Quest Chatting, We have the quest, then we'll get it done! Options

[Honis]

I got an idea while talking with Zerotacg on IRC.

Along with all the standard ways of chatting in game (Global, area, guild, /talk <name>, etc.)

Have a chats dedicated to quests. For example (one using the grind questing system common among inferior MMOs):

Have a chat dedicated to quest X. Everyone who has quest X activated in there quest log has access to the chat. The only other people who are allowed into the chat room are people who are in party with someone who has that quest active.

Pros: People who are trying to accomplish the same goals will be more likely to join forces. If nothing else it could help to curve the boredom. Could be a convent place to exchange ideas on how to complete the quests.

Cons: May be hard to implement in the game chat engine. Teasing may occur if group A gets ahead of group B.


I mostly would want this implemented to help players find other players who want to get the same thing done. In FFXI the only way to do this is to /shout out in an area. This is a hit and miss tactic of forming large enough groups. Usually it consists of one person shouting in each of the major cities to find the 16 people who need/want to finish the quest. I also really like the ability to exchange ideas to complete quests (dynamic questing possibilities).

[RicoSuave]

That is if an NPC gives out 10,000 quests. I don't see me asking everyone in San Antonio that happens to walk by, to mow my lawn for honor of who finishes first. Why should this be much different?

But since you brought up the point, some quests are too difficult for one person of a certain class alone. If I'm running around and meet an ogre on a quest to get his swamp back, I should be able to join him in some fashion.

[Maxwell]

I like that Idea Rico. Helping one person out on a quest then allowing them to help you out on your quest, I have seen this happen in DAOC. Maybe your talking about something totally different.

[Alexander]

I hate this idea but let me explain.

You shut have only 5 different types of chat.

1: Shout = Your character shouts at the top of his longs carrying his voice further then normal speech, used to get the attention of people far away or where speaking to a large crowd.
2: Talk = Ordinary speech used to talk at a normal level, used in most conversations.
3: Whisper = You speak silently so only those right next to you can hear you, used when you don’t want those orcs behind the next door to hear you or when you got something to hide.
4: Hand Signs = More quite then this doesn’t exist, while typing out your text normally only those who perceive your signs and know what they mean will see what you wrote.
5: Telepathy = Possible as a racial ability or with magic spells. Nothing makes it clear that you are speaking and only those that you designate will hear it unless sneaky people have magic can detect your thoughts.

I hate party chat, guild chat, and whatever chat you have. I want it more realistic where people can eves drop on you if they want.

[zicyo]

Is text chat what we really should focus on? I really think we should have it, but what about vocal chat? Nowadays thats the main source of communication in every game I play.

The different "modes" thats mentioned can still be used to determined how far the voice could be heard. Just an idea.

Further on we could even create effects that manipulates the voice so you sound orcish or whatever

I agree with Alexander that some chat seem unrealistic if not explained (all guilds have a guild-communication-spell or something) on the other hand people will chat with other tools if we dont provide them. I would anyway.

What do you think?

[Alexander]

External tools shut be forbidden if possible. If a GM notices players chatting by other means he shut kill their character and ban them for a week! At the very least! I don’t want to cheaters and I don’t want no out-of-game thinkers. Its an RPG so get into it or don’t play it.

Voice chat is good, better even but it shut be restricted in the same way normal chat is. You shut still be able to hit a button that switched your chat from Talk to whisper without you having to lower your voice.

Also remember that you can implement a language barrier between races, voice chat would have to become scrambled or something for the people that can't understand the language your character is speaking in. Same goes for text chat.

[echorev]

External tools shut be forbidden if possible. If a GM notices players chatting by other means he shut kill their character and ban them for a week! At the very least! I don’t want to cheaters and I don’t want no out-of-game thinkers. Its an RPG so get into it or don’t play it.

I'm gonna say first and for all that I hope you're being sarcastic because this is NEVER going to work. There's no way you can prevent people from using voicechat, from talking to each other at a LAN, or even inside their own homes. It's impossible, and I strongly disagree that people should be punished for it. The game is for everyone, and so it should be accessible to everyone. There should not be added restrictions and punishments to force the game to conform to one's own individual desires, which is why I believe the freedom to actively play in any manner the player so chooses should be paramount in this game.

I agree that players should have the opportunity to eves drop, but I also agree that there should be secure lines of communication at times, otherwise players will just IM each other out of game or bypass the system another way.

I think voicechat was discussed earlier and was generally agreed upon that for the present, would be left to external programs rather than be implemented directly into PW.

I am definitely in favor of language barriers, and the ability to learn another language and bit-by-bit, piece together meaning from gibberish.

[Alexander]

I wasn't being sarcastic and I also know that it isn't going to be possible to prevent people from using outside sources but what you are saying is basically encouraging people to cheat.

Yes there will probably be spells to allow for safe communication, yes you can invent guild sign languages. And simple whispering will keep most people off your back but what is the rogue or spy gonna go is people just use a off-game messenger to talk to people on the other side of the world. Get a bit of in-game realism, if its a big world they it shut be possible to be cut off from one another at times unless you got magic to aid you.

I really dislike people that use out of game programs in games that try to be a bit more serious, it destroys the game world and the story when another player tell you to hold on a sec while he chats with his girlfriend three hundred game miles away. Its annoying, I know little can be done to stop it but you shut still do what you can to prevent it.

I'm all for any spell that allows for better communication, I might even demand some of those. (Like I could...)

I know I don’t get to deal out punishment, just ignore me when I say such things, I just get a little to serious or attached sometimes.

[zicyo]

ok echorev, I havnt done my homework with reading all old posts. I totally agree with you.

[Exudos]

Ok, how about this..I'll start a new topic about the different ways to talk ingame.

This topic has been flying around, so lets move it back to what it was originally about.

I think that quest chatting would be a bad feature, as I understand it now.
It would allow for people who are almost done with a quest give all the answers to a puzzle in the quest to the people who arn't done with it yet.

(I think it happens anyway with all the other channels, but i'm really all for having only like five different chat forms for different volume levels.
If you want to discuss what I just said, i'm starting a new topic on it)

[RicoSuave]

Exudos, there is already a topic made for that. You, Alex, and zicyo need to read as much as you guys can. You are repeating old information and arguing points that have been talked about ad nauseum.

If you're just trying to get a post count up or something, that's fine. We can make a spam thread for your heart's desire.

However, if you are serious about trying to help the project. Please go back and read the previous threads that speak of your ideas, then add to them. I'm the fourth one in the forums so far in the past week to state that you really should go back and read. It's not because we don't want to read your posts... on the contrary. We encourage as much open conversation and cross-communication that we can. We just want you to be able to speak intelligently about old topics.


Just trying to help you guys out. Really! Take care and have fun reading.

[Exudos]

Exudos, there is already a topic made for that. You, Alex, and zicyo need to read as much as you guys can. You are repeating old information and arguing points that have been talked about ad nauseum.

If you're just trying to get a post count up or something, that's fine. We can make a spam thread for your heart's desire.

However, if you are serious about trying to help the project. Please go back and read the previous threads that speak of your ideas, then add to them. I'm the fourth one in the forums so far in the past week to state that you really should go back and read. It's not because we don't want to read your posts... on the contrary. We encourage as much open conversation and cross-communication that we can. We just want you to be able to speak intelligently about old topics.
Just trying to help you guys out. Really! Take care and have fun reading.

A: I have seen no obvious topics about the way you will chat.
B: I was trying to get the thread back on the way it was supposed to go, and seeing as I couldn't find A, I started a new one.
C: This is the first time anyone has told me to go back and read, because I have.
D: This is NOT where you should be telling me to go back and read, PM me about that kinda stuff.
E: Bringing up old topics is GOOD, new members join EVERY DAY, and perhaps they have not gone back and read, and would enjoy a good conversation on these old topics, maybe they will even come up with something that has not yet been mentioned.

Once again, the thread I put up is still there for what it is described to be.
Sorry for disturbing this thread yet again. :l

[Honis]

Restricting chat is silly to me.

I hate restricting chat in any form, that is why I came up with Quest chat. Yes, people will miss use it for the mindless quests (go get x number of y and bring it back) or for puzzle quests. If PW implements the library system that Wish had (or had plans to implement) players will have more than enough access to walk-through besides chat or the websites. (don't talk about the library thing here).

For larger quests, that should require 10, maybe even 100 people to complete, it will bring players who probably would have never found each other together to complete the quest.

I don't care how the story team would incorporate it. FFXI uses crystals for 'guild' chat and doesn't bother to explain talking directly to someone on the other side of the world.

I'd probably not want to see it implemented for the mindless quests. It just makes a convenient and easy example that everyone can relate too.

[Dwilf]

Easy way to cater for all is to have options to turn channels off or on. All spatial chat is In Character and its <charname> says/shouts/whispers "whatever".
Guild/Town IC chat can be via some magical rings you must wear or whatever.

Out of character stuff (Global, Everyone on Quest X, Town OOC, Guild OOC, Chat about Pizza or last night TV.) where people can talk as players, not thier character can use your account/forum names.

Now everyone is happy, GM can fairly punish people who talk OOC in saptial chat, and in the OOC chans its obvious you are talking to the players not the characters. Providing some mechanism to know what character a person in OOC chat is playing could be done easily enough. If you don' want people to beable to link your ooc chat to a character then it would also be easy enought to have some tick box to opt-out of this info sharing.

[Minthos]

A: I have seen no obvious topics about the way you will chat.
B: I was trying to get the thread back on the way it was supposed to go, and seeing as I couldn't find A, I started a new one.

You have to dig some. The topics aren't obvious, but they exist. Go read the old threads, or air your ideas on irc first, before you make a new thread.

C: This is the first time anyone has told me to go back and read, because I have.
D: This is NOT where you should be telling me to go back and read, PM me about that kinda stuff.

Please don't take offense. As you can read from his post, it was directed at more people than just you. ALL of you, go back and read the old topics. Now. Before you make new threads. Pandra and Jerky have posted links to some of the old threads in other topics. For those of you who don't take hints, posting links to old threads in reply to new ones is a hint that you should read old threads before posting new ones.

E: Bringing up old topics is GOOD, new members join EVERY DAY, and perhaps they have not gone back and read, and would enjoy a good conversation on these old topics, maybe they will even come up with something that has not yet been mentioned.

Revisiting old topics is good, creating new threads on old topics is bad. Big difference. Recycling prevents pollution. Pollution is bad.

[Jerky]

http://www.projectwish.com/index.php?showtopic=2632