Market Square Spam

[Andreas]

At times the Market Square of Waterdeep is very crowded. I know I have a hard time keeping up with all the roleplay when the room is moving fast. But what makes it worse is when people keep walking THROUGH the Market Square rather than around it.

Please, help cut down on the spam in the Market Square and go AROUND the room if you don't intend to stay and roleplay.

[Argentia]

May I also request, to put items/get items into/from containers outside the square, unless roleplay dictates the need. Having lines of conversation and smotes broken by

bob puts some money in a pouch
bob puts some money in a pouch
bob puts some money in a pouch
bob puts some money in a pouch
bob puts some money in a pouch

is very frustrating.

[Telk]

I'd have to agree entirely here, there are alternate paths then going through the square, although they may be a few squares longer, but it would save people quite a bit of hassle. Also eating in the square gets spammy sometimes.

[Lathander]

While I agree with the statements here, another idea is to have some of the MS rp move to inns in WD. There are some very nice ones. Then you need only go upstairs to quit and take advantage of the faster heal/regen coded properties of inn rooms and add to the local economy.

[Tempus]

I agree with Lathander here. The market square is exactly that, and as such would be expected to be busy. By all means use it as an initial meeting place, or for 'hanging out', but there are several inns nearby where roleplay might be better conducted without the hassle and irritation of constant interruption.

[Kregor]

The Lucky Drunk, in particular, has numerous gathering spots for anything from the large group to the close couple, only one block away from the square. A gang of four could gather in a booth, a larger group in the main dining area, or by the stage, or one of two bars, or any of the areas in the gardens (getting sprayed by the golem can be a great amusement for the others in the group).

Mind you the square does make for an interesting environment as well... very much a medieval city kind of thing people gathered around a huge fountain surrounded by shops and such. Though, these places would also be very loud, busy, hard to understand people you are talking to, lots of shouting, people passing aside or between you and someone you are talking to... much like the MS in Waterdeep is now during the busy times

[Jadom]

Not to mention the habit people have of standing around in thunderstorms, hailstorms et al, talking about the weather

IIRC, the Lucky Drunk was built specifically to draw RP out of the Market Square.

[Andreas]

I wholeheartedly agree with roleplaying in other places around Waterdeep besides the Market Square. I usually try to take my RP to other areas.

However, sometimes roleplay starts there and you can't just walk away. I'm only asking people to take just a few extra seconds of time and walk AROUND the Market Square (all the rooms are described as being the market) rather than THROUGH it to help keep down the spam and let roleplay continue without someone repeatedly walking through a dozen times.

[Kirkus]

Well thats all fine and good when your coming from the south where there are streets that bypass the actual square. But coming from the north there is no way exept to completely change course. And honestly like someone else said it is supposed to be a busy place. I would suggest moving away from the square as soon as you are done with introductions. I have a favoured inn where we conduct all talosian business but thats just me. You could go hang out in the Heroe's Garden or the Fields of Triumph. The Fields of Triumph is supposed to be a place where the lords of Waterdeep address the populace and where shows and competitions are held wouldn't that be a great place to congregate?

[Jadom]

Well, the reason so much RP starts up in MS is because...that's where everyone is standing around

I would suggest hanging out in the Lucky Drunk, or possibly the Fields of Triumph, and maybe some kind of IC posters or a word from Newt in the training area of the Temple could advertise , "The Premier gathering place for Adventurers in Waterdeep" or something.

[Isolrem]

Advanced RPers are encouraged to take their RP in the drunken drow. But the Market Square is more convenient in terms of location. It is very easy for newbies, journeymen, etc. to wander there. I think gathering around the Market Square would not be much an example of bad RP.

[Kirkus]

We're not saying sitting in Market Square is bad rp we are saying we should use inns and gardens and places made for rp to rp. As for newbies wandering there that is half the problem in my opinion. Yeah its good for them to find vets to rp with but they are also needing to run arround town and learn things for themselves. They need to train and shop and go back to the temple and sometimes that is going to bring them through the square many many times, which is annoying. But the lucky drunk is what two or three squares away? how difficult is it to find? not very, its the only thing close by that is a different colour if you use a colorized vt.

I say add a program to the guard that after a certain length of time he says something like 'Move along, no need to lollygag. Your cluttering up the square, Move your conversations to an inn. I hear the Lucky Drunk is quite the popular place for you adventurous types.'

[Glim]

I really like Kirkus' idea about a prog on the guard telling people to move along every once in a while. That would remind people to take their RP elsewhere and I think people would listen.

[Argentia]

Well, if everyone is hanging around the Lucky Drunk, who is going to help the poor, lost newbs? If we want to move the RP center from MS to the Lucky Drunk, I would agree with having Newt say "If you're looking for fellow adventurers, try the Lucky Drunk" or somesuch. Although personally I don't quite see the need to move the RP center away from MS... I can perfectly understand both locations, the market and the tavern, as back in my free-forming days I playing two chatrooms, one which was a large market place and the other a busy tavern. So I really see the Lucky Drunk as good as, as opposed to better than, MS. The only benefit to the Lucky Drunk would be avoiding having people spam the room from constant traffic.

Personally, I prefer MS as the general place to RP. It is a great common, realistic place for adventurers to meet, and since everyone meets there, it makes for richer and more involved RPs and conversation, since you have everyone(Or almost everyone, at least) becoming involved.(From overhearing, listening in, being asked to join the conversation, ect.) This as opposed to meeting in MS and moving elsewhere. I'm not sure I wholly like this idea... While it's great that we utilize many more areas of our rich and hard-worked world, simply meeting then moving elsewhere will often exclude others who would later walk into the RP. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it is incredibly appropriate to move the RP elsewhere; by all means do so in such situations.

Of course, I respect and understand everyone's ideas here. They are all great and vallid points. I'm just playing Devil's advocate.

[Lysha]

Well, IMHO, I believe what is being said is not to take all RP to Lucky Drunk (lol LD), but to move it there after you touch base and begin an interesting RP. Example being if you see a friend and wish to do an RP with them, after a while, suggest going to the Lucky Drunk for an ale or time alone. Or you find a person to be your love or something, suggest going to the gardens in the Lucky Drunk for a romantic dialogue. Take a group to the inn for a drunken party filled with stories of glory or just exagerations. Once the RP is over and you don't go to do a quest or something, you can always go back to the MS.

[Argentia]

Yes, but let me highlight one of my previous points made: that moving the RP can often exclude others who come later to the gathering. An example would be,

Joe enters the MS, says to Jane "What's new?"
Jane says, "Did you hear about that gruesome war?"
Joe says, "No, let's go to the tavern and talk about it."
Joe and Jane leave to talk.
Ted arrives afterwards, is out in the cold about the war. =(

That's really my biggest concern. I think it would be better to move the RP all together to LD, if anything.

[Kirkus]

the problem with having Newt send newbies to the Lucky Drunk is that I don't think Newt is even there anymore. Maybye he is and I havn't noticed him, but I don't think so. I think he was eliminated. I could be wrong though....

But the Priest could say something to newbies, and the guard at the market would tell the newbies the same thing so they would know what to look for. Heck you could even have him point to the east just to point them off in the right direction.

Just to reitterate some points brought up earlier........ this is a busy place. It reminds me of my college campus, well its not to hard to do that since I still am in college, but thats besides the point. There are times in the spring when these crazy preachers come and yell at us, screaming hell and damnation, saying we are all going to burn for our sins and what not. Then there are the elementary schools that bring busses upon busses of screaming students to the art gallery and the museum and you have to wade through these 3 to 4 1/2 foot things that never are quiet. Add these two together and try to sit down in the middle and hold a conversation.

Market square is just like this. There would be hawkers yelling for us to buy their goods, merchant caravans are going to be rolling through every day probabily multiple times to deliver countless goods. Yes there will be times when it will quiet down but during regular business hours it will be jam packed with people talking, yelling, buying and selling. Huh, I rhymed.

[Zach]

I think having the guard say something every so often is a good idea... but the point of this post is to lessen the spam... having the guard say something every so often is a step in the wrong direction... and if you are just sitting there waiting for someone to log on to RP with them.. and the guard comes from no where and says 'move along' or what not.... it's kind of annoying. SO! although it is a good idea... not the best for keeping the spam down

[Kirkus]

As Mystra said "It was meant to be a busy place" How ic is it to sit in the center of a metropolis's market and expect it to be quiet, unpopulated and free of trafic? I think for one day Mystra should hike up the mobs running through there just to give you guys an idea of what it would be like. Then everybody would move on out to other places to get away from the constant hum of what should be litterally Millions of people running throught the Market Square.

[Argentia]

Ehh, Kirkus, that happened once, remember?

MS IS a busy place. But can we not simply imagine this and RP accordingly? That way we don't disrupt lines of conversation and smotes. It's one thing to pass through once or twice, that is perfectly understandable. But sometimes people can't seem to make up their mind on where they want to go, and walk through the square upwards of five times in a row, and continue to do it. It's just frustrating, is all.