Radio NErfing!!

[MattWithoos]

I am speaking as a player here, not as staff, but I'm excited for it.

It will open up new opportunities and new things to do as someone else already said - travelling messengers for example.

It will also create demand for an exciting new feature... Carrier pigeons!

Ultimately let's not forget that this is a test, and it may be reverted or tweaked.

[Meorwen]

One of my characters life basically revolves around the radio, not sure what to do with it if the system doesn't work anymore and it won't be fixable. *Still shocked* All current hopes, plans and dreams will go up in smoke... or will be nearly impossible to reach.

[MonkeyPants4736]

I suspect murder will become more common, once characters learn in game that messages don't seem to get very far. Wiping out sleepy towns will be easy.

[Wolfsong]

[Mafia Salad]

I have mixed feelings on this. The first character I had setting up a radio network relied on characters to sit by radios and rely messages manually. In practice this was worthless since they would sleep or go outside after hearing nothing for a couple days. Radios were really only used internally by multi city governments. Trade over radio was unheard of. Radio's were pretty much a novelty until repeaters were added.

But the repeater to repeater networks are too much. I'm for breaking up the networks. That one person can pretty much run a multi island trade network by themselves just by having a radio on their ship (or island wide with a car) is bizarre and makes the game even more of a spectator sport for anyone not online for 30 hours a week.

But I'm not for nerfing down all radio ranges too. If you can't talk to people 4-5 towns away then the radios will just because a mostly silent novelty again with little economic advantage and occasional military ones in some situations.

For better and for worse the radio has been the biggest violence and crime prevention in game. So expect a more violent and crime ridden game with a weaker radio system. I don't have a problem with that part but I know other players don't like watching their characters and character's friends get killed.

It is weird to see major game decisions take the game in a regressive and anti technological way.

I like viktor's power idea. You need to run a generator for a repeater or transmitter to work.

[Rmak]

It is weird to see major game decisions take the game in a regressive and anti technological way.

That poor Polish map maker is going to cry !

[Greek]

I see Cantr is going postal.

I'm very uncertain what will the results of the change be. I'm one of the players being there before the introduction of the global radio network and I remember many things were done differently. It's hard to separate the impact of radio on the general sense of mystery in the first years of playing the game, but I remember it was possible to trade, pass news, inform about events etc using the means that were available. Having to ask the travelers to take the announcements to the next town was actually more fun, Imo (but it won't happen, as short-range radios will stay).
It would be much, much better to have radio system designed properly and not allow to connect everybody to a global network. It was great as a solution for messaging between neighbouring towns to facilitate forming multi-town organisations, but long-range broadcasting went out of hand. It was fun when such a global network was a novelty and a challenge for the people to build, but then it posed no additional challenge for the players and introduced various problems which could have been foreseen.
It will be hard even for my characters to change the way they (and I) think. When I'll want to sell something, then it'll not be enough to enter the "global channel" to post the offer and send somebody to perform the exchange based on an already established rate. Also lack of the 'global knowledge' which consumes all the information of the whole language zone will require to focus more on remembering which character knows what. I'll have to think more about it, but the additional challenge may make the action more rewarding.

The fuel requirement for lighthouses is clearly not designed to encourage any resource consumption, because its rates are minimal. It's goal is solely to disable lighthouses in 'dead' towns, so they won't mislead sailors. The solutions must be carefully designed for the problems and something like that wouldn't address the issues. It'd mean the cost of radio maintenance in the dense areas like the Polish Zone is marginal, while it still won't be possible to keep long radio networks up on Fu and similar areas.

I remember the initial discussion about removal of radios on GAB forums, which started about three years ago and was slowly going since then. I'm one of the fiercest enemy of the radios, but then I was still against the idea. The main issue was lack of any alternative for the players and it's necessary to have some form of long-range communication. I hope the homing pigeons will be a fine replacement for a long-range radio network, which won't have the known problems of the radio communications: it won't be instant and it won't be a broadcast, which means it'll be much harder to abuse them. Now I'm awaiting for the change with hope.

I hope it'll unleash a profusion of creativity, which will overcome any loss of convenience.

I'm also sad it wasn't posted on april first. It'd be the most perfect joke ever to see another announcement on 2nd april that says it's not a joke.

[Aduah]

I still think this change is bad for one reason, That being that there just isn't enough world population, in my opinion from what i've seen on my characters, to act as messengers and mailmen. A lot of smaller towns barely have enough people/ awake people to fill more crucial roles. I just feel like something like this will drive people away. I'm excited about the carrier pigeons but I just dont know how they will work so I'm not sure this will help solve majority of the problem. I mean it might not be too bad if travel was a bit faster. But I feel like nerfing the system really means that other things would need to be balanced due to the low population of cantr.

People talk that crimes might be higher with a nerfing of a radio system. While that MIGHT bring more life into cantr, I think the problem remains that population is so low that people cant defend themselves. Which means communities will have to consolidate, which is the opposite direction that cantr needs to go, in my humble opinion. We need more comunities, not less.

And as always, I think the OOC information about radios being nerfed WILL be abused. People who play bad characters now know that shortly towns wont be able to call for help so they can freely pillage and plunder without consequence. I think intentionally or not, people will take advantage of this OOC information. Its really hard to make giant changes to a roleplaying community without someone or even lots of people taking advantage of OOC information. I think it spells bad news for the community at large.

[ManyVoices]

I also plead to cantr staff, Before implementing a big change like this... I suggest you consult the player base before making a huge change to the game play. Let folks discuss this like in the suggestions thread, that way you can get a lot of suggestion on how you can implement and how the player base might react. I think discussion with your players is a better road.

This, a thousand times this! Who just comes us with the idea and implements it. Good way to send people packing. How about you check first if this is what the community wants.

That's it. I'm mad now and I quit!

Note: The last part was a joke for those who don't get it, I already did that!

[MattWithoos]

I understand everyone is upset at not being consulted first. That is totally understandable. It's a big change, and I support you and your grievances entirely. Please don't think your voices are unheard, though, and know that you do have influence and control even if it doesn't feel like it. This discussion is great but it can be even better - my suggestion is to keep discussing this in a level-headed way and don't point attacks or passive aggressive comments to the decision makers because, just like you, they're human with emotions and if they feel attacked, they're going to feel less encouraged to open up. This isn't a criticism of the conversation so far, just a heads up in case it devolves. You'll get further (generally - in life too) being balanced, and trying to understand where the other person is coming from.

I'm guilty of being harsh and reacting quite strongly at times, so I know it's hard. But I promise that if you can find an inner calm and respond to these changes rationally and with fantastic arguments, they will absolutely be considered.

And, of course, let's remember that this solution is the compromise between eliminating radios completely

[MonkeyPants4736]

I'd personally prefer no radios than my characters having the headache of learning where they are and aren't heard. Though, I suspect I'm in a minority with such a preference.

[MattWithoos]

If carrier pigeons were here right now I'd vote against radios entirely, just because it would add so much to the game. People would actually get out and do things and meet people and travel.

[Aduah]

I understand everyone is upset at not being consulted first. That is totally understandable. It's a big change, and I support you and your grievances entirely. Please don't think your voices are unheard, though, and know that you do have influence and control even if it doesn't feel like it. This discussion is great but it can be even better - my suggestion is to keep discussing this in a level-headed way and don't point attacks or passive aggressive comments to the decision makers because, just like you, they're human with emotions and if they feel attacked, they're going to feel less encouraged to open up. This isn't a criticism of the conversation so far, just a heads up in case it devolves. You'll get further (generally - in life too) being balanced, and trying to understand where the other person is coming from.

I'm guilty of being harsh and reacting quite strongly at times, so I know it's hard. But I promise that if you can find an inner calm and respond to these changes rationally and with fantastic arguments, they will absolutely be considered.

And, of course, let's remember that this solution is the compromise between eliminating radios completely

I think, for the most part everyone is calm (you know, aside from generally not liking this). Maybe not, Its hard to tell over the internet. I haven't seen anyone type in all caps yet.

[Slowness_Incarnate]

YOU MEAN LIKE THIS!?

Nah..anyway..this is...

Let me just say I literally tore something apart when I saw this. The amount of work it took for my character to help and the elation that came forth when all three islands were finally able to hear one another..there are no words. And now for it all to be destroyed, seriously? I like the game that I have played for so long even less now. I feel as if those who worked hard to make this happen are being punished with no reward for their efforts in sight. It is ludicrous to take something like this away before giving an alternative form of communication after it has been a mainstay for generations. Imploring staff will likely fall on deaf ears so there is naught to be done but voice outrage.

[BosBaBe]

I think this is a -really- bad idea.

For starters, without a long range radio system, as has been mentioned already, violence and theft will become common place. Small towns will easily become victims with little or no way of getting help. A carrier pigeon pleading for reinforcements or warning will arrive long after everyone in both towns are dead. It's hard enough to run small sleepy/upstarting towns, not to mention scary. And this will only make it worse.

Secondly, I agree that Cantr's active population is dwindling. If you spawn in a town of sleepers, your character wants to find a new town, an active one with possiblities. And please don't say this will encourage people to be active and your character can help liven up a place by being forced to stay since they don't know of anywhere else. If someone leaves a character sleeping, it's almost impossible to wake them up without resorting to stabbing them or dragging them off hoping the player panics. And even that doesn't always work. They probably won't feel inspired by your lively character, or the new need for messengers and couriers.

And lastly, small towns are already stretched so thinly that running off to deliver and receive messages just isn't viable. Recruiting on the radio is the best way to grow your town, group or business. And great to meet like minded characters, or for your character to break the silence of a sleepy spell and talk to someone.

Not only that, but messengers can be intercepted. It would take days longer for a sleepy messenger to tell a town of approaching pirates than it would to tell them on the radio.

Maybe a lack of a radio system worked for players back when there was a larger player base. But now, we are few in number. Please, while this may seem like a good idea, I feel it will cause more harm than good. Please don't destroy what many have worked hard to achieve. Consider what the player base wants. We don't mean to come off as negative, we're just worried and concerned.