Idea for Player File Status

[Lizzie]

Sometimes I think it'd be nice to know how much karma I have, without having to log into the game, check my "c" menu option, and then match the list with the website's breakdown of karma levels. I'd like to see other info too about my account.

I'm not asking for account notes or a karma review, I'm asking to see "what is, right now." Might look something like this:

Account Lizzie:
Joined in 2002
45 characters
Longest-lived (real time) 1 year, 7 months.
Longest-lived (play time) 64 days, 7 hours.
Karma level: 3
Most recent karma point granted: March 19, 2010
Additional karma slots: mul
Special apps pending: Malik the Mul
Available special apps: none
Date of special app age-out: November 7, 2016
Most recent karma review request: none
Most recent account review request: April 28, 2010

(the above is all made up)

So we can just see a general rundown of the last time we even asked for a review, whether or not we received it and when, how long ago did we last get any karma, how much we have, if we have special apps pending, if we have any available, when the old ones age out, etc. etc. Statistics and data, that either adjust or append automatically whenever a change is made. And we wouldn't have to request that the staff take any time to provide this information, it would be available on our account on the main website, maybe as an option next to "New Request."

Is this something of interest to anyone else?

[Rhei]

+1.

It'd be neat to have your account info gathered up neatly. Not that I'd need it, but it seems like something that would make things more convenient.

[whitt]

Sometimes I think it'd be nice to know how much karma I have, without having to log into the game, check my "c" menu option, and then match the list with the website's breakdown of karma levels. I'd like to see other info too about my account.

So curious.  Why? 

Karma doesn't generally change randomly or often, so short of forgetting how many karma one has after a long break, I'm not really sure how much of the other information you mention has much use.  Is there a use for player file information that I'm not thinking of beyond knowing karma-count for future PC planning?

[Desertman]

I'm not against the idea.

I'm also not going to champion it anytime soon.

It's something that isn't needed but wouldn't hurt anything, so how could I complain?

I give it a nod.

[Lizzie]

No special reason that I can think of. It's just one of those "it'd be neat to have a snapshot of my pfile statistics" things. I'm kinda geeky like that.

[Barsook]

Eh.  Nice idea, but for whitt's reasons, I don't really dig it.

[Inks]

Eh.  Nice idea, but for whitt's reasons, I don't really dig it.

[Lizzie]

Sometimes I think it'd be nice to know how much karma I have, without having to log into the game, check my "c" menu option, and then match the list with the website's breakdown of karma levels. I'd like to see other info too about my account.

So curious.  Why? 

Karma doesn't generally change randomly or often, so short of forgetting how many karma one has after a long break, I'm not really sure how much of the other information you mention has much use.  Is there a use for player file information that I'm not thinking of beyond knowing karma-count for future PC planning?

Not sure why you think the idea is exclusively about karma. There's a lot of info that can be included in the file, such as:

How many characters have been...

Warrior:  2
Ranger:  7
Assassin: 2
Burglar:  5
Merchant:  9
Elementalist: 14
...Vivaduan: 4
...Rukkkian:  7
...Whiran:   3

How many characters were killed by mobs/NPCs: 10
How many characters were killed by PCs: 25
How many characters were killed by user error (aka falling off the shield wall): 17

It's a handy file to have. After some thinking, I can come up with some actual use for it. If you feel "y'know, I play way too many rangers, I need to switch it up" you can check your file and see "actually, the last time I played a ranger was 4 years ago. I guess I just really like them so much I think about them more than any others. I'll go roll me up a ranger!" Or you can see "woah - all those merchants, and only one that I can remember who joined a clan. That's a good OOC goal for me to have this next PC - a merchant-guild PC who joins a clan!"

Again - it's not "about" karma. It's about access to general statistics about your pfile.

[SuchDragonWow]

Eh.

[Barsook]

Still a maybe.

[Lizzie]

I can understand being "disinterested" in the idea, or not caring one way or another. I just don't understand why someone would "not like it."

[SuchDragonWow]

That moment when all of your "we don't really need this" posts come back to haunt you.   

[whitt]

I can understand being "disinterested" in the idea, or not caring one way or another. I just don't understand why someone would "not like it."

The only downsides I see to it are
(a) opportunity cost, what else could be coded in the time it would take to come up with a UI and back-end interface for this.  Especially if the pfile doesn't lend itself to this.  Like... it's not on an easily accessible database.
(b) given the above cost in time and effort, is there a value and need?
and
(c) how much additional time will be spent by staff addressing issues that come up because someone thinks their pfile isn't accurate, when (b) is questionable.

[Dar]

I once was very upset with Morgenes. He raised my karma and never told me. I felt a little bit betrayed.



Sorry. couldnt resist. Seems like a cool idea. If it's something relatively easy to code.

[Desertman]

I once was very upset with Morgenes. He raised my karma and never told me. I felt a little bit betrayed.



Sorry. couldnt resist. Seems like a cool idea. If it's something relatively easy to code.

From this day forward he was known as:

Less-Genes

*badum* *tsssss*

[lordcooper]

I once was very upset with Morgenes. He raised my karma and never told me. I felt a little bit betrayed.



Sorry. couldnt resist. Seems like a cool idea. If it's something relatively easy to code.

From this day forward he was known as:

Less-Genes

*badum* *tsssss*

I hope you feel ashamed of yourself

[Molten Heart]

.

[Riev]

I like the idea of at least being able to get a Player Snapshot by logging into the system on the main page. If it has the ability to talk to the PFile database, to pull either real-time information or a snapshot taken once a month on all Pfiles. No account notes, no karma specifically, just some non-sensitive data that is contained in the Pfile.

I'm kinda for it. It'd be nice to know just what my ratio  of warrior to merchant is (abysmal).

[whitt]

I'm kinda for it. It'd be nice to know just what my ratio  of warrior to merchant is (abysmal).

So... why not just request your player notes?  Again.  How much does this information really change?

[manipura]

I'm kinda for it. It'd be nice to know just what my ratio  of warrior to merchant is (abysmal).

So... why not just request your player notes?  Again.  How much does this information really change?

The only issue I see with getting all this information from your account notes (because I believe most of it is there) is that it becomes a bit tedious to sift through all the info when you have a few dozen (or more) PCs.

That's what I do now, when I'm curious about something like how many 'this' I've played, or how many times 'that' has killed me.  It is a little bit appealing to have an option to look at all these sorts of stats in an easily accessed format.

[Riev]

I'm kinda for it. It'd be nice to know just what my ratio  of warrior to merchant is (abysmal).

So... why not just request your player notes?  Again.  How much does this information really change?

What it does, hopefully, is allow the information to be pulled in real time. So you're not requesting player notes, which are low priority, and have to be combed through to de-identify any other players or things mentioned specifically for other staff.

There are certainly some less-sensitive parts of the Pfile that could be requested on a non-wheneverStaffHasTheFreeTime basis. The information being requested DOESN'T change that often, which is why I'm suggesting its a once-a-month snapshot. It doesn't even have to be a real-time DB pull, just a static file for each requesting player.

I don't know how the pfile is organized, but I'd like to think the addition of one sub-table, that just contains the references to certain fields in the pfile table could be used to print off a decent static report.

No, it wouldn't take 5minutes. Its just something that would be nice. An idea. A conception that might be a decent fluff addition like the bio entries were (which, honestly, was a MUCH more necessary tool, for those few who use it)

[Reiloth]

It just sounds like 'Do the work for me Staff' instead of 'i'll look through my player account notes'?

Not very interested in this as a time sink idea.

[manipura]

It just sounds like 'Do the work for me Staff' instead of 'i'll look through my player account notes'?

Not very interested in this as a time sink idea.

I believe what Lizzie suggested was: "Statistics and data, that either adjust or append automatically whenever a change is made. And we wouldn't have to request that the staff take any time to provide this information, it would be available on our account on the main website, maybe as an option next to "New Request." which is a little different than your paraphased "Do the work for me, Staff."

[BadSkeelz]

This already exists. You search in your email for "Account Notes" or "Karma" and read the latest one.

[Riev]

This already exists. You search in your email for "Account Notes" or "Karma" and read the latest one.

Every Six months.

If you've requested it, and staff have taken the time to weed through everything.

Either 200+ people put in requests for their pFile every six months, or a tool could be designed that gives out the information a staffer allows in an Account Notes request (since they are now separate from Karma Review, what need IS there for a note request?)

I can't help but feel the disagreement is "I don't want it because I have long lived PCs" or "Staff shouldn't waste their time adding things to my experience". Either its a good idea, a bad idea, or it needs more work. Not all good ideas get implemented. I just don't yet see where its a BAD idea, just a "not likely to get implemented" idea.

Does that sound about right?