Feature request: Foyeurs and some equivelant of the "whereare" command to reduce U-turns

#1

I’ve spent a few days hanging out on Wolfery, and I’ve been having a great time. However, I’ve noticed that much of the traffic is U-turns. That is, people walking in to see if a specific person or a person who matches their preference is in the room, then immediately leaving. Then coming back 5 to 15 minutes later and doing it again. I was wondering if it would be possible to add a foyer to the rooms with the most traffic with a window or something that allows people to see who is in the room before they go in? This has typically been standard practice on MUCKs where before you enter a club there is an foyeur where you can type ‘whereare’ to show who is inside which rooms. I think this would reduce U-turn traffic a lot.

I noticed this is particularly problematic in the Pillows Room where over 90% of the content is U-turns. I tried mailing “Shinyuu,” the character listed as the person responsible for the room, to discuss this matter regarding that specific room, but it seems that character does not exist.

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#2

Welcome to the forum, @moz386! :smiley:

I’ll happily follow any discussion on the suggested whereare feature to see what the community thinks.
U-turns are a bit annoying, true. The transparent exits has been one attempt at reducing them - but is a weaker version of whereare.

The reason why it isn’t implemented yet, is simply that I’ve taken the careful approach in how much is revealed about your character and where you are at.

I’ve also considered making it optional to reveal your location (possibly through the LFRP feature), so that it is rather up to the player to choose if others can see them in a whereare-like feature.

As for @Shinyuu, she surely exists! Look for Shinyuu Wolfy and you will find her.
She hasn’t been seen for the last week (and is missed!), but the character is there.

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#3

I believe a simple whereare feature would be a huge boon. Upon entering an area, throwing down a quick command would be helpful. I’ve had a few times where someone has said ‘I’m in x’ over messages, and then it’s a few hard minutes of searching to find them. Especially in somewhere like the shrine or the shattered caverns.

I would prefer the syntax of whereare Ukro or whereare Ukro Wudspath over an open ended whereare. I’ve run into enough instances of people stalking/[collecting names of who’s RPing with who] that an open ended tool to make that ‘job’ easier is a genuine worry for me.

#4

It would be perfect if this feature, like the summon, gives a “consent” message on the other side too. In this way you can deny or confirm to the other person to know where your character is.

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#5

Just to challenge the last (single target) use case a bit… why wouldn’t you just do join Ukro Wudspath in that case?

I think the main usecase is really seeing who are in which rooms within a closed area when you don’t know who you’re looking for. I think it would make sense for the area owner to be able to enable or disable the listing, and have it disabled by default. It’d only really make sense for small enclosed areas. Potentially also with an automatic note/tag on the public rooms within the area.

#6

@Aletheia I also love this option. The protection it would give is another sweet, sexy barrier against certain types of folk.

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@Kelmi The join command is great for showing up, but it doesn’t help with pseudoorganic ‘x walked into the candy store to see y stealing, and decided to punish them with twelve thousand lashings of the candy cane. Thwack.’ scenes.

#7

I am confused at how the targeted whereare command would help with that scenario. Could you elaborate a bit more?

#8

If I type whereare Ukro Wudspath, and receive a ping of ‘Tree of Life, Shattered Caverns’, then I know that if I travel through the world and enter the ‘Tree of Life’ room, I’ll have stumbled across my friend. ((Or, well, myself. Hi me, you’re looking good today me, thanks me)) From there’s it’s as easy as a post and away you go. The perfect scenario for those of us that have ongoing, canon relationships that don’t need planning beforehand, and when we want to use the fucking delicious settings that have already been built for impromptu scenes.

#9

It would give a protection from those people that tend to follow you around.
I find it a bit creepy when it happens, since, well…if you need to ask me something, send me a message instead of following me in Sinder!
Even if, from a certain point of view, if I am looking for a friend in particular that is online, I can avoid the whereare command by sending them a message to ask where are they and if I can join them if not busy.
So, I like the idea of the whereare thing, but at the same time it sounds a bit redundant, especially since the looking for Role-Play thing exists now, and if I want a character of mine to be found, I can place there where is my character in that moment! If someone needs instructions on how to go there, they can ask.
On the other hand, if is to know if you are about to bump into someone while travelling…eh… Dunno, a bit uncertain on that one. :thinking:

#10

That sounds like a completely different way for it to work than what the OP outlined, and a completely different purpose. I agree that in that usecase, where you’re looking for a person you know by name, there’s no reason you couldn’t just send them a page/message and ask where they are, or just a join request to get there.

#11

I don’t feel like bad behavior on the part of players is a reason to avoid adding features. If people are going to have bad behavior, they’re going to have it whether or not there are features that supplement their toolbox.

If people are allowed to talk in public areas, they might harass someone. That doesn’t mean you should mute all characters.

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#13

After a couple days away to think, I believe I’ve found a featureset that accomplishes everything that folks have asked for in here, and doesn’t push past anything that a few of us have voiced worries about.

Two separate commands, whereis Ukro and whereare. Whereis is a simple player finder, that pops up a request on the end users screen just like a Summon command. Think of it as the same essentially, but no teleport message by the time the person stumbles into the right room.

Whereare would be the same as originally discussed. However, I would give characters the ability to permanently opt out, whether through a command (think whereare opt-out) or a selection box in the UI (sorry @Accipiter, I know you and UI don’t get along :sweat_smile:)

I think the implementation of those two commands hits everything that everyone in this thread commented on, on the head. Anyone want to ping me and tell me why I’m wrong? I’m all two ears and a few braincells.

#14

I do exist and I enabled the transparent doors as an experiment today.

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#15

It took you two days to think up the wherare command that I suggested in my OP?