Note fading

[Kyle Massing]

Well i noticed in cantr that notes dont fade away like they do in real life. usally when a note is left outside it turns yellow and starts to fad away. was just wondering if anyone (like me) would like this small bit of realism in cantr also.

[swymir]

I don't know it seems a little bit "mrah" to me. I just don't like the idea of notes being destroyed.

[wulf]

Since we can magic notes and envelopes out of thin air, I'm not sure the "realism" of decay is that vital. What I would like is a way to destroy them - a firepit and some wood would seem like suitable requisites.

Wulf

[Jetlag]

Yeah, I'd like to see a way of destroying them, too. Some places seem to get very cluttered with old notes that have long since lost their relevance.

[formerly known as hf]

There is already a solution - put the unwanted notes in an envelope - mark it 'junk' or something... If that still annoys you - lock the envelope away somewhere...

as for note fading - a nice idea - but would get somehwat annoying, and is somewhat uneccessary in Cantr - and anyway, it's a text based game 'yellow fading' or whatever would mean some kind of graphical visualisation...

errgh...

But, by all means, RP that an old note you've found is faded - that'd be interesting - and better suited to Cantr I think...

[wulf]

Since notes are indestructible and in infinite supply, why can't we make something useful out of them? Paper houses? Paper armour?

The "junk" envelope is one option but it seems so untidy. Especially with the advent of decay for so many other items, it seems strange that notes are so untouchable you cannot even destroy them if you try.

Actually, thinking about it, the idea of notes fading over a suitably long time seems a really good one - it would place a whole new importance on keepers of knowledge, who faithfully transcribe old knowledge onto new notes, and to those who protect and guard them.

Wulf

[Jetlag]

Actually, fading wouldn't have to be done graphicaly at all. You could have a system whereby a random letter gets replaced by a space now and then. Slowly, the note becomes less and less legible. Not sure if it's something we need desperately, though.

Being able to actively destroy notes might lead to some interesting roleplay situations, like sending sealed letters that can then be destroyed by the recipient. And no, I don't think the envelope solution is particularly tidy either.

[formerly known as hf]

*me cries at the thought of all that precious history lost because Cantrians are sleeping so much...*

[SekoETC]

The system used in Nethack is quite interesting, there symbols get randomly replaced by other symbols that graphically resemble the original one, exept that they are missing a line or two. For example h becomes n; n becomes r, e or o or d becomes c and so on. If they detoriate enough and turn unrecognizable, they are replaced by question marks.

By the way it would be a hell for using search option on maps so people would actually be required to read the maps instead of just hitting coal etc in the search box and checking all the locations that hold this resource.

coal -> ccal -> ?cal
iron -> iror -> i?cr
hematite -> ncmatite -> rcma?itc
limestone -> limestcne -> i?ncstcrc
wood -> wcod -> vc?c
potatoes -> pctatocs -> ?cta?ccs
hemp -> nemp -> rcnp

As you can see, you don't have to change much to make them unreadable.

[The Sociologist]

As you can see, you don't have to change much to make them unreadable.

Indeed. Fascinating. But then you're left with tens of thousands of pages of unreadable garbage... Was that the idea of the thread? Not sure, really.

Overall, I'd like to see a way of destroying notes en masse. Perhaps by burning envelopes full of them. Try inheriting all the stuff belonging to a town leader who never recycled a single note in thirty years of picking them up, and you'll see what I mean.

[Kyle Massing]

Its a form of note destruction but also opens up a whole new set of jobs. people to decpher old notes and a way of getting rid of unnessisary ones over time, while at the same time would force a goverment to copy or rewrite the laws thus making it avalible for more laws to be placed when old laws die out over time(such as in some areas there are laws that are over 500 days old that state that its illegal to gather a resource when that resource is no longer in that area). it opens up historians and note keepers, eventually someone would make a library (assuming that notes last longer inside) and that again would open up more jobs. i figure it would overal help the societies.

[Oasis]

Just wait til some of mine die. OMG, it's not worth killing them, if you have to pick up their notes afterwards. I need an extra 1000 minutes to ever be able to think of sorting them...........I'm waiting for the check boxes beside notes so i can put multiple notes in an envelope at the same time. Until that is implemented, just don't kill my chars, whatever you do.

[Surly]

I spend enough time in RL trying (badly) to translate old documents. I'm too lazy to do it in Cantr as well.

[wichita]

Although the envelope trick is a good band-aid for the note excess, it would be nice to have the option to burn/destroy notes.

I do like having ancient notes around for historical purposes. I would hate to see widespread decay of notes for that reason, unless there would be a way to seal them and preserve them like the Dead Sea Scrolls or something. That would be pretty cool in game.

The random scrambling of letters would be cool. I could see it kicking in when a note gets copied...lazy scribes.

[wulf]

That letter mutating appeals to me as well. It would have to be over quite a long period though. It would primarily affect old, unused documents - information that is highly regarded (not necessarily the same as accurate!) would be copied into newer editions that would remain unaffected for sometime; documents that are discarded, abandoned or lost would suffer most.

Wulf