Author Topic: Delete character option  (Read 7601 times)

Dark Locust

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Delete character option
« on: December 09, 2012, 04:58:17 AM »
Give players an option to self delete their character so their vault doesn't get cluttered with all the characters they don't play anymore or whose story has ended. It could either be by using a console command or somewhere in the fugue. Also saves server storage space as well because it doesn't have to store unused characters.

Honoun

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #1 on: December 09, 2012, 05:12:03 AM »
I've always wondered why this option was never instigated does not the NWN engine allow it or something?

Mark Johansen

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #2 on: December 09, 2012, 05:16:25 AM »
The NWN engine does not allow it from base, it's been brought up a few times. it should be possible now with NWNX, but it needs to be programmed. its not something high on the dev's to dolist i belive.

APorg

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2012, 05:17:46 AM »
I think one of the concerns expressed is that there wouldn't be a way of retrieving lost PCs, even, for example, in circumstances where an account has been hijacked.
“Moral wounds have this peculiarity - they may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart.”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

Honoun

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #4 on: December 09, 2012, 05:32:40 AM »
Makes sense then, would be nice though as I'm bit of an organised bunny and like to have my character vault always as organised as possible. So would be nice if I could delete that one character that is in there right now that I never play. Haven't played it since day one in fact so I think its safe to say I never will at this stage so yeah be nice if I could delete that particular character.

I see the point about account hijacking though, that would be a real bummer.

Dark Locust

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #5 on: December 09, 2012, 05:38:58 AM »
I've always wondered why this option was never instigated does not the NWN engine allow it or something?
It is definitely allowed, I have been on mulitiple servers which allow self character deletions. If not self character deletion than perhaps have a forum which players can request characters to be removed from their vault. I know the other server I play on has that option  as well

HellsPanda

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #6 on: December 09, 2012, 06:01:06 AM »
Well there was one major reason. Back when it was on the university the LETO program that would have to be enabled would have opened a massive security hole into the university network. Currently its supposed to be on the list of things to do/consider/evaluate

dutchy

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #7 on: December 09, 2012, 09:23:51 PM »
my yoda senses tell me that if this got used it wil get abused and ppl who have not or forgot to use a password on their chars  find themselves with a lost char with lost gear and a whole lot of sudden anger issues.   (wich would be justefied)
Tagdar Stonebeard- the lone statue
Mihas Mandruleanu- He is the law
Gurdan- priest of the allfather, and current head of the silverhand trading company

Geiger

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #8 on: December 09, 2012, 09:38:43 PM »
How they do it on Arelith, the deleted characters are archived. Just in case. After a time they can be deleted foreverz.

Dark Locust

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #9 on: December 10, 2012, 12:24:06 AM »
How they do it on Arelith, the deleted characters are archived. Just in case. After a time they can be deleted foreverz.
I like that idea, could PoTM do the same thing?

Honoun

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #10 on: December 10, 2012, 02:12:55 AM »
How are they archived though? Is the character vault just backed up everyday? Not that I'm nitpicking just curious on how it would work. ;)

PsychedelicShroom

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #11 on: December 10, 2012, 04:09:55 AM »
My first RP server used character deletion. You could also archive characters which could be revived with a request to the DM's if needed.

Geiger

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #12 on: December 10, 2012, 07:15:49 AM »
I think they just sent the character to the delete bin and after a set time, it'd just delete.

Mayvind

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #13 on: December 10, 2012, 07:23:33 AM »
It will never happend.

Honoun

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #14 on: December 10, 2012, 07:25:31 AM »
Never say never again... Hmmm, you know that's not a bad name for a movie  :P

dark_majico

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #15 on: December 10, 2012, 02:42:28 PM »
It would be a welcome introduction since these Play a New Character Weekends happen every time a public holiday ends in 'mas, 'ween or 'day.

Ovidiu_Lacusta

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #16 on: December 10, 2012, 03:48:14 PM »
It seems to me the staff has stated clearly enough they have no interest in a Delete Character option.

I can just imagine the player whines: "But I decided I actually want my character back!"  Not to mention the potential for abuse.

This is not the concern of the staff to cater to this.  If you don't want to see a character in the login screen, I may recommend a new login.

I work at a software development company so this is pretty cut and dry to me.  Who wants it?  Not everyone.  What does it do?  Something we don't need.

At the cost of volunteer effort, instead of new content?

APorg

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #17 on: December 10, 2012, 03:57:00 PM »
True, giving users the capability of deleting dead or unused data is usually a "nice to have" rather than a strict need. On the other hand, keeping the volume of a database as low as possible and uncluttered with unused, dead data is also a good principle, and if ever Soren decided he needed to start pruning the database of such, it's a superior approach to let users prune data themselves than, say, to delete the 10% most inactive PCs.

Now I concede I have no idea how much space the character vault actually requires -- kilobytes? Megabyes? Gigabytes? Beats me. Likely it's easier to simply pass around the Paypall hat and buy a server upgrade than to implement a delete character feature. Though it's still a tidy principle :P
“Moral wounds have this peculiarity - they may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart.”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

dark_majico

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #18 on: December 10, 2012, 04:50:49 PM »
It seems to me the staff has stated clearly enough they have no interest in a Delete Character option.

I can just imagine the player whines  : "But I decided I actually want my character back!" Not to mention the potential for abuse.

This is not the concern of the staff to cater to this.  If you don't want to see a character in the login screen, I may recommend a new login.

I work at a software development company so this is pretty cut and dry to me.  Who wants it?  Not everyone.  What does it do?  Something we don't need.

At the cost of volunteer effort, instead of new content?

Er Whut? That sounds right if the community was made up of 11 year old girls, and 8 year old boys. Who the hell would seriously delete a character, decide they actually didn't want to do that, and then actually bother the staff with a request to retrieve a deleted file.

Lol oh my god this old argument again, their is potential for abuse! Well there is potential for abuse by using the Aurora engine, so we better not use it.


Ovidiu_Lacusta

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #19 on: December 10, 2012, 05:19:34 PM »
Quote
Er Whut? That sounds right if the community was made up of 11 year old girls, and 8 year old boys.

I don't think this is appropriate to imply, we have mature players but end users in general seem to like asking for things/features they don't need (I'll repeat that I work for a software development company and this is as common place as it is frustrating) - it's not childish but a symptom of the optionality in modern consumer culture, anyway, you're asking for a superfluous feature to come about from Volunteer effort.

I don't speak for the staff, but I'd like to help out and steer everyone toward accepting their previously declared intentions regarding any character deletion features.

dutchy

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #20 on: December 10, 2012, 05:23:34 PM »


Lol oh my god this old argument again, their is potential for abuse! Well there is potential for abuse by using the Aurora engine, so we better not use it.



you must be kidding right?  if someone would login your acount (hacked)  and then deleted your chars   you'd complain and say yup lets make it saver.
also what about the rage quitters?  you cannot deny those  and if that option was there they might even go ^#^&^~#&^$! this DELETE   then they slept a night and come to a diffrant conclusion but then the dmg is done.
we ain all zen
whats wrong with making it harder to abuse acounts?

now thats that been said, as other said the staff has no intrest in this.

solution?
there is one and always has been one, just send a PM to soren  state char name login name and such and the char will be deleted, extra work for lil ol soren yes  but thats how it goes atm.

ps/ odd can anyone explain to me how my own text is a quote while i havnt  had the endline at the end of my txts?
« Last Edit: December 10, 2012, 05:25:55 PM by dutchy »
Tagdar Stonebeard- the lone statue
Mihas Mandruleanu- He is the law
Gurdan- priest of the allfather, and current head of the silverhand trading company

Honoun

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #21 on: December 11, 2012, 02:35:02 AM »
Actually I have sent a PM to the server god to have that one PC in my character vault deleted that I never use. The answer I got back was, "we don't do that round here."

Honestly though, if someone is going to rage quit and delete all their chars then they are playing the wrong game and frankly thats their problem. I have no sympathy for someone who is that stupid to be honest. If they are that emotionally unstable then they better rethink about playing computer games, period! Besides I don't think anyone here is that loopy... Or is there?

dark_majico

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #22 on: December 11, 2012, 06:49:59 AM »
Quote
Er Whut? That sounds right if the community was made up of 11 year old girls, and 8 year old boys.

I don't think this is appropriate to imply, we have mature players but end users in general seem to like asking for things/features they don't need (I'll repeat that I work for a software development company and this is as common place as it is frustrating) - it's not childish but a symptom of the optionality in modern consumer culture, anyway, you're asking for a superfluous feature to come about from Volunteer effort.

I don't speak for the staff, but I'd like to help out and steer everyone toward accepting their previously declared intentions regarding any character deletion features.

I think that we do have a mature player base, one mature enough not to go through the motions of deleting characters in their own vaults, then change there minds the next day, and then bother the staff to retrieve deleted characters. You might think its a superfluous feature, I don't, but then again even if I did I would still ask for it, because im playing a superfluous computer game, engaging in superfluous activity's. I could be down at the dojo, or running, or practicing Japanese, but no I'm a level 3 Wizard about too kill some minks for imaginery gold. My free time is spent doing superfluous things. Soo yeah I'm cool with superfluous requests. Besides their is an argument for removing unused data and saving on disk space which has already been pointed out.

dark_majico

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #23 on: December 11, 2012, 07:01:25 AM »
Quote

you must be kidding right?  if someone would login your acount (hacked)  and then deleted your chars   you'd complain and say yup lets make it saver.
also what about the rage quitters?  you cannot deny those  and if that option was there they might even go ^#^&^~#&^$! this DELETE   then they slept a night and come to a diffrant conclusion but then the dmg is done.
we ain all zen
whats wrong with making it harder to abuse acounts?

now thats that been said, as other said the staff has no intrest in this.

solution?
there is one and always has been one, just send a PM to soren  state char name login name and such and the char will be deleted, extra work for lil ol soren yes  but thats how it goes atm.

Soren does not personally retrieve files from the vault and delete them at the request of the owner, which is why I'm in favor of a tool to do it in game. I think the password feature on character login is enough of a security measure to prevent fraudulent deletes, but in all honesty I don't spend every day here, I only log in a few times a week, or sometimes if I'm busy with work and other things, once a month. If I had my longest running character deleted by hacker, I'd say shit happens but I wouldn't request any staff attempts to retrieve a deleted file. As long as the community understands how the deletion process works then I dont really think any of our exsisting base would ask for something that wasn't possible.

Honoun

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Re: Delete character option
« Reply #24 on: December 17, 2012, 06:20:31 AM »
More over I do not think that community we have is so irresponsible to abuse such a feature anyway. Most of us if not all of us have shown a rather mature outlook and attitude as far as I can see. I wouldn't be still playing this server if this was not the case and that's the honest truth. As such having a character deletion option is a nice perk that we could have. As has been noted with the character pass word system that is already in place which is there to stop account hacking anyway as far as I know so nothing really needs to be done on that front anyway.

Heck you could have a @delete function set up that when activated while you have a character logged in will ask you for the character pass word. If that pass word is typed in correctly that character is ear marked for deletion. You then just log out to the character creation screen and delete the character normally. Well anyway that's how I would suggest it be done since the pass word feature is already there, might as well make use of it right?