Books and a Library

I want to run a library.

I intend to own land and housing, and I want to open and run a library (secretly, I always wanted to live in and run the Lyceum, but that's a different story altogether...). In UO, we could write (though only a very limited amount) in books, and one could put them on shelves and whatnot. I see books in the house decoration video that Lord British did, but will we be able to write in books?

If so, one of the problems in UO was that any book could be erased and/or overwritten by someone. This was problematic, and a little unrealistic, given that they tended to use ink back in olden times. What I would like to see is the following:

• Books that can be written in and be made permanent.
• Maybe some options like script, illumination, binding type, etc, perhaps tied to some sort of inscription skill.
• Paper-making and bookbinding.

 

Yes, they had said during the Kickstarter that you would be able to write in books.

 

How do you combat spam? I would imagine that was the reason things could be erased.

 

If a book is spam you put it in the trash? Also, erasable runs into the problem of someone writing a great story and someone else coming in to 'vandalize' the original book.

I second (or third or tenth.. whatever we're on..) the idea of having books that can be 'finished' for no more editing.

 

It sounded from one of the chats like books would have certain permissions so that non-programmed features could be at least attempted by the players. I would expect that allowing the owner to be the only contributor would be one of those roles.

 

This vandalism you speak of is what I was calling spam: adding worthless text to a book, or was this not possible?

 

Such a great idea. I ran a library many years ago in a... "UO-like"... game. Such good RP can come of it and in many unexpected ways.

One time, I began a mystery novel. Short chapters. It became quasi-popular just because it was something new, different and a bit odd. Then it took a magnificent turn when players began to act it out. I never expected that. I didn't really know the players too well that did it either...which actually made it cooler. In time, the library became a "RP hang-out." Missed a lot of good sleep due to that library...

And trust me, once people start contributing...you literally won't be able to stop them. Get in good with a Carpenter who builds shelves...you'll need them!

 

And a papermaker, and a bookbinder, if both of these careers are options.

 

There's been great discussions on these things before but I believe they're in Dev+ It's a pity we can't get 90% of the discussions that in that area out into the public.. really that's where most of it belongs.. it's just us backers putting out ideas.

 

Yeah, the desire for player created content (of any kind, including books) is countered by the desired ESRB rating.

There is a huge difference in content being presented as coming from Portalarium, and private content entirely created by players.

If the in-game system or mechanic (for books or otherwise) gives the end-user/player the impression the content came from Portalarium, it will need to be reviewed by someone representing Portalarium. To do otherwise will permit some "very bad things" to happen.

Put simply, if the book is going to be "available to the public" or put in a public in-game library, or put into a loot table that a public player will get loot from, or any other similar thing, someone at Portalarium needs to read it and approve it. Personally, I would love to see a generic content submission tool for stories, so players can contribute approved/reviewed written text for public inclusion in SotA.

That aside, private player run libraries, great idea. Just have to keep the books inside the player houses, and it's all good. No review or approval required.

 

What is to stop someone from throwing all the books in the trash?

 

Companies get around that problem with "Online content is not rated." Books are really no different than what you see in chat, and I'm sure at least a couple people will be reprimanded the first couple days for screaming obscenities in a public place.

In fact, the ESRB has this:

 

There would have to be a permission on the book for everyone to read, but only the owner to trash.

 

Books, in a house (private library), can be "locked" on tables and in shelves. A player could click on a book and read it, but not move it or add content to it.

 

Yep, the key point there is user generated content, not content coming from, or having the impression to the user that it's coming from, Portalarium.

Believe me, the first soccer mom that catches their precious snowflake reading Orc-on-Kobold Explicit 18A/XXX Pr0n in the New Britannian Public Library, and it hits Fox News, will be a very bad day for Portalarium. It's a very simple distinction, and a very easy thing to handle.

 

Yea I think both are needed.
Permissions just like a file on your computer as to who can open, edit, copy, del, etc and then yea like any item it could be locked down.
That way you don't lose the original and copies can be made and handed out.

 

Hold on! How did you know that I was working on "Orc-on-Kobold Explicit 18A/XXX?"

*closes his shades tighter*

 

The solution is obviously to allow people to flag content and have it reviewed. In fact, it shouldn't even need to be manually flagged, since certain keywords can be detected by the system anyway. It'll flag itself. Make the the author a field on the book and always display it on the front cover when people open to read. Having something say "Hey, we're not Portalarium" is breaking the illusion, but maybe there could be a "seal" that shows up to say that the book has been approved by some in-game authority. "Approved by Lord British's Public Library" or "From the Office of Some Well Known Character". That might clue people in, since player written books wouldn't have that seal.

In the end, it's trouble that every game has to face, and one of the troubles of a sandbox environment. I think it's easy to just display the "not rated by ESRB" thing prominantly, state that the game is for 13yo+ only and have a flagging system, both manual and automatic.

How did UO deal with it? I don't remember hearing anyone freak out about what their kid saw in there. Though, to be fair, the media has just gotten worse for sensationalizing things in the past 15 years.

 

There's no need for the flag and review if the distinction is clear up front. It's less work this way, and gives players far more freedom, if giving players freedom to make their own books is the goal.

• User generated, not reviewed, private (in-houses only). ESRB exemption applies, everyone is happy.
• User generated, reviewed, public. ESRB rules apply, everyone is happy.
• Portalarium generated, public. ESRB rules apply, everyone is happy.

The only time it gets risky is:

• User generated, not reviewed, public. ESRB exemption DOES NOT apply, everyone is sad.

From my recollection of UO from 1997-1999, and what I've seen in the past few months, player generated books are only in player homes. I could be wrong, but that's all I remember and have seen.

 

I think there are plenty of cover-your-ass methods to allow people to have books everywhere. It's been fifteen years since I played UO, but I don't remember custom books being limited to houses. In fact, I do remember having my own books but I never had a house. Pretty sure I traded them with friends.

There.com has books scattered over the common places. You can flag them if you find offense. To be fair, it is currently 18+, but they plan on dropping that requirement. Don't know if they will clean up books. I know the first incarnation of There.com was 13+ and they still had books all over the place.

Having a flag/review is not really extra work. If it's offensive, it's reviewed. If not, then no work needed. There will be people reviewing things anyway, since we'll probably be able to have our own sigils and such put on our characters.

I just really, really, really don't like limiting player books to personal housing ever. I think you can get past all the problems with clear ESRB rules and a TOS that says you may be exposed to things online, so don't let your kids play unattended.