a town in the forest

[SickGerm]

Alright when you first spawn everyone is recognized as a man/women in his twenties thirties fourties or however old he/she is.

I think towns should work the same way at first it would create a big problem for travellers but it would make way for naming of towns and make it harder for chars to cheat and just grab a map from another char and travel all over the world with it.

It makes more sence then the normal system currently you are born with the knowledge of the name of everytown.

This would also give more purpose to signs and such perhaps road signs could be introduced to a sign that is attached to a road that add a small description to it

ex.

a road youve never gone on would look like this but would be able to be dynamically named

Path to a town in the mountains

Highway to a town by a lake

road to a town in the woods

one with a sign could look like this

Path to a town in the mountains (This way to Griphon)

Highway to a town by a lake (This way to Kara's Trading Outpost)

and when you change the name because someone points to the town and tells you where it leads or you look at a sign that tell you it would look like this.

Road to Griphon (This way to Griphon)

Highway to Hirotha (This way to Kara's Trading Outpost)

I know at first it would create mass panic not knowing where your going and maps would constantly need to be revised but in rl maps are constantly revised as nations fall and such i think over all it would make travel and forging empires alot more interesting.

[Surly]

This was discussed to some extent after dynamic naming... the whole amnesia issue.

Personally I'm all for it... I think it's a great idea. It would allow the renaming of buildings to stick, as well as the renaming of towns.

I'll go find the topic in GD and link it...

EDIT: There we are:
http://www.cantr.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4700

[SickGerm]

alright sorry im not a big forum junky havent been looking at it much recently

[rklenseth]

I think new characters should perhaps know the name of the town they spawn in but not any other places.

[The Sociologist]

Personally I'm all for it... I think it's a great idea. It would allow the renaming of buildings to stick, as well as the renaming of towns.

I'd say signs would be a better way to make the renaming of buildings stick.

Let's analyze how you go about naming a building IRL. There are several ways. One is indeed by the look of a building coupled with what you have been told about it. Indeed, when I first visited New York, you could say that I "dynamically named" the Empire State Building for myself based on how it looked and what I had previously experienced in terms of images and movies. I didn't have to get close enough to it to see a sign.

This is somewhat like how you name for yourself certain famous people, and this does work in-game right now. For example, one of my charries once asked Taowyn if Jo Jo was the man in the silk shirt who had shouted "Me". So Taowyn didn't even need to point on that occasion.

The other way of naming buildings pertains to things like shops in the local mall. You know that a building is "Betty's Boutique" because it has a bleeding great sign that says so. On the other hand, if Betty invites you to call at her home at 1 Rose Avenue, then you use a map. If you succeed in following the map, then you don't have to know what her house looks like or even ask anyone.

So let's please be very careful about this amnesia business until such time as there are more techniques for locating buildings. Permanent signs, certainly, and perhaps objective geographical position and distinguishing features too.

Much the same thing should apply to towns. For example, in the town where you currently are, the exits should at minimum specify something like the path name "leading north north west towards a forest". This will be a sufficient prompt to replace the sort of geographical clues which you use IRL when following a map.

[Surly]

Signs only work in combination with amnesia... otherwise it won't matter what you put on your sign, it will still be whatever it used to be before you put the sign there.

I don't think amnesia would cause any particular problem if we were given a week's notice... people make 'maps', amnesia hits, people rename buildings, life continues as usual. It will cause a problem if you're away from home, yes. But I'm sure someone can give you a map... and if there is no-one, it doesn't really matter what you call it then, does it?

Complete amnesia and the chance to start again... the possibility for Cantr to make dynamic naming work by not taking any half measures, and actually following this all the way through.

Yes, signs need to be implemented for dynamic naming to be effective. But until someone provides me with a coherent, non-reactiobary reason why amnesia would not be good... I stand by my beliefs.

[Ian]

I love this idea. I think people should have total amnesia. It shouldn't take long for someone to figure out where they are anyway. I think it would be relatively easy to program and should be done as soon as possible.

[west]

I agree. As long as there's signs (not part of the dynamic name) that you can put on buildings and rooms.

An "eye" button would suffice to tell you what kind of building it is, what condition it's in (I HOPE the decay rates would be very very very slow for most kinds of buildings...stone ones can last thousands of years), and whether there's a sign on it, and what that sign says.

I go to a new place, I don't know that Jack's Pineapple Shack is Jack's Pineapple Shack, I just see (a mud hut) or something until I look closer and see, "The wooden sign at the front reads 'Jack's Pineapple Shack.'"

[formerly known as hf]

Hooray for non-dynamic signs attached to buildings and building descriptions in conjunction with amnesia...

I don't think this idea can be plugged enough...

[wichita]

I agree with that. Dynamic naming has been great, but it would be nice to get more description of a building than its name. Are we going to be able to use a description variable in the naming, or does that already work and I just missed it from a discussion?

So when the amnesia hits, are we going to walk into a new town and see:

a wooden cottage

Which after typing in Wichita's Love Shack -- ( <CANTR BUILDESCR> )
I will see...

Wichita's Love Shack -- ( a wooden cottage )