Gone? An annoyance or security measure?

[Morgenes]

I'm reposting X-D's post here (since it very nearly...ok, well didn't...) derail the thread it was originally posted in.

Also, slight derail here, but I did not feel like starting a thread.

Morg, Love your work.

Insanely despise, hate, loath the change to gone.

No, really, Now if I go gone I have to minimize the window and lock the computer. And I hate doing that even more, because if I answer the door or something, I like to be able to run in and glance at the screen.

But no, now I can't do that because I own a cat and often could have small children in the house, either of which are capable of hitting the enter key but are very unlikly to type gone and toggle it off.

No, really, I hate it now, won't be using it any more. Might as well just wish up AFK or change my ldesc to afk...BAH.


Drooling over junk giving a diff message though.

Now, for my answer to this...

I for one was always annoyed when I came back and responded to something in scroll back, only to get that annoying message 'But, you are gone...'.  Of course I was gone, but I'm back now darn it, just accept my command.  So that's why I did it.

I honestly had never thought about children or cats typing would cause an issue, but I can see the point.  Couldn't you minimize the window, or open up a text pad in a back window and switch to it when you're gone?

Anyone have any other ingenious solutions?  A switch to gone that allows it to work like before?  Another command 'gonelock' or something?  Or is this something you guys think you can manage to work around?

[mansa]

I was sad when you changed Gone.

I thought it was excellent before.

[Delirium]

I like the change.

If something happens, you can react quicker, instead of getting caught up on the 'gone'.

[Maybe42or54]

What about if it is an unknown command, then it wont take off gone?

So if my cat pushes zxrgtfppppppppppppppppppp'''''''''''''''''''''' (enter)

Instead of the game telling you
"You are no longer gone."
"What?"

It will say
"What?"
"You are still gone."

[Irulan]

I really like the change to gone, I was -always- annoyed when I would get that 'but you are gone" message. It would make me angry. I really like the idea of having gone come off only when there is a recognized command in the game. That way, if a kid or something accidentally hit a key, you would still be gone.

But yah, I really like the change, Morgenes, thanks!!

-Irulan

[jhunter]

Actually, the suggestion that it would only remove your gone status if it was an actual command entered would be good I think.

[Angela Christine]

Anyone have any other ingenious solutions?  A switch to gone that allows it to work like before?  Another command 'gonelock' or something?  Or is this something you guys think you can manage to work around?

My cat hardly ever types anything while gone, so I prefer the new way.  I like the gonelock idea, that lets people people decide if they want old school Gone or new and improved Gone.


Angela Christine

[spawnloser]

I like the 'gonelock' idea as well...then again, I have a cat that likes to type.

[X-D]

There are many commands that take only a single letter then hitting enter.

I do like the gonelock idea.

Don't get me wrong folks, if it was not for the cat and my grand niece, I would be all shouting praise abou the change.

But when I have to go gone it normaly has to be fast and if I minimize I can't peek over and see whats going on.

Oh, BTW, the new mount changes simply rule...RULE.

Um, thats all for now, I'm in a pretty good mood, been working on memorizing all this new stuff.

[Morfeus]

I have two cats. At one point I thought they simply love to see my character speedwalking through the whole city just because they stepped at keyboard - and that was in times I was actually sitting before monitor, just not paying attention to them (their best trick is to run over the room and jump from monitor right on the keyboard). I would like "gone" working as before or I would like to see "gonelock" command.

Pretty please.

[Yang]

Every cat I have ever had will step on any keyboard (or chess board, remote control, dance dance revolution) they can get their paws on, and I really think they know what they're doing.

[Kalden]

'Gonelock' sounds like a feasible solution.

[Anonymous]

I really, really liked the gone command change, Morg.  No other annoyance compares with losing a character because you are trying to type flee in a panic and by the time you spell it right you don't even notice that it's telling yout hat you are gone and you've typed flee 5 times now before you realize it.

[UnderSeven]

Personally I don't think it's the game's responsibility to deal with ooc things like children or friends screwing with your computer.  

I learned this lesson the hard way.  Lock your workstation if you have people around you can't trust with your work.  Whenever you leave it.  Locking is really fast and easy, unlocking can be easy too.  windows+l locked.  

why do I lock mine?  Lots of friends in my college classes would do things to computers they could screw with.  

I tihnk the gone change is fine, but if morg wants to add a lockable gone.  More power to him

[Intrepid]

I like the gone change.  Gonelock could be an interesting new addition for those people
who need it, but I'm not one of those people.

[John]

I love the gone change. I hated how it was before.

And while it isn't the mud's responsibility to keep your character safe from people or pets, without looking at the mud's code, I'd say it'd be very rudimentary to create a "gonelock" command. It should be a simple case of copying the old code (of which there should be a backup ) and having the old function trigger on "gonelock." Although having said that, I've never coded on Arm or any mud. But what I do know about coding does say it really should be that simple (the only possible problem would be unexpected and completely impossible to predict bugs that would occur as a result).

So yeah, in favour of gonelock. But dear god please don't change normal gone back.

[zanthalandreams]

I don't like the change.   I used gone as a security measure because I have a toddler in the house.  My marathon days of dim room, cigarettes, old pizza, and Armageddon all-nighters are gone.  I mud when my kid lets me.  Most times I can log on, get some face-time and Way-time while he's playing with his blocks or sitting by me reading.  As anyone with little guys knows, you're up and down with them constantly and 2 yr olds don't understand the whole, "wait until I find a quit-room" staller.   Gone has saved my butt several times when I was refilling a milk cup or wiping semi-masticated fruit chews off of the dog and my boy decides to smash keys on the keyboard.

I forgot to turn gone on once, he managed to hit every one of the alias-set walking command keys on my numeric keypad, including one that the mud client I use defaulted to shouting, "XXXCLIENT ROXORS!!!!!! WWW.OURWEBSITE.COM!!!" and a couple that I had for repetitive commands (scan, hunt, scavenge).  It was like my merchant character was suddenly possessed by Ranger Tourettes Syndrome.

[Hymwen]

It would all be fixed with an option toggle. Do you want gonelock? Y/N

Problem gone. Ahaha.

[Bushranger]

Gonelock sounds dorky though. Like a term some dork that even regular dorks think is a dork would come up with.

I would much prefer if the command was oldschoolgone or Change gone old school / Change gone new and improved

[Cenghiz]

My problem is a parrakeet.. After being tamed perfectly for speech, they try anything a human tries. In more than one instance it typed a few things on my notebook when I was gone. (Of course it's more disturbing when it manages to unplug something from my notebook but it's out of topic)

I would love to have a way to lock my MUD screen, but I usually type "Windows+M" before leaving, so it's not that necessary.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

May I also suggest that the echo be changed to:

The hulking man's player is gone for a peepee.

Personally, I don't use the gone command simply because it says that the PC is gone. The PC is not gone. The player is.

[Lizzie]

If you use zmud you can make an alias for gone that automatically pulls up the zmud editor. You can also configure the zmud editor to automatically open up very, very small. So that way the editor is up, on top of your game window, but small enough you can still see the text scroll up the screen from the game.

[Malifaxis]

gonelock would rock

gone and softgone would be another option... you can pick if you want the old gone code or the new snappy supersexy automagickal release gone code.

[Armaddict]

As someone who nearly lost a character due to typing gone afk, getting subdued, and being unable to type 'flee' because I was stuck gone, and not being able to type 'gone' because i was subdued...I like the change.

Though I see nothing wrong with there being a separate 'gonelock' command for those who need it.

[mansa]

As someone who nearly lost a character due to typing gone afk, getting subdued, and being unable to type 'flee' because I was stuck gone, and not being able to type 'gone' because i was subdued...I like the change.

Though I see nothing wrong with there being a separate 'gonelock' command for those who need it.

They updated it so you can type 'gone' at any moment to remove your gone status, even if subdued, or at critical health.

I think that there doesn't need to be another command.  Everything is fine.

[Cyrian20]

What about if it is an unknown command, then it wont take off gone?

So if my cat pushes zxrgtfppppppppppppppppppp'''''''''''''''''''''' (enter)

Instead of the game telling you
"You are no longer gone."
"What?"

It will say
"What?"
"You are still gone."

I concur

[Aldiel]

I haven't played under this new gone, but It seems like a really cool change Morgenes.

[gfair]

X-D if you can't control your cats, maybe you should eat them for dinner if they ever take you out of gone status? Eat one as an example and the rest will follow orders.

Frankly Gone changes don't seem big, I think the comment that started this thread from X-D totally overestimates the impact. Personally I just developed the habit of always typing "gone" when I returned to my computer, so the change doesn't mean anything for me.

Don't change the code, change the cats.

[Xygax]

Every modern OS in existence has a means of locking your screen, I don't think this sort of security is something the MUD can or should be responsible for.

-- X

[Cale_Knight]

I like the new change, even though I'm way past the point where it effects me one way or the other.

But I still remember the first time I used the gone command and spent ten minutes typing "back" and "here" and this and that and trying to wish up for help and trying to use the in-game help commands until I finally remembered that the help files were on the Web site.

And I'm all for anything that gives newbies the hookup.

[ShaLeah]

I love the new gone change. Lovelovelovelovelove it.


As a mother of three and a cat owner I have to say that I have never had the misfortune of coming back to a dead character because my kids hit the wrong button.  My kids aren't permitted near my computer when I am on it, plain and simple.  They have been trained to ask if they can use it or if I'm in the middle of using it.  Plus!  It's as easy as a closed door really, prevents all kinds of mishaps.  My cat doesn't jump across the keys because I've trained it and it only appears to want to do it when I am sitting at it in the middle of a typing frenzy and a sharp, warning "Nuh uh!" makes him get the "Shit I got caught! Let me shrink and cower so that maybe she doesn't notice!!" guilty as sin stance.

I like it, please don't change it, it would make me sad in my feelings place. :cry:

ShaLeah
-who still thinks the death of her first pc, which happened when she was gone and following her boss, was bullshit...  could we add that gone prevents other people from taking advantage of your defenseless character in some way?

[Hymwen]

I liked the old gone for one reason:

I used to have a keyboard into which someone had spilled a beverage. This meant that the num-pad keys (in zMUD) for 'east' and 'north' and 'up' would occasionally get stuck, making the client send a hundred east;east;east;east;east's, and I could go gone and avoid charging out into the distance.

Now I have a new keyboard so the change doesn't bother me, but I think there should be a way to purge commands the way you could with the old gone.