Private messages ingame.

Silent · Post by **Silent** » Fri May 16, 2008 1:56 am

One thing that I miss in Illarion is the possibility to write something directly to a character/player. Sure, there are whispers, but they can be overheard, which sometimes is nifty, but sometimes is a real drawback, especially if one has to write or ask something OOC and does not want to disturb other players around. I thinking of private messages a la WoW, though the game is a bit infamous. Something like "#w Frodo Baggins Our Preciousss! Give it to usss!"

I haven't found anything about the topic on the board, that's why I'm writing this, sorry if the matter has been discussed already.

abcfantasy · Post by **abcfantasy** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:00 am

Is it to have your character whisper to someone nearby or is it to have your character say something to a character who you cannot find?

In the first case, your character is speaking in a low voice. Other close characters can hear you, you can't prevent that. At most, you can #me whispering in the ear, so that the others know they aren't supposed to hear.

I don't think whispered OOC distracts others from their roleplay, since most likely, it will be used to a very minimum (should be). And only those 2 boxes away can receive the whisper.

In the second case, you can use the forum PMs to send a "dove" with a message to another character.

So, I don't think a private messaging system would be too needed.

Hope that clarified a few things.

Evan Ross · Post by **Evan Ross** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:00 am

This isn't WoW. Deal with it. Private Messaging would be hugely abused, and I think it's all around a horrible idea.
No offense.

Julius · Post by **Julius** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:10 am

The fact that you do not know the PO's forum account, the fact that a lot of people don't even check msn or the forums while ig, and the fact that many don't even have a forum account make this idea decent at best. I know a few other rp games I've played that had a ig dove feature. Loved it.

Kamilar · Post by **Kamilar** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:11 am

I was thinking about this very same thing. PMs are alright, but don't give an ig message. You have to minimize the game and go look. If you aren't expecting one, you probably won't get it. It could become part of the logs, available to be reviewed, to be sure it doesn't get abused and the notes stay in character.

abcfantasy · Post by **abcfantasy** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:12 am

When the new website is done, you'll have a forum account for each character, so that's fixed.

Silent · Post by **Silent** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:13 am

abcfantasy:

I am thinking about a whisper to a character one can see, yes. The point is: low-voice talk is no whisper. For example, when sitting in a class room, I am perfectly able to tell something to my neighbour without others hearing it. I could actually whisper something into his ear.

As for the OOC whispers: in a full tavern, it could be really hard to ask someone something whithout at least two other people hearing it. The radius is two squares. If they are not distracted - well, cool, but they might be.

Evan Ross:

I'm perfectly fine with Illarion not being WoW, I rather like that, in fact. I was afraid that the sole mention of WoW would cause this reaction... oh, well.

Vern Kron · Post by **Vern Kron** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:15 am

There are more things to be done right now, then impliment this. Such as getting the server up and running. Besides, I -think- this would require alot of work, like getting a new chat format set up.

abcfantasy · Post by **abcfantasy** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:16 am

To whisper in someone's ear, emote it and whisper then, the others should ignore it. It is not very common that much OOC is used that it distracts others.

Besides it can be abused such as...

!msg I'm at the tavern, come immediately, the enemies are here

Or things like that. Having them saved or logged for review puts extra work on the staff, a bit extra I believe.

Silent · Post by **Silent** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:24 am

abcfantasy:

I just wish there was a way to keep there was a way to keep OOC out of the main chat. I never said OOC-chat was common, but I was frowned upon once, even though I do my best to keep such things to minimum.

I'm all but good at programming, but I suppose such things could be avoided by adding an extra condition for a whisper to reach the other player, like his character actually being within a couple of squares from the whisperer. Then again: if two players know eachother well, they can communicate through ICQ or MSN anyway.

Kamilar · Post by **Kamilar** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:26 am

abcfantasy wrote:Besides it can be abused such as...

!msg I'm at the tavern, come immediately, the enemies are here

Or things like that. Having them saved or logged for review puts extra work on the staff, a bit extra I believe.

At least this will keep players a little more honest, perhaps. I think many players already use MSN for this purpose. If you can rp sending a dove and send an IG message, it's all much more transparent and LESS likely to be abused imo.

abcfantasy · Post by **abcfantasy** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:42 am

@Silent: If the OOC was necessary, you shouldn't have been frowned upon. It's acceptable, sometimes it's a must. But even so, I think it's a bit too much effort for these occassional OOCs, don't you think too?

@Kamilar: How will it keep players more honest? If my example every happened, I doubt they'd emote #me sends a dove quickly or something, and even if so, the char in trouble wouldn't have any time probably.

At least, the way I see it. Heh.

Kamilar · Post by **Kamilar** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:48 am

abcfantasy wrote:@Kamilar: How will it keep players more honest? If my example every happened, I doubt they'd emote #me sends a dove quickly or something, and even if so, the char in trouble wouldn't have any time probably.

At least, the way I see it. Heh.

Already players use MSN to alert the POs of their friends to come and assist. It's one thing to get on MSN and ask where the action is, it's something entirely different to get on MSN and say, "Hey, log in [insert character] and come to [insert location]. There's trouble" We don't have a viable ig system to circumvent this right now. With ig PMs -actual doves- it could be monitored and kept clean. There could even be an auto-emote for when a dove is sent or received, just to keep it all fair.

Silent · Post by **Silent** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:56 am

abcfantasy:

I guess so, but It's hard not to have bad conscience.
I don't know if it's too much effort or not, it's something only the developpers can say. Even a couple of lines of code can be too much effort if the exams in the university are on the next week. *smiles* Therefore I just propose it.

Azuros · Post by **Azuros** » Fri May 16, 2008 3:05 am

Such optimism. Even if the dove thing is monitored, and even if there is an auto-emote, players will still resort to instant messengers for ooc war cries. Trying to stop ooc in Illarion is like trying to stop the world from smoking, simply impossible.

This dove thing, if simple enough to code, might be beneficial temporarily until the new site is fully functional. Then it won't be needed as every char will have a forum account (from what I understand).

Kamilar · Post by **Kamilar** » Fri May 16, 2008 3:11 am

I still want it.

At least an ig message when there is a new PM in my forum account. And for a character like Starling, the new account thing won't work since she lies.

Is there going to be a character name override for that?

Olive · Post by **Olive** » Fri May 16, 2008 3:19 am

what about a system where you are just adding a chat command

!<charname> (space) (message)
simple and i dontthink it would take too much coding and only only one person coudl receive it

to prevent long distance communicatiosn makeit so the target muststill be within two space or such to hear it

Jeff Corwin · Post by **Jeff Corwin** » Fri May 16, 2008 3:55 am

What about being able to buy or rent a bird that would take a messege to like a mail stop. The other character that is reciving it could see it right back a note and send the same bird back. The reciving caracter dose not ever have to have a bird.

I mean you could go so far as to make it so other people have a chance at intercepting the birds. Like a messege comes up saying," You see a bird fly over" and if you have a long range wepon you can shoot it down. You can even have a chance of reading it when it gets to the mail stop place by bribing the npc there.

You could also make it so there are diferent birds like a hawk and a dove that go different speeds mabey. Also you could not send another messege untill your bird comes back with the answer.

And when you buy it or rent it you would put it where your bag is now (shoulder).

Well that is just my idea.

ThisGuy · Post by **ThisGuy** » Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 am

except for the fact you'd probably lose your bag I like Jeff's idea...

what if instead of doves there were magic npcs in each town(I don't know much about the magic system so you can call it something else if its too different) maybe they can communicate with each other magically...telepathy or something, and for a small fee they'll send your message out and if the person you're trying to contact stops by them they'll give them the message(s)

example I'm in Greenbriar, I see someone selling something I know someone wants, I can use the telapathic npc there to send a message and if the person I'm sending the message to checks a telepathic npc in another town s/he will recieve the message...sort of like a magical telegraph system

Jeff Corwin · Post by **Jeff Corwin** » Fri May 16, 2008 4:47 am

you can always hold it in your hand. But what i mean is that you take off your bag first. And i do not think magic dose that...

Olive · Post by **Olive** » Fri May 16, 2008 4:47 am

the problemn that i see is that the person has to manually check for a incoming message, and thus it loses mostof its value

ThisGuy · Post by **ThisGuy** » Fri May 16, 2008 4:55 am

never tried holding a bag in my hand...now that I know I can I bet it will solve a lot of problems

and having to check it manually was sort of a way to keep it from being abused I thought

but I guess if the messengers are telapathic maybe they could send the message directly to the person you want...I guess

Jeff Corwin · Post by **Jeff Corwin** » Fri May 16, 2008 4:57 am

No not the bag the bird.

ThisGuy · Post by **ThisGuy** » Fri May 16, 2008 5:13 am

misunderstanding, but that would work...would we also need a way to write the messages? tiny pieces of paper...

I still like the telepathy npc idea and I think it adds a bit to the fantasy part of the game...

Jeff Corwin · Post by **Jeff Corwin** » Fri May 16, 2008 5:18 am

The bird could come with the paper and you would just type it like this. Well that could be good but remember it can not be instant because that would become a problem. That is why i used the bird idea.

Olive · Post by **Olive** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:10 am

what about a combinign of some ideas

make the !<name> command work BUT you have to purchase a stone from a gemcutter enchanted for the purpose and after a certain amount of uses it would have to be recharged at some expense.

the enchanters skill and the gemsmiths skill might play arole in the amximum charge and current charge, for instance. the gemcuters skill determines the macimum charge while the enchanters skill determines the recharge level

now in the execution the message could take a certain amount of 'travel time' based on the distanceof the players. for instance.. one second for each 30 spaces away, but i see that posibly causing alot of server calculations that could increase lag if the idea gets popular and degrade the play value for everybody

Juniper Onyx · Post by **Juniper Onyx** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:39 am

An idea:

We all RP 'Doves' IG, so why not get a graphic made of a 'Dove' in a cage that you could buy from an NPC, 'use' it, type a 'PM'-like message with Name and message, then 'send'? The Graphic could then change to an 'empty' cage. Empty cages could then be sold back to the NPC for a deposit.

We could even put 'cages' in the 'Carpentry' skill.
We could put 'doves' in with the current "Summoning Spell" or even new "Druid" system someday. A Cage would be needed first and then change to a "Caged Dove" when summoned, ready for use.

The 'dove' appears to the person after a game cycle as an 'emote': ~A Dove arrives with a message for you~ and a Graphic of a 'dove' appears on the ground next to you. Anyone could grab that dove, hehe.

Picking up the 'Dove' will reveal the message. The dove disappears from inventory.

Olive · Post by **Olive** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:47 am

well i cant argue withthat idea

Jeff Corwin · Post by **Jeff Corwin** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:52 am

That is a good idea but it cn not arrive immediatly and why not make them avalible for rent like cows. YOu could rent them at a pickup or mail station.

Djironnyma · Post by **Djironnyma** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:55 am

ähm - did you know that hte rping of doves is real bullshit? doves can only fly back home..... to a static place.... not to a person you tell them, illarion isnt harry potter, we have only normal doves no uber owls