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Re: Request from the Church of Sparkle pastor

Posted: 08 Nov 2017 23:55
by Arman
mallor wrote:

Code: Select all

The delicate dusky female elf's skin shimmers softly as the light dances over
her copper glitter.
The delicate dusky female elf begins spinning the tale of 'Hypnotism'.
The delicate dusky female elf appears with the trace of a smile and whispers:
	I am an Illusionist Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary...
	... Words Have Power in this World...
	a Power that is Little Known...
The delicate dusky female elf studies your face and continues with amusement:
	I can see that you give my Words no Credence...
	Mayhap you imagine me some Conjurer of Cheap Tricks?
The noble young male human returns from limbo.
The noble young male human leaves south.
A noble young male human arrives from the south.
The delicate dusky female elf produces an unusual gold coin with a flourish:
	Consider this unusual gold coin... you have seen its like?
	What if I were to tell you that with the correct
	Words of Power this simple object can Hold your Will?
Can I have my silence in the church please? :D
Now I can't even tell them to shut the hell up!
Heh, cute! A very effective bit of miming! I am sure it didn't disturb the pastor.

Having said that - post any emotes, objects or commands with free text options being used to break the silence of the church and I'll add them to the restriction list.

Also if the actors' club commands end up being (mis)used in the church, I just want to remind members of the club that allowing free emotes is a very tentative privilege. I am more inclined to remove the feature than spend time coding a workaround in the church. So don't treat it like a stage.

And there really is no need to. The Sparkle pub has been coded to allow for conversations in relative safety. Take the chatter there :).

Re: Request from the Church of Sparkle pastor

Posted: 09 Nov 2017 00:49
by mallor
That is surely not a free text emote, but it did create enormous amount of spam. Normally I would just smash to stop that :D

Re: Request from the Church of Sparkle pastor

Posted: 09 Nov 2017 02:03
by Dhez
Arman wrote:
mallor wrote:

Code: Select all

The delicate dusky female elf's skin shimmers softly as the light dances over
her copper glitter.
The delicate dusky female elf begins spinning the tale of 'Hypnotism'.
The delicate dusky female elf appears with the trace of a smile and whispers:
	I am an Illusionist Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary...
	... Words Have Power in this World...
	a Power that is Little Known...
The delicate dusky female elf studies your face and continues with amusement:
	I can see that you give my Words no Credence...
	Mayhap you imagine me some Conjurer of Cheap Tricks?
The noble young male human returns from limbo.
The noble young male human leaves south.
A noble young male human arrives from the south.
The delicate dusky female elf produces an unusual gold coin with a flourish:
	Consider this unusual gold coin... you have seen its like?
	What if I were to tell you that with the correct
	Words of Power this simple object can Hold your Will?
Can I have my silence in the church please? :D
Now I can't even tell them to shut the hell up!
Heh, cute! A very effective bit of miming! I am sure it didn't disturb the pastor.

Having said that - post any emotes, objects or commands with free text options being used to break the silence of the church and I'll add them to the restriction list.

Also if the actors' club commands end up being (mis)used in the church, I just want to remind members of the club that allowing free emotes is a very tentative privilege. I am more inclined to remove the feature than spend time coding a workaround in the church. So don't treat it like a stage.

And there really is no need to. The Sparkle pub has been coded to allow for conversations in relative safety. Take the chatter there :).
The actors' club does not offer free emotes. I believe you're thinking of the wise men's club which is the one offering the 'wemote' ability that is often used to bypass such restrictions. Either way, for the wise men's club you need to be 100 days old. These are, if I'm not mistaken, newbies.

Re: Request from the Church of Sparkle pastor

Posted: 09 Nov 2017 08:32
by Arman
Thanks Dhez, you are right. Gorboth moved free emotes out of the actors club into the wise men's club back in 2014.

Re: Request from the Church of Sparkle pastor

Posted: 11 Nov 2017 17:15
by Dhez
Arman,

I think, for newcomers, the movement of the social hub from the church to the pub was a good idea. It helps to avoid interfering with players, greeting new ones with spam, and designates it as a place of quiet meditation. The pub is far more adequate for chatter and socialising, as in most roleplaying games there is often a tavern scene.

As it stands, however, the pub doesn't seem to catch on as a social hub, and while pondering on this I came upon a few thoughts and memories which may help of this place a more attractive meeting point.

Look at the description as it is now:

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You are in the local pub.
The atmosphere is thick with tobacco smoke and a murmur can be heard from the sailors at the bar.
An occasional witty joke causes them all to laugh and slam their jars on the counter. A sign hangs
on the wall behind the counter.
There is one obvious exit: east.
Examining the bar leads only to finding a bell we can ring

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It is comfortably high enough to rest your elbows on while drinking your beer. That is by human
standards of course. It is made out of good quality oak. At one corner, there is a bell standing on
the counter.
> 
It is a bell. Made from brass. Probably made so one can ring it. Perhaps you should try to do so?
> 
You ring the bell.
The human bartender glares stonily at you.
The human bartender says: What's the matter? I'm here, aren't I?
The human bartender snarls savagely at you.
The human bartender says: So whaddaya want?
Even though we can see the bar is comfortable, we can't fully immerse ourselves in it. There are no stools to sit on, buying a drink doesn't have any special interactions, and there is no place to sit down.

While I know that this isn't the reason the church was so famous, these are reasons for which the cafe in Palanthas is.

Some ideas:

1. Add some emotes to sit on a stool by the bar, rest your elbows, and such.
2. Add perhaps a table for two to four people to sit down. Maybe we can scribe down things on it if we had a knife to do so?
3. Add some description to the floor. It should be dirty, made of creaking wood, and newbies could search it for some coppers a day.
4. Add some items we could buy and emote around with, such as cigarettes, pipes, tobacco, etc.
5. Make a tattered menu hang from the wall behind the counter instead of a sign.
6. Maybe add a dart board to play darts on.
7. A peanut tray with some pamphlets giving hints on where each boat departs to, maybe even copied off the tower of realms.

The last idea would be something more extensive and perhaps nothing to consider for the time being, but it would be a dispenser from which to buy a sort of newspaper. Make a journalism club with a dedicated editor and journalists to write down stories, gossip, news, announcements, and classified ads. Interviews could be made, coverage of war stories, hiring notes for mercenaries, recruitment notes, and so on and so forth. Call it 'The Jingle Donut', and when someone asks when the next issue will be published, answer with "By Christmas!".

These would be all things to encourage a sense of community and embrace the interactive culture of newcomers who seem to enjoy traveling, dressing up, and interacting more than just growing fast.

Maybe some of these ideas aren't welcome, but if even one of them is, at least these are contributions and possible solutions rather than just complaints.

Some examples of smoking cigarettes in pubs can be:

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> buy cigarette
You buy a cheap cigarette. 
> exa cigarette
This is a somewhat crumpled roll-up cigarette.  It is currently unlit 
and almost in mint condition. 
> light cigarette
You light the cigarette. 
> smoke cigarette
You draw on your cigarette, pause for a moment and then blow a large lazy smoke 
ring into the air. 
> exa cigarette
This is a somewhat crumpled roll-up cigarette.  It is lit and almost 
in mint condition. 
> smoke cigarette
You take a long draw on your cigarette, tasting its fragrant smoke. 
> smoke cigarette
You take a long draw on your cigarette, tasting its fragrant smoke. 
> smoke cigarette
You draw on your cigarette, pause for a moment and then blow a large lazy smoke 
ring into the air. 
> exa cigarette
This is a somewhat crumpled roll-up cigarette.  It is lit and almost 
in mint condition. 
> exa cigarette
This is a somewhat crumpled roll-up cigarette.  It is lit and about 
halfway gone. 
> smoke cigarette
You draw on your cigarette, pause for a moment and then blow a large lazy smoke 
ring into the air. 
> smoke cigarette
You suck noisily on your cigarette. 
> smoke cigarette
You suck noisily on your cigarette. 
> smoke cigarette
You puff thoughtfully on your cigarette. 
> exa cigarette
This is a somewhat crumpled roll-up cigarette.  It is lit and about 
halfway gone. 
And if you do nothing for a while

Code: Select all

> Your smoking cigarette gives off a wisp of smoke as it threatens to burn out.

Re: Request from the Church of Sparkle pastor

Posted: 11 Nov 2017 23:17
by Ody
Add private tables like the ones in Bree. You can have private conversations at the table with <tsay>.

Re: Request from the Church of Sparkle pastor

Posted: 12 Nov 2017 02:06
by Arman
Some cool ideas :).

*cough* *awkwardly waits for Cherek to jump in with traditional response*

We did have a wizard who recently re-joined our ranks - Mona - with a focus on adding 'quality of life' stuff like what was mentioned to the realms. Perhaps hit her up with your ideas?

Also maybe flag it with Lucius... him being the AoD and all.

Re: Request from the Church of Sparkle pastor

Posted: 12 Nov 2017 12:21
by Alisa
The church was central for new players because of "home" and its where you start, unless you set home another place.

It's simple. It might be caused by lazyness, but that was the cause.

The pub won't be, cause you don't go there for those reasons.

p.s. Personally i'd been happier with making an extra room in the church for those complainers that want silence. The meditation room :-)
Not sure why it's important for silence if you're afk? It's not like you're bothered by spam, since you aren't looking after all.

Re: Request from the Church of Sparkle pastor

Posted: 12 Nov 2017 14:43
by mallor
I'm passing the pub every time I'm in Sparkle now, looking for some <mthrow> victims, it's always empty...

Re: Request from the Church of Sparkle pastor

Posted: 12 Nov 2017 17:50
by Ody
Alisa wrote:The church was central for new players because of "home" and its where you start, unless you set home another place.

It's simple. It might be caused by lazyness, but that was the cause.

The pub won't be, cause you don't go there for those reasons.

p.s. Personally i'd been happier with making an extra room in the church for those complainers that want silence. The meditation room :-)
Not sure why it's important for silence if you're afk? It's not like you're bothered by spam, since you aren't looking after all.
I agree 100%. The church is just the natural hub. It's the place newbies are first sent when they finish the tutorial. It sends a bit of an odd message if their first new area is where they're being told to shut up.