Hiding Your Identity

[WojD]

* bump *

Maybe it's time to talk again? Masks could be helpful for profesional thiefs Their life is dificult enough - with mask they will have more chances to survive. Maybe when thief wearing mask also some event messages should be not visible to other people?

[DylPickle]

I was thinking about this a couple months ago.
It'd be a really cool addition to the game, but I'm guessing it'd be quite the chore to program.

[Octavio]

I disagree with the idea of some events not being visible when you wear a mask. Come one,... people may not recognize you when you wear a mask, but they can see everything you do.

I don't think it would be too hard to program if we do things this way:
With dynamic naming, you enter the name you want to associate with a certain person, building, vehicle or location. We can add masks to dynamic naming. Meaning that, when you see a person with a mask, you see and are able to change the name of the mask and not the person.
And when a person has a mask, you can't see his/her gender or age. You can only see "a person with a cotton mask".
As for people recognizing if they see the person put the mask, I'd suggest creating an event: "You see John putting on a cotton mask and becoming a person with a cotton mask.". Then you can change both the names for the person with or without the mask. Change it to something like "You see John putting on a cotton mask and becoming John masked.". And a similar event would be created when the person takes off the mask.
If then the mask is used by another person, you'll think you're seeing the previous one, unless you saw the mask changings.

Now, I don't know the objects handling system too well. If an object looses it's id when transfered, then we have a problem. I'll leave that for the more experienced members of ProgD to comment.

****
This could be interesting! We would start having masked heros and criminals with a secret identity having a normal social life.

[Gnom]

This could be interesting! We would start having masked heros and criminals with a secret identity having a normal social life.

Yes, and that was a reason of discuss that on Polish forum.

http://www.cantr.net/forum/viewtopic.ph ... sc&start=0

As for people recognizing if they see the person put the mask, I'd suggest creating an event: "You see John putting on a cotton mask and becoming a person with a cotton mask.".

We're (Polish players ) thinking, that it should be no event when person put the mask. I mind, that it'll make game more exciting and I suppose that I don't have to explain why.

PS. Please, forgive me my english. I know that it's horrible, but I hope that you understand what I'm talking about. If not, ask wojd.

[Octavio]

We're (Polish players ) thinking, that it should be no event when person put the mask. I mind, that it'll make game more exciting and I suppose that I don't have to explain why.

There will be a huge problem if there's no event or some other direct way to associate the person and the masked person: I could be carrying a mask, put it on, hit a person and immediatly take it off and stay relaxed. It would be impossible for anyone to know it was me.
I'm not against making it hard to recognize the person. That's the purpose of the mask. But I am against making it impossible, specially if you can put it on and take it off in a second.
Unless we make timers. A person that putted on a mask can only take it off a day latter and the other way around.

[Gnom]

It would be impossible for anyone to know it was me.

It's not true. If you put on mask, anyone could see there will be <b>a person with a cotton mask</b> instead of your character. Rangers could see that, but they have to be quick - but on Polish Islands there are many persons who are active whole day. I think it's possible. And makes game more attractive.

Unless we make timers. A person that putted on a mask can only take it off a day latter and the other way around.

Interesting idea. But I think that one day it's too long. I don't know if it's possible, but maybe five minutes (in Cantr of course) will be better solution.

[Marian]

I like this idea! I can see a mask hiding a person's identity and age, it would be covering their face after all, but of course there are, um, other body parts that would probably give away gender.

[Nick]

"more interesting" isn't really a good argument to not have it visible when the masks are changed. Seeing the person put on the mask is important.

I'm sure it would be 'more interesting' if we gave everybody crossbows and took away shields and locks.

[Gnom]

Seeing the person put on the mask is important.

I don't think so. It makes masks useless. Octavio presented very good idea - "timers".

I'm sure it would be 'more interesting' if we gave everybody crossbows and took away shields and locks.

No, it'll be boring, not interesting. Could you put forward arguments for your opinion? Or you could only criticise without any argumentation?

[Sho]

He implies, and I agree, that unless more balance can be brought in (I don't have any ideas myself), this is another "ooh, it's shiny" suggestion, like armored vehicles and one-hit-kill guns, that will unbalance the Cantr world.

[Gnom]

I disagree with that. Masks, with timers idea, will not unbalance the Cantr world. If we could put on mask or take it off one per hour, nothing wrong happends with balance. It only makes thiefs work possible.

[Nick]

You could put the mask on in one town, or in a building, or any way not in the same location as your target, and then go in.

If somebody walks in my house and puts on a mask, I know who they are. If they put on a mask and go in my house, I don't.

This is how it should be.

[Gnom]

You could put the mask on in one town, or in a building, or any way not in the same location as your target, and then go in.

If somebody walks in my house and puts on a mask, I know who they are. If they put on a mask and go in my house, I don't.

I'm still not convinced to your solution. But if somebody puts on masks in the same city you are, you don't know who he is.

[Sho]

As a rule I don't believe it is ever really possible to effectively "nerf" an unbalancing idea by making it expensive or hard to use, or putting time constraints on it; there will always be loopholes through which those safeguards can be bypassed. On the other hand, it's easy to take a good idea and make it too powerful or too hard to use.

Mask changing must be visible.

[Marian]

I agree, right now things are nearly impossible for thieves but easy for guards...if masks are added they should balance that out, not reverse it completely.

And even if people saw you put them on, it would still make masks great for the main use I see for them, which would be commiting a crime in a town and then actually being able to travel through that town at some point in the future, instead of getting killed thirty years later because people remember you as THIEF!, nevermind if you just stole something trivial and realistically they'd eventually forget about you.