Do you want to build a mind palace?

[qinweiqi]

It was recently discussed in another thread that it would be really awesome to have the server automagically mask unknown characters. End result, massive coding nightmare. I've thought about another way of helping players to handle that issue (being able to create and populate arbitrary character lists), but I realized that really isn't what I want. What I really want is something like a 'remember' command that lets us make mental notes about experiences that we've had, particularly that are significant enough to shape our characters, and be able to 'reminisce' later to review them. These moments can be difficult for players to remember if they play infrequently or especially if they have many alts. I recognize that there is already something of a method to do this, namely writing an IC journal. That being said, I know not all characters would realistically keep journals. Anyway, just a thought to consider -- for now I'm just going to contemplate more seriously keeping an IC journal.

[Lun]

You can also keep an OOC journal of things that your character did! We happen to all have magical copy paste memory, so you can also save logs for future reference.

I think remembering things IC is an interesting thing... But having many alts shouldn't be a problem. *wink*

I actually had a few important things I'd forgotten about after taking an extended break, but I checked a message I sent to a GM and got most of the things back into my head by reading OOC stuff.

[Avedri]

Create a Google Drive document! It's easy, it's fast and you can access it from anywhere.

You could even use the excel-like program with columns of "Name" "Profession" "Description" "Extra Notes", this might help some folks who aren't sure if they have met someone or not and what they should recall about the exchange.

Though again (not sure how hard it would be) the friends system could accommodate something like this and I'd very much like their to be varying degrees for friend levels with an option to toggle how it changes the verbs. I think that was a legit concern.

Also, I got weirdly excited when I read the title of this post. I thought it was like a writing exercise we did in another game where you walked through a maze of your character's past. I know Castillo was mentioning on chat today how he wanted some RP tips, I was thinking that is the kind of stuff that helps you define and get to know a character. Might be fun & helpful.

[Rias]

Which verbs besides kiss are affected by friends-listing people? I wouldn't mind a more robust relationship management system or something.

I think what's being asked for here can already be easily accomplished in ways people have already mentioned: Keep notes in a document on your computer, in a Dropbox folder, on Google Drive, on a sticky note on your desk, etc. I can see the appeal to having it specifically tied to your character because then you know it'll always be right there when you're logged in as that character, I suppose - but then you can't go over it when you're not logged in, and it'll certainly be more limited in what info you can add, manage, and categorize. I think this is a wheel we don't need to re-invent in-game, and if we tried, it would be rather sub-optimal. This isn't to say I'm staunchly against the idea, so continue to provide arguments and reasons for why an in-game note-taking tool would be useful. Maybe I'm not considering all uses and angles.

Something I do think might be kind of neat is to have an (optional) at-a-glance representation of acquaintance status, for those people who don't log in often (or, I suppose, those whom have a billion alts - but a better idea is to cut down on your alts and focus!). Maybe something as simple as:

Also here: Bob, Stan (acquaintance), Mary (friend), Greg (enemy)

You've never marked Bob as an acquaintance, but you have marked Stan. Then you can know that yes, you can address Stan by name and act as if your character knows him, and while you may know, as a player, who Bob is and info about him, that's apparently because of OOC knowledge or an alt, because you have yet to mark him as an acquaintance to your character. Of course, this can be done with various MUD client with something as simple as highlighting names in specific colors. I can see how this would be a hassle to manage with multiple characters, though - not all MUD client support multiple profiles and whatnot.

[blindndangerous]

I'm for just keeping a file in dropbox, maybe one for each of your alts that you play regularly.