing to the other player, and see the reaction.
The implemented should indeed aid for realism, but not mean an imposition that then makes realism a burden.
For example:
Just similar to the forgetting about names, one can equally argue about untrained skills. Indeed, in order to keep a skill/stat at a maximum, or a given level, a certain amount of "maintenance" training should be performed. But this is not implemented, and better that way. Because otherwise the game would become too much time consuming on /train /maintain train /introduce /reintroduce and leave few room to the build of lives in a fictional world that is the roleplay.
A similar comment can be applied to the temptation of using intelligence stat when trading, be it with NPC or other characters, and be cheated. Then again I prefer to let the players roleplay such a cheat (if any) rather than have it imposed by any code to be.
There is much code that can be done, and aid the player play. For example, by allowing /import /export of the buddy list. Players creating a new char now have only the chance to rebuild the buddy list they have with another char by hand if that's what they want.
Or implement the "comments on buddylist" that would allow to add a note (sort of a post-it) to each buddy list entry, that could contain info regarding the last play you had with that character, or any particular traits/events you want to keep in mind when playing with that character again. Much more handy to have all the info centralized in the game, rather than on disperse notes all through the desk.
To sum up:
To me the /introduce command is not bringing much enthusiasm, because it is not perceived as being something that represents a "gain", for what it aims to bring "is already there".
The code should implement new tools for improving the players experience.
Poll