Future Tool Idea - Discussion - Player Locator

[Ric]

Now before someone jumps and says "This is too OOC-esque to be used", hear me out.  Lately, I've noticed that when the playerbase reaches it's usual top population (30-50), I find myself troubled over where to locate the majority of these players, a lot of the times.  We're adding several domains in soon, and as far as I can tell, the domains are going to spread people out even more so than they are right now.

So, a suggestion the dev-team might want to consider is the idea of having a tool which could be used to find players.  Now, by locating players, I'm not talking about saying "Such and such is located in this area currently", that would leave too much grounds for meta-gaming.  What I'm talking about is a simple "There are x amount of players in the Vallaki region, x amount of players in the Barovia Village region, etc. for the new domain regions."  By regions, I'm not including faraway locations like dungeons, forests or roads between cities.  I'm only referring to areas flagged as apart of the region (So maybe for Vallaki's, it would only count all the city-areas + the outskirts and farmlands).  The locator obviously won't cover people who are far away from the locator's ranges (dungeons, areas away from the cities, etc.), but it would at least show the amount of players in a particular place.  Therefore giving players logging in a chance to go "Hm, I see there's 15 players in the Vallaki Region and only 2 in this region.  I'll go to Vallaki's region."

Perhaps other people have better ideas about a tool like this.  Again, this would not state specific areas nor specific players.  It would just serve as a helper to let players look for other people to RP with.  Some might argue that it would seem like an OOC excuse to do something ICly, but let's face it:  There are some OOC considerations to make for the sake of making the experience better.  If things were 100% realistic here, we'd be able to RP with every single NPC, as if they were PCs, but we can't.  If we could, I'd say there would be a lot more players actually interested in spending time in the city instead of wandering the outer layers looking for other PCs to interact with.

This is just a tool concept.  Share thoughts, please.

[boompowclash]

I actually really like the idea behind this - lately I've been able to appreciate DM Macabre's use of emotes such as {A carriage can be seen traveling swiftly from the West toward the Vallaki Outskirts}

It doesn't say who etc but it gives players in that immediate vicinity a chance to react realistically - tilting their head to hear the pounding of horseshoes on the packed soil as they race to their destination, not to mention an opportunity to interact.

Maybe a shout from DMs (or an automated system shout) to announce something such as [The Broken Bell bustles with more patrons than usual this evening.] could be similarly immersing. (And something similar for larger areas could help us dive in as well)

As for a use-able player tool? I would move away from that a little, just my personal take but it feels like a -looking for party- tag in an MMORPG, a little bit.  Besides, this is what a Wizard/sorcerers familiar is for.  Especially the ones that fly.

[boompowclash]

Also an Afterthought! Perhaps a server wide message whenever the Ferry goes across the Lake.

I really like this example, since A LOT of people could possibly see the lake (perhaps even folks on Baratak?) but only the ones in a few specific areas would be in a position to interact, intercept, etc.

[Ric]

Unless there's a time interval between using that NPC, I think that would spam, since a lot of people use that transportation around here.

[Aghila]

Uhm what about using the pool of scrying in the OOC starting area for that? This way players wont be spamming it for all the time, but they still have the opportunity to log in at a place where other players are.

[Wids]

Aw but racing across all creation to find other players is half the fun! 

Seriously, though, I think that the reason people usually congregate only at certain places in the game (the western outskirts and its two establishments, Murnu's Mercantile, maybe the Prancing Nymph and the Broken Bell...) is because they know or strongly suspect that other people will be there.  That's why everybody hangs out at the Lady's Rest instead of, say, the Vistani camp, the tavern in Dvergeheim or the nave of the temple at the Monastery of the Silver Thread. 

Of course, there's always the chance that griefers, gankers and PvP-heads could use this tool towards nefarious ends.  "Oh, look.  There's only one player in the Misty Woods, all alone.  I'll train a bunch of dread treants on him, finish him off if he survives and take his stuff!"  On the other hand, if the player locator doesn't give away any identities or levels, Jacque Q. Ganker (Level 13 rogue/assassin/shadowdancer/flaming jerkwad) doesn't know if his intended prey is Jill Presto (Level 2 sorcerer, who will be a light snack) or Hrothgar Ironhide the Planetcrusher (Level 20 barbarian/cthulhoid horror/my-god-it's-full-of-stars, who will positively flatten Jacque).  So keep the bastards guessing, I say.  

[Inquizitor]

Perhaps the system could be implemented to display only "HotSpots".   Again pulling from my Shadowrun MUSH experience certain areas, such as the various bars, could be marked as hotspots and if people were in them It would display a count of how many people were in each hotspot when you typed in +where or +hotspot.  I don't remember the exact command but that isn't really relevant since similar code would work different here.

This way you could quickly get a feel for where people are hanging out.   You might even concider the possibility of being able to move to the OOC zone like you currently can in a hot spot then have portals to various hot spots to help people get around and to the 'action'

[failed.bard]

Porting is best handled the way it is now, by a DM, that way they can determine if there's a valid reason for it, or just somebody wanting to get closer to a dungeon they want to hit.

[Ric]

Perhaps the system could be implemented to display only "HotSpots".   Again pulling from my Shadowrun MUSH experience certain areas, such as the various bars, could be marked as hotspots and if people were in them It would display a count of how many people were in each hotspot when you typed in +where or +hotspot.  I don't remember the exact command but that isn't really relevant since similar code would work different here.

I like that idea.  Like using the tool and having it say "There's many PCs in x, y, and z" and basically have it name the top 3 locations populated at that moment.  The top idea I had in mind was to basically keep the tool as vague as possible to avoid meta-gaming, while still giving players the power of knowing where to look for RP.

[Bad_Bud]

You could send some random people tells askin' where da fun at.

[Mrjunkie]

 

[fulkren]

i like the "Hotspot" idea mentioned by Inquizitor, 

because not only would it give you an idea of where some RP is taking place, but it would also allow you to possible make a new "hotspot" that people would otherwise neglect....

maybe then i could get some visitor's at the blue water inn  lol

[Vespertilio]

If the 'hot spot' option told you nothing more than which three maps had the highest number of pcs occupying that space at any given time, that might be vague enough, yet allow people to get an idea where to look for rp/adventure.  It could just as easily give you three dungeon locations as the answer instead of an inn or temple depending on the size of adventuring parites if it was simply based on the 'top three locations' as per numbers of pcs there.

My own experience has been you won't always find rp in the inns or temples or murnu's but eventually if you keep checking those locations and wander between them you are bound to run across some one.  I'd say Murnu's is quite reliable as a place to run into other pcs, seems to be where I run into a lot of characters my pc knows by accident.


I like the idea of having a vistani npc 'scry' these locations, perhaps even for a nominal fee.  It keeps it somewhat ic that way. In fact, if you had an npc that told you where to find other pcs, why you just might run into other pcs there!  Oh the irony! Delicious!

[Rex]

Make it detailed enough and you can find the Cyberers. 

~Rex

[Psyche]

Of course, there's always the chance that griefers, gankers and PvP-heads could use this tool towards nefarious ends.  "Oh, look.  There's only one player in the Misty Woods, all alone.  I'll train a bunch of dread treants on him, finish him off if he survives and take his stuff!"  On the other hand, if the player locator doesn't give away any identities or levels, Jacque Q. Ganker (Level 13 rogue/assassin/shadowdancer/flaming jerkwad) doesn't know if his intended prey is Jill Presto (Level 2 sorcerer, who will be a light snack) or Hrothgar Ironhide the Planetcrusher (Level 20 barbarian/cthulhoid horror/my-god-it's-full-of-stars, who will positively flatten Jacque).  So keep the bastards guessing, I say.  

Irrelevant, but important: everything you said here is amazing.

I also really like the idea of 'hotspots', but not so hot on portals, else you'll end up having everyone pile in there, as it'd be too easy to.

[Rex]

Portals are terrible.  But.......Usable.  In the OOC area for example you could set up a few star gates and voila!  Gamer Group!.



~Rex

[Ric]

Make it detailed enough and you can find the Cyberers. 

~Rex

I lol'd 

The Vistani scrying is nice, but I'd actually rather see "Gossip" NPCs in various locations that can go "OH yeah!  I hear there's a lot of people at the Broken Bell / Blue Water / Ezrite Cathedral / etc."

The reason because the Vistani scrying seems to powerful for anyone to just 'gain' by paying money.  I remember contacting a DM a long time ago to speak with the Vistani about scrying someone, of which it required an actual chore before they accepted.

You could even have the Gossip NPC specify based on locations.  For example:

  Fisherman Gossip NPC at the lodge that tells you about spawns ICly for popular dungeons near that region.
  Vallaki Gossip NPC that does all the hot-spots (inn, churches, etc.)
  Dwarf Gossip NPC that tells you about spawns for Ghakis/Balinok dungeons.
  Barovia Village NPC that does both spawns and Blood of the Vine.

Throw more suggestions, guys.

[Rex]

Set up an NPC then, that spawns Only when player population in a certain area reaches a certain point.  You could also do the same for static dungeons, sort of backwards so folks don't waste long walks.

~Rex

[ThAnswr]

As I said on another thread, my Diablo server has a BB that tells you where other players are.  That's to prevent 2 players from going after the same boss at the same time.  And it works very well.

However, there is no PvP on Diablo. 

While it would be nice to be able to locate people on this server,  the potential abuse is there because of PvP.  Not saying players will metagame with the information, but the potential is there.  That, IMO, is a big drawback to a Diablo type BB setup or a player locator here. 

[Budly]

This idea sounds like it can be both bad...and good.

Somehow I am sure it can be used to permakill off people, spy on secret meetings you did not know of IC and so on, so on.

For the best if it covered full areas instead of "Hotspots" Like one bar!

[Rex]

Well people don't meta Game Ghost derived information, conflicting Faction Forum derived information, and such things, so they won't meta Game Player location either right?

Either way, you could always relegate it to number.

~Rex

[Ric]

Numbers are best, as well as keeping it to hot spots. 

[Badbelly]

I don't see the need for this personally and it has too many meta game issues. I can see this being handy for Antagonists and that's about it. Friends will always find their friends and will have no use for this. Antisocial players should have to deal with being left out and wondering where their next victims are.

[Psyche]

I disagree; not everyone's 'friends' are on at the same times they are, and if they still want a roleplay experience i don't see why this wouldn't be useful. And, admittedly, this may be of use for antagonists, but you say that like it's a bad thing. Antagonists are still PCs are add a valuable dimension to the game world.

[Ric]

I don't think it's meta-gaming for an NPC to say "There's a lot of people hanging out at the Blue Water", since it makes sense.  If you passed by an area with a load of players from the outside, you would probably hear lots of chatter and what not.