RP Features/Commands

[Toukoilija]

Stuff I figure would contribute to CLOK's roleplay:

Anonymity/Remember/Memory

Quite simply, PCs start anonymous to each other -- seen as a short physical description rather than a name.
This would be changed by using a command to rename the target as wanted.

I find that this would allow for a range of boons, including adding an unknown quality to the player characters - we hear about each other's characters on the ESP and sometimes even on the OOC, and it can be very easy to accidentally treat someone you have no way to recognize in a manner based on such information.
Further, it would help us (especially those with multiple characters) to keep in mind who we actually know, and finally give way for all sorts of neat trickery with the way we introduce ourselves without automatically setting the other player into a "what is this person trying to pull..."- mindset.

The system could be expanded by allowing one to add notes to memorized people.

Examples:

You see:
A lanky, stringy-haired woman
remember lanky Alice
->
You see:
Alice
---
remember alice add She was sneaking about the prison. Fishy.
remember alice add She owes me two hundred riln.
->
remember alice notes
Notes about Alice:
1) She was sneaking about the prison. Fishy.
2) She owes me two hundred riln.


Emote Targeting

The target receives the emote with their name replaced by 'you' or 'your'. This could be controlled by /<name> or something similar.

Example:

emote looks over to /alice, smiling faintly.

Target sees: Thomas looks over to you, smiling faintly.
Others see: Thomas looks over to Alice, smiling faintly.
---
Furthermore, this would work in tandem with the Anonymity above:

Alice = a lanky, stringy-haired woman

emote scowls at /lanky, shaking her head.
->
People with lanky memorized as Alice see: Emily scowls at Alice, shaking her head.
People with lanky memorized as Ester see: Emily scowls at Ester, shaking her head.
People who haven't named lanky see: Emily scowls at a lanky, stringy-haired woman, shaking her head.


Action/Roomtitle

A system for setting an action seen with your name when someone looks at the room or you.

Example:
emote is leaning against the counter, humming tunelessly.
->
Thomas is leaning against the counter, humming tunelessly.
or
A sturdy, blonde man is leaning against the counter, humming tunelessly.


RPEcho/Freemote

Similar to emote, Freemote differs in that it does not add the user's name at the beginning. This would allow for more fluid, varied emoting and creating of ambients.
One would add their name to the string with something like /self.

Example:
rpecho Leaning against the counter, /self studies the people gathered in the room before announcing, "A round for everyone on me!"
->
Leaning against the counter, Thomas studies the people gathered in the room before announcing, "A round for everyone on me!"
or
Leaning against the counter, a sturdy, blonde man studies the people gathered in the room before announcing, "A round for everyone on me!"
---
rpecho People start pouring into the church at a steady rate, chattering quietly among themselves. It seems the morning Mass will draw a full house today.
->
Everyone sees: People start pouring into the church at a steady rate, chattering quietly among themselves. It seems the morning Mass will draw a full house today.


Roomstate/Rdescmod

A command that allows the players to add a clearly marked line to the room description -- allows for all sorts of trickery and plot-setting.

Example:
roomstate There's a large pool of blood in front of the counter and a trail of it leads further into the room, past the fireplace and all the way to the backdoor.
->
look
<Room description>

<<There's a large pool of blood in front of the counter and a trail of it leads further into the room, past the fireplace and all the way to the backdoor.>>

The << >> to make it clear that it's a roomstate.


Rumour System

A system that allows players to contribute rumours, perhaps with the command RUMOR ADD. The strings should be vague and written in a rumour-ish manner, and before they are published they need to be approved by an Imm to avoid abuse.

The rumours could be seen by players when using RUMOR command in a public area of a settlement.

Example:

rumor add I hear the new biscuits the Dwaedn started producing are really good. There's all sort of talk about some secret ingredient or other..."
->
rumor
A gossippy housewife excitedly explains to you: "I hear the new biscuits the Dwaedn started producing are really good. There's all sort of talk about some secret ingredient or other..."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That'd be it. Comment & stuff!

[hadesfire]

the Action/Roomtitle thing could be called pose but i'm against players being able to add to romm descriptions. Did you ever play Maiden Desmodus, by the way?

[Eraene]

I'd also like to see some kind of remember system, a room position (Eraene is here, leaning against a post.) and a "freemote" verb (Tapping her foot, Eraene waits impatiently.)

As a sidenote, I don't understand why written emotes have to be in parentheses, unless there's some kind of skill text clone concern that necessitates it. Even then, I'm not sure why that would require separating emotes and making them look awkward compared to normal 'socials'.

[hadesfire]

because when somebody starts emoting crap or skill abilities ("you pick the lock") then you get problems, this avoids those problems by making it seen if it's a real ability.

[Nootau]

What is the problem if someone is emoting performing a task or ability?

[Rias]

em hands you 300 riln.

em just went north.

em suddenly disappears!

And so on. I know some people don't like the parentheses, but I like the idea of people pulling stunts like the above even less. Don't expect it to change. Sorry.

[Jaster]

(Jaster pwns.) Crap.. now everyone knows I emoted.

[Jaren]

Maybe something subtle, like this.

(Jaren 's power grows to rival even the gods and now he has become the UBER G()D of the UNIVERSE. His magical aura of power shines brightly before you as you fall to your knees and bask in his AWESOMENESS!)

[Lemuel]

As a sidenote, I don't understand why written emotes have to be in parentheses, unless there's some kind of skill text clone concern that necessitates it. Even then, I'm not sure why that would require separating emotes and making them look awkward compared to normal 'socials'.

I've been also wanting to suggest we upgrade from parentheses to something more natural looking, that still has the needed safeguard in it.

Instead of

(Kiyaani pulls some vegetables from an abandoned field and makes a small salad, watching her farming prowess grow ever-so-slightly as she does it.)

we could have something a little more polished, like

] Kiyaani pulls some vegetables from an abandoned field and makes a small salad, watching her farming prowess grow ever-so-slightly as she does it.

Or some similar format that is more subtle than the surrounding parentheses we now have.

[Ragn]

Suppose I don't understand the problem. This is a RP-enforced mud, so if emote was abused just have it punishable like the other rules? I've played other muds with 100ish players on at a time and it was never an issue.

[Lysse]

I'm not sure why the emote system would need to be made to look identical to normal commands in the game. As it stands now, I can think of at lease one player who might abuse a change to the system, and all it takes is for something to happen once to potentially drive off a new player, or even an old one.

[Rithiel]

My opinion as a player, not a DEV, is that it's fun to try to make your character work given the confines of the game. I like discovering things like pacing around in a circle through targeting of existing RP verbs. If we remove the ( ), it will be impossible to see which ones are part of the game and which aren't.

Now my opinion as a DEV: there's no way that we're going to be able to police uses of act. I think game-made actions and emotes need to be separate so people don't spend forever trying to find the verbs that will cause it. I understand that people really like to be able to write emotes where they say and do something at the same time, but it's not too terribly cumbersome to use the game methods for doing that.

If there's an RP verb that you'd really like to see, post it and we'll see about making it work.

[Eraene]

Then I'd settle for a more subtle way of noting that it is indeed a written emote. The parentheses give it an odd feel, as if it isn't really part of roleplay at all. I suppose because of the habit to put OOC comments in ((these)). Still, I suppose if you're just saying straight out no, then that's how it is. I just think it's unfortunate.

[Danlin]

Alternatively, instead of parentheses, you could change emotes to their own special ansi color and/or give the players options to change what color they see?

[Marauder]

[quote=Danlin]Alternatively, instead of parentheses, you could change emotes to their own special ansi color and/or give the players options to change what color they see?[/quote]

I support this one. It'd be nice to change emote colors to something blinding so I can notice them among spam.

[Ragn]

[quote=Eraene]Then I'd settle for a more subtle way of noting that it is indeed a written emote. The parentheses give it an odd feel, as if it isn't really part of roleplay at all. I suppose because of the habit to put OOC comments in ((these)). Still, I suppose if you're just saying straight out no, then that's how it is. I just think it's unfortunate.[/quote]

+1. Also a shame that you know of someone in the playerbase who'd abuse it.

And my problem with RP emotes, is it is sometimes so cumbersome to try and remember which ones do what and use them quickly in situations instead of going "Crud. Now which emote was it that did this?" and trying to get the syntax down.

[Lemuel]

And my problem with RP emotes, is it is sometimes so cumbersome to try and remember which ones do what and use them quickly in situations instead of going "Crud. Now which emote was it that did this?" and trying to get the syntax down.

In light of this (which is an ongoing problem for me too) please let me suggest/request a new command, TESTEMOTE, which will return (on the users's screen only) the result of that emote.


Example:

TESTEMOTE LICK SELF

would result, on my screen only, the following:

You would see: You lick your lips.
Others would see: Lemuel licks his lips.

perhaps in a special colour.

[lin]

I too think the parentheses look awful, and would like to suggest something. We could make the name of the char who's emoting bold.

Lin does this and that.
With a few expert motions and a piece of cloth, Lin attempts to gag Kent right as the old man says "eh" again.

It'd look much, much better (IMO) and still solve two issues:
- poweremoting,
- imitating skills and other commands.

Thoughts?

[Barius]

Bumping at Zoiya's request.

For clarity, this is what I am bumping:

Stuff I figure would contribute to CLOK's roleplay:

Anonymity/Remember/Memory

Quite simply, PCs start anonymous to each other -- seen as a short physical description rather than a name.
This would be changed by using a command to rename the target as wanted.

I find that this would allow for a range of boons, including adding an unknown quality to the player characters - we hear about each other's characters on the ESP and sometimes even on the OOC, and it can be very easy to accidentally treat someone you have no way to recognize in a manner based on such information.
Further, it would help us (especially those with multiple characters) to keep in mind who we actually know, and finally give way for all sorts of neat trickery with the way we introduce ourselves without automatically setting the other player into a "what is this person trying to pull..."- mindset.

The system could be expanded by allowing one to add notes to memorized people.

Examples:

You see:
A lanky, stringy-haired woman
remember lanky Alice
->
You see:
Alice
---

[TwistedAkai]

Anonymity/Remember/Memory

Emote Targeting

Action/Roomtitle

RPEcho/Freemote

Roomstate/Rdescmod

Rumour System

So I took the time to search the forum before making my suggestion and behold I'm not alone! Or at least not as of April. I would love to see most of these. In particular, I like the action bit, because it would let people newly entering the room see that my character is leaning casually against a wall, rather than just seeing me standing generically until I emote, for the umpteenth time, that I'm leaning casually against the wall.

I would also like to see the anon bit because while seeing names is all well and good if everyone RPs it properly, there's the issue of new players forgetting they need to be introduced, and the inherent touch of meta everyone will do if they see the name of a wanted psychopath. If you overheard someone saying about how they were mugged by Amos, but don't know what Amos looks like, and then see Amos sneaking into the room, you're very likely not going to just sit there and wait for him to mug you, even if you have no IC reason to leave. As an added bonus, it brings character features a bit more to the forefront.

Emote targeting I'm a little less wanting, though I'd never disapprove of it. It's a shiny thing, especially with emotes being clearly marked. I see no way it can detract, but then all it can add is a touch of immersion, so I don't see it as a huge thing to go for right away.

RP Echos have me on the fence. I like them. They're beautiful. They're amazing. But they make emotes look useless by comparison, in terms of abuse. Where emotes are marked to prevent people spoofing game messages, RP Echos would introduce spoofing other players. As much as I like them, I'm not sure we need them.

Roomstate I'd have to agree is something we don't need. It'd be nice to have, but it'd just get taken away very quickly. As a bit of a compromise though, maybe it could be possible for a room to get bloodied by fighting? This could create a lot of lag as well, though, so maybe not? As an alternative, maybe it could be a GM power to put down that addendum for a given period of time.

Lastly, that rumor system could be fun, though as suggested, it would have to be GM monitored, and probably should be specific to the town/outpost/guildhall.

[Lysse]

Seeing a new person showing interest in a rumor system, I thought it might be relevant to link to an idea regarding a rumor system that I posted some time ago.


viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2460

[Rias]

A GM-run rumor system is already functioning, it just needs filling out before it's released.

Emote targeting is something I've wanted to do for a long while and even know how I want to implement it, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I don't like the idea of setting your own "room actions" as characters for a number of reasons. First, it'll make the room occupants list really really long if there are multiple people with set "actions". Second, I can't help but think of all the times these "actions" shouldn't be long-term enough to require something beyond a simple emote as we have them now. I think every example has been about leaning against something, but beyond that, is there anything you're going to be doing, constantly, despite anything and everything that may be going on around you? For instance, from one of the examples above: Rias (leaning against the counter, humming to himself). How long am I really going to be humming myself? Am I going to remember to clear or cancel that the next time I talk, or take a drink, or whatever? This could be just as easily conveyed with an emote: (Rias leans against the counter, humming to himself.) Sure, someone might show up in the next 5 seconds and not know that I was specifically leaning against the counter and humming to myself, but I'd prefer that to people setting and leaving these actions for silly amounts of time and forgetting to clear them when they should have realistically been interrupted by some action that occurred in the room, performed either by the person themself or someone else whose actions are beyond their control.

[TwistedAkai]

Actions could be cleared by anything else that might automatically set one, such as sitting, standing, laying, falling unconcious, getting into a fight (something I would like to see shown, actually, so you can see a fight ahead of time when peering).

[faylen]

A few comments.

First, I would suggest not using colors only to identify any important information, or any purely visual formatting. Those of us who are VI, as well as people with limited clients, may not be able to get at this information and determining what is or is not an emote is important to me. How I determine that I don't care about though, so if the symbols were changed, that's fine with me.

As for room actions/poses, I too would love, love, to see these. I actually sometimes get frustrated that I can't set them because I'm so used to being able to in rp environments. From my experience, people new to such commands do have a hard time at first remembering to change them when appropriate, but they get the hang of it. If someone does forget, usually someone would send a quick tell reminding them, and they'd quickly it. Granted, it also means responsible use, and to that end if we ever did talk you into implementing it *grins*, I'd like to see symbols aroudn the text to set it apart from game generated statuses.

Examples of useful times for this...

faylen (sitting with her eyes closed in meditation)
Could be used when you quickly go afk, so that someone doesn't happen by during that time and wonder why this rude person is just ignoring them.

Faylen (standing against the wall between Tavri and Karasi)
Now you know precisely how my character is positioned. It adds flavor, and hopefully also would clue people in that they couldn't realistically sneak up behind her or come stand right beside her. NO, I wouldn't use this kind of thing for every room, but in a crowd I just might.

faylen (intent on digging through her wagon's contents)
This shows that my character isn't necessarily fully aware of her surroundings, and maybe you could come sneak up behind her if you wanted to. Ok, so that could be replaced with an emote easy enough, but I threw it in just to show how I've seen these things work and how they can make rp flow much smoother when used properly.

Lastly, emotes with names not included... I disagree with this entirely due to the abuse factor. What I might be ok with, and actually enjoy, are emotes where you can put your name anywhere in the text. Only thing with that is people could abuse it for power emoting. I remember a scene in one game where two people worked together to come up with a script for a dance they performed together. They swapped doing emotes, and the way it was done you couldn't tell who did the emote, it flowed like reading a book and was really incredible. Still, not sure it's worth the potential abuse factor unless you made the char name appear in symbols or something like that.