Personal keywords

[Qzzrbl]

I've posted this idea before in the past, but for the life of me I can't find it using the search function.

Personal keywords is something I'd love to see implimented, whether in Armageddon the current, or Armageddon Reborn.

Here's how it works:

Keywords as we know it now will be gone, with the exception of sdesc keywords. Players will be able to add their own keywords for other players-- much how it works in real life. You meet someone, they tell you their name, you give them a nickname, you start knowing them by said name or nickname, all is well and good. This way, you won't have to sit and hope and pray that a character will addkeyword that witty nickname you gave them, you could just do it yourself. No longer will people be able to just contact you with the Way out of the blue, especially when they've never met you before, no longer will people get a bounty head's name, and type "look <bountyheadname>" every time they're in a crowd of people to find their quarry.

I dunno, I think it's a great idea.

What do you guys think?

[RogueGunslinger]

I've always backed this idea.

[NoteworthyFellow]

While I think it would take some getting used to (i.e. your real name will no longer automatically be a keyword, no matter what), I'm mostly in favor of it.

[Morgenes]

I know this has been at least discussed, and I know I'd like to see it.

[NoteworthyFellow]

I know this has been at least discussed, and I know I'd like to see it.

Well, then, awesome.

[Synthesis]

Heh, then I can walk around calling everyone "Numbnuts" without having to actually remember their names, too.

[brytta.leofa]

Things that'd have to be hashed out:

(1) You shouldn't be able to flawlessly re-identify people who are trying to disguise themselves (or, worse, by spamming "addkeyword hooded murderer").  I don't have a solution for this; any ideas?

(2) You may want to change what you call people.  I'd suggest letting the player add 2-3 keywords per person, with the command replacing any previously-defined keywords:
> addkeyword tall.muscular Amos Bighead
You now know the tall,  muscular man as "Amos Bighead" instead of "Malik Badtooth".

(3) Would it work on NPCs as well as PCs?

(I heartily support the idea, in principle, but it sounds like a messy addition to however player records are stored.)

[KIA]

This would put an end to some of the (arguable) keyword abuse that goes along with contacting, based on a name you heard, for a person you have never met. This would be of particular significance to shady characters who, in some situations, can be completely foiled if their name gets out.

I know that not everyone is familiar with these types of situations. But some have played or are playing characters who are so exceedingly criminal that they must be cloaked in a certain mystery to protect themselves from templars, bounties, or general gossip.

I see it as a logical extension of the problems addressed by contacting people based on the keywords of their cloaks. It makes the criminally inclined that much more challenging to expose and get in touch with. It would increase player intrigue and help sustain certain types of interesting plots. It might also mean that in order to 'go after' someone, you have to involve yourself, and possibly others, to a little more risk. It would perpetuate and sustain certain types of characters who are particularly vulnerable once their name/nickname gets out.

Maybe none of that makes any sense to you, but personal keywords would change a bothersome dynamic for the better.

[tortall]

Just so long as the words in your sdesc were still keywords, this would be great.

[rishenko]

My only concern is the following (assume ak is aliased to addkeyword):

Code Select Expand


A figure in a black sandcloth cloak walks in from the south.

>ak cloak a1

A figure in a black sandcloth cloak sneaks off to the north.


An ig day later in a nearby tavern:

Code Select Expand


A Tavern [N]
The prim, krath-locked man is standing here.
The hunch-backed pile of woman is standing here.
The rosy-faced, short man is standing here.

> key a1
In the room:
  1.a1- a prim, krath-locked man


[Qzzrbl]

My only concern is the following (assume ak is aliased to addkeyword):

Code Select Expand


A figure in a black sandcloth cloak walks in from the south.

>ak cloak a1

A figure in a black sandcloth cloak sneaks off to the north.


An ig day later in a nearby tavern:

Code Select Expand


A Tavern [N]
The prim, krath-locked man is standing here.
The hunch-backed pile of woman is standing here.
The rosy-faced, short man is standing here.

> key a1
In the room:
  1.a1- a prim, krath-locked man


It'd be pretty spiffy if one weren't able to add keywords to people wearing sdesc hiding equipment.

Though now that I think about it, that might be open for abuse....

Maybe a timer or something set on adding keywords?

[Majikal]

The contacting via names thing I feel might hurt playability moreso than keeping the realism. People asking for work often get told to go find sergeant amos, that tall muscular guy and a simple name contact is needed to get that RP rolling. wearing a hood/mask removing all your sdesc keywords for those in the same room as you would be fucking great though I think.

[Maso]

It'd be pretty spiffy if one weren't able to add keywords to people wearing sdesc hiding equipment.

Though now that I think about it, that might be open for abuse....

Maybe a timer or something set on adding keywords?

[Delstro]

I still love it.

[Bogre]

Their actual name should stay a keyword of theirs.

[Pale Horse]

I've recently started taking a look at a different Mud, where this idea is implemented.  So far I'm liking it, and as far as I've been able to tell, you can't add a keyword (use the "recog" command in this case) on someone who has a hood up or their features hidden in some way.

I'm a proponent of this idea.

[Qzzrbl]

Their actual name should stay a keyword of theirs.

So even if you've never met Amos in your life, never even seen him or heard his voice, you should still be able to "contact amos" and find him?

That would kinda defeat the purpose of having personal keywords in the first place, imo.

I know I'd never use my character's real name if this were the case.

[Delstro]

I agree the truename should remain a keyword. Rest edited by Nyr.

[brytta.leofa]

Maybe character names should be useable to contact someone, but not in any other way.

The tall, muscular man stands at a long, scarred bar of agafari wood.
> keyword amos
I don't see no amosses.
> contact amos
You contact the tall, muscular man using the Way.

[Synthesis]

Maybe character names should be useable to contact someone, but not in any other way.

The tall, muscular man stands at a long, scarred bar of agafari wood.
> keyword amos
I don't see no amosses.
> contact amos
You contact the tall, muscular man using the Way.

I'd like it if you could only contact or otherwise Way someone by using their true name, regardless of their other keywords.

That way, you could actually maintain alter-egos, without having every idiot in the Known World being able to sniff your sdesc simply because they heard a rumor about "Mack the Knife."

[Xio]

I'd like it if when you contacted someone, you didn't see their actual sdesc. I didn't make up the Way and contact and all that, but unless you get an actual image in you head of what the person looks like, i think everyone should have their own 'mental' sdesc, which is what you 'feel'/see when you contact them.

Then, i think leaving truenames for contact keywords and having personal keywords could work well.

[spawnloser]

Your character's real name, the name it says "welcome" to when you log in?  Keyword.  Definitely.  It has to stay that way.  That's who you are, and sometimes, "knowing who you really are" is a good thing or a bad thing, for the cops or your friends or whatever.  It's an identity thing.  It has to stay.

I've seen something done like this in another game... and it was interesting.  Your character's wisdom determined how many people you could keep in your head, remember them well.  It wasn't a hard limit, but checks were made whenever you added someone for people that you have in your 'memory.'  There was a command like 'remember' to refresh people in your 'memory' and you could check who was in your list and some sort of 'how likely they are to be forgotten' or something like that.  Timers ran.  People were either remembered or forgotten.  Whatever... anyway, make it so the staff can see who someone has remembered to make sure noone's abusing it in the 'ak a1' example above.  You can only use that keyword for someone while it is still in your memory, of course.

[Qzzrbl]

But nobody would give anyone their real name in that case.... I know I sure wouldn't. And everyone would know that you're not giving them your real name, because they'll ask, "What's your name?" and you'll lie to them, and they'll try "contact fakename" without keywording it first, and nothing'll come up. Then they'll be suspicious to start, meaning only shady types will be able to get away with it because they're blatently shady and people will be suspicious of them anyway. So, yeah. No honest character would ever take advantage of this because their name will be tarnished by the innate suspiciousness of lying about one's name-- something nobody should know you were doing in the first place, but if names stay as keywords automatically, they'll know. And it'll create this OOC thought, unconsciously affecting their actions IC and making everything suck.

Not to mention if your real name got out, we'd have the same problem, thusly defeating the purpose of personal keywords.

So yeah.... I'm not a big fan of leaving anything other than sdescs as automatic keywords.

[spawnloser]

Solution, keywords added personally by the player of a character also work as sort of 'well-known nicknames' sort of thing as a true name would, but not all things requiring a true name would work on these.

[Bogre]

Their actual name should stay a keyword of theirs.

So even if you've never met Amos in your life, never even seen him or heard his voice, you should still be able to "contact amos" and find him?

That would kinda defeat the purpose of having personal keywords in the first place, imo.

I know I'd never use my character's real name if this were the case.

And that is fine. Truenames should remain keywords.