' Wrote:Only one little issue with this. It makes admin work a little harder, in that quite a lot of the time you sit listening to system chat to see how a situation prgresses to see if you need to step in. Although I can see the positive effects of it.
I thought admins could see all chat from every system, group, local, private, everything using their console thing. ... at least.. tahts how it was when i was an admin on Shadow Striker
' Wrote:All right this will sound stupid but "Local chat?" All I see is "System channel" and "group channel" Where is this "Local" channel?
System wide chat (the default chat mode) is visible to all in the system and can be used by writing '/s This text will be shown in system' if you have currently selected Group or Private chat in the chat window.
Local chat is visible to all in your scanner range and can be used by writing '/l This text will be shown to those in scanner range'
And Group chat is visible to only to those in your group and can be used '/g this text....'
Another nice ones are if you get a personal message from someone is to write '/r I don't know you.'
First, the "Should it be done" question. I think it should be optional. The proposed /localon and /localoff would be the most logical way to set this.
Now for the "Can it be done" question. I think I'll break this into a couple pieces.
FLHook setting: I'm not sure how FLHook operates, but if it intercepts all traffic regardless of the first character, then it is theoretically doable. This would also make it possible for the aforementioned on/off commands to work.
Local Chat channel in Chat window: I'm afraid this one is probably not doable without the source code to the game and flserver. The Local channel as it is now is implemented almost entirely in FLHook. Only the actual entry and display of the messages are handled by the main programs. FLHook sends a custom-colored PM to all the players on the sending player's scanner list rather than to a unique channel. (For those who don't remember, when local chat was first implemented it showed up just like a PM did.)
In order to add an actual local channel to the game, we would need access to the source code to move the functions away from FLHook.
Finally, in reference to the Admins' point of view, this would complicate the matter for them, as they would need to have a console window open in addition to their main window. Depending on how the system is implemented, it is quite likely that a remote connection to such a console would add extra strain on a server that is quite taxed already. These and other reasons point to why it probably won't be implemented.
Besides, with all the wizardry that Cannon does already, how often does he actually get to play out there?
' Wrote:True, we lose some of those "This is ship xyz requesting landing" kind of atmosphere creating messages, but I think it's a fair trade considering loosing most of the needless system wide chatter.
We'd also lose the RPing in system chat that populated places do get on good days.
Believe it or not, System does get used for RP. In my experience, way more than Local - but how would I know how often Local is used? I can't see it unless I'm in the range. People can have a great time RPing in Local near Malta, and if I'm over by Ibiza for whatever reason I won't see any of it. With it in System, even if I'm not involved, I can enjoy reading it.
You say realism, I say screw realism. If I wanted realism, I'd go deal with the idiots in the real world. I play Freelancer for fun, and seeing other people RPing is a hell of a lot more fun than flying through Omicron Alpha and only "hearing" what people say for a few minutes at a time.
Even with all its stupidity, I prefer a talkative New York over a silent one. Especially when I'm flying a trader.
I wouldn't have an issue with localon/localoff as long as it defaults to off, though.
I was about to name a few instances where even you would prefer realism over fiction, but I'm not sure the admins would allow *that kind of*-material :P
Realism in a more positive way:)
Think Skype: Would you rather be in a chatroom with 10, 20 or 100 people? I think the answer is obvious if you're looking to RP over skype:laugh:
Anyways, I have something that noone has anything against, as far as I know.
Make an option to click Local Chat, just like you can do with System and Group now.
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