I think, either, you should receive someone's sdesc when they 'contact' you, or the echo for 'contact' should change to 'You reach out and link to a foreign mind.' and you should need to 'psi' to check the sdesc of the person you have contact.
Been in support of things like this for awhile, mostly because I hate the anonymous 'are you online' check of would-be enemies.
There's really not much reason to keep it anonymous.
From what I understand there are a couple coded reasons that it doesn't tell you who's contacting you and I'm much in favor of the mystery and tension it sets in, waiting anxiously to see who's trying to talk to you, or see if they're either just sdesc sniffing you or seeing if you're online for some nefarious reason. It's all part of the fun even if you might not see it as an enjoyable experience.
I'd more prefer a command when in contact with a player, to be able to 'envision' them or something (blocked by barrier), which gives you their mdesc for later being able to recognize them or point out particular details of a character when you're being threatened over the way rather than trying to explain to someone else by giving their literal sdesc in IC context: "It was man.. Tall.. Muscular."
I do not think that is a good idea.
Quote from: Armaddict on September 15, 2018, 01:21:17 AM
Been in support of things like this for awhile, mostly because I hate the anonymous 'are you online' check of would-be enemies.
There's really not much reason to keep it anonymous.
Yup. The "are you online" check is maddening.
Quote from: Cabooze on September 15, 2018, 01:30:38 AM
or see if they're either just sdesc sniffing you
In a perfect world, this shouldn't be possible. I recall long in the past staff saying it couldn't be changed so that it didn't reveal their sdesc, or they'd have done it.
That doesn't sound right. Wouldn't it just be a matter of changing the messages echoed to players?
I know that sometimes it's not a "are you online?" check. It's more a "this hooded person just passed me and I didn't get to take a look at them. But height, weight, type of cloak, all match the person who I was ordered to watch for in this spot, within the past and next half-hour. So I'll check and find out if it was, in fact, that person. contact amos (you contact amos and break off). Probably him. I'll investigate further."
Sometimes it's a "contact lanky; woops, wrong lanky; cease"
Sometimes it's a "I'm going to find this person who I know is just sitting in the other room, just to make him wonder if there's a mindbender stalking him."
Sometimes it's a "I AM a mindbender and did something or didn't do something that can't be discussed on the gdb."
But yes of course it can absolutely be a "are they online now?" thing.
In addition, I've had people way my characters and actually send psi messages, and they're totally thinking they're psi-ing someone else. They think I'm that person because they used a keyword instead of my character's name, and got the wrong person, and aren't paying close enough attention to realize that the tall lanky man named Amos is absolutely, positively NOT the tall fat dwarven woman named Beulla. I'm actually surprised at how often this kind of thing happens.
Quote from: MeTekillot on September 15, 2018, 04:12:16 AM
That doesn't sound right. Wouldn't it just be a matter of changing the messages echoed to players?
I guess maybe I should provide context. Essentially, the idea was discussed that when you way someone, it should show their CURRENT sdesc rather than their basic sdesc, so if they were hooded, it would show "the figure in the cloak" etc. Staff said it wasn't possible. Said it had to show their sdesc or nothing.
That said...I really wouldn't mind it showing "you feel your mind contact
someone..."
And make it anonymous both ways because...Being able to peek under hoods at sdescs via the way is, and always has been, silly without an IC justification. I don't do it because I think it's bad RP, but in any situation where the code tempts players to RP poorly, the code should be fixed, or we should be given an IC justification for the code being the way it is. If "waying" someone gives us a mental image of what that person looks like via their own perception or something, I could live with that, and suddenly sdesc sniffing is a perfectly IC thing to do. Just add a note to the help file on "the way" and "contact", and we're good to go.
But one or the other should change. Either the code, or the help files for IC justification.
I would be content, with barrier actually working, more often than not.
I find it to be of little use, as anyone, and everyone, can break it their first shot, every time, even at high skill ranges.
Make barrier do what it says, on the tin: Keep people from contacting you, and consistently.
It does.
Quote from: Vex on September 16, 2018, 11:52:20 PM
I would be content, with barrier actually working, more often than not.
I find it to be of little use, as anyone, and everyone, can break it their first shot, every time, even at high skill ranges.
Make barrier do what it says, on the tin: Keep people from contacting you, and consistently.
Try putting wisdom higher in your stat order next time. Or just smoke some of that good good.
Quote from: MeTekillot on September 19, 2018, 12:59:09 PM
Quote from: Vex on September 16, 2018, 11:52:20 PM
I would be content, with barrier actually working, more often than not.
I find it to be of little use, as anyone, and everyone, can break it their first shot, every time, even at high skill ranges.
Make barrier do what it says, on the tin: Keep people from contacting you, and consistently.
Try putting wisdom higher in your stat order next time. Or just smoke some of that good good.
Or just get better. Barrier is a skill. It gets better with practice.
It can get
very strong.
Barrier is effective, it just feels less so since we bumped everyone's contact to master.
You have to practice one and not the other, which makes one feel inadequate for a good portion of time.