Request: No names in the dark

I think this game being a roleplaying game has an obligation to attempt to provide players the tools to roleplay effectively. This is a great example of that. I'm not trying to "screw the ranged players", I'm trying to make the game more interactive and meaningful. If darkness is just another shade of the game and it has no impact, then it's meaningless from a roleplaying perspective. It's just like weather effects, eventually they're designed to have an impact, even on ranged players. That's good in my opinion.

 

But its that not been implemented already ? Press N to disable names ?
Give choice to ppl how they want to play the game.

 

It's more than just displaying the name at will. You might choose not to see other's names, but maybe I'd like to go stealth and not recongnized if moving in the darkness.
And it would be quite weird for me to display/hide other's names based on my own criteria of darknes...
Definitely +1 for me.

 

The argument of player choice is often used in a way that disregards the choice of the player that wants to roleplay.

Here's an example of how this works.

I say, I'd like to make it so the environmental effect of "darkness" works like we'd expect it to by limiting vision in the dark.
Someone else says "but what about my choice to not have those limits!"
Thus excluding my choice to roleplay in an immerssive world.

I'm not saying that's there's not a better way to show the limitations of darkness, I'm simply saying that to give players a "choice" of how limited darkness is for them personally, is to exclude my choice to be in an immerssive world.

The same logic can be applied to so many arguments on these forums. Hey, I'd like for beds to work like beds! Well I like beds the way they are, why not give players a choice?!

Do you see what I'm talking about? The idea of "I should always have a choice" is really quite unproductive. I totally understand that this might not be the best way to do this, and I think that's fair game - criticize away. But if your argument at its core is really just "Hey I don't want darkness to act like darkness" I don't see how that helps advance roleplaying and immerssion. I think that's a poor argument with a siloed viewpoint.

 

I dont care as long as you dont impose your criterias to others that dont want them . I know many players (who play this game every day) that are of a certain age and dont have a good vision in the dark. So, if they cant see names further than the light radius (which is small), they wont be able to play this game during the night time (of the game).
I dont want to extend this discussion to other things like all the other limitations that darkness should have or the choices i should have or not.

All im saying is that there are options in the game (now) that allow you to play in a more immersive way (like hiding names) instead of imposing your play style to all the others.

 

I like it, and think it is needed if stealth is to be a part of this game.

 

I can see the point of the stealthers. However, the guy being attacked may feel disadvantaged without detection mechanics. In this argument, light radius or infinite radius of detection. Perhaps there is a consensus solution, as opposed to the compromise solution everyone always argues for. In this case, perhaps there could be a skill, let's say smell or hearing that would allow a person to detect a stealther at greater distance.

 

It's that last line that you wrote that I have trouble with.

See, it's one thing if I'm playing single player online mode where there are no other players to see my name. If that's the case, I totally agree, I just press N and problem solved!

But in multiplayer, I don't want players to see my name. So would you support my choice to keep my name hidden in multiplayer? Because that would be even better! I'll just turn off my name and then no one will see it in multiplayer and they'll have to ask me what my name is and recognize me by the clothes I'm wearing and the actions I'm taking.

 

Ah ok i see... As an old UO player we encountered also this problem and we played as if there was no name above our heads.
Mmh... Here there is maybe a solution.
What about this proposition: all pvp flagged players wont have their names visible up their heads.
What do you think about it? I find it simple and more immersive (on UO we were allways at war with all rp guilds to have more interactions like tavern fights and such...); and it wont affect other players that have hard time playing during the night time.
The only "downside" of this proposition is that you will have to be flagged pvp to hide your name but i like it.

 

I like that as long as it's also in pvp areas, and not just for people flagged pvp all the time.

 

Aha yeah, all names for all players in pvp scènes should be hidden.

 

i love this idea and do not feel that it should be toggled.

 

I really like your idea.. And I think it's a reasonable request that benefits the game.

Now for something unreasonable, and probably not beneficial:
I'd be interested to see the name tags seem to exist in the world, rather than being UI magically affixed to people's characters. What if the toggled on name tag is actually floating above your head? And it never lights up, but is effected by light and shadow like you are? Then they would naturally disappear in the darness, just as you do.. and if they pull out a torch, they are lighting up their own name pointing out their heads.. quite obviously. ;D I think that would show everyone just how silly name tags are and people will finally start toggling the useless things off.

Moreover, if I have name tags toggled off, then no one should be able to see my name tag, even if they toggled them on. It's my name, and it's mine to give you if I want to! MINE!

 

I like that idea a lot, Miracle Dragon. Good one!

 

Nice idea!

 

Changing the shader on the names to be diffuse only (lit by the environment instead of self illuminated) would solve this issue as well as improve the graphical quality.

in my opinion, of course.