Time limit and pace of game (was: SEX!)

[Xander]

Now i've got your attention...

I have a few questions about the time limit


1. Are there plans to scrap it?

2. If we have this time limit, why cant we see our char's pages whne the time runs out? Isnt there a way to stop people playing their chars after their time has ended but still allows them to view the pags of their chars?

[Jos Elkink]

ad 1) No.

ad 2) This would partly defeat the purpose of the timelimit, which is to limit server load. Loading the events page is the heaviest load on the server, so exactly observing that all day long is something we want to avoid.

[The Hunter]

Wow.... Jos being the first one to reply on a new topic... That's a first... Might it have something to do with the topic title?

And I don't really mind the time limit, unless the minutes arent refreshed and Meh having too much of a hangover again to reset them.

[Xander]

i dont mind either, but i have only on eminute left

And why has Cantr been so dull lately? where is everyone?

[Nick]

I think the time limit should be increased.
I generally only use about 120 minutes a day, but sometimes I want 300.
Perhaps a percentage of your minutes could roll over to the next day, and accumulate.

[Jos Elkink]

Wow.... Jos being the first one to reply on a new topic... That's a first... Might it have something to do with the topic title?

Of course not!!!

[Junesun]

Perhaps there can be a different solution to the load on the server:
I imagine that there are the most call-ups of the main character page when people are chatting with each other, especially when several parties are online at the same time. So if you take chatting, at least the instant part, to a different page, that only contains the most basic buttons and only reloads messages that are new, there should be less load on the server.

Also, this may be the opportunity to make instant chatting, which is a great promoter of society-building, more fun, if you implement something that automatically reloads the page when something has been said. It really sucks to have to constantly refresh the "Events" page in order to see whether your partner(s) have answered yet.

Judith

[The Hunter]

Jos, pls don't wink at me when discussing sex, will yer? (oops).

And if Junesuns idea could be implemented, not only would it greatly improve the game, but if it's true that the server load would be decreased... Well, need I say more?

I hope it's not too complicated.

[boomhaeur]

Does the Database get queried every time a player hits a screen?

ie. Everytime I load a char screen up does it ask the DB for the information?

For possible future revamps/versions maybe consider investigating XML a bit - for things like the actvity screens etc. you may be able to move to a system where there's an XML file that contains the information (db would write to it periodically) it could reduce a lot of the queries on the DB server.

[Jos Elkink]

I think it would improve the game greatly for some people, but basically ruin the fun for others. Some people are online really a lot and like to talk a lot and for them it's fun. Other people, however, play just once or perhaps twice a day, and get an incredible events list to work through every day. Those people we would loose, while the game is in fact on purpose designed as a slow paced game.

I understand that some really like the chatty aspect, but it's not really how the game was intended to be. Currently, it works quite ok that both types of players are happy, but I think if we would implement this idea - which as such is not bad and very understandable - we would loose those more slow-paced players. (And I'm one of those ...)

[Junesun]

I think it would improve the game greatly for some people, but basically ruin the fun for others. Some people are online really a lot and like to talk a lot and for them it's fun. Other people, however, play just once or perhaps twice a day, and get an incredible events list to work through every day. Those people we would loose, while the game is in fact on purpose designed as a slow paced game.

Well there are ways to shorten the amount of events listed, and quite a few have been discussed before, I think. For example:
- combining the number of animals that arrive between the last time you checked in and the current time
- combining personal conversations similary (e. g. "you see a man in his twenties have a private conversation with a woman in her twenties" instead of a long series of messages for question and reply)
- perhaps implementing the option to cut out some notices completely, for those players who want to concentrate on the essential.
- make everything in instant conversations either private or on-demand-only. If there is an important result of it, people have to worry about letting everybody, including those in the buildings, know anyways.

I understand that some really like the chatty aspect, but it's not really how the game was intended to be. Currently, it works quite ok that both types of players are happy, but I think if we would implement this idea - which as such is not bad and very understandable - we would loose those more slow-paced players. (And I'm one of those ...)

Well I for one thought that the game was about social interaction and forming societies. You can't do that if conversations are limited. You already need to talk just to trade, how much more you need to talk in order to effectively govern a city, especially if it's semi-democratic. Without conversations, all you get is individualists, and the game has enough of those, imho.

Judith

[Jos Elkink]

All your suggestions about the events page are very good ideas and I hope will be implemented someday. However, we first need to revise the system by which we store events - which is being planned already - because currently the server cannot see the difference between different type of events and hence nothing you suggest is - within the current system - possible. I do plan to do this revision sometime in the fairly near future, though.

I understand that some really like the chatty aspect, but it's not really how the game was intended to be. Currently, it works quite ok that both types of players are happy, but I think if we would implement this idea - which as such is not bad and very understandable - we would loose those more slow-paced players. (And I'm one of those ...)

Well I for one thought that the game was about social interaction and forming societies. You can't do that if conversations are limited. You already need to talk just to trade, how much more you need to talk in order to effectively govern a city, especially if it's semi-democratic. Without conversations, all you get is individualists, and the game has enough of those, imho.

Yes, of course you're right and it is about social interaction and forming societies. Well, originally the later more than the first. And I also cannot just look at original intentions, but have to take into account simply how most players use it. So we don't disagree that much on what the game is about, I think.

We might differ a bit on what the speed should be, though. E.g. one of my main characters was president of a busy place for quite a long time. And most of the time, he would respond to questions etc. once or twice a day. Then I would wait a day to see what replies would be, and then I would act/talk again. That works really quite well, and is how the game was originally intended. Otherwise it becomes very difficult to play the game next to an already active real life. I do think that a lot of the possibilities in the game are, and should be, possible at relatively slow speed. If we increase the advantage of being online really a lot, we will loose this situation, I think. Right now it seems a nice balance, where people with a lot of time find enough to do, and people with less time can more or less keep up.

A final point is that I have always hoped and still hope that more communication will take place among selected groups. E.g. council meetings in council halls, trading in shops, military instructions in barracks, etc. etc. So that a specific character follows those conversations that are relevant, but not all other ones. Currently, however, if you want to play like that and move your character inside a building, most people will not bother coming in and ask or tell anything anymore ... I think the introduction of weather and related health will help for that one, though.

[Xander]

Jos, do you know why my account is locked?

[Jos Elkink]

That's not what is being discussed here. Mail players@cantr.net for more information - I have no idea.