New Idea: Brief attention.

[Lizzie]

I think it makes a lot more sense to NOT notice when people at some OTHER table glare at me, than to notice every time anyone does anything that targets me, without any consideration at all to the proximity to me, the crowd seperating us, the event going on (if any), what direction that event is occuring (if any), and what *my character* happens to be paying attention to at the moment.

If I'm at the bar having an in-depth conversation about making serious sids off an order from a potential, rich customer, you can be assured, my character will *probably* not be noticing Rinthi McRinthshit squinting at me while sitting at the back table talking to his pal, Gemmer #5.. Unless of course she's expecting Rinthi McRinthshit, in which case, she will be paying attention to her surroundings. And that is exactly where this toggle will be used - on, when she's paying attention to her surroundings - listen, and all related emotes, will be noticed, based on skill level. Off, and she wont' be noticing, and therefore won't - well - notice.

[Narf]

I think it makes a lot more sense to NOT notice when people at some OTHER table glare at me, than to notice every time anyone does anything that targets me, without any consideration at all to the proximity to me, the crowd seperating us, the event going on (if any), what direction that event is occuring (if any), and what *my character* happens to be paying attention to at the moment.

I'd say this is doubly true if you've specifically set a toggle to have your character ignore what's going on around them.

[MeTekillot]

em completely oblivious to %drama.queen glare through a crowd and bustle of at least a few hundred, @ continues to speak with those at his table.

[flurry]

I'm kind of having the feeling that some people have 'brief gdb' turned on. For the record, I don't think characters should notice every glare in the room. I'm pretty sure that players have the discretion to decide what their characters notice or not.

[Lizzie]

em completely oblivious to %drama.queen glare through a crowd and bustle of at least a few hundred, @ continues to speak with those at his table.

Yes, that's all well and good, but I really don't want to have to emote every time my character doesn't do/notice something. Nor should I be expected to.

* Lizzie ignores ~queen at ^queen table.

* Lizzie now ignores ~met at ^met table.

* Lizzie continues ignoring ~queen, while deftly ignoring ~met, and adds ignoring ~mushy into the mix.

* Lizzie is ignoring all the people at ^queen table now, and begins to ignore ~talia at ^talia table as well.

* Lizzie ignores the entirety of ^queen table, ~talia, and has just started ignoring ^talia buddy seated beside #talia.

I'm thinking - no. I haven't ever done that in the past, I'd rather not have to do that now, thanks. Just a simple toggle on/off will be fine.

Wow I had no idea that typing a backslash followed by the word me, would result in an asterisk followed by my handle, with the line highlighted in red.

Well that's okay - y'all can just ignore that it did that, and pretend that you are just seeing the backslash, the me, and the line. Ignore that it's red too. Or just change your browser to make it look however you want it to look, it's easy, just a script and trigger

[ShaLeah]

For the record, I don't think characters should notice every glare in the room. I'm pretty sure that players have the discretion to decide what their characters notice or not.

Paranoid characters would.

[Morgenes]

I like the premise, but dislike the idea that it'd be something you'd have complete control over.  I'd like it to be something that even if you don't have it on you have a chance of not seeing emotes at other tables if you're at a table.   Honestly rather than using 'brief' which would really be a gag like command, I'd rather it be something you could use 'watch' to watch some other table.

[musashi]

I like the premise, but dislike the idea that it'd be something you'd have complete control over.  I'd like it to be something that even if you don't have it on you have a chance of not seeing emotes at other tables if you're at a table.   Honestly rather than using 'brief' which would really be a gag like command, I'd rather it be something you could use 'watch' to watch some other table.

Having your ability to catch table talk emotes be based on your watch or scan skill ... would be awesome.
I'd prefer scan just so I could turn it off if I wanted, like listen. FWIW.  :-/

Or do you mean like, you have to "watch" a table to see the emotes going on there?

[Narf]

I like the premise, but dislike the idea that it'd be something you'd have complete control over.  I'd like it to be something that even if you don't have it on you have a chance of not seeing emotes at other tables if you're at a table.   Honestly rather than using 'brief' which would really be a gag like command, I'd rather it be something you could use 'watch' to watch some other table.

This might be something a bit different. I think the whole reason this topic came up when it did, was because of RPT spam. Some people, myself included, have /physiological/ issues with screen scroll. My eyes water, and start to hurt after a while. What you're suggesting is more of an IC game feature. What a lot of us are looking for is an OOC one.

That said, this could potentially solve both problems in one swing if it were implemented with both goals in mind.

[X-D]

I like Morgs suggestion as well...but it is an IC suggestion...and so..not really fitting to the OP. (still approve though)

Somebody else got me thinking about the last Luirsfest my PC attended and I could not help thinking...Man, Brief attention would have made the pit fights 100 times more enjoyable. I actually had my PC leave way early simply because I, the player could not take it anymore.

And since the OP and other posters since have stated this idea is more for RPTs.

How about this...have the function only able to be toggled if there is more then a certain number of people in the room? Say Eight or Ten.

[AmandaGreathouse]

I like Morgs suggestion as well...but it is an IC suggestion...and so..not really fitting to the OP. (still approve though)

Somebody else got me thinking about the last Luirsfest my PC attended and I could not help thinking...Man, Brief attention would have made the pit fights 100 times more enjoyable. I actually had my PC leave way early simply because I, the player could not take it anymore.

And since the OP and other posters since have stated this idea is more for RPTs.

How about this...have the function only able to be toggled if there is more then a certain number of people in the room? Say Eight or Ten.

I like the idea of it not being able to be toggled on when there's less than 8 or 10 in a room.

[Quell]

I like Morgs suggestion as well...but it is an IC suggestion...and so..not really fitting to the OP. (still approve though)

Somebody else got me thinking about the last Luirsfest my PC attended and I could not help thinking...Man, Brief attention would have made the pit fights 100 times more enjoyable. I actually had my PC leave way early simply because I, the player could not take it anymore.

And since the OP and other posters since have stated this idea is more for RPTs.

How about this...have the function only able to be toggled if there is more then a certain number of people in the room? Say Eight or Ten.

I like the idea of it not being able to be toggled on when there's less than 8 or 10 in a room.

I think it would be better to leave it up to player discretion. If a player (not character) feels they're having trouble with table spam from only 7 people there's not a lot of harm in letting them turn it off. I just don't think you gain enough from setting up these kinds of limits. Actually, I don't think you gain anything at all from setting these kinds of limits.

Also trying to estimate how much spam reduction people might want is difficult. I for one don't have very good eyesight anymore. My font size is set kinda on the high end, so screen scroll hits me a bit harder than people with better eyesight. If someone with good eyesight is setting the limit, it's probably not going to be ideal for someone like me.

That said, this would still solve the RPT issue, which I think is by far my biggest concern.

[Lizzie]

The "watch" skill addition might be great. It'd definitely give people more of a reason to use it; they could watch an entire table, rather than one individual person, or a broad direction (such as - south).

And if they turn watch OFF...then they would miss everything said *and done* at tables, if those actions were included in "talk" conversations.

It still won't limit the spam of people who are standing up, or just using the regular emote command, but it would greatly reduce the spam created by people talking at tables when you aren't even trying to listen to them, let alone watch them.

Only thing Morgenes - if I am successfully listening, but UNsuccessfully watching - the end result would need to be something like this:

talk (smiling at ~sue) Hey Sue, glad you could join us!

successful listen/UNsuccessful watch would be:

At a green-topped table, Amos says, in sirihish, "Hey Sue, glad you could join us!"

while a successful listen/successful watch would be:

At a green-topped table, Amos says, in sirihish, waving at Sue, "Hey Sue, glad you could join us!"

and an UNsuccessful listen/UNsuccessful watch would be:

...

(nothing)

[ShaLeah]

I like the premise, but dislike the idea that it'd be something you'd have complete control over.  I'd like it to be something that even if you don't have it on you have a chance of not seeing emotes at other tables if you're at a table.   Honestly rather than using 'brief' which would really be a gag like command, I'd rather it be something you could use 'watch' to watch some other table.

I've always thought we should be able to watch tables/bars and have idea'd such in game.

What if when you are watching someone/some direction (which you SHOULD still be able to do while sitting) you -don't- catch everything else around you because you're so intently focused on the objects of your obsession?

[AmandaGreathouse]

What if when you are watching someone/some direction (which you SHOULD still be able to do while sitting) you -don't- catch everything else around you because you're so intently focused on the objects of your obsession?

The main reason I dislike this is that I am nearly always 'watching' the person on whom my pc's attention is most focused, and I don't think that if I'm talking and interacting with two people at once, it should exclude the other person, even by chance. Actually, I really wish you could watch two people at once, so I could see hemoted body language cues and so forth from both people I'm talking to, if I'm talking to two people at once.

[Harmless]

What if when you are watching some direction (which you SHOULD still be able to do while sitting)

Your character must be standing in order to watch things in the distance.

I always thought it made sense that you had to be standing to watch directions in busy tavern-like rooms, especially with all the tall, muscular men hanging around.

But, I feel like you should be able to watch a direction while sitting if the place isn't crowded with vnpcs, like when sitting on a road and watching one direction. Should be possible.

Edited to remove "non-sequiturs." 

[maxid]

Some people, myself included, have /physiological/ issues with screen scroll. My eyes water, and start to hurt after a while.

Not to mention people using screen readers due to poor/nonexistent eyesight.

[musashi]

What if when you are watching someone/some direction (which you SHOULD still be able to do while sitting) you -don't- catch everything else around you because you're so intently focused on the objects of your obsession?

I wouldn't mind this setup either because it means that by watching my own table, I could in effect cut out all the screen spam from everyone else's table talks. Like a make-shift "watch off" command  

How about this...have the function only able to be toggled if there is more then a certain number of people in the room? Say Eight or Ten.

This I'm not crazy about. Let's leave it to player discresion please. Trust me, people know their RL situation, and their characters and what they should be focused on and concerned with better than you do (general people in support of this idea 'you').

It's complicated. This is why everyone whose only complaint is "I can't see shit in RPTs" is much better off figuring out their own solutions.

Again man, complete non sequitur. Also, on top of that, staff has said in the past "When suggesting/discussing new possible code additions, please don't worry yourselves with how complicated it may or may not be to code. We'll make that call." So let's leave the call of how complicated it may or may not be to implement in Morgenes' court where it belongs and stick to just discussing possible pros and cons if implemented as envisioned.

[X-D]

Besides, It is my bet that it is less complicated for Morg to code then it is for me to write a script for my client...or gag triggers...whatever.

Speaking of which..Because such things require keywords or keyword strings...they tend to do some rather odd things at times.

For instance, before there was brief combat, I did have gags in place for dodges...it is amazing how often other things got gagged...parts of room descriptions, things people say, etc. Even after a bunch of work to where I had negated 90%, the other 10% was still annoying.

At least if it is game side, I know Morg did it right and there will be no surprises.

[BleakOne]

I like this idea.

[Harmless]

#highlight {^At your table, %0:$} {bold white}

There you go. It's fail-safe, owing to the ^ and $ characters.

Compatible only with TinTin++, the only mud client worth using. Change bold white to whatever you want, and enjoy having all your table's talk lines highlighted for you. It won't fuck up anything. It can be mimicked by players but they would look fucking stupid doing it. One line of "triggers" to help you see shit, which was, I thought, the point of this thread.

[Nyr]

I also already highlight things said "at your table," "at your seat," etc in certain formatting.  Things whispered are in different formatting.  Things wayed come through in different formatting.  Hemotes and Semotes are something I've considered making a bit more difficult to see (lighter coloration) to remind me that my character may not necessarily notice something even if they codedly do.  I even highlight "you notice" from the beginning of a sentence, because staffers are wont to use that to spoof hemote in private echoes to PCs (usually to enhance the immersion of an animation by providing specific details to specific individuals that--due to their training, station, or position--actually should notice something before others do). 

That's not to say that a coded solution isn't possible or shouldn't be reviewed, but there are certainly ways you can make the spam of large events easier to manage, and that's even with crappy clients, too.

[musashi]

I also make use of highlights, filters, triggers, etc with my PC's client program. They're very useful.

It's just that, to answer Harmless, no. Coming up with trigger ideas to help see shit was not the point of this thread. The point was/is to discuss a possible coded solution. The merits and demerits thereof. So on. So forth.

Not that offering tips on trigger setup isn't a cool thing. It's just we have a different thread for that, I believe. It's a bit of a derail here.

I have some thoughts/questions about the idea Morgenes proposed but I'll wait till I'm home from work to post about them.

[Harmless]

it's all good musashi. For some reason we seem to strongly disagree about the relatedness of my posts to this thread, and for that we'll agree to disagree. In terms of my thoughts about the idea itself, they've all been variously written in here already by others, and I have nothing productive to add. Anyway,  I thought my tips were productive,  and I'm done making them.

[musashi]

Yep, it's all good Harmless.

Home at last.

I like the premise, but dislike the idea that it'd be something you'd have complete control over.  I'd like it to be something that even if you don't have it on you have a chance of not seeing emotes at other tables if you're at a table.   Honestly rather than using 'brief' which would really be a gag like command, I'd rather it be something you could use 'watch' to watch some other table.

I was curious to know a little bit more about what you were thinking Morgenes.

If catching table emotes is based on the watch skill, would that make them something that you have a chance to notice passively like one can with hemotes now, and a sure fire chance of noticing them if you actively target a table with the watch command?

Or would it be a case where you normally don't see table emotes at all, and actively targeting a table with the watch command gives you a chance to see emotes coming from that table? -- Like how you don't normally see table talks at all without your listen skill on.