Empowering playerhubs - use of the mapnote waypoint

Demson · Post by **Demson** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 10:03 pm

One issue I have frequently struggled with is that TSM2 is freaking huge. Currently there are three mains hubs that I know of: the Rivermoot brazier, the High Hold gate, and the Silverymoon university.

There are many more possible hubs. And even within the university (also freaking huge), it's hard to find people.

A possible solution is an OOC mapnote tool for players. When they toggle it on, a mapnote pops up at their location. To ensure proper use - this could only be done within designated areas painted with triggers in the toolset.

Possible eligable areas:
- All the taverns and inns (will require a second mapnote outside at the entrance)
- Silverymoon refectory (I assume it's Wynnaish for
- Fochlucan music hall
- The stage nearby the university

Toggling the waypoint off I haven't figured out yet. Leaving it up to the player might result in misleading mapnotes.

I'm also worried about how it might take away the 'daily lifes' aspect of our characters. Suddenly it becomes a whole lot less neccesary to just wander around the university or whatever to run into someone.

I feel confident I could be able to design such a system. But is it desirable?

Kest · Post by **Kest** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 10:11 pm

A 'Looking for RP' sign has potential. You'd definitely want the ability to switch it off in case of AFK, stealth or conflicting factions.

Zelknolf · Post by **Zelknolf** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 10:26 pm

I bet you could put a generic "Looking for RP" mapnote waypoint on the palatte and give players a toggle to create said waypoint by them, with a long (maybe 60 second?) heartbeat that would check if the character is still there, and to remove the waypoint if the character moves too far away.

It seems like it would require some skill to do it elegantly (perhaps have the script check resrefs on whatever toggle item we give out, and spawn a "Looking for RP (faction)" waypoint -- maybe have a little message on other lonely PCs' server windows to the effect of "(character) has toggled (his|her) RP-seeking item in (area)."), but I don't think it would be too horrifying a project to assemble like that.

Sounds like a good idea, at least. It's technically metagaming, but it's the kind of metagaming we usually find acceptable, because we're stuck whiddling away time on emoting at ourselves without. We might have to lay down a rule that says it's only acceptable to use that information to find a character for neutral or friendly RP, though, and we would need to look to solutions to prevent either metagaming in hostility or prevent characters hostile to one another from either using it as an excuse to not be attacked or from feeling cheated out of what might have been a legitimate attack, if not for that pesky map note.

//edit -- slightly more involved, but custom tokens and variables would provide needed tools to make a "do not provide information about (character)" menu to match with this system, which could write to the logs for us, and provide a nice trail to make sure our CvCers aren't using this system to their advantage.

Marklos · Post by **Marklos** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 3:21 am

In NWN1, custom naming the waypoint was never a problem. You just attach the player's name to it with something like: (sWaypointTag +"bobthegladiator")

Zelknolf · Post by **Zelknolf** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 5:19 am

The custom tags should be easy, and would make cleaning the waypoints up a synch, being that's part of the CreateObject function; I'm not sure that we could pull off custom text when the created map pin was hovered over. (unless someone has insight there that doesn't include a horridly complex deal with custom tokens, which I don't think would be worth the work)

MasterOfEternity · Post by **MasterOfEternity** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 1:26 pm

@DMs and Builders and you all: contact "Dragonsbane777" for his player-finding tool. I'm sure he'll share it, because I've seen him space out the goods for everyone. It's really handy. You click it and it shows the location in this sort of format...

Rivermoot has a single individual.
6b Highway W3 has a few people.
Silverymoon Surrounds has a lot of people.
Lady's College - Ground Floor has a commotion.

And even better, it keeps the names anonymous, and you can turn yourself off from the toggle so you aren't counted in searches. For example, 6b Highway W3 has 2 people; one is toggled to be hidden. It would show up as "6b Highway W3 has a single individual."

It's quite handy.

-Eternity.

Post by **paazin** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:14 am

MasterOfEternity wrote:@DMs and Builders and you all: contact "Dragonsbane777" for his player-finding tool. I'm sure he'll share it, because I've seen him space out the goods for everyone. It's really handy. You click it and it shows the location in this sort of format...

Rivermoot has a single individual.
6b Highway W3 has a few people.
Silverymoon Surrounds has a lot of people.
Lady's College - Ground Floor has a commotion.

And even better, it keeps the names anonymous, and you can turn yourself off from the toggle so you aren't counted in searches. For example, 6b Highway W3 has 2 people; one is toggled to be hidden. It would show up as "6b Highway W3 has a single individual."

It's quite handy.

-Eternity.

Wow, I like it. Seems just OOC enough for it to fit well with us; the age-old question of "where the heck did everyone go" can irrefutably be answered.

Know if it would be relatively easy to integrate?

psycho_leo · Post by **psycho_leo** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:20 am

I particularly like that it has an option to turn yourself off the radar, so if you don't want the company for whatever reason you don't attract any attention to where you are.

MasterOfEternity · Post by **MasterOfEternity** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 6:08 am

@Paazin: I'm not sure if that's sarcasm or not, but I've seen it used on multiple servers. And it's a lot nicer than the one that says: [Player Name] - [Username] - [Location].

-Eternity.

Dorn · Post by **Dorn** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 6:15 am

I'm going to go out on a limb and say he was serious

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 6:30 am

It sounds like a really handy tool, but what happened to sending people tells and asking if they want to get together for some RP?

MorbidKate · Post by **MorbidKate** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 6:44 am

Aye, why add more complexity when the good ol fashion Tell does the trick?

Tell: Wanna RP?

Tell: Sure, let's meet up

Honestly, I just don't see how you can beat that.

Kate

White Warlock · Post by **White Warlock** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:57 am

Gotta agree with MorbidKate again. The Tell chat feature does the trick quite well. As a DM, i say hi to people when i see them online and sometimes i ask if they want to participate in something going on, or i direct them to where other pcs are.

Use a Tell. More scripts means more chances that things will crash or bug out on us. As well, something like this 'can' end up being OOC used to hunt someone down. Remember, not everyone knows they're in the crosshairs, so the option to turn it off isn't necessarily useful. All it takes is one assassin ingame, and everyone will have it turned off. What a waste of scripting effort.

At the very least, a Tell asking where someone is gives them an OOC heads-up, which evens the playing board.

AcadiusLost · Post by **AcadiusLost** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:34 pm

For what it's worth, it sounds like it would be pretty easy to integrate as a pair of PC Tools custom buttons. We could even default it to hidden if people are especially paranoid. I'd just link it to the existing "Locate PCs" button, which currently only works among party members for players.

Brokenbone · Post by **Brokenbone** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:57 pm

Tools such as MoE describe, sound neat, if used in moderation.

I wonder if there would be a way though to have such a tool ignore certain areas, such as faction HQs or other "secret-ish" areas. Possibly by something one builds into the secret area itself (a waypoint that somehow mutes the tool, for instance). Sometimes area names can be a dead giveaway for certain zones. "Under the Jolly Spriggan Tavern: Temple of Loviatar 1a - Has a commotion" may not be what a collection of sneaky Loviatans want anyone to know. Or if your five member faction of Loviatar worshippers is all present and accounted for way out in the woods, and notes ""Under the Jolly Spriggan Tavern: Temple of Loviatar 1a - Has a single individual", well, I guess that's a break & enter alert. Some PC is snooping at your HQ. *shrugs*

Seldom anything wrong with sending Tells around, although sometimes folks will end up needing to turn each other down for meet ups if "tied up" with something else... like worship, scheming, thieving, whatever other private endeavours one can think of. Solo / duo dungeon explores too I guess. *waits outside for sure-to-be-bruised targets eventually emerging*

Anyhow, such a tool couldn't hurt to beta, get feedback, keep/dump/modify as the spirit moves.