Following into falls or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Sinkhole

[Clearsighted]

I'm starting up this thread as a discussion topic for a certain pervasive problem where you'll follow your leader into what is probably certain death like you're a brain-dead lemming, and likely subsequently die/be horribly injured through no fault of your own besides incidentally poor clan choice. I'd suggest a mod move the posts from the other thread into here, but aren't they spread out over multiple pages and a pain in the butt to do? Whatever.

Anyway, I suggest code like the merchant's gate that is added to climbing and falling code. If following someplace would put you over a fall, you stop and think about it. If following someplace would make you climb, you stop and think about it.

The best solution to this problem is to not follow anyone around the wastes who doesn't know what they're doing. And certainly don't stake your life, and those of others on it, unless you're all good climbers. And remember you can 'dismount beetle' in midair.

That said. Making it ask for confirmation before lurching over an obvious death fall, would not be entirely amiss. But then, it seems to happen regardless, even in places where that coded request for confirmation exists.

This is a perfect example for how players and characters, who can keep their heads in the wastes and know the terrain, are a god send to any clan.

It's not necessarily about them not knowing what they're doing. Most of the several falls of one of my characters were the result of following an experienced player/character, always with a high clan ranking.

<there was definitely a post here at one point>

[nauta]

Dunno, that borders on IC information I didn't want to learn on the gdb.

[Mordiggian]

The GDB is not an appropriate place to discuss the intricacies of very specific things you might fall off of in Zalanthas.

[Desertman]

Pick people to follow that won't lead you off cliffs and into holes.

[Clearsighted]

The GDB is not an appropriate place to discuss the intricacies of very specific things you might fall off of in Zalanthas.

I apologize. I thought it was common, non-specific knowledge.

[nauta]

Pick people to follow that won't lead you off cliffs and into holes.

The problem with this approach (and also the unfollow-when-nearing-a-cliff strategy) is that while OOCly you might be flipping out at how incompetent/newbie-ish the one you are following is, ICly, especially granted the military structure of certain clans, it'd be implausible to fall out of rank, or question your leader in such situations.  Sometimes, even subtle hints don't make sense ICly, e.g., Runner Goof gently suggesting to Lord Templar Noobiepants that he should 'go slow and be careful'.  (Here I feel for giants, who fortunately can survive stuff like that.)

The ideal solution, I'd think, would be to

(a) implement a modest codefix to simply never allow followers to follow a leader down a fall, full stop, period

and

(b) fix the descriptions / change the direction to 'down' on falls that are just so patently obvious it'd bully disbelief to walk into, even if alone.

(Remember, there are coded ways to make you fall that do not bully disbelief, see Delerium's post above.)

[Is Friday]

Pick people to follow that won't lead you off cliffs and into holes.

You really don't understand the IC/ OOC issue, huh?

[Harmless]

I wonder how desertman suggests picking the right people to follow. If IC rank and apparent experience with the game doesn't work, what does? Do I player-sniff the characters I choose to follow and decide if they're worth following in dangerous areas? That might be what some people do, but I have a special place in my heart for those kinds of players. It's not a pleasant place.

[Asanadas]

You know, if you just play indie rangers in their entirety and never choose anything else, you don't really have to worry about this issue.

[Clearsighted]

I wonder how desertman suggests picking the right people to follow. If IC rank and apparent experience with the game doesn't work, what does? Do I player-sniff the characters I choose to follow and decide if they're worth following in dangerous areas? That might be what some people do, but I have a special place in my heart for those kinds of players. It's not a pleasant place.

IC rank is a perfectly good indicator, regardless of what was said in this thread. The vast majority of 'sergeants' know more or less, exactly what they're doing. At least if they were promoted into the position naturally.

[KankWhisperer]

On occasion being an experienced player works against you. I've followed some that knew the game world IC and OOCly vastly better than me. However, when there was a change to the game world, they were just so used to having an exact memory of the map they would on occasion jump into stuff. Doesn't affect me as much personally because I don't memorize directions, just landmarks.

I also have a theory that following a leader with 'climb' is more dangerous than following a leader without. Why? The leader without climb will definitely not go near holes as much.

[Clearsighted]

On occasion being an experienced player works against you. I've followed some that knew the game world IC and OOCly vastly better than me. However, when there was a change to the game world, they were just so used to having an exact memory of the map they would on occasion jump into stuff. Doesn't affect me as much personally because I don't memorize directions, just landmarks.

I also have a theory that following a leader with 'climb' is more dangerous than following a leader without. Why? The leader without climb will definitely not go near holes as much.

This is true. But as I described before in a way that apparently contained too much detail, there is a difference between the occasional inconvenience (falling into a random pit), and falling to your death.

I would hazard a suggestion that everyone, even veterans, fall into pits and little holes now and then if they spend a lot of time in the wastes. Often just from sheer laziness or misclicking. But it is much less common for a veteran to fall to his death.

In that sense, I think people are pretty much safe, 99% of the time, following their superiors.

[RogueGunslinger]

Generally nobody is following anything but superiors. I'd say 99% of the example I can think of recently people were following their superiors into holes...

[Harmless]

Generally nobody is following anything but superiors. I'd say 99% of the example I can think of recently people were following their superiors into holes...

Same for me, can't think of a time when it wasn't an experienced leader/superior leading folks into a hole. After all, if it wasn't an ICly experienced person, nobody would follow them, OR they were nobodies and nobody heard of or ever learned of their deaths. So the sample may be skewed. In any case, this point stands.