Long ago we had a mudmail system. For those not sure what that is, it was a way to send messages to other players who were offline. If memory serves, you would do this from the main menu of the game while logged out. And when that person next logged in, they'd get a message "You've got mail!" and would read it from the main menu.
This post makes no promise of anything, whether we'll ever put this back in or not. But obviously I'm personally giving the idea thought so (like with poisons) I want to hear from the community first.
Should this system be IC or OOC only? Can you send Amos the templar a message "Hey, let's meet up for tea, and also Malik thinks you're ugly". Or should it be restricted to just OOC'ly coordinating playtimes and the like. This is, in my mind, the biggest question to decide on how the system functions. If it's IC then what IS it? Is it a literal courier delivering a message, and if so, then should it be able to be intercepted? Is it a Way message that you technically received while offline?
I don't have any solid ideas or answers, I'm just spitballing and wanting to get feedback. So, let's hear your thoughts on how this might work.
If it's IC, I think it would wonderful if it can be intercepted to create plots and a sid sink. The problem with that there would still OOC info if time needs to coordinated, but that would be some fun plots happening!
ETA: I love the idea for the return of the system, doesn't matter how it's gonna be! :)
IC as an extension of psionics, it could very well be justified as a capacity of way.
and therefore it can work just as the way, using any keyword of the target char.
for that reason, it can just be an extension of in game psi rather than game menu.
psidelayed blue.eyed.templar Your orders from Cenry have arrived, my Lord. They are under your bed.
at login pc should see them once in a long array, with sdesc of sender, time and message.
this would allow amazing rp chance between off peak and peak players.
often times i avoid becoming minion to pc clans purely for these reasons. With such a psionic capability, it would boost inclusion for different timezone players.
as for spam concerns, psion would solve that too. if your message annoys target, you can face consequences (your sdesc is exposed after all)
I would love this.
Having an OOC only system might be easier on templars and GMH members who would probably get an avalanche of requests like 'I want a new sword'. But even that would solve the problem of not being able to contact a player. Right now, if I can't find Amos IG and he doesn't happen to be in my clan, I have no way to message Amos to ask 'hey, when are you playing'? This would solve a major issue for me.
A lot of the times these kind of solutions to try solve something end up exacerbating other problems due to all the knock-on effects on balance ( like with the poisons :( )
I think one of Armageddon's problems is it has a lot less intrigue than you would expect really, and a lot of that is because the special characters leave sneakies in the cold mechanically, towered over by more efficient and safe exotic means. Which ends up meaning it's so risky no one does it. And so there's no demand to ask anyone to, either (I've experienced this, when I had a character working for someone that everyone knew would have those kind of people available)
I said before I liked it when the new focus changes came because the slower recovery after waying seemed to be trying to discourage entire conversations being had on the way all the time (and actually needed to be heavier if it was to be effective) so characters have more motivation to leave wagon/estate bunkers...
But there were complaints, and so it ended up pretty much the same as the old system, which seemed sad.
Courier NPCs would be regularly waylaid (and if a writing character is not the receiver, the message gets lost forever - maybe a "question" command to slap them awake and get them to talk if you successfully knocked them out) and also again we come into the same problem to encourage people to stop having conversations without ever being seen in public :) And if it was only when the other is offline, it might actually encourage some characters to also log on even less, if there is nothing that needs to ever be done outside wagons/estates and all their goals can be achieved by the handy new message system.
Putting a place in Luir's, Tuluk, and Allanak that can pass on messages, would reduce some of those issues by making it easier to eavesdrop, but would be breaking realism that most characters that would want this kind of system, and trust this system that is obviously in the virtual game world going to have a big standing bribe to pass on everything said to the local soldiers (and maybe even mechanically). And so people would assume it would be poor RP to use such a thing. It'd be an entirely OOC construct to assume and know that it's secure because the staff are running it and not characters :)
I guess delaypsi might be okay just because of the log on issues with a lot of roles not having more than one character in different timezones (this should really be compulsory for all clans with sponsored roles) because that's important, but it seems like it's another move towards everything on the Way, at the same time. I can't think of any way to avoid that though that isn't silly-seeming.
I think an ooc system exclusively used to communicate a playtime you're available would be most elegant.
But then we still have this problem that the playtime is an unreasonable time for many people, and there's only one character in charge of that clan sometimes
A completely OOC, in-game mechanic to coordinate playtimes with other characters would be absolutely huge and easy to implement and monitor at a glance. 100% go for it.
I hated the idea of an in IC voicemail system, but I've grown to accept that it could be very useful, and maybe necessary. However, it would definitely need a lot of planned out drawbacks and means of failure, more than a mud mail system seems likely to allow.
Personally, I'd prefer an IC delayed way system then OOC playtime coordination. You can get that on the GDB, and it doesn't fix the problem of not having the same playtimes as someone else you really need to talk to.
Quote from: Orlau on October 08, 2022, 03:50:56 PM
Personally, I'd prefer an IC delayed way system then OOC playtime coordination. You can get that on the GDB, and it doesn't fix the problem of not having the same playtimes as someone else you really need to talk to.
If the PC I'm looking for isn't in my clan, I have no idea which GDB account I'd need to message.
I'd prefer a psionic method similar to psionic contact, and able to be blocked by logging off with an active barrier in case you end up wanting to be aloof or get a bunch of problematic people sending you offline messages. Which could kill some potential intrigue but also still be intercepted by relevant psionic powers or whatever.
Either that or a system where you send some vague mudmail to a clan similar to a rumor board post. Very public to everyone in the clan. Works until you accidentally send a message to the Servants of the Dragon instead of the Servants of Jal.
I think any offline message method would have to allow for both IC and OOC communication.
OOC communication is necessary because of playtime matching. IC communication is necessary for when two players' playtimes will rarely (or never) match and they still have to correspond with one another. Handwave IC communication as use of the Way during logged-off virtual time and let characters block other characters (simulating expel) or block all IC communication through mudmail entirely (simulating barrier).
I think an OOC-only use of a mudmail system would be a half-measure at this point.
I have thoughts about this! Caveat: this is my opinion. If you agree or disagree, it's OKAY. I'm not trying to persuade anyone to this, I'm just throwing it out there to see if anyone likes the idea (or if it sucks because I hadn't thought it through and it makes no sense).
I imagine a Mudmail system in Armageddon, somewhat similar (but more simplistic) to character creation. You get asked specific questions, can pick multiple choices or yes/no, submit, and it gets sent. An example:
>Welcome Hestia to Mudmail. Are you sending to
1) one person
2) everyone in your clan(s)
> 1
>Hestia, who do you want to send to?
>
> Halastoid
>I'm sorry, there is no such player as Halastoid. Who do you want to send to?
>Halaster
>Cool. You want to communicate with Halaster. What do you wish to communicate?
1) RPT request
2) RPT confirmation
3) General meeting between characters
4) Conveying active play times
5) Urgent in-game meeting need
>
>4
>Awesome. Please enter your active play times. Example: M, T, Th, S 2pm-5pm; W, Su 11am-3pm, 6pm-9pm. All times server.
>
>T, Th, 2pm-6pm; W, F 8pm-10pm
>Great stuff, Hestia. Would you like to add another player to this message? Y/N
>n
>Okay, Hestia. No more players. Please confirm this summary:
You want to tell Halaster that you are available for general interaction Tuesdays and Thursdays between 2pm and 6pm, and Wednesdays and Fridays between 8pm and 10pm. Is that correct? Y/N
>y
Great! Have a good day!
>Menu:
Quote from: Hestia on October 08, 2022, 05:58:36 PM
>Awesome. Please enter your active play times. Example: M, T, Th, S 2pm-5pm; W, Su 11am-3pm, 6pm-9pm. All times server.
>
>T, Th, 2pm-6pm; W, F 8pm-10pm
Reply:
Oh.. I can't do any of those times.
>Then I guess we're screwed.
.
Quote from: Hestia on October 08, 2022, 05:58:36 PM
I have thoughts about this! Caveat: this is my opinion. If you agree or disagree, it's OKAY. I'm not trying to persuade anyone to this, I'm just throwing it out there to see if anyone likes the idea (or if it sucks because I hadn't thought it through and it makes no sense).
I imagine a Mudmail system in Armageddon, somewhat similar (but more simplistic) to character creation. You get asked specific questions, can pick multiple choices or yes/no, submit, and it gets sent. An example:
>Welcome Hestia to Mudmail. Are you sending to
1) one person
2) everyone in your clan(s)
> 1
>Hestia, who do you want to send to?
>
> Halastoid
>I'm sorry, there is no such player as Halastoid. Who do you want to send to?
>Halaster
>Cool. You want to communicate with Halaster. What do you wish to communicate?
1) RPT request
2) RPT confirmation
3) General meeting between characters
4) Conveying active play times
5) Urgent in-game meeting need
>
>4
>Awesome. Please enter your active play times. Example: M, T, Th, S 2pm-5pm; W, Su 11am-3pm, 6pm-9pm. All times server.
>
>T, Th, 2pm-6pm; W, F 8pm-10pm
>Great stuff, Hestia. Would you like to add another player to this message? Y/N
>n
>Okay, Hestia. No more players. Please confirm this summary:
You want to tell Halaster that you are available for general interaction Tuesdays and Thursdays between 2pm and 6pm, and Wednesdays and Fridays between 8pm and 10pm. Is that correct? Y/N
>y
Great! Have a good day!
>Menu:
Shortcoming: playtimes can vary a lot. One week I may be playing all day, the next week only Thursday to Saturday between 3 and 6 PM, another week I'm available at different times but have a thing on Saturday night. If it works exactly like your example, it doesn't allow the flexibility of asking 'Hey, are you available this weekend', or short term changes like 'hey, something came up, I'll be late/not there today'.
The rules are that in-game acts should not be coordinated outside of the game, but "Urgent in-game meeting need" seems maybe a bit too close to the people who get in trouble for friends who logged on suddenly or running to a building at a suspiciously convenient time when someone is in trouble? Maybe if there was some kind of delay built into it (what kind of amount of time do we want to give for an antagonist to be able to do stuff without having an OOC-communicated swarm on them, an hour, 2 hours?) so that it's not an instantaneous method of communication to keep it for the purpose it was intended for?
To be a proper chatbot it would be "I guess we're screwed. I hope that is what you were looking for, Have a nice day!"
This chat will now be closed, please do not attempt to send any reply to this address as it is not monitored, you do not have any rights for services purchased from Google and human communication is not available. This is intentional.
If you have some free time we'd appreciate if you could fill out a survey so our engineers can analyze your output for the purpose of continuing to screw you to the maximum possible with minimal investment.
Limit it to one per RL day, or three if ranked sergeant or above (or equivalent in clans where 'sergeant' is not applicable). That'll do. It's for the best, but I don't think it should be something where everyone can just shoot off ten messages a day and use it as an alternative to playing. I think that the 1/day and 3/day if_clan_lead will suffice, personally. It's important that people can communicate their most important needs outside of the constraints of playtimes, and it's important that logging in is still incentivized.
Quote from: Night Queen on October 08, 2022, 06:59:32 PM
The rules are that in-game acts should not be coordinated outside of the game, but "Urgent in-game meeting need" seems maybe a bit too close to the people who get in trouble for friends who logged on suddenly or running to a building at a suspiciously convenient time when someone is in trouble? Maybe if there was some kind of delay built into it (what kind of amount of time do we want to give for an antagonist to be able to do stuff without having an OOC-communicated swarm on them, an hour, 2 hours?) so that it's not an instantaneous method of communication to keep it for the purpose it was intended for?
To be a proper chatbot it would be "I guess we're screwed. I hope that is what you were looking for, Have a nice day!"
This chat will now be closed, please do not attempt to send any reply to this address as it is not monitored, you do not have any rights for services purchased from Google and human communication is not available. This is intentional.
If you have some free time we'd appreciate if you could fill out a survey so our engineers can analyze your output for the purpose of continuing to screw you to the maximum possible with minimal investment.
Mudmail did not send an email to someone. They only saw it was there, and could only check it, when logging into the game, from a game menu.
Quote from: Orlau on October 08, 2022, 06:19:47 PM
Quote from: Hestia on October 08, 2022, 05:58:36 PM
>Awesome. Please enter your active play times. Example: M, T, Th, S 2pm-5pm; W, Su 11am-3pm, 6pm-9pm. All times server.
>
>T, Th, 2pm-6pm; W, F 8pm-10pm
Reply:
Oh.. I can't do any of those times.
>Then I guess we're screwed.
That wouldn't be the fault of any messaging system, so I'm uncertain what the gist of the reply was. Having access to a written message over an automated one only adds flexibility with what the message can include/share, which is I believe what an automated system is designed to minimize due to <concerns>.
With non-automated:
-How are messages to dead people handled? Do we require a notification that the message was received, or are they just shot out into the void? There will be other frustrations that come with either option.
-How is it monitored? People will say that it will be used for this purpose or this purpose, otherwise they'll just message on discord or whatnot, but is that actual justification to make this capable of sharing information?
-Does this increase or decrease interaction? Ye olde argument where both sides of the coin are correct, they just vary from player to player; some will wait around to find someone, and interact with people in the meantime. Some will just be frustrated that they can't find a person and log off because they're only online to do this particular story, not engage in other stories. Neither one definitively improves things for the game itself, but it does accomodate certain players.
QuoteShortcoming: playtimes can vary a lot. One week I may be playing all day, the next week only Thursday to Saturday between 3 and 6 PM, another week I'm available at different times but have a thing on Saturday night. If it works exactly like your example, it doesn't allow the flexibility of asking 'Hey, are you available this weekend', or short term changes like 'hey, something came up, I'll be late/not there today'.
We're basically, when we push for that encompassing of functionality, talking about a google calendar/appointments sort of deal, when exceptions to the rule nullify the rule. That isn't necessarily bad. It could even be hooked into IC intrigue in some creative way down the line, to have discoverable things. But that's a long way off. Just saying, if we're looking for that degree of functionality, I'd rather code it as that rather than an actual messaging system.
Quote from: Brokkr on October 08, 2022, 08:01:00 PMMudmail did not send an email to someone. They only saw it was there, and could only check it, when logging into the game, from a game menu.
Oh that's not so bad then - it would still mean though that sometimes there could be situations where it's:
COMPLETELY IMAGINED SITUATION (not based on any events, just trying to plan ahead how things might end up)
[---|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----]
X says, "I'll only bother you if I'm being killed, understood."
Templar says, "Thanks."
[---|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----]
A: "I just want to ask you some questions... Everyone's saying they heard you're really a Tuluki? No problem but we gotta know who keeps visiting our turf."
X says, Out of Character, "I need to BRB 5 min"
A says, Out of Character, "That's alright, can reschedule if you low on time or it's too stressful OOCly right now?"
X has left the world of Zalanthas.
X takes a break legitimately, but when connects, sends mudmail too.
X has entered the world of Zalanthas.
[---|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----]
Templar logs on: "Welcome to the world of Zalanthas. X wants to meet urgently."
Templar calls a unit of soldiers, runs to where X lives.
X says, "HELP HELP YOU REMEMBER HOW MUCH I PAID YOU RIGHT? THEY SAID THEY PLAN TO MURDER ME FOR A FAITHFUL WHATEVER THAT IS!"
A sees: [The Allanaki Arena] 30 minutes later "Welcome to Armageddon."Would definitely need new rules that make it clear what is allowed :)
Quote from: Armaddict on October 08, 2022, 08:42:55 PMI'm uncertain what the gist of the reply was.
If you read the posts before it makes more sense - the issue is that it doesn't solve anything if someone replies that their playtime is 3am (since not everyone can adjust their real life schedule) which seems like one of the main problems to solve with this (a lot of sponsored roles are only in one timezone)
I would like it to be 100% in-character, like a 'way' message answering machine.
Sending messages should be done inside the game itself, or inside the game menu.
I think all the messages need to be stores on the character, in a pfile or as a bio entry, an be retrievable at any time - Tracked and to be able to be monitored.
I can see a time-limited aspect to it, where the sender can only send one to a target until that target 'reads' it, or something like that.
asynchronous communication over the way would be wonderful, just because someone is not logged out does not mean that they just stop existing
contact amos
you contact someone, perhaps an indication they are not logged in
psi perhaps if you spent your days inhaling rinthi farts then your breath would be sweeter
then amos logs in and receives helpful advice from a kadian
I also like the idea of being IC with an extension of the way.
But could also see it being problematic for certain roles adding to the weight of an already stressful position, but maybe it balances by making other things easier. Don't know that one.
Having some interface to view them outside of the game might be nice though too. Because mud interface isn't exactly friendly.
+1 Mansa's entire post
As far as IC or OOC, please IC so that it can be treated as IC. As of a year ago, people already include OOC time coordination inside their ways, because requiring that to be IC is silly. I'd see a lot of 'The tall muscular person sends you: Yes, I'm available to meet next week. (at 9 pm central)' or whatever. Have it all be IC in the same sense ways are IC.
Keeping it one way message per person could reduce the potential spamminess if that's a concern. But as far as that goes, as someone who has played many a leader PC, entering the game to 20 messages would be more preferable to me than my sticky-note list of people to Way that I just spam my way through the entire time I'm in the game, trying to see if someone is finally logged in to pick up their bone sword or drop off their bribe. (pointlessly, because they are never on) (at least not when I'm playing)
Alternatively, have the message-leaving behave exactly like the way. You send someone a message, they may or may not answer. You send another, same thing. tbh I think that would be secondarily beneficial in the sense of not having to suffer through a bunch of way-pings just for folks to see if I, the player, am logged on. Which as always been an entire pile of bullshit but is also entirely a thing that people do.
Second alternatively, Halaster, the message NPC sounds interesting. Someone standing in the room with the NPC could 'message Talia.tall.muscular Your bone sword is in, I'll be available next week (10/10, 9 to noon).' The person's message gets spat out of their PC as a 'say' to the message NPC. Talia the Tall Muscular Woman comes to 'check messages' and the NPC spits out the messages that match their keywords, also as say strings. IC interception capabilities, complete. If someone adds a bunch of random keywords it's pretty easy to see, as far as abuse goes.
Thank you for coming to my rambling thoughts, please watch your step on the way out.
If it must be IC and the Way, then it must be denied or turned off in some fashion. Maybe tied to barrier skill. Otherwise, no. OOC mail only.
Quote from: Ol 55 on October 09, 2022, 08:44:09 PM
If it must be IC and the Way, then it must be denied or turned off in some fashion. Maybe tied to barrier skill. Otherwise, no. OOC mail only.
Agreed.
Or just have it be opt-in. Folks who would find it useful could use it, folks who would find it obnoxious could just have it turned off by default.
The biggest issue I see with being able to offlinesend amos.tall.muscular is that the game then has to start searching player files to find out who that -might- be. You can only contact people who are in the game, because when you try to contact them the game searches for people connected and online. To use keywords we'd have to figure out a method for searching through playerfiles and limiting it only to people who are alive. I don't know how to do that, though I'm confident I could figure it out. But what if there's more than one? I guess "them's the breaks", you sent to the wrong person.
I'm not saying keywords couldn't happen, just putting it out there the technical challenges that go with that, vs just their name. Of course, even with just a name you still have the issue of it must be their true name. If my real name is Amosarian, but I go by Amos, I'll never get offline Ways. Which, I suppose could just be one of the drawbacks to not using your real name?
Quote from: Halaster on October 10, 2022, 09:03:09 AM
The biggest issue I see with being able to offlinesend amos.tall.muscular is that the game then has to start searching player files to find out who that -might- be. You can only contact people who are in the game, because when you try to contact them the game searches for people connected and online. To use keywords we'd have to figure out a method for searching through playerfiles and limiting it only to people who are alive. I don't know how to do that, though I'm confident I could figure it out. But what if there's more than one? I guess "them's the breaks", you sent to the wrong person.
I'm not saying keywords couldn't happen, just putting it out there the technical challenges that go with that, vs just their name. Of course, even with just a name you still have the issue of it must be their true name. If my real name is Amosarian, but I go by Amos, I'll never get offline Ways. Which, I suppose could just be one of the drawbacks to not using your real name?
game could assign to a mudmail number, IE MUDMail#69420, (random number between 1 and 99999) when someone opens the mudmail option after logging in, and you could give it if requested via OOC for people to mudmail you without needing to know any of your actual keywords. Make it so your mudmail number scrambles and changes every time you make a new character.
Quote from: Halaster on October 10, 2022, 09:03:09 AM
The biggest issue I see with being able to offlinesend amos.tall.muscular is that the game then has to start searching player files to find out who that -might- be.
and limiting it only to people who are alive. I don't know how to do that, though I'm confident I could figure it out. But what if there's more than one? I guess "them's the breaks", you sent to the wrong person.
Hmmm. You can contact and Way NPCs, is there a way to drop a PC into a limbo when they're logged out, where they could be contacted like NPCs (but their spice/food/etc wouldn't decay)? Waying the wrong person is already a hazard of Ways. That could also solve the alive or dead issue, since dead PCs wouldn't go into limbo.
ETA: Maybe have them actually disappear from limbo and become uncontactable after a certain number of days since the player's last login, so you don't have people who haven't stored but have been out of the game for years clogging up the works.
If it was opt-in, it would also just log out the characters who weren't opted into the system.
Quote from: Halaster on October 10, 2022, 09:03:09 AM
The biggest issue I see with being able to offlinesend amos.tall.muscular is that the game then has to start searching player files to find out who that -might- be. You can only contact people who are in the game, because when you try to contact them the game searches for people connected and online. To use keywords we'd have to figure out a method for searching through playerfiles and limiting it only to people who are alive. I don't know how to do that, though I'm confident I could figure it out. But what if there's more than one? I guess "them's the breaks", you sent to the wrong person.
I'm not saying keywords couldn't happen, just putting it out there the technical challenges that go with that, vs just their name. Of course, even with just a name you still have the issue of it must be their true name. If my real name is Amosarian, but I go by Amos, I'll never get offline Ways. Which, I suppose could just be one of the drawbacks to not using your real name?
Would it be feasible for a character's current description to be stored on their account when they make their character, then overwritten when they make a new character?
Quote from: Halaster on October 10, 2022, 09:03:09 AM
The biggest issue I see with being able to offlinesend amos.tall.muscular is that the game then has to start searching player files to find out who that -might- be.
Maintain an index of "recent PCs' keywords." Limit it to alive PCS who've logged in within the last 30 days.
Content is: unique PC identifier, list of keywords, is_psi_blocked, last login time.
When a PC logs in, logs out, changes keywords, or dies, add/update/remove their entry in the index.
Quote from: valeria on October 10, 2022, 07:50:46 AM
Or just have it be opt-in. Folks who would find it useful could use it, folks who would find it obnoxious could just have it turned off by default.
Turning it on or off is good enough. Different characters of the same player may choose to use this feature differently.
(Added some quasi-sensitive ramblings in a request (https://armageddon.org/request/view.php?id=112125).)
Quote from: Brytta Léofa on October 10, 2022, 12:08:43 PM
Quote from: Halaster on October 10, 2022, 09:03:09 AM
The biggest issue I see with being able to offlinesend amos.tall.muscular is that the game then has to start searching player files to find out who that -might- be.
Maintain an index of "recent PCs' keywords." Limit it to alive PCS who've logged in within the last 30 days.
Content is: unique PC identifier, list of keywords, is_psi_blocked, last login time.
When a PC logs in, logs out, changes keywords, or dies, add/update/remove their entry in the index.
This looks like the most elegant way with least headache.
We tend to have the GDB for OOC communication on timings for things. Though if you are not clanned with someone, or, want to tell someone your GDB then, yes, this would be a good idea on an OOC perspective.
I personally think the usage of having a 'courier' style thing when you can leave VERY brief messages for people for IG, like up to 80 characters long, would be very helpful.
Examples being :
Kadian Merchant - Been waiting around for Amos to show up for ages so that you can ask them to make a pair of earrings that need to be in for next week, however, you /really/ need to log out, and no one is around to let them know.
'Leave message for Amos' - I need you to make this pair of earrings for next week, leave them on the table when you have done them, please.
Amos logs in 2 hours later, gets the message, makes the earrings, puts them on the table.
OR
Aide to a noble has an urgent message to deliver that they will get killed via templar by the beginning of the following IRL day, if they do not get 5000 coins to them from their noble for an offense they caused, but, uh oh, their noble hasn't been on all day, and, they really need to log off.
'Leave message for noble' - Templar longnose is saying I caused offense, and wants 5 large by next week from us or I am dead next week.
Noble logs in 2 hours later, gets message, instantly finds templar longnose's mind, sorts the issue out, following day, no dead aide..
Are characters still flat files and not part of the MUD database? Seems like you'd want to do that.
Of course you don't need to figure out if a character is alive or dead and maybe even on/offline(Which this perhaps fixes some issues with the way), with any sort of method, so no clear indicator as to why a character wasn't found.
Currently it seems like it has some sort of whichever comes first method that seems to default to PCs. That of course means you'd be much more likely to way someone accidently if the option is all living PCs. But also way less way sniffing options then too.
Maybe you get a connect regardless, and can shoot a message out into the ether and maybe it's the right person, maybe not.
I would love a system like this, and have dreamed of it many times in the past.
I never thought of it as a mudmail system though, I actually thought of it as an IC service that solves more than one asynchronous gameplay issue.
My musing on it in the past had a designed centered around an organization like House Nenyuk which provides a message delivery and item delivery service. Many clans may also setup various NPC's as "agents" that tap into this system in service of their House or Tribe.
Basic design:
- You can visit a coded agent for this system somewhere in-game to setup a unique Keyword that can be shared with players in-game. This acts as a "mailbox" of sorts.
- You can have multiple mailboxes if you wish, but they'll cost you coins to setup.
- Players can visit an agent and leave a message, or in some locations even an object for <Unique Keyword>
- When a player visits an NPC that qualifies as an "agent", they can also retrieve any messages or potentially items that were left for them. Messages are shared regardless of the location you're in, as the agents across the Known all talk to each other via the Way. Items have to be retrieved at the location they were left however.
- These messages are verbally spoken out loud for the recipient, maybe in whispers, maybe in private rooms, it varies by NPC. (Many existing NPC's in the game should be able to be setup as agents, so staff don't need to create a bunch of new ones for this.)
- Once a message is delivered, the agent forgets about it as they're busy people.
Essentially this could act as both a messaging service when you're offline (or even online I suppose), and as a way for merchants to deliver stuff without having to find a person in-game, if you trust them enough to pay in advance or extend a line of credit. It's all in-game, and thus accessible to staff and spies, and even has a fairly reasonable immersive wrapper around it.
Keep it simple. Keep it fully OOC. It would be the most straightforward to implement, and with the ability to set mudmail "keywords" (similar to alternate GDB accounts) player anonymity could be retained. It would keep the "in game", in game, while allowing players with limited or barely overlapping playtimes to better schedule their roleplay sessions. There is no reason that this system can't be used to later provide the foundation for an in-game messaging system, but the issue mudmail is meant to address is to assist players in connecting and in smoothing out the awkward OOC/IC gaps that result in a lack of ability to coordinate playtimes. This does NOT mean coordinating IC actions.
Which is why mudmail, which is within the game and able to be logged, is far better than using GDB private messages.
The more complicated you make an idea the less likely it is to be implemented. Start simple with OOC-only mudmail and build from there.
I'd much rather it was an IC concept. "You find an urchin in the street and throwing them a couple of sid, ask them to carry a message" or a "delayed way" message, whatever, as long as its IG.
An OOC message doesn't counter the problems I have of not being able to speak IC to someone, because they and my times are -impossible- to meet within the game.
If you want to be able to include a {ooc: I mean 7pm EST] like people already do on ways, then sure, but for me the issue is IC paths crossing and sometimes, no amount of OOC will messaging will fix that.
I would rather this be an OOC thing for coordination of playing times or requests for meetings etc.
As much utility as an IC messaging system offers, it also seems like it would be TOO good and TOO easy to communicate entirely like that. It obviates the need to use an intermediary messenger for things. Nobles could send each other virtual letters rather than having to do it in game.
The way already skirts a lot of stuff that characters would otherwise have to do through actual interaction. But at leasts its limited somewhat by time and focus.