So I’ve recently learned that being “looked at” persists when you leave the room or even when you (or the looker?) log off.
If a player has some profiles they would like to keep private, this makes it impossible against a dedicated stalker, who just has to “look” at the char once and then just maintain the look. Especially if the stalker has an alt to spare on this.
While I personally don’t care if someone wants to keep “looking” at my character even as I’m editing descs or changing profiles away in a private room… it is slightly creepy and it sounds like good user experience to prevent it by default.
A good start to solving this could be really simple: just drop the look when you’re in different rooms and the target makes a change to their desc/image, or swaps profiles.
I think it is a good idea to just have the look drop when the person isn’t in the same room anymore. That might be easier to check for during a UI update loop than any other criteria. It’s always weird when I leave a room that someone who is away is looking at me, then come back a few hours later and that same person is still there and looking. I don’t personally find it creepy, but it is definitely not expected behavior.
I just tested this. Once someone has left the room, the profile does not update if it is changed. This should relax concerns about someone being stalked, or seen in a profile not meant for public display.
That’s cool, I suppose I should’ve tested it more thoroughly before posting. I think it’s good to get a public confirmation though, for anyone who might be concerned about it in the future.