Public/Private changes and why I make you suffer - Note 5084

Area: Announcements - Note #5084From: Tyr
To: allCc:Subj: Public/Private changes and why I make you sufferTime: Wed Jan 5 07:51:07 2011
I've put in a new piece of code, this will stop people who're copspankable from moving into private rooms adjacent to public ones in the samearea. Effectively the intent is to stop people running through the Bronzeetc while toting a huge axe or covered in blood and then hanging out in thecouches as if they magically disappeared when they moved into them.
I'd like to also explain briefly, using the recent workout code as anexample of what goes into the motivations to implement these types of codebecause contrary to popular belief I am in fact not a sadist out to ruinyour lives.
When a person runs on a treadmill they are aspiring to improve theircardiovascular fitness, in order for this to happen the system must be taxedto an extent where the body believes it needs to be improved. Taxing thissystem requires a large amount of oxygen to fuel it, leading to the personrunning breathing heavily. Talking requires a steady exhalation of breathwhich inhibits the ability to breath heavily and reduces the oxygen intakewhich in turn causes increased lactic acid build up.
In short, talking while running is uncomfortable and this is why nobody whois running wants to hold long conversations, generally prefering if theyhave to speak to do so in short bursts which will not take away from theirbreathing for very long.
Additionally as a game mechanic the workout code is a time sink, it asks youfor a certain amount of your time that you might prefer to spend doing otherthings, such as socialising, and rewards you for that time with vit bonusesand a nice posterior.
An issue began to arise and increase in prevelence ever since jog spam wasremoved wherin people were indeed socialising while running on treadmills,this caused problems for two reasons. The first is it was very bad RP, saysregularly ran into hundreds of words without an elipsis or pause, there werenever any emotes to indicate that this talking was in any way additionallytaxing or any indication that they should stop running or move theconversation elsewhere because it's easier to talk sitting down than whilerunning.
In short despite the vast differences you would expect from a conversationbetween two people short on breath and two normal people there were nodifferences demonstrated by people doing this at all.
The second problem, is they were effectively getting something for nothing.By being able to do the exact same RP they could do in the Bronze, they wereable to do what they wanted, while also incidentally gaining the workoutbonuses.
This becomes an issue that requires my intervention because not everyonedoes it. A good number of players continued to not socialise while runningor indeed talk in short bursts and show a disinclination to be very chattywhile on the treadmills. In short, they were RPing well, and for this theywere having to spend less time doing what they wanted and/or recieving lessbonuses.
Ergo I put in a piece of code to limit treadmill conversations to shortbursts to encourage people to RP talking on a treadmill in a more realisticfashion. Consequently I saw people start to use socials to carry on thesame extended conversations they were having before, and other people getinto the treadmills with someone else and text back and forth.
This lead to social extention being impossible while running and severe lagtimers being put on texts while running.
I do not want to have to keep chasing players around the game with code toclose off every conceivable loophole they might be trying to find to getaround things. For one thing most of those things they use for loopholescan be used for legimate purposes, and for another it's just a hassle forme.
This is only one example but it highlights a lot of what ends up being myjob, some people RP well, others play the game to gain the greatest codebenefit and thus come out ahead, in order to not encourage people to RPpoorly I have to find some way to stop that from working, even if it oftencloses off other potentially cool possibilities. With every attempt to 'getaround the code' or min/max the game you are forcing changes which makethings worse for everyone.
I highly encourage you as players to think about your RP and the realism ofyour actions from time to time, rather than concentrating so entirely onwhat gives the greatest benefit code-wise. I think you will find it to beultimately a much more rewarding path and it means less work for me chasingyou around with a big stick of code.
As an additional unrelated piece of advice, it's very common for me to seepeople log in, seemingly check to see if they people they want to RP withare on and then log off immediately afterwards because they aren't, only tohave the person they were likely after log in ten minutes later, check tosee if they are on and then log off. Many of you might find it advantageousto learn to idle a little bit.
Thanks for your time,Tyr.