RP suggestion - play ignorant

[Doug R.]

There's a horrible lack of small-talk in Cantr, simply because there's nothing to small talk about. We know everything there is to know about the game mechanics. Maybe the game would get more lively if we chose to ignore the information and just play dumb once in a while. Like, asking someone harvesting carrots what they're doing. Half the conversations I've had with my youngest character revolve around her asking how to do things that I was too lazy to look up in the wiki.

[Arenti]

Agreed and also people not talking to each other but only to a leader. Not to each other. I guess the same way about not something there to talk about. But it's not that hard to think of something to talk about.

I most towns if someone involved with the town mostly if a leader doesn't ask how things are going while he/she normally did, most towns go quiet no matter how many there are in it.

[Kelli]

I never have and never will look up things in the wiki. I'd rather ask, for, as you said....it livens the place up and gives a reason to talk. Plus, I like my charries to learn from the experiences of others....it's a great bonding experience for charries.

[Arenti]

If you would take away the wiki mostly all the information will need to be learned in game. And also there will be room for teachers and schools.

[Missy]

There was a time when there was no wiki but some players insisted that it wasn't fair that older players knew all the information about how to do what in the game, and newer players didn't. That was the start of the wiki which I was against. At that time you were supposed to find out all information In Game whether you were old or not. I personally felt that was part of the charm of the game and that if given the wiki, it would severely interupt what this game was about. But I lost that argument.

[Doug R.]

I think time has bore your argument true.

[Alladinsane]

I could see where that could have made information into a trade-able commodity...what you would pay for such info is variable and not worth getting into here. The only info really valuable now is where somebody might be hiding or' how many fighters are in that town' etc. The radio has really increased the ability, if not practice, of exchanging info.

Going back to the OP, I try to play characters that talk about more than just 'how to' manuals. You can talk about anything cantr world related, or just flirt, or any other types of comedic stuff. A good starting point often comes just from reading character descriptions...what are they wearing, scars or other prominent identifying features. Sometimes just commenting on someones skill at a job i.e. "you see oglethorpe awkwardly repairing a wooden shield"; You could comment on how they might die of starvation before they finish it and offer to help or exchange types of work that goes to each others strengths (if you know them) and laugh about that. Maybe something they say, or how they say it. Conversation starters are everywhere, then just RP and have fun. As a very mediocre RP'r except for maybe a few characters that I really thought out; anybody can do it if I can. I am too new to this to really give advice, so ignore me to your own benefit.

Start a conversation about your subpar RP'ing <--- I think I just gave myself an idea.

Be well

[Kelli]

If you would take away the wiki mostly all the information will need to be learned in game. And also there will be room for teachers and schools.

*drools at the idea*

Actually...I had a charrie last year that wanted to start a school and be a teacher.

[Rumaan]

I have thought of suggesting this before but didn't. In Cantr we build many things from scratch yet the technological knowledge is available all the time. People just need to gather the resources, click the appropriate buttons to start manufacturing a car or a radio. But in life the real challenge is as much with the availability of knowledge as with the resources.

We should have some mechanism where the people actually have to learn from books or by experimentation first to build something. My vision is that a town then needs a group of scholarly people to research and preserve their knowledge. Technologies, just as other resources have to be found in game. Towns would need libraries to preserve their knowledge base. Technologies could be traded with others (something similar to the games in the civilization series). Technology would actually be a valuable resource. Also, if there is an invasion on a town and the library and its books are destroyed, the town people basically have to re-invent the wheel or obtain knowledge from other towns.

I know the suggestion is vague and probably difficult to implement. But if even bits of it were implemented I am sure the game would become more interesting with actual goals, with competition between towns (would lead to towns grouping up. Now I see no real motivation for towns to group up), with more conflicts, more meaningful wars, basically everything with more at stake.

I have developed on this idea and how to implement it, I could post the suggestion if someone is interested.

[Alladinsane]

It sort of ties into my suggestion about locality of knowledge on the suggestions forum (I forget what the actual title was).

With exclusion from the wiki, certain types of knowledge, whether its making steel, certain regional foods, etc, could be implemented and simulating a bit more of the earth-like qualities, especially in war when a new weapon could be decisive.

It still leaves the problem of how people who captured the product of this new knowledge would be able to 'reverse engineer' the product enough to produce it themselves and at what point would the tech be far enough into saturation that it was considered a global tech. Still, it would also mean the production screens of certain individuals would differ and thats a whole other programming problem that I don't see a why around as yet.

When this type of issue arises, I see us a few more ticks down the road, but I still don't see an ending for it. But we have taken a bit of a left turn in Albuquerque here and this probably belongs in the suggestion forum. I have just spent so much time typing that I am going to let it ride for now.

Be well

[Rumaan]

Still, it would also mean the production screens of certain individuals would differ and thats a whole other programming problem that I don't see a why around as yet.

Not necessarily. My idea is the following. Each project would require an additional tool/ingredient - a "scroll" for that project. Scrolls can be copied by working on a copy scroll project or they can be obtained by "researching". Researching a tech from scratch could take some time and can have a success/failure probability like lock-picking. Scrolls could also be destroyed.

The idea of scrolls is that each char has to obtain the "knowledge" for doing something in game and not just use ooc knowledge. It would also lead to better and natural rp.

[Snickie]

Still, it would also mean the production screens of certain individuals would differ and thats a whole other programming problem that I don't see a why around as yet.

Not necessarily. My idea is the following. Each project would require an additional tool/ingredient - a "scroll" for that project. Scrolls can be copied by working on a copy scroll project or they can be obtained by "researching". Researching a tech from scratch could take some time and can have a success/failure probability like lock-picking. Scrolls could also be destroyed.

The idea of scrolls is that each char has to obtain the "knowledge" for doing something in game and not just use ooc knowledge. It would also lead to better and natural rp.

This could easily be CRBed, though: one of a person's chars could read the 'scroll', and suddenly every one of their chars knows how to make that item. If asked about it by other chars, they could say they saw it when nobody was looking, or something like that. I know there's a way to check in the DB whether that's true or not (because I've seen it discussed on the forums previously), but it could mean more work for the PD, and more grief for the offending player.

In other words, to a degree, it accomplishes the same thing as the wiki and thus defeats the purpose of having scrolls. At least, that is how I see it.

[SekoETC]

I think the point is that if there were scrolls, the game could keep track of who has seen what. It just feels like an unnatural way to put it, forcing objects where they didn't exist before. I'd rather have an abstract personal information back with the possibility of teaching stuff to others, an ability to produce scrolls/blueprints/manuals based on this abstract information but most teaching should take place by show and tell and spoken instructions.

[Rumaan]

Still, it would also mean the production screens of certain individuals would differ and thats a whole other programming problem that I don't see a why around as yet.

Not necessarily. My idea is the following. Each project would require an additional tool/ingredient - a "scroll" for that project. Scrolls can be copied by working on a copy scroll project or they can be obtained by "researching". Researching a tech from scratch could take some time and can have a success/failure probability like lock-picking. Scrolls could also be destroyed.

The idea of scrolls is that each char has to obtain the "knowledge" for doing something in game and not just use ooc knowledge. It would also lead to better and natural rp.

This could easily be CRBed, though: one of a person's chars could read the 'scroll', and suddenly every one of their chars knows how to make that item.

No Snick. I said scrolls would be like tools. If one of your char has a hammer no amount of CRBing will allow your other chars to get the hammer (you can make one of your chars to give to another, but that is different). Copying a scroll is not like copying a note - I said you have to work on a copying scroll project, so simple copy paste doesn't work (like in notes). So, in a way scrolls are like a collection of flags which allow a char to initiate or work on a project. People can choose to bundle "knowledge"/flags/keys for certain projects in a single scroll and store them or distribute them. Like all things related to carpentry in a scroll, weapon making in another etc. And people can control who they can impart their knowledge to.

Seko, ideally that is what one would like. But transfer of knowledge by "show and tell" and "spoken instructions" cannot prevent one to use ooc knowledge.

[Rumaan]

From the point of view of implementation, scrolls would be like envelopes. The "notes" or knols (borrowing google's term) in the "envelope" would be the knowledge for working on individual projects. Knols could be moved from one scroll to another like notes are pulled from envelopes.

A scroll would just list all the projects that the holder of the scroll can work on. A char can work on a project only if it is listed in any one of the scrolls that he/she has.

So, I think it is not very tough to implement.