Suggestion to export the in game books out to the Web site.

[Duranamir]

One thing i love about this game is the quality of the in game books produced by the various players. However it is very hard to find and read them all IC. What i would really like is an addition to the website where the in game books can be made available for general reading.

In my view this can only act as a wonderful resource for ongoing RP and also publicise some of the work by the players for the players that otherwise would be missed.

I am pretty sure that an automated process could be worked out to take a book which is already stored in a standarised format and turn it into an HTML view. My Web-fu whoever is not good enough to work out the best way of indexing them whether a Wiki structure or a more normal website would be best.

Duranamir

[Jaenoic]

The only thing I foresee happening is that books will be purchased less in game as people choose to merely read them online. Whether or not that is a bad thing I suppose is up to your own opinion. This would put books in the same boat as maps; they can still be purchased in game but they are always available to view on the website for easy access.

[Kirkus]

Could we password protect them? So if you were to buy a map or book ingame and look at it, you would see the web address and password.

[Enig]

Wouldn't that completely defeat the purpose of the suggestion?

[Kirkus]

No. The problem with the suggestion, as Jaenoic stated, was that if we were to simply upload all of our books and maps to the website, players would be less inclined to buy them ICly. In game Maps are already next to non-existent, and this would open the option to not buy or use Books ICly. Thus, I suggested that we password protect them. Its not a perfect solution, those who want to cheat the system will undoubtedly find ways to do just that.

[Enig]

Well then. Alrighty. But if I may, allow me to clarify my statement with the power of logic.

Starting with:

One thing i love about this game is the quality of the in game books produced by the various players. However it is very hard to find and read them all IC. What i would really like is an addition to the website where the in game books can be made available for general reading.

In my view this can only act as a wonderful resource for ongoing RP and also publicise some of the work by the players for the players that otherwise would be missed.

The only thing I foresee happening is that books will be purchased less in game as people choose to merely read them online. Whether or not that is a bad thing I suppose is up to your own opinion.

Could we password protect them? So if you were to buy a map or book ingame and look at it, you would see the web address and password.

Anyhow, let's break it down!

Problem Presented: There are a lot of quality publications in the game written by dedicated players but it's hard to find them and some of them are probably being missed entirely.

Solution Suggested: If we make an online repository of publications people would be able to read the neat things other players have written or drawn (without having to spend hours searching for them which many people are disinclined towards).

Identified Problem with Suggested Solution: If players are able to read books freely on a website will this mean they won't be spending money on them ICly?

Counter-Solution Suggested: Let's make a website with a respository of books but let's make it so that you can only read the books that you've already bought (and presumedly read) in the game.


So then! My questions are the following:

1) How does the counter-proposal address the original problem presented?

2) What benefits are gained from offering an online repository of books collected from an online game that you can only access after you've already read them in the game itself?

[Keltorn]

2) What benefits are gained from offering an online repository of books collected from an online game that you can only access after you've already read them in the game itself?

That plan does have the advantage of allowing people to read books outside of the game. So, for example, someone who's bored at work but can't be playing the game could browse the books that they've purchased on any given character. Of course, you'd have to actually remember all those random passwords... Unless you kept a text file with all of them in it. But at that point, why not just copy and paste your books into text files to begin with?

I'm very much in agreement with Jaenoic on this. If they're made available online, why would anyone ever spend several platinum pieces to get an item that's going to do little more than weigh down their character?

[Liandria]

Instead of making them web accessible perhaps make them more accessible in game? Some sort of system that allows you to check out books from a library, which would have large collection of books according to the city's alignment (Candlekeep perhaps, with every book) but not let you leave with them, or has them decay after a short amount of time.

[Lysha]

Playing a bard, I do have mixed feelings about this. I personally don't mind if someone wants to read my works out of the game. I for one, actually post most of my works on a website as is. As it has been stated before, will having the works readily available for reading out of game reduce the amount of books that are bought? Perhaps this should be optional, and when one submits a work, in the title or some other designated place we can indicate if we would like it to be available for reading out of the game or not.
Also, books that are to be used for quests, I do not think should be available to be read out of the game, or, the book should be password protected since part of the whole idea of some of these quests it to visit different areas instead of sticking around one place, for example, the School of Wonder quest. It keeps people from becoming stagnant in one area and promotes a possibility for a group effort in traveling.
Perhaps we can have a poll to see how many people would like to have the books in an online archive? Sorry if I got long-winded.

~Laura~

[Harroghty]

I have enjoyed stumbling across new and interesting books throughout my tenure as a player of this game, but I am not sure that ease of reading is a good enough reason to devalue the utility of books to the game. Laura and others make several good points: books are involved in many quests and finding them for the quest can engender some good role-play. We have seen what happened to maps; who buys them? While I agree that it might be convenient (and easier on the eyes) to post books on the web, I am not sure it is worth removing that tool from builders and players.

[Gwain]

One solution is to make a voucher password system, that when you buy a book, you gain the right to a one time view of the webfile before your voucher resets. In that time you can make a digital copy of the book for yourself for later use.

Another solution is to upload the books into a password account activated wiki and allow you to view the books on your account only when you unlock them with a random password that resets after a single use. As a purchaser, you get unlimited views of the digital media related to the book, but cannot share the password with anyone unafiliated with your account. Buy first, read later in all appearances.

The other I can think of is to have a review list of each book in the mud, a short summary from the author describing each book for sale. Viewers can pick and choose from the list and actively seek out the books in the game.

[Jaenoic]

For me, it is not so much an issue of finding the books but buying the books. I suppose my characters are abnormally poor, but... I generally don't want to drop the one or two platinum on a book when I only have 10 platinum. Books might be more commonly read in the game if the price were lower. I know that in period setting books were expensive; they were all written by hand until the epoch of the printing press. It was a long process which resulted in book writing essentially being a skilled trade rather than a cheap manufacturing project. But, setting aside, lowering the price of books might have an effect toward Duranimir's original intention(to proliferate the reading of IC written books).

[Keltorn]

I know that in period setting books were expensive; they were all written by hand until the epoch of the printing press. It was a long process which resulted in book writing essentially being a skilled trade rather than a cheap manufacturing project.

Mind you, this is a fantasy setting. There's no printing press, but there's always magic. In fact, there's a spell called Amanuensis from the Spell Compendium. It's 0-level and lets you perfectly copy text at 250 words per minute. Mass production of books should be cheap and easy; it's the paintings that should be pricy.

[Duranamir]

I would quite happily go for lower cost books, it does go some way towards my original intention which is to allow more people to read the in game prose and poetry which i personally think adds so much to the background of the game.

Duranamir