Re: Olympia discussion points

From: Bill.Viggers@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Bill Viggers)

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1992 03:05:45 +0000

Chuck replies to Rob:

>
> 1) Drop the players faction from the report. This means that the actual
>    groups become more anonymous (as most groups are) and
>    allows more scheming and intrigue to occur with a general increase in
>    excitement all round.
>    To find the faction any group belongs to would be a good use of the
>   observation skill and allows spies to become more interesting and valuable.
>

I think you should only drop it if the unit in question has stealth.  I also

I'm in agreement with Rob on this.  Unless you go out of your way to
	find out who someone works for (via observation or whatever), you
	shouldn't know.   Again Stealth should be able to counter this.  This
	is simply as most people don't go around wearing tabards saying
	"I work for Merlinium the Grey".  So why should you know that they
	are a member of his faction?

think that you should only see the other units in your area if one of the
following occurs:
	They do something spectacular, i.e., are in combat, cast a visible
		spell, or are building something.
	They interact directly with you.
	You use the explore command.

I like this.  Mostly for the simple reason that I dislike havning to wade
	though two or three pages of the people who are hanging out in Drassa.
	Explore would then be useful.  Well it maybe anyway, but I've never
	discovered anything with it.  This may be a little harder for Rich to
	code though.  Any more ideas about visible activities?

> 2) Remove the "Posted By" section of posted signs. This again relates to 1)
>    above. If factions are no longer displayed, then this may become a
>    non-issue.

Again, I think this should only come into play if the unit that puts up the
sign has stealth.  And the observer could counteract stealth with observation.

Again I'm in agreement with Rob, its pretty easy to stick up a notice
	without people finding out.  Why a certain person I know who shall remain
	nameless, was barely two weeks ago involved in placing a fridge in the
	middle of a certain Quad, with no one noticing.

In addition to the above, I wrote to Rich suggesting level titles for
	the guilds, and the option of being ANONYMOUS.  This you could set just
	like your FLEE chance or NAME.  If your ANONYMOUS then your title wouldnt
	show.  But this could easily be expanded to also masking your faction
	[couldn't it?].  Then those of us who like having lots of people know
	who our followers work for (not mentioning names Sherrif Roko) could
	have their people wearing tabbards, and the others could remain anonymous.

As a side effect, this would enable more people to attack other players
	and get away with it (although you never know when there is someone about
	who could identify your faction).  This would mean our Sherrif had his
	work cut out for him.  Well, it'd stop him getting fat on our taxes.

References

Olympia discussion points
rob@ccc.govt.nz (Rob McNeur)
Fri, 06 Mar 1992 17:04:20 +0000
Re: Olympia discussion points
chuk@giskard.acns.nwu.edu (Chuk Craig)
Fri, 06 Mar 1992 22:21:47 +0000