Infirmary debt

[Lae]

If you type effects you get the message that you have access to the following permit facilities. Would it be possible to get something like, "You remember that you owe a debt to the following infirmaries" with an amount? I don't know about anyone else but I will quickly forget who I didn't pay off right away, and would want to take care of that debt asap.

Just a thought, thanks :)

[Fayne]

Same here. I'm reminded of the time I went to visit the infirmary somewhere (can't remember where now, go figure), got all healed up from a couple moderate wounds, asked about my debt, and I owed something like 500 riln due to having not paid my debt immediately a few times.

[jilliana]

+1!!

[Rias]

I'm worried that this will spiral into the effects list turning into a mental recollection/to-do list. Where you have permits, which debts you owe, where you currently have items in for repair, the last time you turned in a task ...

Yeah. I'd rather not. If you don't like having the debts, you can pay them as soon as you accrue them. If you forget for a while, the NPCs won't get mad.

[Fayne]

Where you have permits, which debts you owe, where you currently have items in for repair...

Am I the only one who actually thinks those would be useful?

Maybe a good alternative would be to make letters able to be written on after they've already been used? We could make lists, then add notes to them, marking off things as we go, or make lists by adding things to them as we find them.

[Rias]

Useful? Absolutely. Requiring a mechanic to keep peoples' extensive mental reminder and to-do lists? Nnnnnnot so much. You (general you) can make your own list on your computer, in a cloud doc, on a sticky note, on your phone, in your brain, etc. It's just getting into the "players really could manage these things on their own and we don't need to add/update/maintain mechanics to do it for them" zone.

[Sleilax]

"players really could manage these things on their own and we don't need to add/update/maintain mechanics to do it for them" zone.

Yes, this is true but I will say this is the only MUD that I have played that has all this sort of stuff absent. Would it make CLOK a better MUD? Would it make CLOK more competitive with other MUDs? The benefits of interface, ease of use, and decreasing the reliance on outside tools shouldn't be underestimated.

Having these sorts of things also appeals to younger generations who are used to having these sorts of things they consider 'basic functions'. It was rather jarring to me as a new player the lack of information I have about my own character from the mud. Usually I can get at least time played, date created, amount of deaths, etc. It's not mechanic information but it's 'score' type stuff. The lack of all that is fine, I've dealt with it as it's not totally necessary but again one shouldn't underestimate how all these little features, interfaces, etc can enhance the game and it's place among all the other MUDs.

[Jaster]

Jaster angrily exclaims, "Go ahead and kill me, I've died 1736 times before!"

[Elystole]

The absence of those things is intentional. CLOK isn't like every other MUD and doesn't want to be like every other MUD.

Nor do I think we should encourage the growing trend of people expecting things to be handed to them so that they don't even have to think.

[Fayne]

I'd still like the ability to re-write or add to letters that have already been written on, maybe even make it so only the original writer can. Would be useful for many things.

[Jirato]

Having these sorts of things also appeals to younger generations who are used to having these sorts of things they consider 'basic functions'. It was rather jarring to me as a new player the lack of information I have about my own character from the mud. Usually I can get at least time played, date created, amount of deaths, etc. It's not mechanic information but it's 'score' type stuff. The lack of all that is fine, I've dealt with it as it's not totally necessary but again one shouldn't underestimate how all these little features, interfaces, etc can enhance the game and it's place among all the other MUDs.

Sorry to disappoint, but we don't maintain time stamps for character creation or a running timer of how much time someone has spent logged in. I've played/developed hack and slash MUDs before using DIKU-based codebases that had these things, but I've never really seen the need to write them into a fully from-scratch MUD engine for a roleplaying enforced environment. It really serves no purpose to your character at all.

I pretty much feel the same way as Rias about not wanting to turn effects into a massive show everything command, and was even considering these consequences when originally reading this post yesterday afternoon. It kinda made me regret showing the permit timers in effects to begin with. Now that you can simply use the pay verb to extend your time without having to leave the area, I don't think it's even needed, so I' kind of want to remove them...

As for appending a written note (not necessarily re-writing it, as that wouldn't make sense ICly, we don't have magic self-erasing parchments), it's a good idea. My only concern is adding some sort of line limit so we don't have people compiling mile-long lists on a single piece of parchment. If this was ever implemented, I see no reason to restrict it to the original author though.

[Sleilax]

I understand and I've gotten used to playing without it and it really isn't necessary. I think I came off saying Clok should be more like other MUDs when I didn't mean for it to sound like that. I like Clok for how unique it is.

My point was really that these sorts of changes (a list of your debt or a list of whatever) shouldn't be immediately dismissed because the player can do it in notepad or excel or whatever. There is just a lot of convenience having most of what you need to play a game within the game itself. For example, Fayne's suggestion would be perfect. If I could make a lot of my own notes in a ledger or something that stays on my person that would be awesome.

[Kiyaani]

A nice compromise might be a "debts" command. That way effects remains uncluttered and people can have the information if they want it.

[Nootau]

Keeping it IC.. why not have the Infirmary mail the debtor that they have X balance needed to pay off, plus 5riln for mailing cost?

[Kent]

Keeping it IC.. why not have the Infirmary mail the debtor that they have X balance needed to pay off, plus 5riln for mailing cost?

This makes a whole lot of sense, realistically, a healer is going to want to collect their debts, and will write a reminder to the debtor to collect.

[Fayne]

But that still begs the question, when do they have time to actually write those letters, walk to the post office, and mail them out? I like to think that the infirmaries are never not busy, since someone is always going to need a bandage or tonic, and when it *is* slow, that's when the important surgeries get done. Probably the only time they have "off" is late at night, amd they still have to be ready to wake up and perform emergency procedures on someone at a moments notice.

Someone should really give those guys a vacation.

[Isiaa]

Apprentice healers. Or maybe they just jot quick notes and hand them to a friend of theirs who writes out the letters(taking a cut for himself obviously, thus sending the cost up just a /little/ bit).