Timezones into Cantr

[SekoETC]

At the moment people from different timezones are happily playing together - or maybe not so happily. I don't know if there are others that are required to stay up all night in order to catch fellow players online. I hope others have the self-control to go to bed even if they haven't had a reply they're waiting for. I mostly don't.

Well anyway, currently there is no night and day in Cantr because everyone is active at a time that fits them best. But if we would split the world into timezones (for example three of them: European time and two American time zones) - people could still get characters on the other timezone areas but that would be a conscious decision, their characters might be mostly nocturnal creatures (which does not mean vampires, just people that are more active during the dark hours - like me!). And if they get tired to the place they can always travel across the world to get to a place where the majority of people is active at the same time as them. (We cannot do this at the moment because the way people are scattered around is totally random. In one location the active time may be hour 1 when perhaps the very next location everyone is awake at hour 5.)

The results - people in a location would be more likely to get online at the same time because they don't have huge time difference. That would increase interaction. Two or three hours is no problem. Seven or even twelve hours is.

Umm, does anyone understand what I'm talking about?

[Black Canyon]

I can understand the frustration of never being on when others are....... but I would hate reducing the chances to roleplay with players from other timezones. I'm afraid this would segregate Cantr to the point where Americans are mostly playing with Americans, Europeans with Europeans, etc.

[rklenseth]

I like this idea a lot. Plus it would be nice to have periods of day and night in game too.

[Razorlance]

Think I raised a poll on this very subject, and yes sometimes it's very frustrating to start chatting then having none or a few replies, then the next time you log in you miss out on loads of chatter, decisions, etc.

And I too like the day/night cycle idea in Cantr, maybe it'll affect your vision, like someone stealing, or work rate on certain jobs, fishing in the dark anyone?

[Appleide]

Why are all the different timesones on the same part of the world? What about an Australian timezone?

[Zoot]

I don't like the first idea at all. One of the great things about Cantr is that it -isn't- time dependant--someone can play for a few minutes in the library, if they wish and if that's all the time they have. You can play with people in other time zones without worrying about who's up when.

However, in this sort of enviornment a traditional day/night cycle is unwieldy at best. If a person resides in a certain timezone, then, he could be forced to always play his characters at night--a rather odd situation.

How about this: One cantr "day" is designated daylight, the next "nighttime." The time scheme is already rather unrealistic (20 days to a year?) so I don't believe it would hurt game mechanics very much.

[SekoETC]

Appleide, if you search for the old topic with a poll for players' timezones there was like one or two votes on Australia when there was about a dozen on America east And west, and Europe. If there were timezones in Cantr there could be many of them but the sizes would be relative to the amount of players from that area.

What annoys me is that if you are the only player in a place who has 7+ hours time difference to the others, you can only reply once a day and they probably also react only once to that post of yours, after that ignoring your existance because you don't speak. Call that interactivity...

[nitefyre]

Plus it would be nice to have periods of day and night in game too.

I don't like the idea of timezones, nor do I think I understand it fully. Isnt it a completely unnecessary complication to cantr? I don't really have a routine to when I play cantr, usually it's at my evening times (morning in Asia), but when I'm off- I get to get on during the day (evening in europe) and I pop up in the morning sometimes as well (daytime Europe, Evening Asia).

Hmm but the officializing of night/day idea in cantr, would be kinda wierd as our characters would have the wierdest sleeping habits, wierder than mine.

[formerly known as hf]

No, I don't think segregation into timezones would be good - I like the international mix of players in Cantr, and I'm happy to wait a day or two for a reply - that's just the way cantr is - and I like that.

I've got a feeling that timezone segregation wouldn;t help much -as some people check during the day (like I do when I'm working at home) or in the afternoon, or evening, or at night (like I do the rest of the time at uni) so you would still find that characters are awake at different times...

[Jetlag]

I was about to suggest something about timr zones, and then I saw this thread.

I find it incredibly frustrating to log on in the morning to discover I've missed quite a lot of activity, and then check back a few times through the day to discover that nothing at all has happened. It makes it very difficult to follow a conversation, because there are so many other things happening between each time I say anything. Ultimately, it makes me feel like I'm not really playing, but sitting on the sidelines watching.

I don't think time zone seggregation should be enforced on anybody, though. Perhaps the best soultion would be to have a few areas truely international, and a few areas where characters of certain time zones are spawned, if players choose it. This would mean that there's no full segregation, but there is a degree of players in a given area being "in synch" with each other.

[SekoETC]

So if no one is forced it would be ok? At least we could know when the prime time will most likely be on an area. Now it's completely random, there may be a hot hour or then not. If there is, the action is sure to start the moment you log off / go to sleep (a thing I got bashed for stating in character).

[Nick]

Now why would we go and ruin Cantr by doing that? It would only americanize the game even further.

[Phalynx]

See I like this idea,

maybe people could spawn according to their chosen time zones into particular regions, nothing would change imediately but newer players would gradually changes things by sheer weight of mubers, the existing players would still keep their stranglehold so noone would lose out ....

[nateflory]

I personally do not like this idea. Not to dredge up old discussions, but the freeform way Cantr works almost requires a freeform setting.
Once you start adding "active timezones", it will subtly enforce groups from the same physical location IRL into the same area on general. This starts digging away at the "anonymous" nature of the game, and bring in OOC influences to IC activity.

Besides, if you find you are on opposite schedules from others in your town, just move to another town which could possibly be more active when you are. I found that very situation myself. Moved a char, and poof, everyone talking when I do!

[tiddy ogg]

Inform everyone that Akypor is hot only between 2-3 game time. Think of the damage a thief/pirate could do, knowing he wouldn't be disturbed! I've chars who don't manage to interact at peak times, but if they are into town administration or law enforcement you want a round-the-clock presence.