An interesting incident which ended up with nearly all of the Nihilists guild in the Mountains of Madness today, coupled with the new advertising campaign, got me thinking about the planar concept of Lusternia.

One thing I worry about a lot is making guildmembers accessible for novices, and making sure they know that we are there to help them, as I'm sure nearly every guild does. (Maybe Ur'Guard excluded!) However, since the Nihilists are one of several smaller guilds it got me thinking about what happens when several of us are off-plane.

A novice probably doesn't realize that due to the emphasis on the planes and planar travel in Lusternia the who lists don't accurately reflect the true number of players in the realm. What concerns me is that on GWHO it sometimes appears as though nobody is around except yourself, and for a novice who doesn't realize that this probably isn't truly the case, it could very easily lead to frustration on their part, and a feeling that nobody is around to help.

I was taking a look at Imperian the other day, and noticed that they have a nifty line in who that tells you how many people are off-plane. I think this would be a great feature to add to GWHO in Lusternia to help novices (and older guildmembers as well) see how many people are around in their guild.

Just something like:


This would replace the existing "Total Guildmembers" line on GWHO.

Thoughts?

Sounds reasonable to me. As long as it stays at just numbers off-plane, and doesn't give names. Some people like to go off prime to get a little peace.

That's the idea. I don't advocate being able to see who is on the other planes, just how many are around on planes.

That's actually something I've always appreciated about Imperian. I think it's an excellent idea for here, as Nokraenom said, with our heavy emphasis on planar travel.

Adding this would take away that ability to go off prime and get some peace.

Guildmate: *GWHO*


Me: Alright, I'll see you later.
Me: *transverse cosmic*

Guildmate: *gwho*



Guildmate: Hey Haj, thought you were leaving?

Me: GODF@#$%TN#K@#RWNF#@$G$#@NMHTK%$@H$NTHR$THR, I just want to relax... GRRR.

Any questions?

TELLSOFF, problem fixed.

Great idea Nokraenom

Me: I'm working, gods dammit. Find someone else to bother.

One of the perks of being GM.

That would be true if they didn't see you transverse, because if they're pointlessly harassing you then they're probably standing at the nexus anyway. (At least they do in Mag)

I'd like to see you as GR3...

The suddenly new person on the other plane showing up could be someone who had QQ'd on another plane... Josun sometimes QQ's on Ethereal Glomdoring, for example.

Edit: In other more obvious words, I like this idea. The Blacktalon's another smaller guild where I could see this function being useful.

Personally I think it would be a wonderful idea as well

Personally, I think that too large a percentage of the player base think it's their business to be in everyone else's business 24/7, and will abuse every possible loophole to do so.

Just make the line say "Nihilists on : 4", and stop.

This alludes to the fact that there may be more nihilists awake in game, without confirming that there aren't, so it might be even better for the expressed purpose than an actual headcount would be. And it doesn't lessen anyone's privacy.

That negates the whole point of guildmates, especially the novices being able to tell if anyone else is around if they need help. To use another example like Nokraenom said, Nihilists have nearly all their members on Nil watching a ritual to the Demon Lords, and a novice comes on, sees nobody on gwho, gets told 1 person is online (and even if it was changed to say 'on this plane' and nothing else it would be the same result) and just leaves because for all they know nobody is around to help. Another way to look at things is if a person gets on continually to see little to no people around (due to planes or whatnot) they will think that guild is not worth being in and leave, unless they are a more loyal kind of person to stick with it besides because of the lesson loss it would take to switch, have seen the last example plenty in people from past experience before I came to my first IRE realm

If only 1 person is around, because the rest are on Nil doing a ritual, it's not as though they can be heard anyway.

Plus no lesson loss for novices.

I still think it's a good idea though. I like knowing how many of my allies are around.

Another thing to note, that a true newbie logs in and sees 1 guildmate online. The first thought through his head "Well this guild must suck if nobody even plays in it." Logs off and joins a new guild, or leaves the game entirely.

Teach me not to read all of tsakar's post before I post.. Well just say mine is for Emphasis on the subject!

This presumes that we should not be encouraging novices to stay in their guild, or that they should feel pressured to switch to their second choice of guild/rp because they feel overwhelmed and alone in their first. I think the realm only needs one Soll running around.

(What we really need are more Nihilists! )

Well...I'm not sure what you're contesting there, it's already in place that there's no lesson loss for novices.

Your comment seems to support the idea that novices should be encouraged to go to another guild, as there is no lesson loss and thus penalty against them, rather than to try and seek help in their first-choice guild.

I'm certainly not arguing against the mechanic, since there are numerous people who decide that their guild is not what they were looking for upon first exiting the portal.

Doesn't GNT work across planes? I swear someone kept talking to my newb (who had no planar at all) who I couldn't see on gnt. If you really want privacy, and someone is bugging you, just tell them you would like some privacy, turn tells off, or snub them for being an annoying prat. And then issue them for harrassment if they persist in bothering you. It's only guild that's been suggested...

And my Nihilist left you for the Celestines Although she's now an Ebonguard.

Believe it does, and it can also be heard when your deaf (unlike gt or ct)