Overhearing whispers, your opinion

[SekoETC]

yep...... getting your toon involved in other peoples business and knowing useful things that you should otherwise have no access to/ knowledge of. that's a good reason to kep the feature

No, don't make that face, some of just simply lurrrve sticking our noses into other people's business and to avoid being detected, we added this feature that makes it random so that no one can be blamed for it and to make all the proper people suffer with guilt since they can't block their ears. "Oh no, I was walking through the park minding my own business when I saw Jill and Ted on the bench, and I totally tried to ignore them but then he gave her this awfully loud kiss, like *smack* and now I live in eternal guilt since I can't tell her boyfriend about it. Oh the cruel anomaly that forced private conversations in my innocent ears, that's so completely against the laws of nature. Of course they have all the right to go to the park, but I guess I'll have to stay at home for now on lest I run into them again." -- I think it makes it kind of interesting that there are characters who would feel guilty about accidentally hearing things, and would blame themselves rather than blaming the people who had a private conversation in a public place.

But anyway, as I woke up today I was thinking that to make it more deliberate, it could be changed so that people only overheard whispers to and from people who were working on the same project as them - this would allow picking your targets, and people could also see if there's anyone with a chance of hearing them nearby if they just looked at the project participants - but it also allowed sneakiness since there is no event message for someone joining a project. If both conversationalists were not working on any projects, they couldn't be overheard by anyone, thus encouraging people to take a break from their work if they wanted to concentrate on talking in private. Also if people worked on a project that only allows 1-2 participants, privacy could be guaranteed. But I'd like the addition that people working on two different projects were considered too far from each other to whisper, so they would either have to work on the same project or have one or both of them go idle.

[*Wiro]

I don't like the projects thing.

[Comy]

I like it.

[playerslayer666]

if it's not gonna be random then i have nothing else to say on the matter. i like Seko's new idea of having people either go idle or join the same project, and not being able to whisper if they are doing seperate things. this allows for a more acceptable form of realism to the whole overhearing whispers thing.

[Surly]

But anyway, as I woke up today I was thinking that to make it more deliberate, it could be changed so that people only overheard whispers to and from people who were working on the same project as them - this would allow picking your targets, and people could also see if there's anyone with a chance of hearing them nearby if they just looked at the project participants - but it also allowed sneakiness since there is no event message for someone joining a project. If both conversationalists were not working on any projects, they couldn't be overheard by anyone, thus encouraging people to take a break from their work if they wanted to concentrate on talking in private. Also if people worked on a project that only allows 1-2 participants, privacy could be guaranteed. But I'd like the addition that people working on two different projects were considered too far from each other to whisper, so they would either have to work on the same project or have one or both of them go idle.

I quite like the first bit of this, about being on the same project... don't agree with the last part though. People should always be able to whisper if they're in the same location. Maybe there should still be the chance of being overheard if you're working on different projects (within the parameters above)?

[Comy]

I quite like the first bit of this, about being on the same project... don't agree with the last part though. People should always be able to whisper if they're in the same location. Maybe there should still be the chance of being overheard if you're working on different projects (within the parameters above)?

I wouldn't really mind people not being able to whisper if they were working on different projects, but I like this idea, too.

[SekoETC]

But then there would need to be a rule that people are not allowed to rp sex while they're on separate projects, since it would mean potentially exposing others to overhearing things they don't like. And people only need to be registered on a project during the projects tick to make it advance, so they could spend most of the time off the project to whisper without a chance of being overheard.

[playerslayer666]

But then there would need to be a rule that people are not allowed to rp sex while they're on separate projects, since it would mean potentially exposing others to overhearing things they don't like.

why didn't anyone think of that when the whole overhearing whispers debate started? this seems like a perfectly good reason to NOT have the feature at all, or any sort of feature which would allow people to accidently hear what others are saying, which is why it should be intentional.

well now i am not in favor of the whole project switching thing.....the eavesdrop feature would be our best bet i guess, though it would mean that if they don't want to hear people having sex and they eavesdrop to see what they are saying and they run into two people having sex in public that could still create an issue.

** shrugs ** honestly i think it's best to not have the ability to overhear private conversations. and if your going to have it then the best solution is most likely the eavesdrop idea. sounds like a bit of a gamble though because people might run into something they don't want to hear.....

[CN]

But anyway, as I woke up today I was thinking that to make it more deliberate, it could be changed so that people only overheard whispers to and from people who were working on the same project as them - this would allow picking your targets, and people could also see if there's anyone with a chance of hearing them nearby if they just looked at the project participants - but it also allowed sneakiness since there is no event message for someone joining a project. If both conversationalists were not working on any projects, they couldn't be overheard by anyone, thus encouraging people to take a break from their work if they wanted to concentrate on talking in private. Also if people worked on a project that only allows 1-2 participants, privacy could be guaranteed. But I'd like the addition that people working on two different projects were considered too far from each other to whisper, so they would either have to work on the same project or have one or both of them go idle.

I definitely like the idea of this. It gives both parties a chance at detection and still allows for plenty of privacy.

[ornithopter]

Brilliant idea!

What about allowing cross-project whispers, and allowing people helping with either project to overhear?

I have a character who only talks in whispers (though she emotes aloud), and I'd really like for her to be able to talk without jumping projects all the time, since that's not only annoying but (sort of) counter to her religious beliefs. I swear I'm not making this up to annoy you.

[SekoETC]

Makes sense. It would be easier to implement without the project limitation anyway.

[Cogliostro]

This new idea with being on projects is not making much sense to me. What if the people whisper-talking are not on any projects at all?

Wasn't the "overhearing" feature intended to eventually reduce the amount of annoying whispering in towns, because people would figure their privacy is not assured if they whisper, so they would go into a building to talk there?

[*Wiro]

I think that if you are not working on a project, you should be able to overhear anyone from any project.

[SekoETC]

This new idea with being on projects is not making much sense to me.

The logic of binding eavesdropping to projects comes from assuming that people who work on the same project are close to each other, so it's more likely for them to hear each other than someone who's completely elsewhere.

What if the people whisper-talking are not on any projects at all?

If people are not engaged in any project, I assume that they are free to wander around the location and avoid staying close to potential eavesdroppers, thus avoiding the chance of being overheard. If their whispering bothers someone excessively, that person might as well tell them to go inside since they don't have the excuse of missing progress on their projects since they don't have one.

Wasn't the "overhearing" feature intended to eventually reduce the amount of annoying whispering in towns, because people would figure their privacy is not assured if they whisper, so they would go into a building to talk there?

Many people are still likely to take the risk of being overheard, especially if they are having a casual discussion instead of something potentially dangerous or embarrassing. The projects thing allows people to concentrate on a person of interest and when it's made less random, the chance of overhearing can also be increased.

I think that if you are not working on a project, you should be able to overhear anyone from any project.

But if people would be passively exposed to overhearing whispers, they could potentially be exposed to rp'ed sex and the only way of avoiding it would be for the listener to go inside or join a project, which does the opposite to what the original idea was. Only if keeping your ears open was optional instead of default, then it would be okay. Which is basically the same as an eavesdropping project except without a specific target.

[Piscator]

I think that if you are not working on a project, you should be able to overhear anyone from any project.

I don't think so. It's the point of this line of discussion to get rid of that.

If you are sitting around the same campfire, it makes kind of sense to be able to overhear a conversation and if you don't like to be overheard, you just leave the sublocation/project.
General overhearing just makes whispering less useful and creates an uncomfortable atmosphere.

Wasn't the "overhearing" feature intended to eventually reduce the amount of annoying whispering in towns, because people would figure their privacy is not assured if they whisper, so they would go into a building to talk there?

It was intended for this, but it is questionable if it is able to do serve this purpose. It would result in equally annoying note exchanges or it would even be ignored altogether.