Apartment-sharing idea

[Lizzie]

When you share an apartment, the NPC only gives the "leader" of the group the key. That means if the "follower" logs out inside, they're locked in until the "leader" is logged in at the same time as the "follower." It would be pretty bad if a character died of thirst, in their own apartment, just because the player forgot that they had to do the OOC mechanic (and unrealistic RP) of leaving the follower and entering the building seperately and was stuck there for many game-days (and what if the "leader" got killed, or the player took a RL week's vacation!)

I suggest two possible ways to fix this:
1) Have the NPC renter guy at the building give each party in the "group" who is coded to share the apartment a key  when the group enters.
2) Code the door so that any coded renter can leave and the door would close behind them and lock from the outside as soon as they  leave it. They'd still need a key to get back in. Discuss?

L. Stanson

[Delirium]

Easier solution:  Go through the doorway separately so that each of you has a key.

[Hymwen]

Signed. [X]

[Lizzie]

That only works if one of you doesn't forget. "Disbanding" a group is an ooc mechanic, and easy to forget if there's a lot of RP going on. I don't know how many times I've followed someone by mistake, just because we were both standing and the other person decided to go somewhere else. And I can't think of how many times someone else has forgotten to stop following me, or me unhitch them, just because the RP is very busy. It's easy to forget  and in the case of apartments forgetting to disband can cause a player to have their character stuck in their own apartment, which makes no sense. That's why I suggested the suggestions. If the hallway is wide enough for a few people to come and go at the same time, then there's no reason ICly why a group of 2 0r 3 people would disband just to get through.

L. Stanson

[Marauder Moe]

I wouldn't say disbanding the group is an OOC action.  It represents you making sure the people with you identify themselves to the doorman as tenants rather than guests.

[Jherlen]

There's a workaround, but I'd like Lizzie's solution just for simplicity's sake. The one about each coded renter getting a key, I mean.

[Cale_Knight]

Yeah, the whole disbanding thing is rather silly. I support changing the code.

[LauraMars]

From what I understand, the follow code is set up to disregard people behind the leader.  This is so they can be led past "checkpoints" (guards, soldiers, gatekeepers, and so on) without being stopped or interacted with.

It might be hard to restructure that?

[Cale_Knight]

It doesn't actually work like that all the time, though.

I've seen guards only allow certain folks through, stopping others regardless of who's following who.

[Delirium]

Cabbage Knight speaks the truth.

[cisalus]

Triangle Shirtwaist fire?

Doors unlocked/unlockable by latch from the inside, so that one doesn't -need- a key to get out.

Seems silly to be locked inside of anything unless it's a cage.

...

Unless Zalanthan locks are .. different and I just havn't read that doc?

Edit: Oh, and I've never owned an apartment, so I'm not sure how they work already. Pardon.

[Angela Christine]

Some old-fashioned locks in real life need a key to be locked or unlocked from either side.  The kind of locks where there was a keyhole shaped key hole, and you could peek through the key hole.  This was used as a plot point in a few stories, where the villain would lock the hero in a room, but leave the key in the lock, so the plucky hero would slip a piece of paper under the door, poke the key so it fell out of the lock and onto the paper, and then slide the paper with the key on it back under the door and unlock the door.  I assume Zalanthan locks are similar, except that the keys are generally even larger because they aren't made of metal.  (Code wise you can't peek through key holes, but that is just a limitation of the code, not necessarily a limitation of zalanthan key holes.)




With those kinds of locks it would be possible to be locked in a room.


Modern locks usually have a keyhole only on one side, and turn-able knob on the other side.  Hooray for progress!





Anyway, if you get locked in an apartment you can always wish up to ask to be let out.  If you ought to have a key the staff will probably let you out (this is also useful if you are in your apartment with the key, put down the key for a moment to rearrange your inventory, and then an unexpected crash/reboot eats your key.)

[slipshod]

"A keyhole shaped key hole", eh, AC?  I think you can get a patent for those at the government's Department of Redundancy Department. :wink:   I kid.

Regarding the original post, I think the system is fine the way it is.  It makes sense for everyone who wants a key to stop and individually receive one from the landlord.   The person handing out the keys would need time to recognize individuals rather than just toss keys into a group moving through the area.  It seems to make perfect sense to me that you need to disband the group and pass through separately.