Aliases and Alter-egos

Raona · Post by **Raona** » Fri May 11, 2007 5:33 pm

One of the most taxing things on me, OOC, is keeping track of the great many aliases that people use. Someone who hasn't greeted me, but has given me a bogus name IC, and is ICly (justifiably) peeved when I don't recall ever having met them. Even with folks that I RP with endlessly, that use an alternate name, having to constantly type one thing in SAYTO and another in the actual message, I flub it sometimes - in both directions.
(SAYTO FISHLIPS Greetings, Gangrene. You are looking positively disgusting today. How's Mrs. Fishlips?
OSAY Arrgh! Mrs. Gangrene, I meant gangrene!)

So, I'd like to ask:
1) Forebearance! I'm a teacher and have to remember hundreds of names IRL as it is...and I'm visual, so as hard as it is IRL, it's harder still online. If you are going by something online, especially with those who've only met you once or twice...either don't make a 15-minute deal of someone forgetting your name, or OSAY your alias or something. Thanks!

2) How plausible would a coded solution to this be? Probably not very, but I dunno, I'm no coder. Could the system keep track of the fact that the wry, springy moon elf has greeted me as "Moxie" and greeted someone else as "Erzatz"? Maybe it should still fall to the aliasER to remember which fake name they used, but others would see them by whatever they greeted them as? Perhaps a command of the form
GREETAS <alias> <ALL/target>

Maybel · Post by **Maybel** » Fri May 11, 2007 6:11 pm

I would like the idea of a <greetas> commandthen if you forget who you greeted who as it would be fun to RP it...

"Oh, i said I was Jack? No, Jack is my middle name...." and so on

Balek · Post by **Balek** » Fri May 11, 2007 6:29 pm

Some games I've played have had a system that worked the other way, that is, anyone who hears a name is responsible for recording it using a command like, "tag". It would work something like this:

Peter (a tall human) says, "Hi, my name is Brian."
Ron types: tag tall Brian

Simple! This way we can keep aliases sorted out pretty easily. Some systems I've seen even allow for multiple tags for someone, so you could put in someone's last name, first name, nickname, etc.

Raona · Post by **Raona** » Sat May 12, 2007 12:34 am

Balek wrote:Some games I've played have had a system that worked the other way, that is, anyone who hears a name is responsible for recording it using a command like, "tag". It would work something like this:

Peter (a tall human) says, "Hi, my name is Brian."
Ron types: tag tall Brian

Simple! This way we can keep aliases sorted out pretty easily. Some systems I've seen even allow for multiple tags for someone, so you could put in someone's last name, first name, nickname, etc.

Oooh! I rather love this tag idea! Would we have to keep them IC, or could we tag someone "SirTwinkAlot"?

Seriously, though...this might be less tricky code-wise, as well...a flag on greeted or not, perhaps, and a tag for each PC. I assume there's currently a greeted bit, how much would it puff up player files to turn it into a string, or add a string to it?

Amalia · Post by **Amalia** » Sat May 12, 2007 1:00 am

I, too, think the tag idea sounds great-- there are a couple issues that occur to me, though.

1. People would have to be a little more on the lookout for inappropriate names, if they weren't being checked by the IMMs before approval, not to mention there'd be no stopping repeat names. Even with name approval, I've seen a name or two that I recognize from another source (at least one of which could not possibly have been construed except by taking it from the source in question). A system without a filter would likely see a whole lot more of this.

2. Tells and targets could be difficult, at least if the greet system were removed entirely. It would still be possible, I suppose, to target someone by their adjective, but especially with default adjectives I've found this can run into some difficulty.

What I DO think would be a great way to implement the tag system-- I think relatively similar to Raona's suggestion-- would be to still have the Greet system around, used basically as it is now, but to also have a supplemental tag system where you could note the name a person gave if they didn't greet you, or a name you'd overheard in conversation. OOCly, that would also do wonders to help me, the player, remember whether I'd actually officially met someone before or not.

Mele · Post by **Mele** » Sat May 12, 2007 3:09 am

http://www.gallwey.com/fk/board/viewtop ... ight=greet

This has come up before.

Dugald · Post by **Dugald** » Sat May 12, 2007 3:16 am

I love the idea, but as Amalia pointed out - i think it'd end up being a chore

Tempus · Post by **Tempus** » Sat May 12, 2007 9:54 am

Despite the fact that the topic has come up before, this is something that I feel would benefit from more views on the pros and cons of an alternative system. So, feel free to continue the discussion.

Rhytania · Post by **Rhytania** » Sat May 12, 2007 1:54 pm

People would have to be a little more on the lookout for inappropriate names, if they weren't being checked by the IMMs before approval, not to mention there'd be no stopping repeat names.

It doesnt need policing. If I greet you as Bob, and you tag me as Bob, bob will only show up for you and only you. Double names wont be as big a problem as you would think, how many Mikes, Chris's, Johns, and Janes have you met in your life?

Tells and targets could be difficult, at least if the greet system were removed entirely. It would still be possible, I suppose, to target someone by their adjective, but especially with default adjectives I've found this can run into some difficulty.

When the mud code base interacts with your character, it does do via your unique playerid number. This is why it doesnt have a problem differentiating between two people with he same adjective internally. This would not be a problem.

Im all in favor over a greetas/tag system to better aid in long term RP. Nothing sucks more than greeting someone as one name and 2 months down the road they forget and just default to the who list. This way with a greetas or tag command you would not have to worry about it. The tag command will come into play if latter down the line you learn icly the person real name or they tell you it, well then you can use the tag command to tag that persons real name instead of an alias name.
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Amalia · Post by **Amalia** » Sat May 12, 2007 2:24 pm

I don't know all the reasons why the IMMs check names before they're allowed into the Kingdoms-- so I'm pointing out that if there comes to be code that allows people to attach names to other PCs, names like Legolas and Sstohesth have a greater likelihood of making appearances. As for targeting, I'm not saying it would mess up the game code-- I'm saying it would be awfully hard for the player to indicate that they wanted to talk to that one particular Tom out of all the ones he's met without a system like Greet with unique names in place.

Teyn · Post by **Teyn** » Sat May 12, 2007 3:27 pm

I'd be in favour of a greetas command.

The tag command would, I think, conflict with the greet, in that they would only tag after you didn't greet them, which implies just as much as now, that it isn't your name, removing one of the IC advantages of the command.

And, with the greetas command, it is the responsibility of the one whos giving a false name, so it is more likely to be both kept in mind, and keeps RP as fluid as the greet command, as opposed to the pause to decide whether a tag is neccesary... If you get me?

Richard

Ceara · Post by **Ceara** » Sat May 12, 2007 3:47 pm

I Love the idea

Mele · Post by **Mele** » Sun May 13, 2007 3:36 am

I didn't point out the link to end the discussion at hand. >.< I pointed it out to CONTRIBUTE the stuff from the link to the discussion at hand.

Tempus · Post by **Tempus** » Mon May 14, 2007 7:01 pm

I realise that Mele, but there were posts in the other discussion which indicate this is not something the admins would look favourably on - this is no longer the case, and I felt I should point that out.