Adding dynamic name into your text

[psymann]

Suggestion: Allow me to add a dynamic name into my roleplay.


How it would work:
Each person in the current area would be able to be chosen to be put into your writing.
For example, say I had two people, who I called "twit" and "twot". Their actual names could be anything.
I would write:
*looks up and winks at <TWIT> then pats <TWOT> on the back*


Reason:
For example, say I had two people, who I called "twit" and "twot". Their actual names could be anything, but say they are "Dave" and "Sarah".

At the moment, I write:
*looks up and winks at Twit then pats Twot on the back*

Which means nothing to anyone else as they know these people as Dave and Sarah.

What I want to do is write:
*looks up and winks at <TWIT> then pats <TWOT> on the back*

To me, this would appear as:
You say: *looks up and winks at twit then pats twot on the back*

To someone else, this would say:
psymann says: *looks up and winks at Dave then pats Sarah on the back*

And to a new person in the area, this might be:
a man in his twenties says: *looks up and winks at a man in his twenties then pats a woman in her thirties on the back*


At the moment, it's impossible for me to write that sentence without giving away information about people's names that the other characters shouldn't be able to see.

psymann

[Chris Johnson]

There is no easy way that this type of dynamic naming can be opened up to players in this method, without a complete re-write of how events are handled and processed. You'll have to handle this in game in other ways

I've moved this to rejected suggestions

[psymann]

That's a real shame, as it means that I can't actually do anything to anybody - or if I do, I let out information I shouldn't.

I can't use a single verb that involves doing something to someone (with the exception of point and hit). The only way I can do it legally is to do everything to "a (wo)man in their twenties". But when there are 10 (wo)men in their twenties in the area, that is too ambiguous to do.

So I can't *glances at Mary*, all I can do is *glance at woman in her twenties*. And how does anyone know who that is? If I use the name Mary, then that is illegal by the rules that you shouldn't give out extra information.


I don't think it can work to remove every single action that involves another person, so I'll just use the names and will just have to accept the flak when I get told off for giving them away...


I accept that this isn't easy to code, but it's a shame it can't be implemented since it forces you to use incorrect role-play in a game that prides itself on encouraging correct role-play.

psymann

[Marian]

Honestly psymann, I think you might be stressing about this a little too much.

It's not "illegal" to use something like *glances at Mary*, actually I see people do that all the time. Yes the player might be able to figure out who 'Mary' is by the fact that she's the one responding, but it's not something that's easy to abuse like my 'thief' example. (That one was an extreme example that was horrible RPing on everybody's part, IMHO. The man who pointed at her should have just said *scowls at the woman*, and waited for people to respond, and everyone else should have ignored the 'thief' comment and reacted to what they would realistically be able to know.)

In a case lke *glances at Mary* I'm guessing everyone around will either A.) know who Mary is already because you've been having a conversation with or about her, B.) not care who Mary is or who you are and skim past the whole thing anyway, or C.) not know who Mary is but be curious enough to ask for a round of introductions

I gues if you're that worried about it you could say something like "Hi Mary, how are you doing?" *glances at her* "Can you please give me my hammer back whenever you get the chance?" ...but really all and all you don't have to be worried about every tiny detail like that. *glances at Mary* is obviously nothing like *glances at Mary, wondering when she's going to wake up and give him his hammer back'.

Generally just stick to what seems the most natural...yes there does seem to be a certain emote 'etiquette' that's developed, you get that with every game, but I'm sure anything you're not sure of you'll get the hang of after awhile by watching other characters.

[SekoETC]

It's a shame that this got rejected just because "it can't be done". Well, that is a valid argument, especially from a programmer, but there should really be a way to include people in rp statements without using their names, or forcing people to go hunting for the "man in his twenties who is wearing a fur loincloth and carrying a bone spear" in a town of 40 people. It's really tricky learning the name of someone through reading other people's rp, but still knowing that you're not allowed to connect that name to the person if you hear it being mentioned in general conversation. Sometimes I have people named "(mary)" or "(john)" just to remind myself that I know this person by looks but not by name.

[SekoETC]

Oh and I just recalled an event.. one of my characters was travelling with a friend, in her fifties at the time. As I was going to emote something involving her, I noticed another woman on the path, this one was about in her fourties or thirties or something. So I used the phrase "older woman" to refer to my friend, since naturally the stranger wouldn't know her name and wouldn't know who I was talking about.

Ok, this leads to the woman exclaiming "I'm not old". Like, how could you ingamely interpret someone thinking you are old from the way someone emotes. I had to tell her OOC that I meant the other person, that maybe she was out of her range of view. But then this person said "Yeah, I did see her but I'm just rping". Umm, wtf? When I continued to question it, she said rather cockily, "do you want me to explain the whole life story of my character to you OOC so that you could understand". So I felt a bit ashamed. This was someone from Lake Village as far as I can recall. So if that person is reading, I might want to hear now what on earth justifies such an exclamation??

[psymann]

In a case lke *glances at Mary* I'm guessing everyone around will either A.) know who Mary is already because you've been having a conversation with or about her, B.) not care who Mary is or who you are and skim past the whole thing anyway, or C.) not know who Mary is but be curious enough to ask for a round of introductions

Or:

D) One person, whom she told she was called "Sophie" suddenly realises that this must be Mary, the thief that a friend was talking about from a different area. Another person, whom she told she was "Gertrude" realises that she must have been lying to him, and when they both express their confusion (a confusion which should never have happened since the action was just to glance at someone), it turns out that Mary has been travelling around giving each person a different name in order to spread confusion and misunderstanding while using that as a diversion to steal stuff and make it harder to be tracked.


Just an idea anyway to explain that the problem isn't necessarily trivial...

psymann