Forums » Suggestions
Guide characters
This post kinda made me think about guides and what they do in our little universe: http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/1/14745#185664
I couldn't find any guide-lines in these forums for guide behaviour and I don't know if the devs have any future plan for the guide system, but this is what I suggest: Guide accounts or Guide Characters. These accounts are clearly labled as "Guide" or even a tag that is unique for guides and access to a special guide ship (similar to the dev superbus).
To have an established character as a guide is confusing as well as the possible inherent abuse of guide privileges.
What does the community think?
I couldn't find any guide-lines in these forums for guide behaviour and I don't know if the devs have any future plan for the guide system, but this is what I suggest: Guide accounts or Guide Characters. These accounts are clearly labled as "Guide" or even a tag that is unique for guides and access to a special guide ship (similar to the dev superbus).
To have an established character as a guide is confusing as well as the possible inherent abuse of guide privileges.
What does the community think?
This part of the community thinks you need to (1) try the search function; (2) rethink your issues with the current system; (3) try using more than one brain cell when prioritizing your game improvement suggestions.
We've been over this, there's good reasons for not doing what you suggest, and I'm not going to bother explaining them. Someone who's more moron friendly than I will, no doubt, do so shortly.
We've been over this, there's good reasons for not doing what you suggest, and I'm not going to bother explaining them. Someone who's more moron friendly than I will, no doubt, do so shortly.
Guides talk in guide text. If you say something that isn't in guide text, then your saying it as a player. If I'm out pirating, and a guide tells me in guide text not to kill them, I won't kill them. If they tell me in non guide text, then I go ahead and kill them. I believe that all guide actions should be logged and reviewed. Talking in guide text, changing a players name/stats/locations/etc.. should be reviewable. I rarely have any direct conflict with guides (while they are being guides). If a guide didn't have an established character, I would be wondering what qualified them to be a guide. I'm the one that says guides should spend more time being a player than they spend being a guide. I'm concerned that your suggestion would not premote guides spending more time as normal players.
All guide-specific actions (white text and other specialized commands) are logged separately and automagically emailed to Incarnate for review on a weekly basis. Guide actions are also color-coded in the general logs for easy review on an ongoing basis if necessary.
Guides cannot change a player's name.
Some of your other questions are already answered in the link you provided.
At one time I did hang out online as a Guide-only character. It was extremely dull to hang about and not be able to play during downtimes. I once suggested spiffy Guide ships (something like the old Wraith with an old-fashioned police paint job and flashing lights) but it was agreed that this would ultimately detract from immersion.
A public set of rules and guidelines for the Guides would be problematic because:
1) No set of rules will suffice for the multitude of possibilities presented by the VO universe and the pilots who traverse it. The guides have been selected for their ability to exercise sound judgement, and they do a remarkable job.
2) There are those in life who will attempt to re-interpret the wording of rules to suit their own agenda. This behavior is rampant online.
Guides cannot change a player's name.
Some of your other questions are already answered in the link you provided.
At one time I did hang out online as a Guide-only character. It was extremely dull to hang about and not be able to play during downtimes. I once suggested spiffy Guide ships (something like the old Wraith with an old-fashioned police paint job and flashing lights) but it was agreed that this would ultimately detract from immersion.
A public set of rules and guidelines for the Guides would be problematic because:
1) No set of rules will suffice for the multitude of possibilities presented by the VO universe and the pilots who traverse it. The guides have been selected for their ability to exercise sound judgement, and they do a remarkable job.
2) There are those in life who will attempt to re-interpret the wording of rules to suit their own agenda. This behavior is rampant online.
Hehe... right now, I'm imagining Whistler pulling up alongside a player, saying "Step out of the vehicle pelase, hands where I can see 'em...". In the non-kinky way.
While Whistler, in his many incarnations, has been a great help to all of us guides in molding our abilities, he is also correct in saying that none of us has seen everything. Posting our guidelines is a very bad idea for the reason he mentioned.
While I do still consider myself active, it has been a while since I've been on due to a nasty storm which caused a lot of damage in the area and me helping neighbors get trees down safely. Also, I've sustained a couple of injuries which make playing painful. Nothing that won't heal but will take time.
I do like helping with the player events but I'm not a fast typer and, while the commands to equalize players for mayhem have been somewhat streamlined, it still takes time and concentration to get it all done properly and then undone once the event has concluded.
For this, I'd think a player-controlled ability to temporarily tank standing could be developed. Something akin to WoW's ability to allow everyone to kill everyone but without the multiple server requirement. Without fleshing the bad aspects out by the Devs, it allows for widespread mayhem so it would need to be a controlled ability such as limiting it to small areas where events occur.
Players have, for the most part, been well suited to policing themselves of late. I'm hoping it's because guide actions against others have instilled in the player-base a sense of what should be acceptable and what should not. I sometimes get on and see something going on and just watch and chuckle as the players, themselves, handle it better than any guide could.
There are some things though that have cropped up that have been handled very poorly by the players. To these instances, I shudder. Something that the player-base, as a whole, does NOT handle well is a new player that is both ignorant of the game as well as boisterous. Those new players tend to get shouted down with insults when all they really need is to be directed straight to a mentor.
I'm sorry if I have not been there for events or some of your other needs but something said earlier is all too true. We can either be players or guides. Not both at the same time. If I'm on playing, I'll answer questions if I can but I will not drop everything to take care of a squabble or a request. If I'm on as a guide, I'll not play because I'm too busy with three or four PM sessions and can't even hit the launch button without losing track.
Whatever is decided, I'm sure we'll all adjust and learn to live life anew with it.
[p.s. Tosh, pull over and keep your hands where I can see them.]
While I do still consider myself active, it has been a while since I've been on due to a nasty storm which caused a lot of damage in the area and me helping neighbors get trees down safely. Also, I've sustained a couple of injuries which make playing painful. Nothing that won't heal but will take time.
I do like helping with the player events but I'm not a fast typer and, while the commands to equalize players for mayhem have been somewhat streamlined, it still takes time and concentration to get it all done properly and then undone once the event has concluded.
For this, I'd think a player-controlled ability to temporarily tank standing could be developed. Something akin to WoW's ability to allow everyone to kill everyone but without the multiple server requirement. Without fleshing the bad aspects out by the Devs, it allows for widespread mayhem so it would need to be a controlled ability such as limiting it to small areas where events occur.
Players have, for the most part, been well suited to policing themselves of late. I'm hoping it's because guide actions against others have instilled in the player-base a sense of what should be acceptable and what should not. I sometimes get on and see something going on and just watch and chuckle as the players, themselves, handle it better than any guide could.
There are some things though that have cropped up that have been handled very poorly by the players. To these instances, I shudder. Something that the player-base, as a whole, does NOT handle well is a new player that is both ignorant of the game as well as boisterous. Those new players tend to get shouted down with insults when all they really need is to be directed straight to a mentor.
I'm sorry if I have not been there for events or some of your other needs but something said earlier is all too true. We can either be players or guides. Not both at the same time. If I'm on playing, I'll answer questions if I can but I will not drop everything to take care of a squabble or a request. If I'm on as a guide, I'll not play because I'm too busy with three or four PM sessions and can't even hit the launch button without losing track.
Whatever is decided, I'm sure we'll all adjust and learn to live life anew with it.
[p.s. Tosh, pull over and keep your hands where I can see them.]
I haven't been speeding, officer, honest!
I didn't conduct any unlogged experiments with harmful medical robotics either! Errr...
I didn't conduct any unlogged experiments with harmful medical robotics either! Errr...
Jesus Christ, Relayer... where do you live, Washington?
"Sustained a couple of injuries" and "helping neighbors get trees down safely?"
You one tough bugga, eh?
/me bows to RelayeR... respects...
...War is Peace...
EDIT:
And for those who would say, (in RE: the first two words of my post) "Thou shalt not take the Name of thy Lord, God, in vain." I come from a different tradition, that would say, "Thou shalt take the Name of thy Lord, God, in all ways, and at all times, for It is non-different from Himself(Herself)."
aham brahmasmi...
"Sustained a couple of injuries" and "helping neighbors get trees down safely?"
You one tough bugga, eh?
/me bows to RelayeR... respects...
...War is Peace...
EDIT:
And for those who would say, (in RE: the first two words of my post) "Thou shalt not take the Name of thy Lord, God, in vain." I come from a different tradition, that would say, "Thou shalt take the Name of thy Lord, God, in all ways, and at all times, for It is non-different from Himself(Herself)."
aham brahmasmi...
As long as you do not take the name of the Great Lady in vain.. you are forgiven, Bidi.
it would be nice to have a honor system like slashdot has.
eg, as you accumulate "wisdom" points, you end up being put into a rotational pool of pseudo-guides. when you log and you've been chosen to "serve", you can either accept or deny.
provided you accept, your user name appears with some tag to note you have "helping/guiding" powers.
the extend of this would have to be laid out but the idea is to relieve lesser-chores to non-guides, such as spawning hives or restarting the levi or... well, stuff like that.
of course guild commanders like me ought to have /oper kill too. we never know when that comes in handy... nyuk nyuk nyuk...
edit:
er, the analogy with slashdot is that as you accumulate karma points, you eventually get put in a pool of moderators. when you choose to moderate, you're given 5 moderation points to alter the karma level of some posts.
perhaps we could also use that for the forums posts. particularly the suggestions and rp one.
eg, as you accumulate "wisdom" points, you end up being put into a rotational pool of pseudo-guides. when you log and you've been chosen to "serve", you can either accept or deny.
provided you accept, your user name appears with some tag to note you have "helping/guiding" powers.
the extend of this would have to be laid out but the idea is to relieve lesser-chores to non-guides, such as spawning hives or restarting the levi or... well, stuff like that.
of course guild commanders like me ought to have /oper kill too. we never know when that comes in handy... nyuk nyuk nyuk...
edit:
er, the analogy with slashdot is that as you accumulate karma points, you eventually get put in a pool of moderators. when you choose to moderate, you're given 5 moderation points to alter the karma level of some posts.
perhaps we could also use that for the forums posts. particularly the suggestions and rp one.
Uh, no, Mogul.
who?
I kinda like upper case's suggestion. The details may need tweaking but the idea is sound. (IMNSHO)
EDIT:
One tweak might be to make it possible for players to vote out player guides (to make sure the player guides don't abuse their (temporary?) position). Repeated succesful votes would make a player ineligible for temp guide status in the future (to avoid people exploiting in some way).
EDIT:
One tweak might be to make it possible for players to vote out player guides (to make sure the player guides don't abuse their (temporary?) position). Repeated succesful votes would make a player ineligible for temp guide status in the future (to avoid people exploiting in some way).
*bump*
inspired by old muds, how about we get a
/guide
command?
eg:
% /guide
> *guide* there are 4 guides online
% /guide i need help with something. how to i launch?
> *guide* *whistler* open your eyes and click the launch button you noob tart!
the idea here is to give a semi-anonymous access to any guide that might be online at any given time so questions can be pooled for guides, rather than have players harass the same guide all the time because that's the only one he knows or has dealt with recently (sorry fm!)
* any impersonation of characters, dead or alive, is strictly for illustration purpose only.
inspired by old muds, how about we get a
/guide
command?
eg:
% /guide
> *guide* there are 4 guides online
% /guide i need help with something. how to i launch?
> *guide* *whistler* open your eyes and click the launch button you noob tart!
the idea here is to give a semi-anonymous access to any guide that might be online at any given time so questions can be pooled for guides, rather than have players harass the same guide all the time because that's the only one he knows or has dealt with recently (sorry fm!)
* any impersonation of characters, dead or alive, is strictly for illustration purpose only.
at the same time, you don't want to harass the guides either. They're busy people too.
yeah. that's the point. sending a one-liner guide help command pools your question and it might get answered in time if there are any guides online.
you clouldn't pile up requests. much like /buddy note type of thing. A one shot, one-liner. it bounces back if there are no guides on.
you clouldn't pile up requests. much like /buddy note type of thing. A one shot, one-liner. it bounces back if there are no guides on.