Actually I'm more worried about stupid, offensive or out of place names for players characters. Immersion would suffer greatly if your 3 companions in a epic dungeon crawl are respectively named , and .
Goblin Squad Member
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Actually I'm more worried about stupid, offensive or out of place names for players characters. Immersion would suffer greatly if your 3 companions in a epic dungeon crawl are respectively named , and .
Well, that officially means I'm out of ideas for character names.
I've often though names should only show up in a window on the side of the screen when you actually click on someone and have them as your "current target". Have names floating over everybody's heads is just ugly and immersion breaking.
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Lord of the Rings Online allows you to turn of nameplates by hitting the "N" key. Very easy.
They also have an anonymous function that disallows inspection of your character and so forth. I'm not sure if you can turn off your own nameplate or not. Besides, they can see your name if they target you.
Good RPers simply won't use your name until you introduce yourself.
The main problem that I can see for getting rid of your nameplate altogether would be the abuses that can be achieved if nameplates are used for in-game queues to other players. Many games use a color-coding system.
Lord of the Rings Online has different colors for "standard", "RPing", "Guildmate", and "Group Member" to name a few.
Problem with removing easily visible nameplates is that there is hard to id PCs other way - is that male human in green cloths the same I have seen before or new one that uses similar face model?
While the newest games allow for great customization of faces (EVE Online... ah, EVE Online) there is still limited amount of choice and some choices will be favored over others due to their attractivness (while creating my bad-ass looking Brutor I picked exactly the same hairstyle as one of my friends - our characters otherwise look differnet but he, as Gallente had different skin tone palette in the first place).
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Goblin Squad Member
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I would definitely be in favour of a removal of nameplates. It would definitely lend itself to roleplay aspects of the game, particularly in PvP encounters and the like. When a group of mercenaries meet on a road, why should one spontaneously know the name of the attacker to which they can then place a bounty?
Should such a feature be included that meters a players reputation (fame or notoriety) then it could be such that once at a certain point of positive or negative reputation, the players names remain visible to all. This would certainly play against PKs and be a symbol of status for politicians and the like.
Overcoming this feature in casual play could be as easy as a GUI function to which a character can introduce or greet himself to another player in order to show his nameplate indefinitely. Spend a moment considering this feature, that in your travels you may come across people you have previously met and those you have not. It would definitely bring a social aspect to the game that has never been done before.
Okay I'm rambling; a hopeful ramble at that. Be that as it may, I'll definitely be putting this in the 'Roleplay Server Suggestion Forum' should it ever come to pass.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I like the concept though I do have to note the potential drawbacks
Pro's
Roleplay, possible aliases, possibility of spies using separate aliases, even the disguise skill to mimic another player.
Less Clutter, More look at the graphics, less mystical floating text.
Con's
Bots, cheaters scammers etc... How does one report a nameless individual.
Appearences: Without an extremely in depth character creation system even the best character creation system winds up with at best 50 unique faces, and usually 2 that wind up being the most over-picked ones that half the population looks like.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Or allow players to make notes about people. Right click on them and choose "Notes" and a small GUI opens up with room for notes, including a special spot for a label that shows up over players' heads.
This means once you meet a player you can populate this with their name. If they give you a false name, well that is what you know. If they give everyone a false name...well that is their character.
Until you populate this window, there is no tag over players heads (except possibly a reputation or threat icon if you have been killed by the individual previously), but to remain immersive, both can be explained as observing how others are behaving toward the individual or memories of the past event.
I think I would really enjoy this system and it fits well with being based on an RPG. It is how I make my players at the table interact.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Or allow players to make notes about people. Right click on them and choose "Notes" and a small GUI opens up with room for notes, including a special spot for a label that shows up over players' heads.
This means once you meet a player you can populate this with their name. If they give you a false name, well that is what you know. If they give everyone a false name...well that is their character.
Nope, still don't see that happening. It would make metagame functions like /who, /whisper, guild administration, ToU and CoC violations, and a whole host of other things either impossible or very difficult to adjudicate, all for the sake of something you can just handwave-RP if you really, really want to.
For instance, guy approaches you with his character, gives you a fake name - now that's all the info you have to identify him. Imagine that he then goes on to scam you out of your account info, or to sexually harass you. You have no fool-proof way of reporting him to the ticket system.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Nope, still don't see that happening. It would make metagame functions like /who, /whisper, guild administration, ToU and CoC violations, and a whole host of other things either impossible or very difficult to adjudicate, all for the sake of something you can just handwave-RP if you really, really want to.
Yay! But I disagree about guild admin...just have every character utilize an identification number on the back end and that is linked to these cards you use to recognize people...so anything you have that refers to that character will use the name you have for them in that spot. There may also be alternate windows for "realname" and "nickname" for those who become better acquainted.
For instance, guy approaches you with his character, gives you a fake name - now that's all the info you have to identify him. Imagine that he then goes on to scam you out of your account info, or to sexually harass you. You have no fool-proof way of reporting him to the ticket system.
Wrong, this "card" of info that you have on each person is necessarily linked to them (even if you cannot see it explicitly). CSRs/Devs should be able to see whose account it is linked to. As kyrt suggested, there could be a click and report or there might be a way to report someone directly on their note "card".
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Goblin Squad Member
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Those issues you bring up are easily dealt with via a point and click reporting method.
No, they're not. If the person scams/harasses you and then immediately logs out/runs away/the server goes down/anything else happens, you have no way of reporting him.
You don't have to know the guy's name to report him that way
Point-and-click is an utterly unacceptable method of handling reporting.
(and if you buy into a scam or let harassment go on long enough for the person to leave... seems like a personal problem to me.)
This is also an utterly unacceptable attitude for any game company to take towards the safety of its customers' personal information. I mean, can you imagine?
"What's that? Your account's compromised because some guy scammed you for your info? And you can't tell us who it was so that we can prevent it from occurring in the future because we decided to make it so that you can't actually know anyone's actual character name unless they tell you? OH WELL."
And we don't WANT this to just be a surface-level RP.
I'm sorry, but that's inevitably what you will get. The logistics for doing what you want are simply a non-starter.
Kit and I (and others I've seen around) want an immersive, 'real' mmo.
Pretty much no one knows what they actually want in this discussion. People are all excited because they think they have the opportunity to influence the development of this innovative MMO. They're firing off all sorts of crazy ideas, and there's not a whole lot of critical thought going into them at the moment.
We don't WANT people to know our names unless we (or someone who knows us or knows of us IC) tell them.
I'm afraid you're going to have to deal with the disappointment, then.
The same goes the other way. We're looking for something deeper than just a simple hack and slash. If I wanted that I'd go hit up one of the several dozen other MMO's out there.
There are a lot of very good reasons that those MMOs do things the way they do them.
I realize this is sort of bursting your bubble, but I'm afraid that this is not something you're going to see in PFO.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Wrong, this "card" of info that you have on each person is necessarily linked to them (even if you cannot see it explicitly). CSRs/Devs should be able to see whose account it is linked to. As kyrt suggested, there could be a click and report or there might be a way to report someone directly on their note "card".
I'm sorry, but this is an idea with far more cons than pros.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Way to take the traditionalist route and shoot down anything constructive Scott.
Look, you can feel free to hate me. I'm telling it to you like it is. You cannot obscure basic identifying information from players.
Just because things have always been done a certain way doesn't mean alternative paths aren't possible (or potentially even preferable.)
And if you were presenting a new way of doing things that you can demonstrate to be better than the old way of doing things, we'd be having a very different discussion.
It simply means those choices weren't made before.
That's exactly right. They weren't. That should be your first clue that your idea needs to be approached very critically.
As for the scamming, again, we're all adults here. You're responsible for your own account information. Grow up.
I'm going to tell you one more time: this is not an acceptable way for a company to handle the safety of its clients' personal information. Even if that one guy "got what was coming to him" (and man, that's a pretty pathetic attitude to begin with), Goblinworks will want to do everything in its power to ensure that the scammer is prevented from repeating the scam. Without a straightforward reporting system, they can't do that.
I don't know what else to tell you. If you can come up with a way for your idea to work without making it so complicated as to be either a) not worth the development effort, or b) not a hindrance to a user-friendly play experience, then hat's off to you. But you will get nowhere if your defense of your idea is anything like what you've presented here.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Wrong, this "card" of info that you have on each person is necessarily linked to them (even if you cannot see it explicitly). CSRs/Devs should be able to see whose account it is linked to. As kyrt suggested, there could be a click and report or there might be a way to report someone directly on their note "card".I'm sorry, but this is an idea with far more cons than pros.
I'm sorry but I do not see Goblinworks besides your name, so I am not sure that is your decision to make. I am taking this opportunity to discuss what I would like to see happen in, as you say a hopefully innovative new game. It is a discussion. I suggested an idea that was a compromise of what others before me were discussing. As such, I hope others explain why it would not work, so we can all figure out how to make the idea better...or simply discard it for something else.
In the end it is my hope that Goblinworks has a whole list of great ideas to pick and choose the ones that fit into features they would like to see in the game...and they want to try to implement.
I personally think a variant of this it is a good idea for the many reasons listed in the forums before I suggested it. However, I welcome your disagreement so we may try to address the problems you point out. I am sorry this process does not amount to critical thought for you...for me it is a pretty constructive, and actually very enjoyable. I am skipping my current MMO because I have fun trying to come up with new ideas and solutions.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I'm sorry but I do not see Goblinworks besides your name, so I am not sure that is your decision to make.
It's not. That's very perceptive of you.
I am taking this opportunity to discuss what I would like to see happen in, as you say a hopefully innovative new game. It is a discussion. I suggested an idea that was a compromise of what others before me were discussing. As such, I hope others explain why it would not work, so we can all figure out how to make the idea better...or simply discard it for something else.
And that's what I did. I told you why it wouldn't work.
Are you sure this is a discussion? Because I did exactly what you described (as part of a discussion), and instead of hearing, "Oh, hm, yeah, that makes sense, better rework that idea of mine," I heard, "WHY YOU GOTTA BE SUCH A DOWNER MAN?"
If I can make a humble suggestion: when you come up with a new idea that for some strange reason no one has ever tried before, wrack your brain and ask yourself, "What is wrong with this idea?" It will make your ideas better.
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Goblin Squad Member
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You got that response from me, and it was because (to me) you didn't seem to be making a discussion, you were flatly shooting down possibilities.
If I were "flatly shooting down possibilities," I would have said something along the lines of, "That is a super bad idea," and left it at that.
But I didn't.
I spent paragraphs over multiple posts explaining the obstacles to implementing your idea.
You'll therefore have to forgive me if I'm under the impression that you're not actually interested in any sort of critical discussion.
So this discussion got shot down because one had an opinion and the other didn't agree with it? Actually, could we just get back to what the original poster wanted to discuss instead? I am sure PFO will have the same problem with names as every other MMO, unsurprisingly.
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I would love to see a slightly more realistic method of dealing with acquaintances. Generally, this is just glossed over. However, I have seen this done before.
There used to be a MUD called Genesis. It was meant to be heavily focused on roleplaying. To make it so, they slashed teleporting, cross-world messaging, and even had a system for names. As long as you did not know someone, they were "A tall, swarthy elf" or other description, which was a unique identifier, chosen by the player when the character was created. Once you knew who the person was, because they had introduced themselves to you, they became "Gruk" instead, the name they had chosen.
Further, if you wanted to, this need not be the end of it. Some people are famous, and these would likely be known to people they had not introduced themselves to. Having a reputation would be awesome if this was implemented.
Note that there is nothing preventing using the exact same system for NPCs - which also makes it at least slightly more uncertain who you're currently talking to/fighting.
There are few things as pathetic as seeing a bush with a nameplate "MastaKilla1337" above it when searching for a rogue you know is nearby...
Once you knew who the person was, because they had introduced themselves to you, they became "Gruk" instead, the name they had chosen.
Dynamics names are a good thing in my opinion. You can also give the character the chance to change the name of his friends, just as you do on your cellphone to discriminate between friends with the same name.
This could solve the problem of running out of names as the game gets crowded.You can have thousands of Gruk in game, you may now 10 of them, some will get nicknames and others just other descriptions that means to you.
This happens in real life as well as in TT situations. Characters get known by different names, players develop their own nicknames for evil dudes (at least it happens when I play :) )
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Goblin Squad Member
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I would love to see a slightly more realistic method of dealing with acquaintances. Generally, this is just glossed over.
When it comes to MMOs, developers have a very strong vested interest in making the social aspects of the game as straightforward and easy-to-follow as possible. Every barrier you put in the way of social communication does real damage to your game.
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I don't understand any of this stuff would be a barrier to Socializing. I deal with tons of people daily that I don't know their name and really don't need to...why must we instantly know someone's name in order to socialize? If you want to know their name just ask, then allow the other person to respond to a pop-up asking if they want to exchange names...if either party doesn't want to then neither gets the info.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I don't understand any of this stuff would be a barrier to Socializing. I deal with tons of people daily that I don't know their name and really don't need to...why must we instantly know someone's name in order to socialize? If you want to know their name just ask, then allow the other person to respond to a pop-up asking if they want to exchange names...if either party doesn't want to then neither gets the info.
You answered your own question: introducing a call-and-answer request just to get another player's character name is a barrier to socialization; if you fail to get this information from them, you have no way to reliably contact them (via game mail, in-game chat, invites, etc.) in the future.
_______ Inigo Montoya. You killed my low level farming alt. Prepare to die.
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I don't understand any of this stuff would be a barrier to Socializing. I deal with tons of people daily that I don't know their name and really don't need to...why must we instantly know someone's name in order to socialize? If you want to know their name just ask, then allow the other person to respond to a pop-up asking if they want to exchange names...if either party doesn't want to then neither gets the info.You answered your own question: introducing a call-and-answer request just to get another player's character name is a barrier to socialization; if you fail to get this information from them, you have no way to reliably contact them (via game mail, in-game chat, invites, etc.) in the future.
So somebody in the game has decided that they don't want to know me and now I can't reliably contact them and that is supposed to be a barrier to socialization? Why should I have access to anyone in-game that doesn't want to talk to me? When did we decide that everyone should have reliable means to contact everyone that they decide they want to bother? And call that a right? If someone wants to friend me on facebook they ask me...If I don't want to I don't friend them. They can find me again and ask but usually that is it. I don't want mail and messaging and chats with people that aren't my friends or know me.
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Goblin Squad Member
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So somebody in the game has decided that they don't want to know me and now I can't reliably contact them and that is supposed to be a barrier to socialization?
If someone has actively made the decision that they don't want to interact with you, that person will typically add you to their /ignore list, or something similar. Most games already do this.
Why should I have access to anyone in-game that doesn't want to talk to me?
You shouldn't.
When did we decide that everyone should have reliable means to contact everyone that they decide they want to bother?
We didn't. Everyone ought to have the ability to communicate with other players, save those players which have made a conscious decision to either not be contacted at all (i.e., the player has disabled all of their chat channels), or made a conscious decision to not be contacted by a specific player or set of players (i.e., using the game's /ignore list).
And call that a right?
No one's called anything a "right."
If someone wants to friend me on facebook they ask me...
Yes, because Facebook profiles often contain quite a lot of personally-identifiable information (not the least of which is your actual name).
You understand that there is a pretty significant difference between someone being able to send a message to your MMO character until you /ignore them, and someone being able to view your Facebook profile details, right?
If I don't want to I don't friend them. They can find me again and ask but usually that is it. I don't want mail and messaging and chats with people that aren't my friends or know me.
Cool. Most games provide you with a way to ignore people you don't want talking to you. I don't think you'll experience a problem.
What you're arguing for, though, is: "I don't want people to be able to harass me, so let's make it harder for people to contact other specific people, and easier for harassers to get away with it since no one will be able to identify them."
Really, people have thought of this issue way before you. It's already been dealt with by every MMO ever.
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Goblin Squad Member
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A simple way to work around reporting issues and privacy concerns is thru server-side logging.
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Info to log in each entry might include:
- Initiatior's acct#
- Target's acct#
- Absolute timestamp
- Server ID
- Location ID & offsets
- Action details (dialog, attack, etc.)
If something like that is implemented, then reporting becomes easy. A user simply performs a search on date/time within a given range, specify if it should be for a particular zone, and possibly enter search keywords with the option to specify if it was said by yourself, someone else, or anyone.
Bingo, they instantly have the means to report an account or message someone without ever being exposed to any uniquely identifying information on the other individual, and it's not time-limited. Searches could also be saved so that you have access to the chat/interaction histories with specific people — name them whatever you want (Leeroy Jenkins, Creepy Stalker, Guild Heads, etc.) all without exposing confidential info. In addition, the admins have full logs to support or refute your case. This is the same exact principle as email continuity for corporations, only far, far easier to implement.
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Goblin Squad Member
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A simple way to work around reporting issues and privacy concerns is thru server-side logging.
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.Info to log in each entry might include:
- Initiatior's acct#
- Target's acct#
- Absolute timestamp
- Server ID
- Location ID & offsets
- Action details (dialog, attack, etc.)
If something like that is implemented, then reporting becomes easy. A user simply performs a search on date/time within a given range, specify if it should be for a particular zone, and possibly enter search keywords with the option to specify if it was said by yourself, someone else, or anyone.
Bingo, they instantly have the means to report an account or message someone without ever being exposed to any uniquely identifying information on the other individual, and it's not time-limited. Searches could also be saved so that you have access to the chat/interaction histories with specific people — name them whatever you want (Leeroy Jenkins, Creepy Stalker, Guild Heads, etc.) all without exposing confidential info. In addition, the admins have full logs to support or refute your case. This is the same exact principle as email continuity for corporations, only far, far easier to implement.
Or you could just have character names over everyone's head, and attached to everything they say. I hear that's been working pretty okay.
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And it breaks immersion. Seriously, every MMO yet has chosen nameplates, generally because it is easy. An alternative would not be much more difficult, and it has not been tried yet. Note also that PFO claims to aim for a sandbox, not a theme park. However, Scott Betts, you are merely aggressively stating that they need to do things just the way everyone has already done, in this discussion and others. Good job bashing new ideas in a brainstorming session.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Or you could just have character names over everyone's head, and attached to everything they say. I hear that's been working pretty okay.
You would still need some sort of logging on the back-end to validate user reports, otherwise it's he-said/she-said. Plus, such functionality would have a great deal of functionality even for normal gameplay.
Want to have a running log of everything you and your spouse have said to each others character? Save a search for it.
Want to be able to pull up a list of all guild chats from your weekly meetings? Save a search that pulls up all guild chat from that those intervals.
Hell, I'd advocate being able to do the same with NPCs so you can pull up dialog choices from quests and such.
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Goblin Squad Member
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And it breaks immersion. Seriously, every MMO yet has chosen nameplates, generally because it is easy. An alternative would not be much more difficult, and it has not been tried yet. Note also that PFO claims to aim for a sandbox, not a theme park. However, Scott Betts, you are merely aggressively stating that they need to do things just the way everyone has already done, in this discussion and others. Good job bashing new ideas in a brainstorming session.
I outlined numerous reasons why obscuring the most basic identifying information is an awful idea. If you think I'm just bashing new ideas, you're not paying attention. I'm taking exception to poor ideas, and then explaining why they're poor.
Part of brainstorming is taking a critical look at new ideas and discarding the ones that don't measure up.
There are a lot of ideas that I'm not criticizing, because I don't think that they're awful ideas. For instance, Steel_Wind wrote an excellent post the other night outlining some potential aims for development that I agreed with. I voiced my support.
Don't mistake my criticism for a distaste for new ideas. My criticism is a distaste for poorly-conceived ideas.
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I outlined numerous reasons why obscuring the most basic identifying information is an awful idea. If you think I'm just bashing new ideas, you're not paying attention. I'm taking exception to poor ideas, and then explaining why they're poor.
But you're not taking immersion into account. Immersion is like a morbidly obese woman squeezing into a seat beside you on a cramped train. You could get up and move to another, much nicer carriage, but that is an old, tired solution thought up by people who haven't looked at other solutions.
The secret to an efficient, effective solution is realising that fat girls are beautiful.
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And it breaks immersion. Seriously, every MMO yet has chosen nameplates, generally because it is easy. An alternative would not be much more difficult, and it has not been tried yet. Note also that PFO claims to aim for a sandbox, not a theme park. However, Scott Betts, you are merely aggressively stating that they need to do things just the way everyone has already done, in this discussion and others. Good job bashing new ideas in a brainstorming session.I outlined numerous reasons why obscuring the most basic identifying information is an awful idea. If you think I'm just bashing new ideas, you're not paying attention. I'm taking exception to poor ideas, and then explaining why they're poor.
Part of brainstorming is taking a critical look at new ideas and discarding the ones that don't measure up.
There are a lot of ideas that I'm not criticizing, because I don't think that they're awful ideas. For instance, Steel_Wind wrote an excellent post the other night outlining some potential aims for development that I agreed with. I voiced my support.
Don't mistake my criticism for a distaste for new ideas. My criticism is a distaste for poorly-conceived ideas.
Yeah, well... THE most basic tenet of brainstorming is NOT to throw anything out. Evaluation comes later, and shooting things down in brainstorming ensures you don't get a good result. Evaluation is also critical, but it is not the same session. As I said, way to go shooting down ideas in a brainstorming session.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Yeah, well... THE most basic tenet of brainstorming is NOT to throw anything out. Evaluation comes later, and shooting things down in brainstorming ensures you don't get a good result. Evaluation is also critical, but it is not the same session. As I said, way to go shooting down ideas in a brainstorming session.
Really, we're engaged in a formal Osborn's session?
I don't think so.
I think we're a bunch of spectators operating on zero information on an internet message board, and I think I can start evaluating ideas whenever it suits me.
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Yes. You can.
And I CAN tell people I don't agree with that they are morons.
That doesn't make either a good idea.
Your main argument is that other MMOs have done so and so, therefore that is what PFO must do. You will have to excuse me, but that's a pretty bad argument.
I have no illusions about this. I fully expect all of what we say here to be ignored by Goblinworks when they make their game. Doing everything the fans (who have at best a diffuse idea of what works and what doesn't when designing a MMO) say would be a spectacularly bad idea. The exceptional thing here is that we know from experiencethat Paizo actually does read what we write, and I seethese discussions as a way to try to fling up ideas for them to look at.
I get that you feel that the responsibility lies on you to make certain that bad ideas aren't presented here without objections. However, I think you can safely relax and let Goblinworks make their game. When the time comes, it will be awesome even if someone has presented a bad idea on the boards that you missed.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Scott is definitely a character all right!
This is more a matter of opinion than right or wrong and nobody should be throwing anything out. Games have existed in the past in which lines of communication did not exist in the fashion we experience in modern games and nobody committed suicide.
If this game omitted nameplates in some of the ways mentioned, this would not break or negatively influence gameplay beyond being that of a minor hindrance in regards to communication. Auction houses/Trade boards overcome trade barriers. Social networking and IM programs used be all gamers overcome the barrier with communicating with friends.
Games do not actually need such open and instant means of communication, they're simply there for accessibility and for ease of play.
We cannot forget that this is an adaptation of a roleplaying game. The very nature and beauty of the roleplaying game is it's immersive qualities offered by both rich fantasy and more importantly, authenticity and attention to detail. Ideas such as allowing players anonymity requires nothing more than some form of uniquely identifiable placeholder to overcome everyday qualms of primitively identifying someone.
Scott religiously argues in favour of fun, and why not? World of Warcraft offers me nothing but access to content and removal of barriers, but it is precisely for these reasons it's losing its identity as an MMORPG. Players do not move in the game anymore, the geography is dead and the physical, tangible aspects of the game world have been eroded. Azeroth has become a satirical joke of itself and any such recreation of the gameplay culture created on any World of Warcraft server would render PFO unplayable for anyone but the World of Warcraft player. Don't forget that most people here play the RPG, not MMORPGs.
Removal of barriers destroy immersion. Such a replication in a Pathfinder MMORPG would produce a Pathfinder MMO, to which I see no point. Taking the RPG out of a Pathfinder MMORPG is like taking the intellectual property out of The Old Republic.
Should you simply be resurrected upon death because any downtime spent seeking resurrection would be nothing more than a time sink and a barrier? Or could it instil a fear of death which gives the game edge.
Should nameplates simply be given for everyone? Or could we use a roleplay function which could add many layers of depth to the game and stay true to the game's origins.
If we imply that a removal of nameplates would equal a required removal of global chat and instant messaging amongst strangers; such developments are what establish a unique and living world on an online platform. Why? Because these are the barriers we deal with in everyday life to which we draw the contrast of authenticity. Geographical location becomes important. Trade hubs, pvp hubs, adventurer hubs, local communities in towns and villages. Silence brings people together where as globalised radio kills any such need for localised communities.
If you want to talk to a friend skype him, if you want to know the name of everyone then tough luck. Your in Golarion, meet them.
Part of brainstorming is taking a critical look at new ideas and discarding the ones that don't measure up.
Not really. You're supposed to withhold criticism and focus on adding or expanding ideas...at least in the methods of brainstorming with which I'm familiar. You can read about the concept here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorming
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Scott is definitely a character all right!
This is more a matter of opinion than right or wrong and nobody should be throwing anything out. Games have existed in the past in which lines of communication did not exist in the fashion we experience in modern games and nobody committed suicide.
If this game omitted nameplates in some of the ways mentioned, this would not break or negatively influence gameplay beyond being that of a minor hindrance in regards to communication. Auction houses/Trade boards overcome trade barriers. Social networking and IM programs used be all gamers overcome the barrier with communicating with friends.
Games do not actually need such open and instant means of communication, they're simply there for accessibility and for ease of play.We cannot forget that this is an adaptation of a roleplaying game. The very nature and beauty of the roleplaying game is it's immersive qualities offered by both rich fantasy and more importantly, authenticity and attention to detail. Ideas such as allowing players anonymity requires nothing more than some form of uniquely identifiable placeholder to overcome everyday qualms of primitively identifying someone.
Scott religiously argues in favour of fun, and why not? World of Warcraft offers me nothing but access to content and removal of barriers, but it is precisely for these reasons it's losing its identity as an MMORPG. Players do not move in the game anymore, the geography is dead and the physical, tangible aspects of the game world have been eroded. Azeroth has become a satirical joke of itself and any such recreation of the gameplay culture created on any World of Warcraft server would render PFO unplayable for anyone but the World of Warcraft player. Don't forget that most people here play the RPG, not MMORPGs.
Removal of barriers destroy immersion. Such a replication in a Pathfinder MMORPG would produce a Pathfinder MMO, to which I see no point. Taking the RPG out of a Pathfinder MMORPG is like taking the intellectual property out of...
I agree almost entirely with you. I want this to be different. I don't want a WoW clone. I like the idea that I don't everyone. If I need to know someone then I will ask them. If I want my friends to know me I can let them know my name outside of the game so they can find me in-game. I don't want to walk down a street in the game and see elves walking by with "Drzzt420xXKILLAXx" or "Stinkybutt911" over their head. I only want to see the names of people I have met. More immersive = more fun to me.
However I am sure my opinion is counter to all of Mr. Bett's giant intellect and goes against all his massive knowledge on how the entire world works from RPGs to programming to communication to politics to marketing to ......Good lord it's tiresome to try to have a thought around someone that not only knows it all but loves to tell you how you don't.I fully expect this post to be broken down into 14 points and ridiculed to display my full ignorance on any topic I have expressed my opinion on. Go.