Background noise/In the zone

[Doug R.]

One reason Jos mentioned for why he finds it hard to play Cantr in his spare time is because there's simply too many events to scroll through. I've personally encountered a number of characters in the game that also express dismay over excessive noise. Since Cantr seems to have officially gone from a sim with role-playing elements to an RPG with simulator elements, it's safe to say that noise will be the norm in any moderately populated town.

My suggestion: Make a check box to put your character "in the zone."

The effect of being "in the zone" would be that events not relating to your character would be somehow made less noticeable (either grayed out, in a smaller font, etc). The only things that would be viewed normally are when your character is whispered to, attacked, drug, or handed something. Being attacked or drug would cancel this feature. Additionally, for a spot of fun, if the character's name is spoken, it could be in normal font, simulating the phenomenon of being in a crowded area and hearing "yadda yadda yadda Doug yadda yadda."

Personally, I've trained myself to do this when reading, but then again, I probably play much more than most people. We shouldn't expect casual players (who would have more accrued events between less frequent logins) to be able to do this.

[Rebma]

I like the idea of it being grayed out. But to add to this, I'd like if things like whispers made between two people (not your characters) didn't make my charri light up, on top of being grayed out. Maybe that's another things to add to your "in the zone" suggestion..

[Piscator]

I don't see why it should be cancelled automatically. Let's just have some checkboxes in your account options.

[SekoETC]

Sounds like a cool idea. But maybe there could be some checkboxes for which event types were considered irrelevant, so that people could customize it. For example someone might find it relevant if people picked things up or entered buildings. And what about overhearing, then? Some people would gladly have that grayed out, while others might be interested in catching something that wasn't meant for their ears.

[Doug R.]

Yes, all good suggestions.

Oh, I wanted to add that a character in such a state should be visible as such, so that if someone needs to get their attention, they know they have to go to extra effort.

[Tincho]

Maybe we could put a series of checkboxes on the events screen. When we click the checkboxes, the different types of messages are highlighted or hidden.
The last configuration used could be saved automatically for each character or for the account in general.

[BZR]

Nice idea. Customization would be nice for all kind of guards, which would like to see people picking notes for example, while other chars wouldn't care for it.

[Dudel]

Ctrl + F <blank>

Blank = Character name, says to you, you say and other things of that nature.

Temp fix, kinda, but I agree... less noise is never a bad thing.

[Crosshair]

I find ctrl F works very well, especially on Chrome, but this is a good idea, it'd just be nice to not have to rely on your browser for it.

And the cocktail party effect, as it's known when you hear your name in a crowded room, makes perfect sense to me... Greying out other events'd be perfect.

Like.

[returner]

This is on my 'essential implementations' list; that which I believe -must- be implemented so that Cantr can move forward.

As a default, I believe only two things should be very visible: Public speech, and anything relating to your character. That would clean up spam so much, and help large towns stay active.

If there is anyone who says, 'but I'd be less likely to notice someone stealing, dragging, hurting.. etc'. Yes, true, but there is a touch of realism in this - it comes two-fold. First, no human is aware of absolutely every single event that occurs in their entire life.. usually, they focus on things that occur to themselves and the main things that happen around them. Two, if you check particular checkboxes so you only notice violence, theft and whispering, this could become a character trait - especially if your character have a history of being abused.. (ie, they would notice violence more)

I love this suggestion Doug.

[Dudel]

Not exactly an acessability issue, but it would be nice if other people's hunting results could be displayed in one message instead of a dozen.

I'd love to see something like this... kinda. Add in people dragging, entering and exiting buildings, setting up projects etc.

Except what you get is one event with an optional +/- to expand the event on its details.

You see X dragging resources (or whatever you wanna call it) +

You see X dragging resources) -
-Onions to Building Q
-Feathers to Building Y
etc

Works for hunting, and everything!

And yes it is an accessibility of interface issue. Why? Because it makes the interface more "newb friendly".

My brain deemed it relevant to the topic at hand.