The Collective Way

[Pooch]

Code Discussion. >Great place to suggest code ideas

The Collective Way

an IC game communication method

Preamble: For the sake of this idea, please suffer my creative process. Alas, I play Armageddon. Arm has a setting and a culture that is in a league of its own when it comes to MUDs. When players get together and start bouncing off of one another, it's the best thing short of sitting at a tabletop with your friends. But Armageddon suffers from a flaw of its own gravitas: that is, how do we get players together in the first place? There are certainly methods available: clans, communal hotspots such as the Gaj, et cetera. But how often do these wells of content stand dry when the average player comes to drink? More often than is tolerable, in my opinion. Armageddon could be swarming with depths of mind-blowing content -- but if that content is happening behind closed doors, or out in the middle of a huge untrafficked and hostile zone, or in the middle of the Grey Forest with nobody around to hear the tree fall; does it make a sound to the poor newbie who does not know how to reach it? And what of the other character concepts that are kept ignorant of developments by the consequences of their social or racial choices? In a game of many candles, it's miserable to be left in the dark.

An idea came to me when I was pondering the loneliness of playing ArmageddonMUD. I reflected on how people generally connect in modern times, what with the wide reach of social media and information broadcasting. I thought of flash mobs, of how to compel strangers to arrive at a chosen position without much expectation other than company. And I thought about the Way. A cursory look into the documentation of the Way will find that it just works. Psionics are a collective reality of all races on Zalanthas: essentially such an evolutionary stepping stone that those species that did not develop at least some connection with the Way have all departed. For our purposes, Way communication has always been one-to-one. We leave the sketchy concepts of mass malfeasance to the mindbenders. But what if there was a new development in the social realities of the Way? One where information could be presented easily, temporarily, and in transient form, in service to events that are happening now or soon. It could be an ad hoc method of information-sharing that could help ease the sense of loneliness in the game. It could be a method of shouting out to all that hear, in an open invitation that is too insignificant and transient for the rumor board or the player collaboration forum.

And so the idea of the Collective Way was contrived. It is an answer to a question that has dogged Armageddon for decades: how does one get their foot in the door? How does the newbie know what is going on? How do the people behind their clan hall doors know what bumps in the night? How can we achieve a communal, lore-friendly perspective into the general activities of the game world that does transpire, albeit with the vast majority of people around it being unaware of its presence? In a game of many candles, how do we let one lift theirs up -- just so others can see it.

How It Could Happen

Deep in the cavernous bowels beneath Luir's Outpost, an elite project pioneered by the Great Merchant Houses Kurac, Salarr, and Kadius finally achieves marketability. The old Dragonthrall's research into psionic theory has been literally crystallized by the Coalition — these resonant crystals, each a masterwork of secretive construction and the size of a man, work as a nexus that can conform the weave of the Way into a more ordered form. Contact with the crystal is bizarre and uncomfortable at first, as it does not mentally feel like sharing the mind with an ordinary soul. The first use of the crystal is a profitable pursuit where members of the Coalition communicate strike prices of commodities available in the market at real time, taking advantage of the fluctuation margins of supply and demand as they enter the Outpost. Greed compels the Merchants to ply their agents' craft in the greater markets of Tuluk and Allanak. However, an inquiry of Allanak's Ministry of Trade (opened at the behest of a Bazaar store owner having been made destitute by 'insider trading') blows the lid of secrecy off of the Coalition's scheme. Scandal permeates through the Known, as fear of mindbending generally rejects this experimental psionic technology.

In time, and so as to continue routine operation, the Merchant Houses share the workings of the crystals to Templarate both North and South. The implications of psionic broadcasting to receptive minds has tremendous strategic ramifications: imagine an army moving as one in perfect clarity from the commander, or the announcement of treason and on-the-spot executions to keep the evils of the city suppressed. Both Allanak and Tuluk receive one of these crystals of 'The Collective Way', with the Coalition continuing to operate their third within Luir's. By sheer luck, the desert elf tribes manage to sack an argosy transporting the crystal and its keeper; and this lost crystal finds its way deep into the Tablelands. Powerful state actors have possession over this new manipulation of the Way, presumably to control the flow of information upon it. Little by little, starting with dutiful citizens trusting in the messages of their city-state, the populations of the Known grow more apathetic to the concept of a Wider Way. It starts with Bards in Tuluk spreading word that music and spoken word performances will be happening this evening. Then, Lady Fale's Whatsit imparts on the Wide Way that her noble will be sitting to expect entertainment in the Red's. A man on Caravan's warns that his mount ticket was picked from his pocket just now. For those in the city who care to hear, the information on the Collective Way becomes a new source of distraction and conversation.

It takes tremendous effort to compel an idea to form upon the Collective Way; and furthermore, the fear of the state actors having control over what precisely the crystal chooses to propagate prevents most malfeasance. The crystal-tender may simply sever a mind from ever again touching the Collective Way of a particular crystal with a brush of her hand and a penetrating thought.

Mechanics

The Collective Way is 1) a passive psionic listening to the broadcasts on a city's net, and 2) an active means of projecting concise, important, and time-relevant information to those who are listening. Individuals may opt in to the Collective Way by contacting their city: contact Allanak will 'open your mind' to the information imparted by the Collective Way. This contact is independent from normal contact code, and one can still use the Way normally while monitoring the Collective.

To impart a message on the Collective Way requires intense concentration (80-100 focus points), a period of time (approx 1 minute) where the person is visibly concentrating to others in the room, and has a cooldown of one game day. Information presented over the Collective Way is composed in such a manner that it communicates the following.
In the Allanak Collective Way, the tall, muscular man projects:
"Lady Templar Jal will execute a thief in the Arena come dawn."

This information is put in a stack of C structures that contains the following information:

• Character reference ID, implies short description / true name.
• Room reference ID of where the message was sent from.
• Time the message was sent (in string form relevant to the Arm setting, aka 'High Sun on Ocandra').
• Time to live. Upon sending the message, the user can define how relevant the message should be kept. 1-6 days, approx. 1 to 6 hours.

This information is kept in a network stack that can be accessed by anyone connected to the Collective with psi gleam, overloaded with psi gleam # to read entries like read board, read board #. This is to allow newly logging in players the ability to see recent activity, and to prevent the inclination to idle until "something happens".

Further information from the broadcast can be found via psi gleam, mostly pertaining to the room which the broadcast came from - and whether the author is still remaining in the room. These are a couple simple if checks that can be validated on string construction.

Users may only attune to the zone in which they are geographically located. For instance, someone in Allanak cannot contact Tuluk. Psionicists may arbitrarily contact any Collective regardless of distance.

Templars, being state actors in their cities, can arbitrarily delete records from psi gleam and also banish individuals from being able to broadcast on the Collective (but may not prevent someone from listening). Sponsored Merchants or the Dealer in Luir's has the ability for the Luir's Collective, as there are no Templars there. Staff may also do so, generally in cases of abuse. You may implement a bitflag on the player account structure that may be toggled to prevent an account from ever broadcasting on the Collective, in the case of severe abuse. These Collective crystals are owned by state actors and as such are monitored: how convenient for us! They monitor it in such a way that is conducive to the goal of the mechanic.

Power Goals

Ideas that could be achieved through this mechanic.

• Ad hoc independent miners, foragers, glasshackers, etc. organically mustering interested participants for voyages outside the walls.
• Social gatherings in untrafficked or "non-hub" spaces, such as the Arboretum - places where the ol' walk around and look for activity shtick doesn't pass by.
• Merchants and nobles making their presence known, providing hooks and means to approach, whims, or accepting requests for orders or patronage.
• Templars announcing content regarding prisoners, be that execution, public torture, public denouncement, or requesting info on an ongoing investigation.
• Bynners or other hunters announcing and celebrating their accomplishments in a public sphere.
• Bards arranging "small scale" performances or gatherings that do not necessitate a rumor board entry or a post in the Player Collaboration forum.
• General gig economy facilitation: help me skin this jozhal, help me lift this chest, help me cook this meal. General transient requests for slice of life.
• Missed connections. I saw you drop your coin pouch at the bank. We made eye contact. I fell in love. If you feel the same way, find my mind.

Generally, these records
1) facilitate ad hoc grouping now instead of later,
2) are transient and generally unimportant or unworthy of "clogging" the rumor board,
3) explicitly propagate throughout a civilization zone to express the creation / activity of content,
4) allow for cross-communication and new networking possibilities for players that otherwise would not cross paths,
5) allow for stealthy onlookers to approach and scheme, steal, spy, etc.,
6) allow for staffers to push broadcasts by NPC, to their own plot ends,
7) help prevent the sensation that "nothing is happening". There are things happening, and you can go there now.

Closing Thoughts: Armageddon is an old game, with old ruts that veterans know how to follow (or, from a cynical mind, veterans have learned how to cope with the loneliness). But that does not translate to newbies or returning players who struggle to find content. If Armageddon's 1st issue is the grind, its 2nd is the availability of content for someone who does not have their foot in the door. This idea addresses the 2nd if not the 1st issue - the grind issue needs more thought than what I can type up right now.

Generally I submit this idea as a thought experiment for what could be done to improve the general interactivity of the MUD, in a lore-friendly and ICly accessible manner. At the end of the day, its utility would come down to the temperament and enthusiasm of those content creators who choose to use it: nobles, Templars, merchants, soldiers and mercenaries, and so on. Hopefully it would be a tool to help those players derive the most from their effort, by creating an avenue for more players to come and participate. That's the goal. Each post on the Collective Way is an open invitation.

I had an idea for tiny little group / clan Collective crystals, but that's a long ways out. Nihil novi sub sole tenebris.

[Fawcett]

It's a neat idea but I don't think it's very much in the spirit of ArmageddonMUD.

[Brytta Léofa]

Really creative and interesting idea that addresses some of (IMO) our biggest problems: 15 people playing Solo Arm in the same area. Difficulty of finding interaction as a newbie.

It would need extensive wargaming to think through the many ways it would get used and abused.

[RheaGhe]

Hey, former Sindome player.

They have a system quite a bit like this one in place called the SIC, Secure Identification Chip. And a network based on it that permits city wide communication over essentially telepathy.

First off, I'd like to state that the advantages are what you discussed. There is some organization that goes on through public SIC. It does improve the sense of community and scale. It does improve reaction to events occurring. GM's CAN use it to create fascinating plot hooks or alert to where they might be puppeting/controlling NPC's at the moment.

That being said, I will state the disadvantages. Especially in a socially stratified world, such as the corporate divide of Sindome, and the heavy racism and classism of Armageddon. You end up with a sort of situation wherein repetition of the same things occur over and over and over and over again.

In Sindome they called them hours, Corpie Hour, Ganger Hour, Org Hour, Immy Hour. Where the same statements are repeated over and over again, daily.

Imagine seeing, "Yeah, but that kank is just a sharp." or "You feeling a little down, down there, Squat?"

Over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. Until it become banal, shit, or boring.

Regardless of that repetition, it also results in certain other factors. That create a situation where that becomes the ONLY method of communication. Resulting in a situation where someone could sit within their clan compound, or even somewhere very hard to find. And repetitively shit on or troll other participants of the game. In a way that means they are mostly secure until an admin comes on and evicts them.

In Sindome that's called being a Cuboid by the way. Someone who sits in their cheap apartment, and just talks on SIC and never does anything else.

As a final disadvantage: Picture this: You are attacked on the merchants cross late at night. If you have something like this system, you could immediately shout out over it, as many do on Sindome, "ATTACKED MERCHANTS CROSS ATTACKER IN BRIGHT RED CLOAK WITH SPINY DICK SHAPED SPEAR" And that provides immediate reactions, people could flood towards merchants cross. Hemming the attacker in. Suddenly your murder becomes a spectacle. Rather than a silent disappearance. And all investigation that could go into finding out who killed you, and how you died, is immediately scrapped. In favor of instant action, that doesn't fit with the themes of this game.

All of these things would need some form of code addressing them. There's also a HUGE amount of code that would have to go into the system to just set it up. It's very unfeasible to think about, considering the amount of designing coding, testing, that would need to go into it.

There are other ways to go about making the city feel alive, that I think would merit thinking about, than forcing a network like this onto the userbase.

Just off the top of my head from easiest to implement to least easy:
RP-Wanted Toggles
directions style command that shows if anyone is in public just hanging around.
Dynamic announcements for nobles or Templars. A command where they can send a city wide announcement essentially. "Voices hush, as a small sharp child enters the area screaming that there's going to be an execution of a traitor at LOCATION by the Templars."

All of these would be more fitting to the theme of the game, than a network that might cause more issues than it fixes.

[Lotion]

i heard harshlands has something like this except it's more of a "whats up bitches im at the gaj sitting, come at me bro!"