Temp Game Master Account

Discussion in 'Archived Topics' started by Nick, Nov 30, 2018.

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  1. Nick

    Nick Avatar

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    Looking at the incredible work done by @Hemswal The Descended and gang, i can't help but wonder....

    If it is possible for port to create temp GM accounts for players to use for events. These accounts can only be used in the town which the players request for, and for a limited time only.

    It could be a simple non combat deck which summons, and a locked combat deck for combat. (hunt the GM down to prevent him from summoning)

    Any text in the chat box will appear as screen text to other players.

    To access this account, players must submit to port when and where the account is used, the background story, etc for approval.
     
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  2. Nick

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    We could have @Hemswal The Descended creating an event leading the obsidians to conquer a POT town like say dead mule. Sir ever so frank calls out to heroes for aid.

    In the aftermath, how the town is decorated will be based on how the battle was won or lost. Would make a nice video. :p
     
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  3. Hemswal The Descended

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    I think @Lord British may find some merit in your words, @Nick :)

    It would have to be a very restrictive sort of GM account that has no ability to create items or increase stats or anything of that nature, of course.
     
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  4. Helvig Ingvildsdottir

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    I totally love the idea.

    At the moment, Kahli is preparing to release a great undead evil from its prison. Sometimes I fear the event will be ridiculus, because the evil undead is someone's adventurer level 90 alt, and the offers of good guys to help vanquish him are abundant. We all will have to pretend very much for this story to work.

    How cool would it be if this quest character was not level 90 through patient grinding for countless hours, but could be -really- powerful just for the event, and have a small army of lesser undead to protect him? The whole thing would be so much cooler, and then appeal not only to the absolutely super hardcore RP freaks but also to lighter RPers...

    Please consider giving us something like this, or hiring seers that can support player quests after a quality check.



    Edit: I invite every developer (and every player, too, of course) to join us for the above mentioned event. The time for this is not set yet, might be as early as this weekend. Just talk to Elgarion or Helvig or any of the others that are involved (can send a list of people upon request through PM).
     
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2018
  5. Fei Akhart

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    Excellent idea! If at least there were a way to do this at least with the owners of each POT, that would be a great way to create continuous events in towns.

    There are so many possibilities of events ... invasions, wars ... it would be awesome!

    (in fact, when I started playing, I thought that POT owners would have that kind of permission... a pity that there is not a system like that yet).
     
  6. Sean Silverfoot

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    Slippery slope with this stuff.
     
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  7. Feeyo

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    Yep I love this!
     
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  8. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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    Meh. What you want is pretty much the Seer of UO times. I don't like that concept very much tbh.
    I would prefer a dungeon master mode for dungeons.
     
  9. Hemswal The Descended

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    I'd appreciate both/either.
     
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  10. Jason_M

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    The first thing I thought of when reading the OP was the volunteers who helped out at UO during the early days - and the chaos that ensued.

    However, this is an entirely different set of circumstances. If these Temp GMs are to operate as intended - for a brief, strictly prescribed time in a strictly prescribed area within the context of a publicly observed event, there's little room for abuse and the Temp GM would surely never be away from the Obsidian Eyes of Portalarium.

    Furthermore, this carefully observed and controlled experiment in player autonomy could well be the template for the dungeon GM code that would eventually fall into the hands of the players.
     
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  11. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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    If port has the manpower to watch (let's stick with the term because a lot people know it) seers they would have the manpower to do their own event's
     
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  12. Jason_M

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    I believe we might be talking about two different scenarios:
    * Distributed and unconstrained abilities of GMs like UO seers;
    * Specifically allocated and strictly limited GMs like the Battle of Aerie scenario (except Ceres would be a player).

    But, to address your statement more generally, they have had and continue to have the people and resources and tools to do what Ceres had done. They chose not to for reasons beyond speculation, but, if a player were granted (reduced) powers, the motivation is there.

    The largest hurdle wouldn't be admins to investigate complaints about the occaisional town event, but instead implementing a special client that actually has the neceasary powers. A big task.

    But a lad can dream.
     
  13. Helvig Ingvildsdottir

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    My sugegstion is to make this ability available only to POT owners and to people specifically assigned by them (town stewards?), only within their own town, of course.

    Have them schedule the "event" at least two hours in advance. Give fair warning 60, 30, 15, 5 and 2 minutes before it starts, alerting people that are currently in the town in an immersive way that something is about to happen, so they have time to leave the POT. Give an alert similar to the PvP alert if someone wants to enter a POT where such an event is currently going on (also through teleport/recall), so they have to confirm that they want to go to the POT anyways.

    This is a big step towards player autonomy and more exciting content for all of us. Have trust in the players. Worst thing that can happen is that a POT owner seriously annoys their citizens and visitors and turns the POT into a ghost town because nobody will go there anymore after previous unpleasent experiences.

    I'm just dreaming..

    So I walk on the overworld map and I see a POT that has some specific graphical hint about something going on there. When I click "enter" I get an alert "Troubling events seem to be going on in this town currently. You hear the sound of battle and other disquieting noise. Do you wish to enter? y/n". I click "yes" and I happen up in a POT where players are fighting monsters spawned by the town owner, or even facing a "boss" that is directly played by the town owner. If it is a PvP POT, people might aditionally be fighting each other. So cool!

    I imagine someone like Elgarion, the owner of Kahli, spending weeks or even months preparing everything for such an event. Writing books of lore, riddles, hints, decorating special places in his POT... all of that to then culminate in an epic battle against mobs chosen by the town owner to fit the story. Wow!

    People that want nothing to do with it can stay away. Citizens that get annoyed can tell the owner of their POT that they don't find it cool that there's fighting in the town multiple times a month and that they'll move away if the frequency is not reduced. The potential for harm is very low here. Or am I missing something?
     
  14. Duke William of Serenite

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    The GM should be in god mode, only he can only summon and talk to players . My 2 cents great idea, I was talking about the same thing a few days ago. some great ideas here!
     
  15. Aeryk

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    You are very much on to something good here Helvig! Tying this to a PoT, and possibly by extension to player-made dungeons, gives players a choice if they want to be involved. Rewards may be safely tuned to be below what the developer designed experiences are. Individual PoT owners and potential game master styled folk that are running the plots and designing the instances can make up the difference as they choose.

    I really really love where this is going, one of the best collaborative conversations i've seen come out of the community yet! Let's continue refining this here (very much including those that can think of potential issues so we can all consider potential mitigation), and put a pitch document together to provide to the devs?
     
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2018
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  16. ErikRulez

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    You wouldn't necessarily need a GM mode. It could be accomplished by single use monster spawn items provided by the devs to the POT owner. Like fireworks, you'd set them off run away and let them go off (spawn the monster). There would be a chance for griefing unless they were limited to a specific POT and a certain time frame.
     
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  17. Weins201

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    1st - not a new idea it has been brought up before - Long ago.
    that is only the beginning of the issues.
    This is the one simple reason why this is a no go from the get go. It would be abused to the nth degree by someone, and result in nothing but problems.

    They just gave you this with a Dungeon that you can create in your own design and has spawns in rooms.


    If you limit it to the point where it could not be abused, it results in nothing that people want and more along things you already have.

    I know whish list but since so many are clapping I will be the devil on your shoulder, sorry
     
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  18. Nick

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    Out of curiosity from those who have responded, how can this be abused? I literally have no experience in this.

    Why would anyone spend hours and hours preparing and writing a back story to get approval, do it just to abuse it and get black-marked by the devs.

    What if its only one account available on weekends, with hourly time slots for rental using COTOs or service vouchers.
     
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  19. Weins201

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    I know you really just want something like a Spawn Point or something like that you can use to set up events.

    Problems occur when their are items associated with them. Even if only loot , say from Liches. Possibly for a rare item and you spawn it over and over just to farm a single item. Even worse with the old UO issues they actually had power to create items :-(

    It is just to easy for players who want to abuse it to do so. as a result players like yourself who actually want to create a thoughtful in depth RP content are denied.

    Sadly if all you want to do is create like a treasure hunt tools are already there, I have done so with public chests. But again if you do it there is nothing stopping another player from running in a just taking it all before or even while event is gong on. Now if you have a guild you can place players in locations and have them role play but then you are just using tools you already have.

    Sadly it all boils down to things like this have been tried in the past with other games and just blow up in peoples faces.

    There are the newer dungeons which they are working on more mechanics involved in them that can be used??

    Againthe Idea is AWSOME just the logistics and what needs to be protected from become problematic :-(
     
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  20. Boris Mondragon

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    Hmm, sounds interesting. How about we simplify this, test it and then tweak it as necessary. We have Good vs Evil and always will. Have about the "GM" power is alternated between "Good" GM and "Evil GM". I think the role of the GM would be more like the director of the movie. He'She sets up the setting and locale. He/She can also set the backstory and let us on either side beef it up with our threads to encourage involvement. Not complicated at all. Lets do what @Cerus did with our own flavor,, we have the people, we have the talent so lets get it started. The Pirate is all for it. R/Boris/El Pirata/Black Sails Forever.
     
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