Messenger system

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Mat
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Mat's picture
Great topic!

Thanks for this topic! It's a quite interesting idea and something I've - from a slightly different perspective - also considered for diplomacy. :) 

I ended up dropping the idea in general as while it could actually work nicely in a single player environment and could support the vibe and feel of the medieval life we wish to depict, it's a feature that is way too easy (and as being so easy, way too tempting) to be circumvented in a massively multi-player environment. Think about it: opportunists would just choose to discuss their diplomacy outside of the game (ie. on skype, discord, etc), gaining an advantage over rule-abiding players. So it probably wouldn't work for regular communication.

Yet, it's still on the table for diplomatic messages with conditions (ie. declarations, trade agreements, an oath of fealty, etc.). These should be confirmed by all parties involved and as such are only processed at the end of a given tick - like any other game command -, and they can't happen outside the game due to their game-changing behaviour. Here, a delivery time (in ticks) can be set, but it's still a question whether it would ruin UX more than it would add to the vibe.

For this previous reason, in the current designs, this feature can be toggled (ie. on your private worlds, in single player scenarios or "hardcore" MMO servers - by default it's toggled out) and delivery time would be set for message types (acting more like a "grace period" before a treaty would come into effect), rather than generally (what you suggest and which could mimic the limitations of medieval communication channels - pigeons, crows and couriers - better), but it's not hard to tweak it the way you suggested.

I'd be very interested for more response (and your feedback too) on this matter.

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