[Discussion] Amulets of Communication

[Tandria]

Hiya guys,

I've noticed an influx of amulet of communication use lately; it seems that people have a lot to say! While that's really great, does anyone else feel that amulets of communication are kind of a poor way to go about it?

I'm not saying that amulets of communication are bad in the least, but I'm noticing that a lot of players seem to think of amulets as almost a form of IC instant messaging, or texting, or cell phone use. To me, an amulet of communication, which actually takes physical energy to use, should be a lot more taxing (from an IC perspective, not a code perspective) than it is RPed out. Keep in mind, you're sending messages directly to someone's brain. Think about how startled and annoyed you'd be in real life with someone suddenly shouting in your head! Likely you'd end up getting a really bad headache from concentrating so long on something like that, too.

I think if amulets of communication could be used with a little more thought then this would benefit the MUD as a whole. It's really easy to send someone a tell and be like "hey, sup" "not 2 much, u?" back and forth, but if it's not urgent, why bother? Why not just say ask them to speak in person, now or later?

I also don't think the player should be expected to have to detune, as some characters need to have their minds open in case an emergency happens. Usually the problem is not receiving a tell, it's with receiving many tells!

What are everyone's thoughts on this? I'm curious.

[Gwain]

We could go back to the days where there were no echoes for using the amulet. But as for receiving messages for every mundane thing, we could just raise the stamina cost or make the player character get hungrier or lest rested as they use it to chat.

[Aveline]

I really don't like seeing the amulets used so much. I *try* to only use mine to make plans. I really really don't want to see any limitations or restrictions, or penalties added to the amulet. I would be in favor of just seeing the echoes go away and reminding people about how much they use them if it gets out of hand. If I do not know someone is constantly whispering, it does not bother me.

[Nysan]

On behalf of a character that is regularly out of stamina due to mining, smelting, and other activities, don't raise stamina costs on amulets. I already sit and wait for mv% to regenerate before responding to tells... an increase would only make things worse.

For the rest of it, no comment. My characters only use amulets for business and similar matters, never a "hey, whats up?" moment. Not faulting anyone that does, to each their own after all. I merely have other things to use my stamina on rather than chatting.

[Tandria]

I wasn't trying to suggest that tells have an increased defect at all, merely that they be used with maybe a little more care. I just don't think it's necessary to send a tell for every little thing!

Removing the echoes is a good idea, though I personally find I tend to exercise more discretion with using amulets if I know that someone else is in the room with me and I'm going to have my amulet flashing often.

[Khelebhzed]

I seem to recall this coming up in another thread. I dont recall if anything came of it though.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9746

[Briek]

I seem to recall this coming up in another thread. I dont recall if anything came of it though.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9746

Yeah it was decided I think that communication on the amulet lead to an IC meeting ASAP to lower the degree of "radio chatter"

because the IMMS can see them all it really clogs up there own screens.

[Brar]

Honestly, I hate amulets and I never wear that thing on me, at best I have it in my inventory the time to do a check or sense. Otherwise it stays in a purse or bag and very rarely goes out but in case of necessities, arranging a rendez-vous, helping dead people, I think it keeps at that.

I would be glad to be able to disrupt it with the Mind Blank spell... would teach them not to use their amulet and focus on the person in front of them.

[Zorinar]

I have always had a hard time seeing the side of the argument that the amulet of communication is some sort of godly gift that should be used only in dire situations. The amulet provides telepathy like communication ICly and saps one's stamina when in use. Using the amulet does not harm the health of the mud in any way shape or form. It is indeed used as a cell phone by many people and, in fact, it is a cell phone if you think about it.

Sure in medieval times there was no such thing as instant long distance communication but this game is not based off our mid-evil times, its based of a world with powerful magic, magic that can kill a god, magic that can bring dead back to life, magic that can instantly teleport one to another plane of existence or even send thoughts to another. This is daily life in our mud world. Trying to be too realistic in our real life terms only harms the mud. Its a game that is not based on our version of real life. We are human, it is in our nature to chatter with each other. The amulets are needed here. It is a major avenue of getting people together and keeping them in touch.

The "Hi, What's Up" part of the amulet also makes sense ICly as it is a communication device. Furthermore, every time I see an IMM OOC that they need the chatter kept down I see an immediate increase in IM chatter. To the point that some just do a majority of their chatting with IM and go zombie like in the mud. One could argue that too much IM chat harms the health of the mud more so than too much amulet chatter. (You can see it all the time, little groups of players that are always together, working in perfect harmony without ever saying a word in the mud.) People chatting with each other is going to happen one way or another, keeping it more so in the mud creates more opportunity for fun things to come about.

[Brar]

Technically speaking, such means of communication do not exist in DnD worlds, the best available would be sending, which allows you to sends 25 words and allow the receiver to send back 25 words.
And it is a spell so you have to memorize it, which means less spells for other things like combat and such and reserved to the elite clerics, wizards, not everyone.

No mortal in FR or DnD have telepathic abilities like this, they can roam dreams, sends whispers throught the winds, but never is there a two way chat open so easily.

The amulet in FK has been made to enhance meeting possibilities, to give a way for people to gather and play together instead of randomly wandering the thousands rooms in the muds in the hope to crossing someone else's path.

It was introduced at the dying of the chat channel for those who still remembers it and I don't think it was ever thought as a fantasy cellphone, and it was really not use like this ten years ago, it is really a matter of generation I think, as a member of an older generation, I consider my ingame amulet of communication the same way I consider my reallife cellphone, something that can be useful to arrange a meeting and in case of if an emergency arise. (Speaking about my private phone here, for work it's a lot different..this one never leaves me even when I sleep :p)

But then, I guess it's all comes down to a classic clash of the generations

Brar

[Briek]

There is no doubt, they are useful and even sometimes essential so I wouldn't like to see them go.

another point proven...

it's far better to meet up and roleplay rather than spend all the time on the amulet.

Possible solutions?

Introduce a number of charges per day?

increase the stamina cost per use?

[Nysan]

Introduce a number of charges per day?

increase the stamina cost per use?

Considering how many people contact Gilain on any given day (business, personal, and faith matters) and how often he spends at 0%-5%mv due to smelting, mining, walking everywhere, and other tasks... no thank you?

[Mele]

Messenger devices have absolutely no holding in the world of IC tells, it wouldn't even make sense in this scenario that it did. If Bob can't afford to send Joe a tell to ask how he's doing is he really going to IM Joe's player and say "Hey, how's Joe doing?" No, he's not and the basis of this argument is that the constant of these kinds of tells are inappropriate.

In it's entirety the object of this thread was not to say tells should be used less because the imms are over spammed, amulets should only be used in dire situations or any of that.

Some people don't like playing a character and receiving conversational tells which serve no purpose beyond chit chat from the same person to a point where tells can number over a dozen, or even in some cases as high as over fifty in one evening of time.

Some people don't enjoy sitting in a room with someone and trying to emote and have roleplay with them when all the receive in return are short "say only"(no smote) replies while said persons amulet spam flashes for a long period of time.

It's not about arguments, it's not about using your amulet when it's dire, using it less than perhaps you personally do. It's not directed at people who roleplay a niche that uses an amulet for legitimate things more often(However legitimate it may be for these people, it would indeed be nice to see more face to face roleplay for this kind of thing too, as it were.). It's about true, and bothersome excessive use of the amulet of communication. Not rules, just common courtesy to your fellow roleplayer.

[Bugoron]

9 times out of 10 I would take a trip to Market Square over using an amulet to try and talk to someone. I hate the things and only use them when necessary. I find the quick "Hi, how are you?"s unnecessary unless it's directly followed by something important. I'm glad you're alive too, but I'm not going to squeal in your ear to tell you that every chance I get.

Would there be any way to tweak the Amulets so they only have a limited number of charges per X duration of time? This, to me, would cut down the unneeded interruption of 100 "Hiiiiiiiiiii!"'s everytime one logs on. Even something like 3-5 tells per 24 game hours would be good in my mind.

[Laroremas]

We could go back to the days where there were no echoes for using the amulet. But as for receiving messages for every mundane thing, we could just raise the stamina cost or make the player character get hungrier or lest rested as they use it to chat.

Seconded. Mainly for the lack of an echo. But I support both ideas.

Edit: Removed irrelevant mini-rant.

[Tandria]

The amulet in FK has been made to enhance meeting possibilities, to give a way for people to gather and play together instead of randomly wandering the thousands rooms in the muds in the hope to crossing someone else's path.

Well said!

Zorinar, I'm trying really hard but I'm failing to see how sitting around chatting on your amulet is better than sending someone a quick tell to ask them to meet, then going to RP and talk with them in person. Sometimes it can't really be helped; maybe your character is abroad doing some task and wants to check up on a friend.

I think my biggest problem with the amulet is that it's disruptive to RP. I think it would certainly take more concentration than simply talking on a cell phone; you're holding a device to your ear and talking into it rather than sending messages telepathically using a magical amulet and the power of your mind. In addition, it would be hard to carry on a conversation with someone in front of you when there's someone talking in your brain. How often do you stand there talking to a friend in person and chatting to someone on a phone at the same time? If you say often, well, do you really find you're able to follow both of those conversations at the same time? I don't imagine! Keep in mind that your characters aren't reading text messages when someone sends them a tell... they're carrying on a conversation.

I find overuse of the amulet to somewhat break my suspension of disbelief, also. It's hard to completely immerse yourself in a fantasy setting when you have someone sending you a tell saying "Hey how ya doin'". I think Mele really encompassed everything I was trying to say with the following:

Some people don't like playing a character and receiving conversational tells which serve no purpose beyond chit chat from the same person to a point where tells can number over a dozen, or even in some cases as high as over fifty in one evening of time.

And that's actually exactly why I started this discussion!

[Nysan]

In addition, it would be hard to carry on a conversation with someone in front of you when there's someone talking in your brain. How often do you stand there talking to a friend in person and chatting to someone on a phone at the same time? If you say often, well, do you really find you're able to follow both of those conversations at the same time?

Clearly have not seen Gilain during a busy market day. 3-4 people talking to him with at least one amulet conversation going on and rarely is comment missed. This happens at least once a RL week. I'm self-trained for multitasking. That's just me though and I never expect anyone to consider any aspect of Gilain's life as 'normal' RPing.

----

Remove the echo, its spamy these days to imm and mortal alike and serves no real purpose. Charges, more stamina? Why punish amulet users when we aren't doing anything wrong? We shouldn't confuse irritation over spamy echoes with legit gameplay. Makes as much sense to me as making smelting cost twice the stamina because it has a big spamy echo...

[Mele]

With all due respect, that's because it's in text you can keep up with that much. Text has this funny way of being there for several moments, unlike a voice which is gone once it's spoken.

I seriously doubt any one person can sit in a room irl with four people converse with them and hear the person on the phone and converse with them properly also.

If you say you can, I'm sorry, I'm calling your bluff.

Can we please stop coming back to naming out one person here? The thread isn't an attack at anyone, there's no need to defend their actions. Let's think of the community as a whole.

[Gwain]

I like the charges per day limit. We had something similar during the beta of the magical post system, where you could check if you had mail at the cost of a coin fee. It was removed when the option was made automatic. The option of using a charge or paying a fee appeals to me. I'm as guilty as the next person of idly chatting up my amulet sometimes and its very addictive to strike up complex conversations over a long distance, if there was a limit in place, I could adjust my usage. So, it would be practical to use the amulet sparingly and opt to organize face to face meetings instead.

[Nysan]

I seriously doubt any one person can sit in a room irl with four people converse with them and hear the person on the phone and converse with them properly also.

If you say you can, I'm sorry, I'm calling your bluff.

Eh, most I got up to IRL is 3, without losing any comments. One on the drive tru headset and two customers at the counter. Extremely annoying and I don't care what kind of onions you like better! But I agree, it is not the norm.

Sorry for keep bringing up Gilain. Not trying to beat a dead horse with him or anything, attacking or defending. He's just my most common point of reference for amulet chatter. I'll try to stay more generalized for the rest of this thread.