unnamed location

[west]

Something's been bothering me about 'unnamed location,' and I've been trying to figure out what it is.

Cantr is not a visual game. We know things solely by their descriptions. In the real world, we see something, and, while we may not know what it is, we'll at least know what it looks like. Cantr doesn't have that. Anything or anyone we don't recognize might as well be a gray misty blob.

If I have a newspawn nowadays, it spawns in "unnamed location." Nothing about "unnamed location" inspires wonder. Nothing makes me want to figure out what's beyond the next hill. (hint: unnamed location). Nothing makes me really even want to read the notes.

In the late 500s, I spawned my second account's first batch of characters.
I spawned someone, and she spawned in Kwor. Now wait a second, I thought. I don't know a Kwor. What is Kwor?

Instant kindling of interest. Instant NEED to figure out what this strange world was.

Now, I could spawn in a place I've never been before (and I've visited hundreds recently with one char) and it doesn't inspire in me the same thing. What's missing?

Names.

As I said before, cantr is not a visual game. Names are pretty much all we have to go on. I LIKE the old names. I like Aki Jaliado Sofer or whatever. I like Fu Put Pashida. I like Sjoftich. I don't like "Bloodstone" or whatever.

We don't see "A city with red-stone buildings, crumbling, on the shores of the ocean." We see Krif, which to me at least has mental associations with the kind of place it is. Karnon always seemed to me (don't ask why) to be sweltering under a prairie sun, whereas the Drojf Hills always seemed like the English moors.

In lieu of unknown vistas and unrivaled majesty, all we have is names. The names that Jos and co. came up with for the locations that fill our world. I for one would dearly like to see them back, as they capture for me a large part of the sense of adventure that living in cantr has always been. Because without a name, it's just "unnamed location". And that's just really, really boring.

Sure, keep names dynamic. But please, let us SEE the original names for them.

My explorer couldn't care less about his twenty-seventh "unknown location" along the same miserable coast. He can't even name them anymore. I would love to see these places' original names back again.

What is the harm?

[Mykey]

And still variants?

[marol]

I'd love to see them back too... But you have to convince Jos.

[west]

I HOPE the original names are still tied to the locations somehow in the database. Knowing Jos' fondness for documentation I'd imagine so...

[marol]

Oh, they are.

[west]

It occurs to me that it wouldn't be too difficult to have an option here. A variable for each character where you could choose whether to display original location names or not.

[the_antisocial_hermit]

*agrees wholeheartedly with west's post*

I hadn't pinpointed it... but yea, I wanted to spawn more and travel more when I knew what the names were... because they did give you some sense of how the place might be...

[Oasis]

*bows down to West* The best suggestion I've heard in a long long time! Yes, have them dynamic, but give us the original to start off with......let us change it if we desire.

And I think we really need to think about building amnesia in this very same sense..........make them dynamic, but don't erase all memories of their original names. So much of Cantr (current and historical) is wiped out in a single stroke by doing this.

[tiddy ogg]

...and aabandon this next phase of amnesia with boat and building names, too.

[Sunni Daez]

...and aabandon this next phase of amnesia with boat and building names, too.

I agree

[west]

I agree as well. We don't NEED amnesia, we just need dynamic names and signs. Seriously. Dynamic names and some way to indicate a change in building name (see also: sign) or location name (landmark) is all we've ever needed.

It honestly surprised me that Jos would go for this amnesia stuff, considering he's the guy that won't let any note ever get destroyed, because we might lose track of some history.

[Marian]

I don't know...

We have dynamic names on vehicles now but does anyone every use them? If you have a ship called 'The Jolly Roger' it'll always be called that to everyone...everyone's first impression of it will always be that it's pirate ship, no matter if the pirate died twently years ago and there's been four different owners since then. Same thing with buildings and even location names. Even with 'unnamed location' now it's hard to convince anyone but newspawns to call a town by anything other than what the map says.

And before amnesia it was even worse...how many towns were there that actually bothered to rename themself, when every single traveller and newspawn would just see the old name and refer to it like that?

But for a sort of related suggestion, it'd be nice if instead of 'unnamed location' you saw 'unnamed hills' 'unnamed mountains' etc. At least it would give explorers in places without map a little better idea of the area around them without completely giving it away.

[TatteredShoeLace]

I wouldnt know a boats name if I never saw it before. I've always been an advocate of not knowing a boat until you remember it, and you shouldnt know a dingy's name from 9 pixels out. In RL you can barely see a boat on the horizon, yet we can tell its name. OOC people will always associate past knowledge of boats and this isnt fair.

[Black Canyon]

I wouldnt know a boats name if I never saw it before. I've always been an advocate of not knowing a boat until you remember it, and you shouldnt know a dingy's name from 9 pixels out.

I would, because most boats have the name painted right on them. Which is how it should be.

Also, cantrians have amazing eyesight when on the water. You didn't know that?

[Sunni Daez]

I wouldnt know a boats name if I never saw it before. I've always been an advocate of not knowing a boat until you remember it, and you shouldnt know a dingy's name from 9 pixels out. In RL you can barely see a boat on the horizon, yet we can tell its name. OOC people will always associate past knowledge of boats and this isnt fair.

Boats usually have their name painted on them.. so if you see a boat.. you see it's name... granted.. smaller boats may not..ie. a row boat...

(added.... BC!! You posted just before me!!! dang )