AMIA ARCHIVE • View topic

Hey folks,

Recently, I've been having a lot of trouble finding other players to RP with unless I'm in peak hours, or at Wiltun. And I imagine others are feeling the same?

Normally, I would try to push for a widget being made-- but the Improved Amia forums are closed (And for a reason), so I think we should brainstorm ways that we can find other players more easily without any scripting or DM help. If the DM's -want- to make a small item that could help with this, by all means. But let's try to focus on what we can do as players given the tools we have.

:idea:

I suggest we opt for using the Party Advertiser as a way to also advertise a desire to Rp. We throw our names on the list if we're idle and not finding others, and someone can shoot you a PM that looks something like, "Hey, you looking for hunting or Rp?"

And then from there, they can choose to meet up somewhere. It's just a small 'hotfix' to a problem of finding people, but it could work? All it takes it people starting to do it. I feel like we need to explore some ways to get players together-- especially on the off hours.

Boobs are a fun choice, I know, but it's more productive and important to be serious from time to time and voice an opinion.

I always thought it's weird we have something for leveling, and not for RP. Big yes.

I know others do it, so I'm all for it.

Sounds like an interesting idea.

Im a yes for it!

I gave this a lot of thought. I mean a lot. I don't want to push the server in the wrong direction, especially since I came back specifically to contribute in a meaningful way. So, after careful consideration, I voted yes instead of bOOBS. Allow me to explain. It's not that I don't like boobs. Really, they're pretty much the greatest. It's just that boobs don't keep my rp-self warm in the night, whereas a tool to find rp would. After all, the setting itself can only provide so much rp when you're talking to yourself. Often.

So yes. I believe a tool like this would be very beneficial, though the party advertiser is capable of fulfilling that function. My hopes for a boob spawner will just have to remain utterly dashed. For the good of the server, of course.

All it'd take is to change what the Party-Finder has in its description and its conversation to include people who might be looking for RP as well as a hunting party

One thing I find counter intuitive that I've been told by numerous players is that they are annoyed when someone metagames their location for RP or that they're afraid to intrude on someone else's stories. You can't have both situations.

Yeah. That's why this being a voluntary device is useful. And if we just use the party advertiser, it doesn't tell a person's location. So they send you a tell, and you can decide if you want to Rp.

I didn't want this to dive too far into a discussion on how to properly implement an Rp-finding tool, because that's a discussion for an Improving Amia thread I think.

If you don't want to be metagamed, then don't put your name on the party/RP finder? Explore and naturally stumble upon someone if that's the preference.

I've seen this in an NWN 2 server as a so called "Player Scry" option.
This might be a necessary step since the average number of players is 20 instead of 60+.

I couldn't click "Yes" AND "Boobs." gonna take me a while to recover....

Make it a IC phenomenon, and not a tool; and make it only available to those capable of casting magic like a divination, as previously suggested above.

I.E. Clerics, Druids, Wiz/Sorc, Bards.

Aiseth wrote:

Make it a IC phenomenon, and not a tool; and make it only available to those capable of casting magic like a divination, as previously suggested above.

I.E. Clerics, Druids, Wiz/Sorc, Bards.

That's not exactly how divination works though.

Aiseth wrote:

Make it a IC phenomenon, and not a tool; and make it only available to those capable of casting magic like a divination, as previously suggested above.

I.E. Clerics, Druids, Wiz/Sorc, Bards.

I'm all for keeping things pure and in character, but the problems that arise from low player count or downtimes on servers are a result of OOC things- i.e you log on and see five people on but assume "Oh they're probably all busy and don't want to RP with me, can't find them within 15 minutes on this giant server, soooo guess I'll log off" meanwhile they were thinking the same thing, everyone logs off, people logging on see NO ONE on, so THEY don't log on.... vicious cycle

That's why I think it's acceptable to use another OOC tool to fix the OOC problem.

And if there's anything I've learned after years of playing this game is that you can still befriend a player you previously thought didn't like/had no interest in you/you ignored because of, again, assumptions over who/what they connect with. So this might even aid the clique problem Amia seems to have.

Also do you guys have a way of adding a calendar to the forums so players and DMs can post their public/specialty events instead of just on forum threads? Idk about you but I forget and I'm not too keen on filling my daily RL planner with amia events.

Blue Moon wrote:

I'm all for keeping things pure and in character, but the problems that arise from low player count or downtimes on servers are a result of OOC things- i.e you log on and see five people on but assume "Oh they're probably all busy and don't want to RP with me, can't find them within 15 minutes on this giant server, soooo guess I'll log off" meanwhile they were thinking the same thing, everyone logs off, people logging on see NO ONE on, so THEY don't log on.... vicious cycle

That's why I think it's acceptable to use another OOC tool to fix the OOC problem.

This is basically what's happening. And we really don't need to try to make some kind of IC justification for lonely players being able to organize RP together. And having it have anything to do with divination is going to cause more problems and room for abuse-- when all this is trying to do is just have two consenting players have a means for organizing RP on a large server, and when the total people online is so low that the chances of finding anyone by walking around is too rare.

Sure, I could send people tells asking them if they want to Rp. Just go down the list. But that's intrusive, and I don't know if the other person is willing. If I put myself on a party list, a player can then choose to use the party ball, find me, and send me a tell. And unless I've taken my name off that list, I also consent to someone asking me OOCly through tells whether I'm interested in Rp or hunting.

It's not that bad. It gives away no information on its own. It's just the players organizing Rp. And, to be perfectly frank, it's the same justification for having a party ball in the first place. Because it's too hard to find people your level strictly on wandering around the server-- and our dungeons were designed for multiple people.

RP is only fun if I'm interacting with another player.

I've sent out a request to our scripters to make something like this happen. So, it's being worked on!

Quote:

And if there's anything I've learned after years of playing this game is that you can still befriend a player you previously thought didn't like/had no interest in you/you ignored because of, again, assumptions over who/what they connect with. So this might even aid the clique problem Amia seems to have.

This is also a very good point. I think we all make assumptions about who another player might want to interact with based on their established habits. However, I find more often than not habits don't become established out of exclusivity, but because people simply know if they go to X place or with X people, they'll likely get something fun out of it. I'm hoping maybe a pager like this could help break down some of the OOC barriers we have. It's something I do all the time - I log in, see some scattered folks, go "oh they're probably with X and don't want to be bothered, I'll just log out again..." But that's not necessarily the case!

I hope it'll be a good avenue to open up RP and bring people together. I'll keep folks updated on the progress.

Hey, that's awesome! Thanks Alanna (And guys).

Looking forward to seeing a solution. If there's any trouble with it, of course, just let us know and we can jury-rig our own solutions.

I think this has definite potential. After all, 30+ people online and only seeing 5 people makes you go 'whut'.

An excellent idea Hackums.

I think everyone, alright almost everyone can tell the difference between OOC convenience and IC interaction. Even with a best selling author, they don't start writing and randomly have major characters simply bump into each other, that is an OOC contrivance to get the story rolling. The same applies to RP, gather characters first, then worry about what will then happen IC. Ever read a story where the author goes into excruciating detail about walking down a path for most of the book and then wanted to read that story again? Same here, get on with more important IC events and don't worry about having to RP being on the dusty trail for hours. Unless of course you find that sort of RP interesting, but then again you probably won't be taking advantage of the RP finding tool either.

So weird to see my idea from over a year ago resurface here by the very people who did their best to sink it. (Party Advertiser Functionality: http://www.amiaworld.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=75816)

I'm for it and the playerbase was then, too. Glim said something was happening, but it probably got forgotten or placed on a back burner so far away it might as well have been.

Ah I recall that. I'm still more for an IC solution, but as that has not happened yet (understandably) a different approach is palpable as well.

MightNMagic wrote:

So weird to see my idea from over a year ago resurface here by the very people who did their best to sink it. (Party Advertiser Functionality: http://www.amiaworld.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=75816)

I'm for it and the playerbase was then, too. Glim said something was happening, but it probably got forgotten or placed on a back burner so far away it might as well have been.

lol, this is a good idea, obviously. some servers even have a dice option that lets you find where players are exactly unless they opt to be invisible

I've always used the party ball that way... it's not like 'hunting' is some OOC action anyways though. Party ball, to me, just says 'hey, I'm looking for people in interact with on this multiplayer game'. The simplest answer is often just to hunt together a bit. I find people on the party ball are generally much more willing to meet new characters than other's you might run across (which more often than not will ignore or simply glare at any new comers).

For those with little interest in the Bendir GiggleFest, it's harder than hell to find anyone most times. Anything to help fight that has to be a good thing. Just be clear if you are using the party ball and don't want to adventure what you are looking for.

I still think there are legitimate concerns if the area is attached to the name, mind (Which is what I had the largest pushback to). But yes-- this was never really my idea, neither was it solely Rashid's. This RP-finder issue has been floating around for at least a year or two in various conversations, both on DM forums and players.

There will be an option to report your location, but only if you choose to - it wont be automatic.

Cool!

I lament only having one vote to give. Yes.. AND bewbs. We must not limit ourselves!!

Quote:

I lament only having one vote to give. Yes.. AND bewbs. We must not limit ourselves!!

This!

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