Group Projects

[Brimstar]

I'd like to see group projects, such that the initiator can specify what the project is and the maximum number of participants. Projects should be time-limited, maybe just a few Cantr minutes in length, since they should be something happening real-time. Examples:

Character X invites Y and Z to play along together in a flute trio and creates a Flute Trio project for 3. Once all three have joined the project, everyone hears X, Y, and Z playing music flute, flute, flute.

Then A might invite B to dance.

And there could be choirs.

And group dancing around the small fire pit to the sound of group drumming.

Or I could start a group project without any number of participants, and then start it with my lute, and someone could join with another instrument, and someone else could hum, and someone else could sing along, and others could start dancing, and pretty soon we could have the whole town involved in one activity. Talk about cultural and societal development.

Think of the festivals we could have!

Naturally some folks will use it for sex. So what? That's part of life, even in Cantr. So maybe make a privacy option.

[tiddy ogg]

Can things be done in Cantr minutes? It's probably far too difficult. If you can get your group together at one time, RP it. As for sex... Cantrians have stamina, it can go on for days.

[N-Aldwitch]

I don't like it. Because you're just suggesting it to patch up/make RP easier, when a bit of elbow grease could do the same.

If you had of put fourth your suggestion in a more productive way, as in the project was an invite to harvest rice- and only the specific three could do it- then this could stop people harvesting resources that are banned in towns, or , could encourage people/help people find the projects they need to work on.

[Brimstar]

I don't like it. Because you're just suggesting it to patch up/make RP easier, when a bit of elbow grease could do the same.

If you had of put fourth your suggestion in a more productive way, as in the project was an invite to harvest rice- and only the specific three could do it- then this could stop people harvesting resources that are banned in towns, or , could encourage people/help people find the projects they need to work on.

Nice attitude, dude. What's more "productive" than culture?

I could care less what the project is. It should be something that can be specified by the initiator. I used music because one of my characters would dearly love to form a band and do concerts and dances. And no amount of faking it with RP can substitute for being able to have people actually perform an activity together, whatever that activity might be.

[formerly known as hf]

It's automation.
i.e: A chatracter doing something which has an effect on the events pages for other character, without input from the player at that moment.

Which is something generally avoided in Cantr.

[Marian]

I'd like to see group projects, such that the initiator can specify what the project is and the maximum number of participants. Projects should be time-limited, maybe just a few Cantr minutes in length, since they should be something happening real-time. Examples:

Character X invites Y and Z to play along together in a flute trio and creates a Flute Trio project for 3. Once all three have joined the project, everyone hears X, Y, and Z playing music flute, flute, flute.

Then A might invite B to dance.

And there could be choirs.

And group dancing around the small fire pit to the sound of group drumming.

Or I could start a group project without any number of participants, and then start it with my lute, and someone could join with another instrument, and someone else could hum, and someone else could sing along, and others could start dancing, and pretty soon we could have the whole town involved in one activity. Talk about cultural and societal development.

Think of the festivals we could have!

Naturally some folks will use it for sex. So what? That's part of life, even in Cantr. So maybe make a privacy option.

Isn't all that already possible? I don't really see what the point of making it an actual project is.

But okay, if it is acepted, I want to go ahead and suggest a 'conversation' project too. It's a lot easier then actually thinking up things to say, and it will save minutes too since you don't have to bother with all that time-sonsuming RP. (Once we get a 'happiness' bar this can make it go up, though of course it depends on your char's social skill being efficient or better. )

[Doug R.]

I actually think this is a good idea and not worthy of the snide remarks aimed at it. There could be a vast array of utilities for something like this. Indeed, dragging is a project type that is very similar to this, in that people must add themselves onto the project until conditions are met (the drag % meets or exceeds 100%).

I don't think that group projects should be player definable. Player A could just create a group project that would show up as "Player A's group project"

Players would then join the project, and perform an action (somehow associating that action with the project) When Player A's parameters are met, the project executes (say it needed 5 participants). This would allow for things like group project crashers (an instrumental quintent is disrupted by a bawdy reveller singing racy limmericks).

[T-shirt]

[off topic]

I actually think this is a good idea and not worthy of the snide remarks aimed at it.

The snide remarks aimed at practically any suggestion proposed is a major problem with Cantr nowadays. It does really make the game a lot less fun when suggestions are shot at without looking whether it's really pray at all.
[/off topic]

[Marian]

Maybe I could have been nicer about it, but I still don't see the point. A flute playing project, a dancing project? Why just, I don't know, play some flutes, and then ask people to dance, and anybody who feels like it can? Since when does a town need a project before it can have a festival?

"Culture" has nothing to do with automated projects, and making roleplay of all things an official project that people had to click on before they could participate in just seems wrong and like a huge step back to me.

And then of course you'd run into problems of people being a part of that project, but also trying to have a conversation or make a trade while they're supposedly 'dancing'.

Even N-Aldwitch's suggestion, while it's a little more practical, is something that could (And should) be dealt with in game. Don't want somebody starting a harvesting project? Then make a law and have the guards should drag them off. That's not something that needs to be enforced with game mechanics any more than roleplay does.

[Brimstar]

Maybe I could have been nicer about it, but I still don't see the point. A flute playing project, a dancing project? Why just, I don't know, play some flutes, and then ask people to dance, and anybody who feels like it can? Since when does a town need a project before it can have a festival?

"Culture" has nothing to do with automated projects, and making roleplay of all things an official project that people had to click on before they could participate in just seems wrong and like a huge step back to me.

And then of course you'd run into problems of people being a part of that project, but also trying to have a conversation or make a trade while they're supposedly 'dancing'.

It's apparent to me that some people don't see the difference between

You hear A play music on a new wooden flute.
You hear B play music on a new lute.

and

You hear A and B play music on a new wooden flute and a new lute.

RP is still required, but instead of pretending to play together, A and B actually play together. I'm not suggesting that it be a requirement, but that it be an option. It's not a step back, it's an enhancement requiring greater cooperation and roleplay.
[/list]

[Phalynx]

I agree.... you couldn't get band to play together seriously without either OOC cooperation or some riduculous amount of minutes wasted waiting for players to come online, which actually amounts to something like the same thing...

Perhaps Marian, you would prefer something like this:

1673-1.05: a man in his twenties says: "Right band are you ready?."
1673-1.06: a man in his twenties says: "Ready?."
1673-1.07: a man in his twenties says: "Ready?."
1673-1.08: a man in his twenties says: "Ready?."
1673-1.09: a man in his twenties says: "Ready?."
1673-1.11: a man in his twenties says: "Ready?."
1673-1.12: a man in his twenties says: "Ready?."
1673-1.13: a man in his twenties says: "Ready?."

[SekoETC]

You got a point here. At first the idea sounded silly but it's true, it's not the same having people play separately one after another, than see them play together in the same sentence. But it sounds like something that might be very difficult to program.

You hear X playing music on a brand new flute.
You hear Y join in with an often used guitar.

Someone comes out of a building and hears
X and Y playing together with a brand new flute and an often used guitar.

The project would not have a fixed lenght, it would end when the last participant stops participating.

[Doug R.]

The project would not have a fixed lenght, it would end when the last participant stops participating.

That's an even cooler idea, although I would limit the action display to entering and exiting buildings only. I wouldn't want to be reminded after every time I speak, for example.

[Brimstar]

If it were restricted to music it might be easier. It could be an extension of the play an instrument programming already done, maybe. It would also be nice if someone could join to sing, which is really changing things a bit and refers to an old suggestion, but a good one. It might be easier to make an instrument Singing Voice that everyone has automatically? I know, that's a new suggestion.

Music is the one area where the reward for working together is working together. It's different than resource gathering or manufacturing in that regard.

[Nakranoth]

Well, singing is one of those things that intrensicly can be role played. As in, if you want to joing in singing, you would actually emote/"speak" your song.