Death.

[Xio]

 I'm going to say this first, This is my opinion, none of this is rooted in some fact I dug up in documentation somewhere.

Since death in armageddon can often just be a character mysteriously vanishing, never to be heard from again, it would be nice if characters who are incredibly close to one another (family, long-time mates, blood-brother like friends, etc) felt a sort of psionic tingle if that character died. I kinda feel like if you were to contact someone enough time over a span of years your minds would always be in contact to some extent on a subconscious level. Something to the effect of "You feel a familiar mind fade from existence". Friend of mine also suggested it could work out as a skill. My take on that is: Maybe have it branch from contact, and have both parties use the skill on one another to form a permanent link so only if one of them dies the other feels that link sever. Opposed to making you train that skill, could just have a timer of some sort on it of you both concentrating to form the link and 'lock' it into your subconsciouses.

[Eloran]

No.

This way isn't like the Force or something.

[Cutthroat]

I doubt this would work well without some sort of fair stun drain. Also, what happens if one linked person is logged out?

What I would like to personally see are unique messages for when the person you have currently contacted has died, compared to the message for when they have logged out.

[SMuz]

Do it for psions.

I doubt this would work well without some sort of fair stun drain.

Heh, with stun drain, I'd imagine that a combat RPT that fares badly would make everyone pass out. Which would be quite funny

[Nyr]

The Way does not work that way for normal people.

[Eloran]

Code Select Expand


You send a telepathic message to the tall, muscular man:
   "Howdy, up for a hunt?"

A foreign presence contacts your mind.

The tall, muscular man sends you a telepathic message:
   "Oh hey, sure! I was just about t--GWAH!!!"

Your link is abruptly severed as a psionic wave of anguish rips through your noggin', doing unspeakable damage!
Your world goes black.


                               _______                                ___
                             /\\_____//~-_                        _-~\\__
                            (~)       ~-_ ~-_                  _-~ _-~  
                           (~)           ~-_ ~-_            _-~ /-~      
Welcome to Armageddon!     (~)              `~-_ ~_======_--~~ __~        
                         (~)               _~_\__\____/__/_--\ ~`-_  
                          \           _-~~            _-~~~-_ \_  ~-_  
You may:                    ~-       __--~`_    /   _-~         ~.     ~_
(C) Disconnect from character      -~        \     _~       ___,  \ ~-_  \
(V) Toggle ANSI/VT100 mode       ,~ _-,       ~  _~         \   \  | , \ \  
(B) Toggle 'brief' menus        / /~/      -~   /            ~  /  /  \~  \
(D) Documentation menu          | | \     _~    |        __-~  / _/  \~  '\
(M) Mail menu                   \ ~-_~   -   |  _      ~-____-~ .~  \~    |


[Agent_137]

the problem the OP has still exists. let me rephrase:

Since death in armageddon can often just be a character mysteriously vanishing, never to be heard from again, it would be nice if characters who are incredibly close to one another (family, long-time mates, blood-brother like friends, etc) were able to be notified automatically somehow when the other character dies, or at least goes off the radar for awhile. Keep it obscure, but please help me differentiate ICly between "my mate and I have different playtimes but kank virtually every IC night" and "i haven't seen my mate in IC months! i'm worried." because currently the only way to do this is share a save room and change the drop desc of something to keep your mate notified of your existence. And quite frankly, that's rather limited. we all can't afford safe rooms.

[HTX]

^

Yes please. If a person your character is close to goes missing for a while (whether through death or otherwise), it only makes sense that your character would know.

[Eloran]

No it doesn't.

It makes perfect sense that you might never hear from them again. People go missing in Zalanthas all the time. It's a hard life its inhabitants live - death is always just around the corner.

I mean, one of the big things Tuluk pushes is its subtlety. It's very famous for ghosting people. Could any of that mystery remain if people who suddenly vanished sent out some sort of psionic scream to loved ones? I think not.

[Agent_137]

it's not that you'd know what happened to them. it's that you as the player should know if they are around and kanking your character in the virtual time you're not logged in or have been missing for months.

Basically, I don't know if I should worry about my mate missing, or just chalk it up to the player not logging on. it's an IC/OOC division.

if we could answer this question IG, then it would resolve some of the reasons some people reach out to outside of the game via the GDB or aim.

Perhaps an OOC way to check the last time they logged on, which could also provide brief info about their usual play times if they choose to provide it. I know there's an intense hatred of anything that might break 'immersion' but you don't have to use the command if you don't want to.

[Simple]

If someone doesn't log in for RL months, they really should come up with an excuse as to where their PC has been instead of saying, I was here the whole time.

[FantasyWriter]

If someone doesn't log in for RL months, they really should come up with an excuse as to where their PC has been instead of saying, I was here the whole time.

What's worse is when the character gets irate because you don't know them.

[HTX]

No it doesn't.

It makes perfect sense that you might never hear from them again. People go missing in Zalanthas all the time. It's a hard life its inhabitants live - death is always just around the corner.

I mean, one of the big things Tuluk pushes is its subtlety. It's very famous for ghosting people. Could any of that mystery remain if people who suddenly vanished sent out some sort of psionic scream to loved ones? I think not.

No it doesn't? I'm confused, since we seem to be agreeing, albeit with a different choice of words.

To clarify: I support people been notified (not necessarily through psionics) if another character who is close to their character hasn't been seen around.

How it would work though, is beyond me...

[Synthesis]

Heh, one of my newb Oashi mages was force-stored because I didn't come up with an IC excuse for not logging in for a month.

I had just been recruited, and the noble didn't have time to get me the uniform or anything.  Meanwhile, my unit shipped out to Okinawa, so it was about a month before I could get internet access up and running.

It was only my second or third magicker (and the other two had basically died in under a day played), so I was pretty fucking furious about it at the time.

[Ampere]

If the person was close, I will generally contact them out of character and ask if they're suspiciously absent. Works fine. If you don't know their handle I'm sure an imm would be more than willing to let you know if you'd seen them recently...

[Is Friday]

If the person was close, I will generally contact them out of character and ask if they're suspiciously absent. Works fine. If you don't know their handle I'm sure an imm would be more than willing to let you know if you'd seen them recently...

E-mail'ing clan/indie imms is the proper route.

[SMuz]

Perhaps an OOC way to check the last time they logged on, which could also provide brief info about their usual play times if they choose to provide it. I know there's an intense hatred of anything that might break 'immersion' but you don't have to use the command if you don't want to.

Hmm.. that could be abused, but I think it's nice if it was sort of like a Way 'ping' or something.

The muscular man types:
> check skinny.woman
You ask around about the skinny woman.

The skinny woman logs on and sees:
From the last time you logged on...
The image of the muscular man hovers in your mind. Ignore him? (Y/N)
> Yes.
The image of the sneer-lipped templar hovers in your mind. Ignore him? (Y/N)
> No.
(check against barrier skill)
You try to ignore the muscular man.

The next time the muscular man logs on:
From the last time you logged on...
There has been no response from the skinny woman.
> think Maybe she's dead. Time to find a new girlfriend.

When the sneer-lipped templar logs on:
From the last time you logged on...
You last saw the skinny woman 4 days ago.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

If the person was close, I will generally contact them out of character and ask if they're suspiciously absent. Works fine. If you don't know their handle I'm sure an imm would be more than willing to let you know if you'd seen them recently...

I'm just as annoyed as the next guy who doesn't know if his friend's been deaded, or if they just have a bad case of a fried computer, but I see no reason for this.

[Ampere]

If the person was close, I will generally contact them out of character and ask if they're suspiciously absent. Works fine. If you don't know their handle I'm sure an imm would be more than willing to let you know if you'd seen them recently...

I'm just as annoyed as the next guy who doesn't know if his friend's been deaded, or if they just have a bad case of a fried computer, but I see no reason for this.

It's called roleplaying, remember that I'm not asking if they're dead --- they could be in hiding or whatever. But if my lover has been MIA for a couple rl weeks, I would like to know whether they are actually missing, or if the player simply hasn't been able to log on for ooc reasons.

[Eloran]

To clarify: I support people been notified (not necessarily through psionics) if another character who is close to their character hasn't been seen around.

We're not in agreement, no. I don't support a friend being notified of their chum's demise, through OOC or psionics.

[Xygax]

If you need to know whether someone you are consistently in normal day-to-day contact with has been not-logging-in, email your clan staff, don't find them on IM and ask them directly.  It puts them in the awkward position of having to potentially give you IC information.  Communication about your character's demise, or another character's demise, out of character, is totally verboten, and destroys plotlines.

-- X

[Lord of Charas]

I don't like the idea. It takes away from much of the mystery I think.

[Agent_137]

If you need to know whether someone you are consistently in normal day-to-day contact with has been not-logging-in, email your clan staff, don't find them on IM and ask them directly.  It puts them in the awkward position of having to potentially give you IC information.  Communication about your character's demise, or another character's demise, out of character, is totally verboten, and destroys plotlines.

-- X

How soon would be Ok to send the email without annoying our Imms? If they haven't been seen in a RL week? Two? A RL month?

And should i as a player leave a message with my Imm and maybe an IC explanation if I suddenly go from lots of playtime to none, and have people that I think will depend on me?

p.s.
smuz's pinging idea is hot. it seems pretty Opt-in and IC. just a way for characters to leave a another character a fixed 'i'm not dead' message without being online at the same time. The only thing it cuts out is having to ask other PCs, which is always odd if you're the closest contact with the pc in question. In real life, people go missing. People run away from their mates. People die suddenly. Yes, all this happens in Zalanthas more. But what doesn't happen in RL is people going into hiding and wanting to tell their friends, but accidentally forgetting repeatedly.

I don't think it's a huge problem, it doesn't severely impact my day to day gaming, but it definitely does come up now and then and it's always a little awkward. I'm glad I can resort at least to the Imms if it does come up again.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I think something like this would work great:

>when mike
You can't remember the last time you saw Mike.
(2 weeks to 6 months of inactivity or death according to Mike's Pfile)

>when Korn
You saw Korn not long ago.
(3 days to 2 weeks of inactivity or death according to Korn's PFile)

>when Seth
You see Seth every day.
(Less than 2 days of inactivity on Seth's PFile)

>when James
It's been a goodly number of years since you saw James.
(6 months or more of inactivity on James' PFile)

Using the command 'remember' would allow you to remember that person.

Still, there are some bugs, like, moving locations, living in a new town, etc, etc ... it might just be better to forget it.

[flurry]

I've emailed the Imms a few times in situations like this, and it's helped. One time, the Imm even went above and beyond, and emailed the other player to get an IC explanation for the absence. (Thanks Mekeda!)

If you're in a clan, please please please post if you're going to be absent for some time. Otherwise people are eventually going to assume you're gone and divvy up your stuff.