Game theory:

[Solfius]

perhaps someone will ban whispers, instead making people go into rooms to talk, and will make it a crime to loiter in the main square without a harvesting permit

[Jos Elkink]

Maybe we should just remove the private talking from the game altogether?

[Solfius]

Even I wouldn't go that far, besides, far more fun to ban it and execute people who whisper

[formerly known as hf]

that might become hell in busy places. Where there's 40+ people, it would seemw weird that you couldn't have a private conversation, unless Cantrians are unable to keep their voices down

[Black Canyon]

Maybe we should just remove the private talking from the game altogether?

I'm afraid there would be a sharp increase in note-passing were that the case.

I personally would hate it if we were unable to have private conversations.

[Solfius]

that might become hell in busy places. Where there's 40+ people, it would seemw weird that you couldn't have a private conversation, unless Cantrians are unable to keep their voices down

unless you ban people from the main area! mwahaha

[Nick]

Maybe we should just remove the private talking from the game altogether?

I'm afraid there would be a sharp increase in note-passing were that the case.

I personally would hate it if we were unable to have private conversations.

Jos would like increased note passing, I think. Because that means more written notes, and therefore history.
I think that private talking should be done away with. It would make society more interesting.

[Jur Schagen]

Oh look, and I just thought of a possible solution. (Dang, im gettign smarder an smatrer evrey minit! )

Maybe whispers shouldn't be so infallible. When talking privately, there could be a random chance that you'll blurt out something just a little too loud and everyone will hear you. Thus, if two people are having a private conversation that's actually private, they'll have to go into a building.

This might curb the excessive whispering in town, as well as doing something about the unrealistic whispered sex right in front of everybody we were all discussing recently.

Im a genuis!

That's a very good suggestion, solving many problems mentioned here, since it would mean you can't be sure that private is indeed private... no problem if you're asking someone to pass a hammer, but not exactly suitable for sensitive plans to overthrow the government... Should you be aware if you were being overheard?

[Solfius]

I think so yes, because of the nature of what you're saying it could be a life or death situation, and you could be none the wiser up to the point of death.

Something like "you whisper loudly to..."

and everyone would see "...whispers loudly to..."

[Lumin]

I think doing away with whispering entirely might be a little extreme, though as Nick said it might have some side effects that are good for the game in the long run.

Then again, I get sick of people overusing them or abusing emotes in the middle of town.

I don't know, 'loud whispers' might be hard to program, but I could see it as a good compromise.

[Surly]

Then again, I get sick of people overusing them or abusing emotes in the middle of town.

I agree about the overusing of whispers... what do you mean about abusing emotes?

[Lumin]

You know, two people having sex right in front of the spouses they're cheating on, yelling, jumping up and down, whatever...just anything that would obviously be noticed by others if done in the middle of town, but since it's "whispered" only one person sees it.

[Surly]

Oh, you mean by misusing emotes in whispers... I understand.

I thought you might have meant we should limit to emotes to *smiles* instead of *looks around smiling. He raises his hand in greeting* kind of thing. I got confused...

[creepyguyinblack]

I like that idea, of a random chance of whispers being overheard. Would it be calculated once for the whisper action, and if it was overheard, everyone in the location hears it while the two whispering just see it as a regular whisper, or would it calculate for each individual present per whisper so when whispering, a few people nearby may overhear you, so that in a larger and more crowded town square or such, any whisper there'd likely be guaranteed that at least a few people overheard you? The first one may be easier to program, but I think the second one is more interesting and helps simulate how crowded a location is.

[Solfius]

yes, what creepy said

I like the second option, where it's calculated for each character there, like you say, more interesting