Ignore Command

[KIA]

Since we have the watch skill and the listen skill, perhaps adding another, not so attentive command might be fun.

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> ignore <target>

The tall muscular man says something, but you ignore it.

The pretty little tart sings something, but you ignore it.

The solemn poet recites something, but you ignore it.

And if you are watching a person who is ignoring you, or ignoring someone else?

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You tell the tall muscular man, in sirihish:
      "Hey, shut the hell up."
You notice: The tall muscular man appears to be ignoring you.

>steal coins Amos
You manage to steal 10 coins.

And it is simply disabled by:

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>ignore Amos off

or

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>ignore off

This would of course lower your chances of catching them do something hidden or covert, but it would be an excellent addition for people who don't want to pay attention to certain spammy characters for OOC reason (like bards they don't care for) without actually necessarily being overly rude about it. You could just be paying attention to something else. That means ICly, I don't have to RP my OOC attitudes about song-spam to discourage it, I have the option of 'tuning out' so to speak.

It might also help out in very spammy taverns or at events with a lot of people in the room (such as the recent Grey Hunt). It has a lot of applications. I'd enjoy seeing it in game, even if there was no penalty for doing so (like a bonus to steal/plant to the person you're ignoring, or even, if we wanted to get hardcore about it, backstab, sap, get arrow pack... whatever!). Maybe even have it so that if you -are- ignoring someone, they can leave the room without you seeing the message (though it would then automatically make you stop ignoring them).

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>ignore feedback from other players

[Yokunama]

Sounds like a real personal problem. If I can recall correctly, you can program certain clients to mute certain characters.

[Bushranger]

I don't agree. You may be ignoring someone, but then they say something that catches your attention again. With a command like this you will never be shown it to be able to respond ICly too.

The tall muscular man says, in sirihish, "Yeah, KIA and I touched weiners the other day. Look KIA isn't going to deny it!"

or whatever else may just be enough to draw your attention back to what they are saying or doing so you stop ignoring them. With this sort of a command, you'll miss it and never be able to react ICly.

[KIA]

Sounds like a real personal problem. If I can recall correctly, you can program certain clients to mute certain characters.

No, not a personal problem at all. Just an idea.

[Lizzie]

Actually I love the idea. Yes, a client can provide you with the ability to completely block out someone else's existence. But I don't want to not see him. I don't want to -not- know that he is talking to me. I just don't want to be paying attention to him. I want to know that he -is- talking. I want to know that he -is- singing. Because it makes sense that I know these things. My character is perfectly aware of this. And if I notice that he is speaking specifically to -me- I will notice this as well..even if I'm not listening to him. I'll know he is directing -his- attention to me. And then I will be able to decide whether or not I want to tune back in and actually pay attention.

An ignore command can do this, exactly how KIA described.

And so, I love it.

[musashi]

I dunno ... it just seems a bit silly to me to have a syntax to ignore people ... I usually just do that via the emote and talk/say commands.

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The tall, muscular man looks at you from across the bar and clears his throat, waving a hand to try and get your attention.

Glancing down at the bartop, you say in sirihish,
"So ... three large and an erdlu ... and I say we have a deal."

Looking over at the tall, muscular man for a moment, before looking back to you, the large, black-skinned man says in sirihish,
"That's my only erdlu ... if you want her, I'm only giving you 2 and half large."

Waving both hands frantically at you, the tall, muscular man says in sirihish,
"Hey! Hey!!!! Excuse me!!! Over here!!!!"

Pursing your lips as you reguard the large, black-skinned man, you say in sirihish,
"... Fine, keep the erdlu."


[Lizzie]

Well imagine you, the player, having trouble with screen scroll. It's a lifelong problem, you'll never get over it, and you are playing Arm. Your character has been invited to a performance of bards. All your best pals will be there, and your boss, who you -need- to pay close attention to because he's setting up a sting in the backstage dressing room after Bobo the Clown Bard is finished with his juggling act.

Your character doesn't really want to be there. You don't really want to be there, except for near the end of Bobo's act. One of your friends is Suzy the Sparkly Singer, who is performing second. So you put Dora the Dancer on ignore, and Amy the Acrobat on ignore...and focus only on Suzy and Bobo - which leaves you free to concentrate on your mudsex partner's dirty little mindtalk thoughts in your head, while your boss is giving you subtle hints with nods and gestures across the table, and you're listening to your Kuraci pal next to you make snide remarks about the Salarr guy's outfit at the next table over.

In real life, when you are confronted by LOTS of input, you are capable of "tuning out" things you don't really care about. You can even tune out a performance, which is bigger, louder, more "in your face" than anything going on at the moment. You can daydream while listening to a lecture series in real life, even if the lecturer is using a microphone and no one else is saying a word. Some people talk to each other at the movie theatre, ignoring the fact that there are 200 other paying customers trying to watch the movie, and the guy in front of them shooting them death-ray glares every 20 seconds. They _know_ the guy is turning around to face them. But they're just too busy yakking it up to notice why.

A coded ignore command will allow this to happen, for both the player and the character.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I like the idea. If you're ignoring someone, you're ignoring them. I certainly like the idea in the cases of spammy scenes.

[musashi]

For spam control reasons, I can see why having a command like this would be nice, though perhaps another command of a different type could help out with this as well.

Right now, if you "say" something everyone in the room can hear it. If you are sitting at a table and you "talk" folks at your table and folks with really good listen can hear it. If you "whisper" the person you target plus folks with good listen can hear it ... but ... there isn't any way to just be speaking quietly with a group you're standing near. I think at the root cause, that's what really creates the spam fest of big RPTs, rather than the one bard doing his solo performance in front of everyone.

I think if there were a way to use the "talk" command or some version of it to talk quietly with your group (even when standing) that would cut way down on the spam people experience during these big outings.

As just a suggestion, perhaps the code could work off the follow command, or something like that, so that if you're following someone, you and everyone else following them are able to "talk" as a small group even though you're standing, and no one else with be bothered with it unless they're trying to listen in.

I guess I could get behind some kind of ignore command if everyone wanted it, but I think something like that might also fix the "problem" of large RPT spam as well.

[FantasyWriter]

I think you should still be able to hear them through the ignore command if they say something TO you, or use you in an emote.  That way you are still noticing things you would IRL.  If I am ignoring the people at the tables, and one of them says "Lewis"  or is pointing at me, I am most likely going to notice it.

[fourTwenty]

I would implore you not to ignore a crappy bard. You're passing up a great RP opportunity. Go beat the shit out of them, hell PK them, don't encourage crappy people, let them know they suck.

And if there is an ignore command then it most definitely should incur a steal/sap/backstab/semote penalty.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I think you should still be able to hear them through the ignore command if they say something TO you, or use you in an emote.  That way you are still noticing things you would IRL.  If I am ignoring the people at the tables, and one of them says "Lewis"  or is pointing at me, I am most likely going to notice it.

Absolutely.

[KIA]

No one would ever -have- to use the ignore command. You could still RP the ignoring while not truly ignoring them, so there's no problem. For instance I never have to use watch, even if I am 'watching' someone. So there's no basis for the argument that it's a useless command and should be handled individually on the client terminal side. Just don't ever use the command, that's fine!

But I (and others) could use it.

Someone talks directly to you?

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>ignore off

>tell target (blinking) Uhm, what was that?

Let me suffer the consequences of having tuned out. That's my prerogative as a character. This already happens plenty, when someone talks at a table accidentally and someone else is standing.

[fourTwenty]

No one would ever -have- to use the ignore command. You could still RP the ignoring while not truly ignoring them, so there's no problem. For instance I never have to use watch, even if I am 'watching' someone. So there's no basis for the argument that it's a useless command and should be handled individually on the client terminal side. Just don't ever use the command, that's fine!

But I (and others) could use it.

Someone talks directly to you?

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>ignore off

>tell target (blinking) Uhm, what was that?

Let me suffer the consequences of having tuned out. That's my prerogative as a character. This already happens plenty, when someone talks at a table accidentally and someone else is standing.

I'm confused?

Would you like us to argue, I'm sure I can come up with something if I try. So far, we've got a that's silly (which is a very valid opinion), an I don't like it (With supplied supporting details, once again rendering a valid opinion), and a couple of ideas on what people think of your idea and how it would/should be tweaked. This is one of the few posts I haven't seen an argument on.

But again...

DO NOT IGNORE CRAPPY BARDS, Please! We can stop these people. This shit is worse than AIDS! If I could 3 RL months without hearing a crappy bard (Especially a crappy bard played by the same person who played <I swear when it's been a year I'm saying the PC name because they either have no grasp on what the fuck a song is, or more likely, were intentionally sucking and therefore is one of the greatest RP'ers of all time>) Then I will give everybody $5 US (Or your countries equivalent of whatever a blunt costs). Please kill the crappy bards!

Leave the good bards alone.

[KIA]

Dude, I adore bards, even the shittiest of the shitstains. I've played like a hundred bards. </hyperbole>

But seriously, I've probably played more bards than any one other player, in both cities. And I still believe that the Ignore command, in some form, would be a brilliant move. Ignoring a bard is just the obvious example of how it could be used, but not the exclusive reason, at all, for its implementation.

[fourTwenty]

I'm ambivalent to the ignore command IG. I agree with musashi, it seems silly, but I see interesting ways of people getting killed so I really don't care.

I -hate- crappy bards  Especially bards that don't know they're crappy.

[Synthesis]

I bet this could be solved IC with judicious application of the appropriate magick and/or psionics.

[UnderSeven]

>inven
you have ten less coins than you did a minute ago.

>say (pointing at ~elf accusingly) He did it! I was totally ignoring him and then my coins were gone.  He must of been the one to rob me, otherwise I would of noticed!

[staggerlee]

I shudder at the thought of people trying to get onto my ignore list in order to qualify for a boost to their pickpocket.
Please. God. No.

[Ourla]

-hate- crappy bards  Especially bards that don't know they're crappy.

We know.

Let's keep this on topic.

With the restrictions people brought up, like your PC noticing when someone else references them in an emote or tells them something directly, I would be all for an ignore command.  Even though I've gotten somewhat adept at keeping up with the megaspam that accompanies many RPTs, I would use this.

[Synthesis]

I shudder at the thought of people trying to get onto my ignore list in order to qualify for a boost to their pickpocket.
Please. God. No.

Egads, I'm jealous that I didn't think of this.  Brilliant!

[KIA]

I shudder at the thought of people trying to get onto my ignore list in order to qualify for a boost to their pickpocket.
Please. God. No.

Egads, I'm jealous that I didn't think of this.  Brilliant!

Oh c'mon. Everyone already uses watch when they're not really watching you. It's up to the players to not abuse code and treat it as realistically as they can. You guys are nitpicking.

[FightClub]

As good as the premise might seem, it's nearly impossible to truly ignore someone.  If this were to be an ic thing, and coded accordingly, I'd suggest it come off like listen, where you get snippets of the conversation from the target base on your skill.

If we are focusing upon this as an ooc tool, then it is best left as is, and should be stated as such.

[KIA]

In the meantime, it would be cool if you could target your listen to a particular direction or to a particular table and gain a boost to that one while everything else suffers, wouldn't it? I mean, I do this in real life... you kind of have to try to focus and tune people out if you really want to pay attention to a specific conversation.

[Mr.B]

Personally, I wouldn't like to see an ignore command. I say if you want to ignore characters for whatever IC or OOC reasons, it should be done on the client side, or by the player actually not paying attention to what the such and such man/woman/group/raptors etc are doing and saying. If your argument is with that with some effort and focus you can do it in real life to pay attention to specific people or things, you can really apply that when concentrating on the people/objects on screen. I don't think a command needs to be coded for that, and that it would be better overall if it was role-played accordingly as opposed to being handled by the code.