Arelith Player Portal feedback thread

[BegoneThoth]

Has this been rejected then? Not on the table?

One potential idea that has been discussed is the idea of showing RPR:
- Show something (flag, or border) indicating RPR level if 30 or 40 RPR
- Potentially Opt in/opt out
- Potentially make it 40 RPR only

The reasoning for this would be to allow newer players to find our 30s and 40s for mentorship as they enter the realm of RPing/NWN/Arelith. Of course, there are issues with showing RPR as well.

[pigman]

Re: RPR



My issue with this is that it will create stigma where there was little... I had 20 rpr, it reset to 10 when I switched copies of NWN a year or so ago and never bothered to ask a DM to correct it because It had zero effect on how other players interacted with me. I would be very fearful of a system where someones "quality" could be pre-assumed.

Unless the rpr system receives a drastic overhaul to prevent the accidental overlooking of some players, it really should stay a private thing that only serves to let exceptional roleplayers know that the Dm's appreciate their presence rather than a tool we use to judge each other.

[Baron Saturday]

There's an assumption I'd like to challenge, actually: Why does username need to be shown on the portal?

Seriously, what actual purpose does that serve?

[Twily]

It's helped me find friends I played with on past characters many times now, and it's easy enough to change the login for people who don't want to be found so I've never seen harm to it(beyond disguise metagaming).

If possible, could it be made to remove the login name for disguised individuals, show the disguised name instead of character name, and position them on the list alphabetically by their disguised name? This wouldn't necessarily eliminate the metagaming issue, but would make it a lot more difficult. (if this was combined with making disguised characters not have /tp, it would be near impossible to track)

The biggest reason I've seen against having usernames visible is metagaming disguises, which is definitely a very big issue at times.

[Hunter548]

There's an assumption I'd like to challenge, actually: Why does username need to be shown on the portal?

Seriously, what actual purpose does that serve?

So that if someone breaks the rules at you in disguise, you can point out who it really is and save the DMs some log-checking?

[Baron Saturday]

That's about the only reason I could think of, as well. I ask because it seems as though quite a few concerns about privacy could be addressed by removing usernames from the portal.

Does the DM team feel that Hunter's explanation is an essential function of the portal?

Edit: Somehow missed Twily's post. Finding old friends is also a decent reason, though I feel that with the popularity of Discord, it's not as relevant anymore.

[PinataPlethora]

My issue with this is that it will create stigma where there was little... I had 20 rpr, it reset to 10 when I switched copies of NWN a year or so ago and never bothered to ask a DM to correct it because It had zero effect on how other players interacted with me. I would be very fearful of a system where someones "quality" could be pre-assumed.

Unless the rpr system receives a drastic overhaul to prevent the accidental overlooking of some players, it really should stay a private thing that only serves to let exceptional roleplayers know that the Dm's appreciate their presence rather than a tool we use to judge each other.

I wouldn't worry about players looking down on others for anything other than a 0 RPR. It's more likely they'll think someone with a 10 is just new, and 20 is supposedly where the majority stand, which would be apparent and understood upon seeing the list.

What worries me is The Amadeo Effect. People see Amadeo Pneuma, and assume that something is happening, often dropping what they were doing to follow him. I worry that players will flock toward 30s and 40s, ignoring their own likely far more interesting RP, on the hope that these supposedly stellar RPers will entertain them.

It kills me when people drop their own RP to gather around big server-wide DM events and end up just staring for hours without any meaningful interaction. Advertising numbers might cause the same problem.

[Cortex]

There would be more problems than "looking down on others", to name a few:

1. "This guy's a 30/40 but he's actually GARBAGE. DMs r dumb/favoritists!"
2. "wtf look at all these [higher rpr] than me i must be doing something wrong and should try harder!"
3. "hey its that 40 im gonna follow him because dms must watch him a lot and maybe i get a raise"
4. "hey its that 40 he must be really AMAZING so im gonna rp with him all the time"


Plus, RPB is more of a badge than anything else nowadays, since apparently it takes a good chunk of being an insufferable detriment for it to be lowered, so a lot of these high ratings can just be misleading and not really fulfill the idea behind exposing them.

[Blood on my Lips]

I want RPR public so I can learn from example what good RP is.

Right now I don't know the difference between good and bad because it isn't expressed to me via numerical value.

Someone's RPR isn't really a valid reflection of their RP. I know a lot of really good RPers with 20's, likely because they just aren't being seen by the DMs.

I've also seen some crap RP came from people with a higher RPR.

You should be able to interact with others and see for yourself if their RP is good.

I also feel very strongly that everyone's rating should remain private unless the player feels like disclosing it.

[Iceborn]

I've seen people that has boasted their high RPR, and I didn't find their RP particularly interesting.
I've seen people that has boasted their high RPR, and I found their RP particularly interesting.
I've seen people that has moaned about their RPR, and I didn't find their RP particularly interesting.
I've seen people that has moaned about their RPR, and I found their RP particularly interesting.
And all the variants.

Ultimately we have all have ups and downs on the quality of our roleplay, and only consistency may be the only thing that merits a promotion or demotion. Even more ultimately, RPR is a token reward, and should remain private.

[BegoneThoth]

I want RPR public so I can learn from example what good RP is.

Right now I don't know the difference between good and bad because it isn't expressed to me via numerical value.

Someone's RPR isn't really a valid reflection of their RP. I know a lot of really good RPers with 20's, likely because they just aren't being seen by the DMs.

I've also seen some crap RP came from people with a higher RPR.

You should be able to interact with others and see for yourself if their RP is good.

I also feel very strongly that everyone's rating should remain private unless the player feels like disclosing it.

I was being facetious. I think the system as a whole is farcical.

[Seven Sons of Sin]

I'm sure 40ers have enough pressure to perform at a high standard 99% of the time without the need to broadcast their RPR.

[-XXX-]

- RP "quality" is subjective
- RPB adjustment is 100% arbitrary
- RPB adjustment is 100% DM perogative
- RPB has ultimately 0 telling value

Most players with higher RPB are quite proficient in including other players into their ongoing events, so highlighting them in some kind of player list would be rather redundant in this regards, while also introducing several aforementioned issues.


As far as Portal vs. Cih
- I look into the former when I am looking for a character and the latter when I am looking for a player.
- scry tool is nice
- maybe introduce an option to switch between sorting the list alphabetically based on char names and based on player names in whatever list we'll end up with in the end

[nobs3]

After a quick look at this discussion:

Maybe players can choose if there should be a green dot next to them on the list.

green light on: "I am a experianced player of Arelith. If you have questions I am happy to help out."
green light off: "Please don't disturb my rp if you don't have an urgent matter."

Or something like this. Let the people decide.

About the forum styles I want to add: Old version looks much more friendly. Add funktions - if wanted. Eddit topline. Remove or narrow the top-pic.

nobs

[Teshil]

Maybe players can choose if there should be a green dot next to them on the list.

green light on: "I am a experianced player of Arelith. If you have questions I am happy to help out."
green light off: "Please don't disturb my rp if you don't have an urgent matter."

Great idea!

[DM Apollo]

Thank you all for your feedback. There are some good ideas here, and while many of the ideas won't happen at launch of the new Portal it has been a useful exercise to see what people look for in a portal. All the feedback is appreciated.

Unfortunately some ideas just don't work well or are too much work to see the light of day. This includes showing RPR, which as has been shown is definitely an unwanted feature and will not be included.

That's about the only reason I could think of, as well. I ask because it seems as though quite a few concerns about privacy could be addressed by removing usernames from the portal.

Does the DM team feel that Hunter's explanation is an essential function of the portal?

Edit: Somehow missed Twily's post. Finding old friends is also a decent reason, though I feel that with the popularity of Discord, it's not as relevant anymore.

The plan is to show the disguised names rather than the character names. Showing only the disguised names will make it more difficult to tell if someone you're looking for is online which will mean that the player name will be an aid there.

Remember that discord is not a requirement to play here and that limiting information because discord is popular simply makes it harder for people choosing to not use discord. As this is information that could be gleamed easily by clicking on a portrait in game if someone wanted to metagame. I don't think that this will prove too much of an increased issue.

[Xarge VI]

One nice addition would be the ability to see the ingame time.
This would be helpful for the players of light sensitive characters.

[rookie]

The plan is to show the disguised names rather than the character names. Showing only the disguised names will make it more difficult to tell if someone you're looking for is online which will mean that the player name will be an aid there.

That will make disguise even easier to metagame than right now as many people only have one active character per account (as in the rest may be retired or played very very little).

Not even intentionally searching for metaknowledge mind you, at least with the current system if there are multiple people disguised online you'd actually have to encounter the character to know who is who. Also currently you have to compare the lists to see a character is only present on one.

Leaving it as is or just putting in "Disguised" for the portal character name would be better, unless your intention is to aid in metagaming for reporting purposes or whatever. I so rarely send tells but I think you can just manually type in a player's name with the right format which is the only other purpose I could see?

[Durvayas]

Formatting it so that it shows up like so;

<Dashing rogue(Disguised)>
Playername

Will make metagaming who is disguised easier, not harder. Right now, to figure out who is who, you need to flip back and forth between the portal and the IG playerlist to use the process of elimination. Formatting it like so makes it so you can just skip that step.

For reporting purposes, this will make things a little easier, which is good.

[Cortex]

*clicks portrait*

[rookie]

*clicks portrait*

*doesn't even need to click portrait knowing who everyone is despite not even seeing them or even being logged in*

There is an advantage in being able to use metaknowledge to prepare before even encountering someone than there is in using metaknowledge while you're in front of, and observed by, the other party.

[Liareth]

The plan is to show the disguised names rather than the character names. Showing only the disguised names will make it more difficult to tell if someone you're looking for is online which will mean that the player name will be an aid there.

That will make disguise even easier to metagame than right now as many people only have one active character per account (as in the rest may be retired or played very very little).

Not even intentionally searching for metaknowledge mind you, at least with the current system if there are multiple people disguised online you'd actually have to encounter the character to know who is who. Also currently you have to compare the lists to see a character is only present on one.

Leaving it as is or just putting in "Disguised" for the portal character name would be better, unless your intention is to aid in metagaming for reporting purposes or whatever. I so rarely send tells but I think you can just manually type in a player's name with the right format which is the only other purpose I could see?

I disagree with this. In most cases, showing the disguise name in place of the character name on the portal makes it more difficult to metagame their identity. The key information you care about if you want to metagame someone's disguise is their name outside of the disguise - e.g. if there's a drow disguised as an elf, you might click on their name, find the very drow name belonging to that player name on the portal, and boom, you know you're actually in danger. Right now that's easy peasy, just click on their portrait then look them up on the portal by player name. If the portal shows disguise name only, then it's no longer as easy. You wouldn't be able to tell who someone actually is by cross referencing the portal. Sure, if you know that player only plays one character, you can still guess, but you can do that right now, too, in exactly the same way.

I guess actually it goes both ways though. You kinda have to choose your poison - what's worse, being able to see someone's disguise associated with their player name without interacting with them, or being able to find out someone's real identity the moment you interact with them? IMO, the second is worse, so I think having disguise names on the portal would be a good improvement. Maybe there could be a cool middle ground where you can't see the player name if a disguise is active.

[Cortex]

Would that extend to -playerlist? People who want to metagame will find a way.

[rookie]

Maybe there could be a cool middle ground where you can't see the player name if a disguise is active.

Yeah that's why I said in my post about just showing the word "Disguised" in place of the character name on the portal.

For the rest we've just had different experiences with the disguise system. Personally I've found that unless you have a very obvious House name people don't key off the drow/elven naming differences if any. From my own experience the Disguised tag actually causes many to RP more suspicion than I've seen with PCs that went undisguised but "covered up".

[Cihparg]

Friends List, and anonymized disguises
Friends list is a feature I myself wanted to implement on my list, and did implement to an extent.
However, since this is a new Arelith portal, it can be implemented in much better ways.

One such way would be to add an extra in-game command, the -friend command.
When both players have sent each-other a -friend tell, they'll be registered as friends for the portal to recognize.
Whenever logged in, and having the portal in the background, if the player's friend comes online they'll get a notification about it on the portal and/or in game.
They could also have a list of all already online friends.
The list may not necessarily have character names assigned to it, merely the account names of the paired friends.
* Potentially give the players a command to hide their activity from friends as well.