Character Storage and You

[NoteworthyFellow]

I know this has been brought up before, but I'm firmly of the belief that one should be able to store one's own character.  I'm well aware of the possible abuses of this, so here's my proposal:

• Each account may self-store once every one or two months to prevent frequent "lol these stats suck" storages.
• Staff can flag an account to disable self-storage for situations such as IC leadership (in which case one can still store, but only through staff) or abuse of self-storage privileges.
• One can still send in a request for storage if one cannot self-store for one of the above reasons (the timer or a no-store flag) and the process will work similarly.

This will avoid long waits for storage--there was a time when I had to wait four days to store a 2-day-old, low-ranking character in order to take a sponsored leadership role--and decrease the volume of requests the staff receives for storage, thus lightening staff workloads, if only a little.

[SmashedTregil]

I dig that. Maybe add a timer. Say, you have to be 5 days old to be able to use that ability.

[FuSoYa]

Honestly...

I'm all for this.

Brandon

[Marauder Moe]

*thumbs down*

I don't think storing should be any more casual.  I like that you have to explain yourself before you can do it.  Prove to the staff and to yourself that you're not just upset over something that happened in-game, or that you're not just stuck in a temporary rut.

I suspect that there are more characters that would need to be marked "no self-store" than there are storage requests.  Also, a character's importance to plots changes over time and possibly without staff really noticing unless they're investigating that character.

As for storing before a sponsored role, even if you had been able to store automatically you still probably would have had to wait 4 days for the staffer to do your sponsored role setup.

[Agent_137]

what if you could enter your next char's app AND request storage at the SAME TIME. This way both have to still be imm approved but  delay is reduced all around. Also the IMM checking your store request gets the added benefit of seeing what you're making next, reducing the "aww my stats suck" component.

[NoteworthyFellow]

what if you could enter your next char's app AND request storage at the SAME TIME. This way both have to still be imm approved but  delay is reduced all around. Also the IMM checking your store request gets the added benefit of seeing what you're making next, reducing the "aww my stats suck" component.

I can dig it.

[FuSoYa]

*thumbs down*

I don't think storing should be any more casual.  I like that you have to explain yourself before you can do it.  Prove to the staff and to yourself that you're not just upset over something that happened in-game, or that you're not just stuck in a temporary rut.

Not true.

Brandon

[Salt Merchant]

I don't think storing should be any more casual.  I like that you have to explain yourself before you can do it.  Prove to the staff and to yourself that you're not just upset over something that happened in-game, or that you're not just stuck in a temporary rut.

I wasn't aware that you have to explain yourself presently, but if you did, it could just lead people to stop playing altogether, especially since someone who is about to store is already at low ebb in terms of enthusiasm. Who wants to be hassled about retiring a character that's no longer enjoyable or interesting?

[Gagula]

I don't think storing should be any more casual.  I like that you have to explain yourself before you can do it.  Prove to the staff and to yourself that you're not just upset over something that happened in-game, or that you're not just stuck in a temporary rut.

I wasn't aware that you have to explain yourself presently, but if you did, it could just lead people to stop playing altogether, especially since someone who is about to store is already at low ebb in terms of enthusiasm. Who wants to be hassled about retiring a character that's no longer enjoyable or interesting?

Not to mention that, if one REALLY wanted to, one could just commit pc suicide.....there are places.

[BuNutzCola]

>Think oh, what's through these groves?

A small halfling has arrived from the north.
Welcome to armageddon!

[NoteworthyFellow]

>Think oh, what's through these groves?

A small halfling has arrived from the north.
Welcome to armageddon!

Unrelated, but a year or so ago I had a Tuluki ranger/forester.  After, maybe, three hours of play, I had him out cutting some wood in the Grey Forest and he got attacked by a cilops.  He defeated the cilops, but was poisoned and had no mount, and ran out of move near the edge of the forest.  He was lying there, slowly dying, for something like a half an hour, and I got tired of emoting his writhing in pain, and eventually his various states of unconsciousness as his hit points slowly dwindled.

So, I wished up for a quick death, since death was pretty well inevitable.  I saw an ooc for consent for brutal dismemberment and accepted, and woke up in time to be brutally dismembered by an animated NPC halfling.  It was awesome, and whoever that Imm was animating the halfling gets applause from me.

[Maso]

Just go swimming in the silt sea. >>

If you're lucky you might get to meet a silt horror.

nomnomnomnomnom.

(man, that was the best animated npc EVER)

I am in no way advocating suicide...at all.

[Nyr]

what if you could enter your next char's app AND request storage at the SAME TIME. This way both have to still be imm approved but  delay is reduced all around. Also the IMM checking your store request gets the added benefit of seeing what you're making next, reducing the "aww my stats suck" component.

Only HL+ can store characters, though.

[Agent_137]

what if you could enter your next char's app AND request storage at the SAME TIME. This way both have to still be imm approved but  delay is reduced all around. Also the IMM checking your store request gets the added benefit of seeing what you're making next, reducing the "aww my stats suck" component.

Only HL+ can store characters, though.

Thanks for chiming in, Nyr!  But i don't see how that's a big blocker to this idea.

Just mark the App as "deferred to HL." if the char is still alive. I'm sure you have that as a flag already, right? And if an HL OKs the store, then the char is no longer alive and the deferred flag goes away. it could be done a few different ways if you don't like this particular implementation.

(granted, it does complicate things more than just allowing self storage in certain situations, but if HL's are the only ones that can store a char, is any sort of self storage completely out of the question?)

[RogueGunslinger]

I'm going to be honest here. If the storage option was easier, I wouldn't kill off so many of my characters. I just hit a point where I'm done with one character, and ready for a new one. And if people think this isn't proper playing, well, that's too bad, because that's how I enjoy this game.

Storage should be an option for the player to do without staff permission, and there should be -no- limitations on it.

[brytta.leofa]

Storage should be an option for the player to do without staff permission, and there should be -no- limitations on it.

I do agree with this.  Is there any case in which we'd rather someone (a) stopped playing or (b) suicided a character, instead of storing?  And when there are loose ends to be tied up, does it matter whether the PC in question is actually stored or not?

As far as impetuous storing goes...that's ultimately got to be up to the player.  You could, I suppose, give people the option to unstore by request until they create a new PC; I imagine that storage cancellations are rather rarer than storage itself.

[spawnloser]

I agree that making storage easier would be good... but I disagree with there not being SOME control by staff.  If characters could be flagged as NO_PLAYER_STORE if they are involved in plots and if staff have the option to remove the option entirely from people that abuse storage simply because they don't like their stats... under these conditions, I would support players being able to store their own characters.

[RogueGunslinger]

I agree that making storage easier would be good... but I disagree with there not being SOME control by staff.  If characters could be flagged as NO_PLAYER_STORE if they are involved in plots and if staff have the option to remove the option entirely from people that abuse storage simply because they don't like their stats... under these conditions, I would support players being able to store their own characters.

People who don't like their stats enough to store, commit suicide. And someone who couldn't store because their character was involved in plots would just not log in, or commit suicide.

[brytta.leofa]

Limit folks to one character application per day or somethin'.

Except during HRPTs.

[RogueGunslinger]

Now that I'm cool with.

[Dakurus]

While I personally as a staff member am certainly willing to entertain the idea of self storage, and talk about the pros, cons, and issues regarding it, I'm going to address a sentiment I see from time to time regarding the game and the players relationships (including staff) to it.

This isn't your run of the mill arcade game, video game, or even MMPORG.
Every player puts time, thought, and effort into the game.
Any player can walk away from the game anytime they so desire.
No player is required to pay monetarily to play this game.
However, out of respect for your fellow players(staff included) efforts, respect for the game, and desire to continue to be a place of such unique entertainment every one of us agrees to follow policies, rules, guidelines, and behavior. Many of these are documented, but some are implied by the processes surrounding them.
I know that the real world often centers a bit around "I", but in Armageddon, the focus is on "us" because "us" makes the game.
When one gets to the point that they no longer enjoy Armageddon, they have the option to leave, and although the game is "lessened" by that choice, we move on because we have "us" to be concerned with.
However it's not okay, ever, to disrespect your fellow players (and staff), the game, and their efforts by instead choosing to no longer play within the boundaries.
Instead they can be discussed, and if needed changed or updated, but always with the above in mind.

[RogueGunslinger]

Can you better describe what you mean when you say "instead choosing to no longer play within the boundaries".

Is it to to with character realism, in that no person on Zalanthas should want to commit suicide? Because that is easily overcome, realistically, with in the bounds of a character.

[Nyr]

We want you to act in an in-character manner at all times while you are playing Armageddon.  That means that purposefully doing something that your character knows will result in their certain death without a very good in-character reason for doing so is poor play.  There are reasons a Zalathan might suicide, but they are unusual.  If you are want to get rid of a character for OOC reasons, please request storage over suicide.

Do Zalanthans think there is an afterlife?

What would the average Allanaki commoner believe happens after he/she dies? Would they believe anything different from a Tuluki or Noble?

thanks,

Nothing. When you die, you're dead. This is one of the reasons why suicide is anathema to Zalanthans.

There may be localized exceptions, of course, but that's the general idea among most folks.

[RogueGunslinger]

I guess I'm saying that accidents happen all the time. Characters do stupid things that get them killed all the time. And it's pretty easy to mold a characters pre-made flaws or quirks to make suicide realistic.


But even this isn't my point. The point is that people will suicide, no matter the rules or reasoning. Or they will just quit playing. Allowing them to store on their own is the only solution I can see.

[brytta.leofa]

[I didn't mean to suggest that "(b) suicide" is an acceptable option, but rather that storage is highly preferable to it.]

Staff folks, are you aware of instances in which a storage request has been denied?  Or of cases in which the player's starting a new character immediately would have been harmful; i.e. the request was granted but the delay was helpful?