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Chat Gump & Communication Crystal (On Hold)
#1
Open to Questions and Suggestions:
I am hashing out the following idea.  Feel free to brainstorm.  I don't promise to integrate all of the ideas, but I'd like to hear other insights. My goal is to increase role-play in the game.

This is the design specification for a new system designed to enhance role-play.  I will be breaking the specification out into levels of implementation rather than the whole system at once.

New Message Gump
I would like to find (or design) a better .msg interface that contains the conversation between two players into its own screen rather then being put into the journal scroll.  Something like a traditional chat feature would be ideal. 

There was a discussion about implementing the current OSI chat system on ServUO: https://www.servuo.com/threads/chat-syst...post-24396 back in 2016
Here is some more: https://www.servuo.com/threads/newest-uo...post-56750

IC and OOC Options
I would like the ability to start a chat either as an OOC discussion or as an IC interaction.  Obviously we need to figure out what the fiction is for a "telephone" like conversation, and the concept of communication crystals is already in UO.  

I believe that we might be able to increase interaction and role-play options if we could "take a phone call" and role-play with another character.  My initial knee jerk reaction was that this was "weird", but honestly, with the ease of gates and instant travel its rather silly to not provide this option.  

Certainly a set up screen should be available for players to choose to accept IC, OOC or no chat messages as is their preference.

All Characters Option
I would like the option for a player to turn on the ability to accept and respond to chat messages from all of their characters while logged on to another.  Instead of having to tell all of your role-play partners every alt you have so they know who to ask to role-play, you could simply take an IC or OOC chat from another character on any of your own characters.  The system wouldn't even need to reveal which character was logged in, allowing players to keep some semblance of privacy.

How to to place a call
I imagine that it might be a better design to have an incoming request for both IC and OOC chats.  Conceptually as follows:

I want to speak to Mary OOC, so I find her name, select OOC for my chat type and hit a button that says contact.  Mary gets a notification that I am trying to contact her OOC.  That request for contact stays in a pending window that I can see easily, along with a red or green button indicating if she is still online.  I can click and accept the call when I'm ready and start the chat.

I feel like this would remove the energy of having to respond to .msgs that get dumped in our journal window, or even the anxious feeling that someone will get mad I didn't respond right away even tho I was rping, hunting or had stepped away afk.  This would work for both IC and OOC but with slightly different messaging language to support the fiction.

This obviously also includes the concept of letting the player know that a call connection was attempted because that message should stay in my window until I respond or delete it.

Contacting off-line players and their characters
The next logical step is to steal the mailbox code which allows you to send books and items to off line characters and integrate it into this system so that players could let off line players know that someone was trying to contact one of their characters.

Discord Integration
Finally, it would be nice if the attempted contacts could be pushed to a discord chat.  I wouldn't want to implement the ability to chat THROUGH discord, but if the player could at least be told "Lord Bob the Valgarian" was trying to contact my "Miss Merryweather" it would be a nice feature.
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#2
I like this idea, would this chat in another window still be able to be journaled in some file if need be? having chat transcripts has been an issue in the past during player altercations.


[Image: Wyldeheart.jpg]
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#3
Thats a good point.
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#4
Messaging an offline player sounds weird to me. We are still using the Discord and honestly I see no point to reproduce the same functionality. Especily if you make it one-way message only. Makes it useless if uou can press alt+tab and have a normal realtime chat or even voice with your rp partner. Besides you can still use the mailbox to send events. It is a good TO hang it to check you mail and exchange letters. Makes sense to make scroll libraries with letters, trade ink, organise investigations e.t.c. Probably can make sort of forensics evaluation if you can find out who has written a scroll with some kind of identify magic?
In other words I don't see a point why can't we use discord for OOC and messaging unless you don't know the nickname. But it may take sense to list the players-characters in RPCSS?
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#5
"We are still using the Discord and honestly I see no point to reproduce the same functionality. Especily if you make it one-way message only. Makes it useless if uou can press alt+tab and have a normal realtime chat or even voice with your rp partner."

This assumes that the only people you are messaging are your known partners, and you know their discord name.  It also doesn't account for the added value of players feeling like there is a larger available community within the game itself, helping to detract from the growing issue of people being in the "community" but not in game role-playing, but rather just hanging out in discord.

And while I agree the in-game mail works, it also has a "decreasing value" effect that is similar to RL mail.  People tend to put the in game mail letters/scrolls/etc off to the side and not respond to them -- while texting creates an urgency to respond/check.  Delayed responses in-game post increases a new players feeling of being ignored, while receiving an off line chat request right on screen that lights up when the sender is themselves on line may be more quickly responded to, increasing interaction.

The connection to Discord is only to let the off line player KNOW someone messaged them, and encourage them to log in, because the more people who are logged in, the more people who stay logged in.  We all know how often we each hit the .online see less people then we wish, and say fuck it and log off.

But it may take sense to list the players-characters in RPCSS?
A good out of the box thought, but it won't work I'm afraid.  We only allow one character to participate in RPCSS to reduce game-mech meta gaming.  We can't stop all role-play meta-gaming, but we can definitely make it much harder for one person to use information gained on one character to the advantage of another character in RPCSS.  Not completely, but we feel its a good restriction -- Only one character per person can be in an RPCSS team.  (Obviously we are not restriction how many characters are in the corresponding-connected UO guilds, but that doesn't allow them to move armies.)

Secondly, most people only check RPCSS once or twice a week, delaying it even more then in game post.

But good thoughts! Looking forward to your response.
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#6
It looks more clear after your explanation.
Yet, if you decide to link Discord with UO, you will have to create and update an association table where UOaccount, player characters and discord account will be listed in order for such link to work. What I mean is that you can make this list public in RPCSS or on other separate page so that every player will know RP partners' nicknames.
As I have started, it makes sense to me such a link but personally I would prefer it to be made as some magical scroll other than just a chat command.
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#7
Why don't you try to build a chat window that shows up as a scroll then?
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#8
Will make a try as soon as I will get some help on setting everything up Smile Anyway, as we are discussing your ideas, I remember there was a kind of magical books for communication in "The Sword of Truth" universe. We can probably use this kind of fiction?

Journey Books are magical books which allow for rapid long-distance communication. Journey Books operate as pairs. What is written in one book instantly appears in its "twin", regardless of the distance between them
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#9
I like the journey book idea... its a plausible fiction if its decided to go this route, and since a majority of folks do not have discord in many of the games I play currently (either preferring another chat/talk platform or just uninterested in this outside game interaction, or unwilling to impart to relatively unknown individuals)


[Image: Wyldeheart.jpg]
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#10
This is probably far more complex then we actually need with our current player base. Leaving it here but putting it on hold.
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