Command - Idea

[Diamedeas]

I think that the WHO command is nice but not beneficial to anyone if they are unable to contact someone they have not met. I propose having a city channel and a guild channel for each class. This makes it easier to ask questions and engage with other people who were "born" in your city or belong to your guild. Also, makes it easier to get groups of people to quest and meet people rather than just sitting in a market square hoping someone comes by.

Perhaps by having a city channel, you can also introduce new members of the game VIA the city channel and guild masters would be able to assist new members to their guilds by the guild channel.

City's could be run by the players themselves as well. Electing/voting a person to power also increasing roleplay and connection between characters. Guilds could do the same. Perhaps, having a Guild master / and maybe a couple secretary positions available for the guild to assist its members. The City counsels could write what laws in the city they wish to be followed, and guilds could write their own help files to guide new members on what is ok for that class and what is not allowed. You get the idea....right?

[Wenin]

In the world of Forgotten Realms, and Dungeons and Dragons... does such a thing exist?

[Nearraba]

In times past - we have had Guild Heroes (individual wizard guilds, bards, fighters, etc. Those chosen to lead the guild) and also city Lords that led votes and role-play situations, (at least for Waterdeep.)

I am not entirely sure the reason as to why they no longer exist. I could give a guess that though we have been doing wonderfully at adding amazing new players, we really don't have the need for guild leaders for every guild right now, compared to the number of people in each of them.

There are note boards in many of the main guild locations and also in the cities, where you can set up an event. You're more than welcome to post on those and also to create gathering events here in the forums. Just to clarify, you don't have to be a leader of anything to get people together. Posting on the forums here gives you the opportunity of asking for others interest in such and gaining the knowledge of what time works best for the majority. And while I can see the easy use of a city chat channel, it just doesn't make sense to me.

[Diamedeas]

My main concern for this is the simplicity of meeting others in your "Line of work" much like a covenant. Every player has things they are trying to accomplish, restrictions based on they deity or chosen profession. Because of this, it lowers and slows the ability to just blind luck of running into someone, meet them, greet them, and then after that point I have noticed that the RP ends there. Unless of course, you have someone like me who sends a random tell to the people that I do know to attempt an RP situation. The problem with the boards, is that it requires people actually look at them. Not many do. Communication is a big part of RP and I would think that role play and personal interaction with others would only enhance the game

[Wenin]

Try the following, none are easy as they take either time or becoming creative


Message Boards in Game
- Respond to a Posting - If you see someone's name on a post, that means you can write that person a Letter or send them a Package in game, to their name. When they log in they will see that they have a message. The letter could be about their post, or their post could indicate that they are someone you could use help from or want to meet.
- Make your own Posting - Create a storyline that others can get involved in, that would involve with you making a post. It could be as simple as your desire to group with others to go on a quest.

Visit Gathering Locations - There are many locations in the game that see frequent activity. Hanging out in those locations and be prepared to interact.
- Market Square, Waterdeep - A lot of impromptu gatherings occur here. I know you're a ranger, and visiting cities is suppose to be rare, but this is a game where you're suppose to be having fun. As you said, meeting and interacting with others is part of that game. So create a reason, however creative, as to why you are in the city.
- Howling Peaks - A favorite location for low level players, and many high level players travel through there to delve into the Underdark.
- Main Roads - From Waterdeep to Westgate/Cormyr or Waterdeep to Friendly Arms Inn, I have met so many people just walking down the road. If you see a lot of people online, setup a "camp" along one of these roads, and have a storyline available for when someone comes upon your camp.

Events on this Forum - However rare, they are posted. Look to get invited.


As we've talked before, I completely understand your situation. I've walked that path myself. Most of the days I'm logged in, I know less than 20% of the people online IC. Most of them are low level characters though.

[Diamedeas]

Ok, so what I have noticed is that 100+ people have looked at this thread and only a couple speaking about it. Problem is only a few people are speaking negative about my idea, which one would have to assume that the other 100+ people agree with it. Its easy to say why this idea shouldn't happen if you don't like the idea, but even if you don't like the idea lets be positive and say what you think is good about it? I challenge anyone who disagrees with this idea to give 5 good things about why it should. If you can't...well, someone is just being a negative nancy! (FYI -- You can't use what I have already stated)

[Alitar]

Ok, so what I have noticed is that 100+ people have looked at this thread and only a couple speaking about it. Problem is only a few people are speaking negative about my idea, which one would have to assume that the other 100+ people agree with it.

Lack of comment does not mean support. "If you have nothing nice to say..." comes to mind. I am against the idea because the notion of channels in the game seems entirely unfitting to me. Seeing people converse on them even briefly would ruin my immersion in whatever roleplay I was enjoying and I'm certain I would feel too much responsibility to turn the channel off. There are plenty of ways to meet people in-character or even arrange 'coincidental' meeting through PM, I don't feel we should sacrifice the immersion or realism that we have to add telepathic channels to everyone's brain in order to make it easier for those who don't want to meet people the way everyone else has.
Most people who have a negative opinion on an idea will often keep it to themselves. As for 5 positive things, that sounds like fishing for support and I don't have any to offer on this one, sorry.

[Gwain]

Every idea posted to the forum has merit. Just because not everyone is buzzing after it does not mean its not being considered, measured and incorporated in another forum (That you may or may not see). My only critique would be that increased channel activity usually means more ooc abuse than assistance, there are ooc channels with purposes set aside for certain councils, they usually are for coordination of issues, events or administration. Players should be fine with tell, otell question, noteboards, the magic post etc. I don't see the need to chat it up locally with someone you may or may not know through additional channels instead of striking out into the wide game world to find them. The changes I'd make (and they may already be in game) those that get killed should be able to contact anyone, and anyone should be able to send tells to the departed in order to rescue or assist them. Everything else should work with our current means of communication. Just my opinion.

Edit: ALitar's post above went up as I was typing this, it really may echo his comments in some respect, all an issue of timing.

[Diamedeas]

First off, I would certainly like to say that I really enjoy seeing everyone's opinions and their responses to this simple post. This simple idea seems to have created a bit of an argument among most. Furthermore, I hope that nobody is taking what I am saying as being offensive, as that is not my intentions. Perhaps, I am just interpreting some things wrong or I am being interpreted wrong.

I would like to remind everyone who has engaged in our wonderful conversation that it is just an idea that I would like to see happen. I think that everyone should at the very least, have the option. Like Alitar said,

Seeing people converse on them even briefly would ruin my immersion in whatever roleplay I was enjoying and I'm certain I would feel too much responsibility to turn the channel off.

Having the option of having it on or off I think would be beneficial to everyone involved. Much like meeting people all together, you don't have to engage in it. I believe in the phrase "Better to have and not need, then need it and not have it". Also, I don't believe in condemning an idea before we have had a chance to see it work.

Now, this is only my opinion but the reason for asking if anyone can say anything good about this idea even if you disagree with it was not to "Fish for support" but to simply stimulate your minds and get everyone to think outside the box and not just on personal opinions about the idea. Obviously, the IMMs will decide whether this idea is valuable or not to them.

Let us look at another perspective for a moment. I can't tell you how many times I have asked a question on the ASK channel just to wait what seemed like FOREVER and never get a response. Then..when you do get a response about something like a class question, its usually from someone who is not or never played your class. So, how can they answer a specific question if they have never done it? The idea simply put is organization and communication. Now...if there was a guild channel or class channel (Whatever you want to call it) that linked me with others of my class, or race etc etc then I could ask specific questions whether it be IC or OOC.

Currently, the way the system works is that you are not suppose to send a TELL to anyone you have not met, even if they are of the same class as you (unless of course you are dead and need revived). So..you can't message a person who is online that is the same class as you and the person on the other end of the ASK channel can't answer your question, then what does that leave? Someone mentioned message boards..yes that is a good idea, however, the problem still remains that unless someone comes immediately behind you, then the time lap of waiting on a response could be a while. so the next viable solution is...an idea to resolve the problem.

Since the forums are OOC then simply put, I will state a little bit more about me. I am former military and have always had a mindset of embracing solutions and not problems. That is merely another reason for my comment asking if people could give positives instead of negatives. Negatives are easy, especially if its not something you want. But...are you mature enough to look at the big picture and acknowledge both the idea as well as give positive feedback with the negative feedback that has already been presented, or do you just repeat what everyone has already said and jump on the bandwagon?

Either way, this is a great conversation and can't wait to see what others have to say. Keep in mind...if you are against this idea, lets embrace some solution ideas rather then dwell on any personal negativeness

[Algon]

I have to say I am completely against a chat channel personally. Years and years ago the Player Council had a chat channel tied to it and that at times could be extremely distracting from RP, and these are people who have been deemed knowledgeable enough to help out others. Imagine everyone having access to a chat channel like this...it would never stop. It would make having a quiet RP with someone impossible because of the amount of chatter coming from everyone on the game.

I agree with what Gwain said. There are other ways to get to know people and set up fun RPs. Use the message board and the events section here. Come up with thing that would intrigue other players and make them want to come see what was going on. Be creative and above all be patient. I have been here for close to 12 years and I still only know a fraction of the people that play.

[Dranso]

While it would start off with the best of intentions, I believe a channel would eventually turn into something that the game would not need.

1. People would log on just to chat and not RP.
2. It could become very distracting.
3. My favorite is this use of channels. Thomas- "Come to the square and buy some of Tom's wondrous wares!" spammed repeatedly ever five minutes.
4. If you just want to OOCly chat with someone there are safe ways to do that like AIM.
5. While FK is a fantasy world it is RP and loosely based on RL. We meet people in FK much the same as we meet people in RL. For example, you are in the Howling peaks killing goblins and getting better with your sword and you run into a fresh face. You are in the same situation together so you start talking and exchange names. You tell the person to hit you up on the amulet sometime so you can train together in the future. Not so different from meeting someone in the gym in RL. The square resembles a mall in RL, bars are bars, churches are churches, etc.

[Diamedeas]

Excellent description and I really like the way you put that into perspective Dranso. Thank you for your response

[Timaeus]

Roleplay opportunities are easy to find if you actually stop training and spend a little time looking for them. I have used magic mirror many times on your ranger and consistently find him training (every time). I have logged in characters who "in your line of work" and are more than willing to roleplay and had them sit for long periods in very common locations where players "in your line of work" gather and not once has your ranger ever left the area you are training in while I am online. Put some actual effort into finding roleplay opportunities and you will find them.

From the sound of it you want more channels to ask questions about your class and that can be accomplished in character and face to face if you actually seek out roleplay and put a little effort into it. If your questions are more about code mechanics then the forums are an appropriate place to ask them, it is not an undue burden to wait for a response on our forums as several very knowledgeable players read them several times a day and will post responses in a timely manner. My impression is simply that you lack any patience and want everything explained and handed to you rather than you taking the time and effort to find solutions on your own merit.

[Diamedeas]

Timaeus you are entitled to your opinion, HOWEVER, as I specifically ask for earlier was for positive or constructive criticism. Since you lack the ability to do so or simply follow simple instructions then it is apparent that your comment is invalid and holds no water.

[Timaeus]

Of course you want to believe my constructive criticism of your lack of effort holds no water. Truth often does sting.

Fact is you are whining about a lack of roleplaying opportunities when the truth is that you are too lazy to actually attempt to find roleplay. Since the public forums are your chosen venue you have no basis to dictate as to how others will respond to them. And for the record I did offer you constructive advice on how to improve and increase your roleplay opportunities so have many other people in this thread yet your ranger was still in the same area training as he has always been when I checked in on him three or four times yesterday.

[Diamedeas]

Your ignorance really does amaze me Timaeus..(little timmy!). I think you are allowing your personal feelings to get in the way of creating an educated and intelligent conversation. Yes..others have given advice and support their claims with reasonable information. But then again, they have all said the same thing. Hence...advice taken. You on the other hand have deemed it necessary to make a terrible attempt of discrediting myself and my character. You bring in IC information into an OOC forum to try and prove a point when the entire conversation started off with a simple idea. Either way...your input is no longer necessary. You comments are rude and asinine. Go ahead...look up the words while we all wait since your vocabulary is that of an 8 year old. Either way, this thread is done. Thank everyone else for your respectful comments.



----------------------------------------------End Comments------------------------------------------------------

[Hrosskell]

>be me in 2014
>walking down the street whistling
>someone stops me to ask what the tune is
>tell them and tip my fedora
>walk into gamestop
>man behind the counter compliments my fedora
>"looks like you read forums"
>remember that I do and hurriedly rush home
>stop in the kitchen to make some snacks
>waddle towards my room ever so slowly
>open the door
>get on the floor
>everybody walk the dinosaur

[Gwain]

>be me in 2014
>walking down the street whistling
>someone stops me to ask what the tune is
>tell them and tip my fedora
>walk into gamestop
>man behind the counter compliments my fedora
>"looks like you read forums"
>remember that I do and hurriedly rush home
>stop in the kitchen to make some snacks
>waddle towards my room ever so slowly
>open the door
>get on the floor
>everybody walk the dinosaur

Situation defused Now back to our regularly scheduled suggesting.

[Lylena]

>be me in 2014
>walking down the street whistling
>someone stops me to ask what the tune is
>tell them and tip my fedora
>walk into gamestop
>man behind the counter compliments my fedora
>"looks like you read forums"
>remember that I do and hurriedly rush home
>stop in the kitchen to make some snacks
>waddle towards my room ever so slowly
>open the door
>get on the floor
>everybody walk the dinosaur

And then I thought...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL9ihXiFAko&feature=kp

Opinion time!

I believe answers to questions are currently readily accessible - Ask, forums, otells.

A channel like this would only introduce an OOC element I'd be uncomfortable with. I'd feel like I'd have an obligation to keep such a channel open, because the one rare time someone asks something and I'd know the answer, I'd probably have the channel off and not be able to help them, and that'd bother me.

Even though we have those of a same class, our RP styles may be different and our chars may flat out hate each other, despite being both of a certain class. Only class that'd collectively love each other and not care would be Paladins.

The forums is a good place to start with hunting out RP, going to the places IC is a good place to hang for RP, and using the boards to announce stuff/look for answers IC is another way for RP.

I think currently FK has an effective system to communicate, both IC and OOC. (The boards here prove it!)