Remember Me

[Yummri]

Hi, I am a new player to the game. I'm very interested in RP and have played an rp intensive game for 7yrs. I'm trying to get into Arm and so far I've been having fun. But I've had a few issues with ease of use.

One of these issues is the sdesc system. Now the game I played uses a sdesc system when you don' know peoples names. This is perfectly understandable right? What that game does have that this one doesn't is a @remember system.

Simply when you meat a person you have the option to @remember them as either a reference you made to them or by their name(once gien it) that would replace the sdesc with whatever you remembered them as. This would of course allow you to see who you have met/recognize and who you have not. Without having to memorize 100 similar sdescs and what they wear/look like or set it up in your client for every person you meet. This would work with people not knowing each othe ras you would still have to target them with pronurs so other peole wouldn't learn their names unless introduced.

@remember sdesc as <name> would be the syntax. And from my understanding it wold not be an overly hard thing to implement. But I don't kow the Arm coding system.

Would be a good way to increase usability for everyone. Any thoughts?

[Barzalene]

I think yours is a really understandable position. This request comes up time to time. If I tell you that in a month or two you'll a) get better at remember who is who, b) prefer it the way it is, c) find this more realistic, will you be believe me?

There are moments in real life where you recognize someone and can't remember their name. It's awkward.

Even more awkward is when you see Sally in a crowd and you yell Sally! Sally! and you wave like a lunatic. People turn and stare at you. As you look into Sally's blank face and realize she's a complete stranger, you wish you could disappear.

A remember system takes away these uncomfortable moments. And I think on Arm, it's alright to have uncomfortable moments.

Sorry for being long winded. Someone will be right along to say something more succinctly.

[valeria]

There are almost certainly ways to do this with your MUD client if it bugs you!

That said, I would never use something like this (because like Barz said, I've very much gotten used to and come to love viewing people by sdescs), but I can see how some people would prefer it.  I don't think it would hurt any.

[Harmless]

I have played muds with similar @remember-like systems in the past and I don't miss that feature.

It takes getting used to but now I am quite accustomed to Arma's system.

It is only an issue when two people have identical sdescs... That is very rare. If it is a problem, submit a request with the main website.

[Incognito]

Paper, pen, list - that's the best way to remember people.

The best part is - looking at your list a few years down the line and reminiscing

[Yummri]

Here is the thing.. Moments where you thin you recognize someone could still be a feature, especially if codded that after a while you may not recognize them right away and it may take them speak to recognize voice etc which can be done.

Also for those people who like the system as it is no one would be forcing you to use it, but the choice should be there.

As a further point, this does not aid in accessibility for any visually impaired players, of which I am one and know a few trying to get into the game but finding system like this which ass to the complication of play.

As a side note. I have no idea how to do that with my client. I'm using MUSHcliet so if someone could tell me how to do this I would appreciate it, but simply get used to it isn't something that is suitible for everyoe and not for lack of trying. Especially as a newbie.

[Barsook]

Paper, pen, list - that's the best way to remember people.

Or use your friendly text editor on your computer to keep a list and other things.  But still roleplaying it works better if you have a PC with low wisdom or one that forgets things fast.  Or if they haven't seen this person for awhile.

[ShaLeah]

I keep a note pad open every time I log on and meet someone, it takes a while for me to remember someone who actually matters to my character. It takes getting used to.

[Barzalene]

As a further point, this does not aid in accessibility for any visually impaired players, of which I am one and know a few trying to get into the game but finding system like this which ass to the complication of play.

As a side note. I have no idea how to do that with my client. I'm using MUSHcliet so if someone could tell me how to do this I would appreciate it, but simply get used to it isn't something that is suitible for everyoe and not for lack of trying. Especially as a newbie.

I think this is a bigger question than this feature in particular.

I don't think we have had (of course, I'm not on staff and not very social with people outside the game, so I could be wrong) many players who are visually impaired. So, the question of accommodation hasn't come up. Or maybe may not have come up, is more accurate. (Since if it has come up, I wouldn't know.)

I don't know how hard it would be to make things easier for text to voice. Or how to make things more intuitive for those making these compensations. I wonder if a list of places where things are not easy to navigate would be worthwhile. I'm not saying they would all be addressed, but at least we'd know what we have to work with.

[Fujikoma]

I have often wondered about the idea of making the game better for the visually impaired. I know on brief mode there are some things you will miss entirely, such as a specific, important hut or building in a place. I prefer to keep brief mode on because my mind will get bogged down with details and I won't be able to handle it, and have only really had one issue, the one with the hut, but where there's one...

I'm not sure how the sdescs impact a screen reader, I do know some people have interesting accents and these may not translate well. I shiver to think what unknown languages do to them. I will say, I couldn't remember hardly anyone when I first started playing, this was kind of annoying but kind of interesting at the same time. As Barzalene said, it gets easier as time goes on, also, it keeps things from getting too easy...

Such as, ok, there's a bounty on Amos, well, I know what Amos looks like, the tall, grey haired man. I see the tall, grey haired man wandering around from a distance, he stops briefly, I (insert disposal method here), and get a bit closer, and realize, hey, this tall, grey haired man wasn't Amos... Oh dear! And he's someone important! I have to cover this up somehow!

And yes, the awkward not remembering someone moments tend to make the game more believable. I don't make a list... I do spam k (for keyword) with a name just to see if it's correct sometimes.

[Yummri]

The sad thing is. Text based games like this one are in high demand for blind players. And there have ben many people who have tried this game in the past and left for reasons of accessibility. I myself am struggling

I have brief mode off and I do miss a lot. Its hard to navigate with brief off and its hard to navigate with it on. Especially as people tend to give directions by referencing stuff in a tile.
This game would see a player increase if some things were done to aid accessibility and I'd be happy to work with an admin to do this or players.

The sdesc thing is hard on a reader simply because we have to read the whole line to figure out who is who and if we aren't sure its a look which is more spam which slows us down greatly.
Again it would be good to see the memory system but then if you haven't seen them in some time it may fade so these moments would still occur while making it easier at least in a temp fashion.

It is a serious issue. I'm really not so worried about outside of cities(I am but its a desert afterall) as I am cities themselves as it is really hard to get people to give directions like go east 3 times, south twice and west 4 times.  But that is how it is easier for us to learn. Ask icly where to find something and directions and then use a texmap. But that is a seperate issue. A lot could be done if people were willing.

[Barzalene]

I think people might be willing. But they'll be more willing if you tell them exactly what you need. If you're specific about how and why. So, they're not guessing and not doing work twice. Of course I'm not a coder. And I should probably shut up.

[Barsook]

Deleted.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

If you use Mushclient, I have a trigger that I use to accomplish this.

Code Select Expand


<triggers>
  <trigger
   custom_colour="14"
   ignore_case="y"
   match="*sdesc*"
   omit_from_output="y"
   send_to="2"
   sequence="100"
  >
  <send>%1NAME, sdesc,%2</send>
  </trigger>
</triggers>



[Yummri]

Barsook, that really only works if you can see to begin with

Well this sdesc thing is one of the things that I would say is needed.

I'm a bit of a scripting novice, I only know how to do simple triggers and aliases. How would I go about implementing that and what would I do to make it work?

[Barsook]

Deleted.

[evilcabbage]

I think you can change the font size and type in MUSH.  But I'm not sure.

Barsook he's COMPLETELY BLIND.

As in he uses a SCREEN READER.

[Barsook]

Deleted.

[evilcabbage]

..... You're trolling. It's not cool, especially when we have totally blind players. Please cease.

[RogueGunslinger]

Pretty clear she didn't realize, actually. 

Anyways, I'd just like to point out how amazing it is that blind people can play our game.

[Barsook]

Pretty clear she didn't realize, actually. 

That was the case and I'm sorry for pushing to far.

[Jherlen]

If Arm did implement such a memory system, I'm guessing we would only have it replace sdescs for people who have no hoods/facewraps/masks on, right? It stretches things a bit to say once you 'remember dude as Amos' you're always going to recognize him no matter what he's wearing or how covered up he is.

Also, what happens if someone changes their sdesc/mdesc? I'm guessing people would have to lose memory of the character? And how often would we need to "re-remember" someone if memories wore off? Once a Zalanthan year? Longer/shorter?

It could get kind of awkward when you suddenly forget your heartmate (ha ha) that you've been living with for a year IG and they revert back to their sdesc, which you may have forgotten OOCly from not seeing in a while.

None of this is to say it's a bad idea, I'm just wondering about the details.

[Lizzie]

If Arm did implement such a memory system, I'm guessing we would only have it replace sdescs for people who have no hoods/facewraps/masks on, right? It stretches things a bit to say once you 'remember dude as Amos' you're always going to recognize him no matter what he's wearing or how covered up he is.

Also, what happens if someone changes their sdesc/mdesc? I'm guessing people would have to lose memory of the character? And how often would we need to "re-remember" someone if memories wore off? Once a Zalanthan year? Longer/shorter?

It could get kind of awkward when you suddenly forget your heartmate (ha ha) that you've been living with for a year IG and they revert back to their sdesc, which you may have forgotten OOCly from not seeing in a while.

None of this is to say it's a bad idea, I'm just wondering about the details.

Not only that, but what if there are more than one tall, handsome man? If your script recognizes "the tall, handsome man" as Amos, but Malik, the tall, handsome man walks into the room..well obviously they're not the same person.

What'd be worse, is if Malik has long billowing blonde hair, Amos has a red-dyed mohawk, Malik is broad-shouldered an barrel-chested while Amos is wiry and androgynous in body type.

You'd have to spend more time fixing that script to accommodate the *other* tall, handsome man, than might be worth having the script in the first place.

[Jherlen]

Yeah, actually I was talking about if this was implemented as a feature "server-side" (so Ginka realizes you remember the 1.tall, muscular man as Amos and the 2.tall, muscular man as Malik and replaces the names before sending you text). You're right that client-side scripting would have those flaws, though.

Another question: what if I remember the tall, muscular man as Amos, but Amos isn't actually a keyword of that PC? I'll see him as Amos, but won't be able to target him that way. Is that a problem? Should the 'remember' feature maybe only work with names that are a keyword on the character, or should it let you target someone with their "remembered name" even if that name isn't a keyword of theirs?

[Yummri]

Actually those are some very good questions. On the game I came from, when a person changed their clothing it was harder to recognise them. If you didn't see them after a few months you wouldn't recognise them.

However, when they spoke you would recognise "the voice". So yes I would agree that that does need to be a feature of such a memory system because memory fades. Or make it an age related thing? Old age sets in, memory starts to fade more. That ould be pretty cool and work with the current system.

I'm happy and open to the suggestions.

But yeah, that is why I suggested the memory system because a scrpt can get really hard when a memory system would fix the problems of a script.

As a side note, I kinda figured that people may of not got that I am using a reader.