Should Names Be Publicly Displayed?

I can live with (and would like) an option so you can refuse to see names for the purpose of RP. You should however have the possibility to see the name when needed for the purpose of resolving harassment, griefing, exploiting and other issues as already reported above.

I am opposed to names being unknown until the owner tells you his name for the above reasons!

 

Yes, there was some lag, but not so bad that it impeded normal gameplay (the client would show vendors *and* their names only after they were loaded, so the scene would be slower in populating, but movement and player interactions were not impeded), and let's face it, Luna was extreme in that regard... And as I said, I was a European playing on West-Coast servers!

But you don't need to have all players that are online, just the ones you know "personally" (and that won't be millions...), and it need NOT be streamed realtime, but only at the start of a session... Data only goes back when you learn a new name!
Or you can even make it client specific and only store it locally if it *really* is an issue, but storage is cheap, and you only need to send the database if it has a newer timestamp than the one stored locally.
And if database size really is a concern you can also time out names if they've not been shown for a long time... I forget names of people I don't meet regularly all the time! And then I need to ask (IRL!) them "what was your name again?" too!

No, this is a feature that would *not* need to cause lag or extreme load if implemented only somewhat properly!

 

Something like a right-click - report option would take care of that issue...

 

Yep, I was going to suggest the very same thing. If someone is violating the ToS, simply right-click on them and choose Report. If you can't do that, just issue a generic report with your /loc and date/time and the GMs can look up all activity at that time and location anyways and know who was performing those actions you reported.

I don't see this as a problem.

 

They can already track accounts past user names... the account is bound to friends list so the report could be as well. Release to release if you change your name and you're on my friends list I'll still see you with the new name. This, even after wipes, illustrates what I'm explaining about accounts being bound to the avatar, beyond the name, in-game... already.

 

We are not talking about NPCs, but about players, so.... Imagine each person knowing at least 30 people. Now multiply that against the current pledgers plus the people who will join the game after launch. Now go forward a couple of years when each person knows at least 100 people online...Its huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge.


EDIT: I am beginning to worry about people asking for everything, ΑΚΑ "Feature creep". Things like tag toggle would make people not know your name and have to ask for it. But then again, this is an RP aspect and can be solved by pretending you dont know their name, while having the nametag turned off.

 

Hmm.. why not have a default name selection screen we can personally open up, that has a list of all the generic names NPC's use in-game, and we can choose any of those to represent ourselves.
These generics could be things we can collect over time, reflecting our actual skills and actions in game while we're using them!

 

You mean stuff like "Merchant" "Blacksmith" etc?

 

Isn't that happening anyway for the SMO aspect of the game?

 

Yes, of course!

 

Sounds like a fun idea. It could easily be tied into the current thinking for being able to earn and select titles.

 

Really you take the dark child eating upright dragon stance now ? How previsible...

I'm not going to say what I think its not nice. *self-censor*

a huuuge 33 kb text file for each avatar, oh no we're in trouble...

I understand now why the roleplaying alliance is not going forward.

Make, beleive... pretending... bull. You should face your fears and be a little more "freaky" and a little less condescending.

I'm taking a loooooong huuuuuge walk, see you in a while guys.

 

I would rather see the player names.

It just seems way to impersonal to start an online game in a world where everyone is titled 'stranger' or 'outlander'. It is just one more obstacle to knowing someone, vs. seeing their name right away.

Online games are meant to be social. I understand that the intent of an 'invisible name' system would be to force people to socialize. But what if it backfired and had the opposite effect. It would be awful.

 

Truth is we don't need to see anything... if you're all "elite" and stuff and you need to know who's who then bless your heart the system is already made like that.

Please re-read the thread and solutions my friend, we're talking a toggle "as-if" coding wasn't an issue in order to find all possible flaws with the concept.

You just gave a good example by the way, on facebook everyone is friends in my social circle, but everyone when asked personally think its all a big social game, and they most of the time never say what they think or really feel for fear of offending someone.

I mean how lame of a roleplay that gives ?! It's bland, faded, hypocrit... we know too well what that gives in power MMOs... its really getting old, we're supposed to have a revolutionary new refreshing spiritual sucessor to Ultimas here.

Besides I bet not even half the people will have pvp toggles *somewhere* so basically the content of roleplay will be somewhat limited to us playing make beleive, we might see alot of who's the best cook, who's the best arena fighter, who's the best storyteller... I'll be damned if I log off facebook to log in to THAT.

No spies, no detectives, no magic scholar? dunno if I could call that a game...

 

I love the immersion and realism of not having names display on people. I prefer to recognise them by their appearance and their own description. So if there as optional setting, I'll be disabling it so I can't see the names. Even if it puts me at a disadvantage.

 

What is SMO? (I am not good with abbreviations )

 

I am taking the what-dragon stance ? (sounds interesting, but perhaps I will need a bit explaining on what that first line means)

First of all, I am not condescending, how did you get that impression? And "role play alliance"? I am not sure how did this came up in the discussion about hiding names. People are not coerced into a symbiotic relationship to role play together (not from SotA RP anyway, I assume you meant that), but this isnt the place to discuss this.

But beyond that, why you think it will be 33kb text file? The data will be stored in a database server and not locally in your computer. Also there are other data that gets transferred in and out your client in the meantime, besides the nametags and not everyone has T1, truth be told.
A good example of data overabundance creating lag problems was LotRO after the Rohan expansion. People were lagging so badly that it made it impossible to enjoy the game. (rubberbanding). Actually it was so horrible that trying to have role play Rohirric events with battles and horse formations etc was a nightmare and immersion breaking (we started well formed up and ended up a rubble)


But never mind the "huuuuge" data argument. Lets approach this another way:

- Having the "Outlander" tag on top instead of the name will first of all put you in the process to get the names of every player you encounter in order to find one specific, whereas one may not wish to get into that process. Especially if one is new into the world and looks for a specific person.

- When you ask around looking for a specific person, or call your friend to ask him/her where they are, you will be given a description of appearance, in order to shorten the length of your effort to find that player. That could end up having you looking for quite some time. Things should be fun, for people and not another chore.

- We always have to take in consideration that some people cannot afford more than two hours per day (some even by two days. Parenting is like that) and tedious things like that might significantly shorten their fun time in the game.

- Adding features that offer much to help in the immersion is always a good thing (hey, I am a role player, I am all for immersion), but when those features are hindering players in some fashion, thats never good no matter how the rest of the players feel (especially those hard core ones who enjoy being challenged in every aspect of the game). I am not saying that those HC players are "bad" and want to ruin the game, but when you are asking for a feature you should try to see how it affects the game community spherically.

- Even if you add a toggle to this feature to activate it or not (seems like people think that toggles are the solution to everything. I wish I could still believe that) people will end up deactivating it permanently after some point. A wasted feature that appealed to players for a short time.

- A nametag toggle option to simply hide the names, does the trick (not to mention that its already in the game). All this time people used that for their role play purposes in many (if not all) online games, so why not here are well? Role Play IS make-believe and pretending. It is the very core aspect of it.


Hey if Port decides to go for it, I am not gonna quit the game, ofcourse. I will try to enjoy the game as much as I can.


Have a nice walk.

 

I've met some nice people in game which I know from the forum and so I had some good and interesting conversations. Without the names displayed I had missed this. Therefore I would prefer to stay with the current concept. Maybe extended with the option to hide your name for rp purpose - but there is already the option to hide the names of the other players which should fit this purpose also.

 

You have not even read the suggestions people have posted...

its supposed to be a social game, if they have not coded social dynamics yet they need help...

Most people meta-game anyways and set up meeting points and chat on ventrilo ?

You don't really have a point and yes I felt like you were trashing hardcore roleplayers !

You haven't even read my posts properly this is so frustrating, nobody thinks requiring you to go by physical description alone... what I'm suggesting is MORE DATA, in the sense that your avatar remembers things, and can know a guild from their colors, which would then be available with mouseover ? Also some skills (MORE DATA) would be used to guess what kind of avatar is in front of you.

My guess is you've never coded a game you're just afraid it will end up like other horrors you've played. It shows you haven't checked any customized code UO freeshard either... shows you can have 1000 players on a home computer run server and not lag.

 

If I havent read your posts properly I apologize, but that also means that perhaps your point didnt come across as you may have wanted (your frustration might be the cause of that), so if you want, PMs are a forumer's best friend.

Many people in many games meta-game and use ventrilo (or any other voice chat) in order to coordinate things (mostly combat). You believe otherwise?

Guild coat of arms will be in the game (unless my memory fails me). Character COA is going to be in. So basically what you say about "our avatar remembers things, and can know a guild from their colors, which would then be available with mouseover" is something that its basically in the plans. Your character will have his/her own CoA as well as a Guild CoA and it should (will) be available as an info beyond the tabbard/cloak/whatever that your avatar wears. But thats not what I am arguing about. I am arguing against a system that throws you into a game world blindfolded, where finding your friends or a specific person, etc becomes a chore.

Having a skill that allows you to discover some meta data about the player you target/mouse over is another thing and its good (like a skill/ability that allows you to see if a player is LB or DS alligned, for example) and does not require your character to "remember" it. But completely obscuring their name, until you ask for it, for the sake of false sense of realism is something that hinders the game for those who are not into it, making the simplest of things (finding another player) a chore.

I am sorry if you felt like I am trashing HC players, but that isnt the case. I am more interested in a balance of things where casual and hardcore interact without any complain (call me idealist). Still, discarding my opinions without any argument is your prerogative, Ahuaeynjgkxs, but that doesn't make it any more false or your opinion any more true. Also you might want to take the tone of your posts a notch down. Stop being frustrated about digital things, we are all trying to give opinions about a game we love too much. No need to start trumping each other for it . As for your guess, you assume too much, so I will leave you with that.