Keys to the city

[Onyxsoulle]

Okay, so admittedly I don't know all of the information yet. However, due to what I've been told and seen with what is being done with keys, I'm really confused(and opposed to it).

How I understand what is going to happen with keys:

A key is tied to the owner, only the owner can use the key to unlock a door. Copies will be able to be made, and the recipient of the key will be tied to that key.


Ummm, why? This makes no sense whatsoever. Anyone picking up a key they find should be able to use the key in the appropriate lock. It's part of the reason why people keep track of their keys. In RL we don't even have this ability, with the exception of palm/voice/eye/fingerprint readers we all see in movies.

Now I do like the idea of the ic locksmith, but I'm very much against keys being unusable by anyone other than the owner.

[Leech]

Agreed. As I understand it, this was put into place to stop people who collect keys over time from having access to every single place. However, I think there are a few other, IC, ways to address that issue.

1. Encourage a culture of paranoia over keys.
2. GLs need to retrieve keys from banished members.
3. Places with NPC/vNPC guards should be handled by RPA when broken into. Just because you have the key to Ahalin, doesn't mean you can just waltz in there and take whatever prisoner you like - you still RPA for it.

[Dice]

Double agreed. This change seems very bizarre to me, and not remotely IC. It should be an IC consequence that if you hand out keys in a slapdash fashion, your security is vulnerable. That's your own fault.

GHalls can always focus on having fewer keys (a consequence of the new ghall taxes, anyway) and getting re-keyed every year or so to handle this. They're where the real problems happen anyway.

EDIT: I'm not actually sure only the owner of a key can unlock it, based on what's posted right now, but the helpfile implies only the owner can make copies. I'm against that option for the same reasons as listed above: you have a key in hand, you should be able to make copies, and it's the fault of whoever was careless with it.

[Onyxsoulle]

I am totally sure. I had a key that would not work, had it 'fixed' after the announcement that keys wouldn't work. I then unlocked and locked a door, then gave the same key to another player, and it said, ' You lack the key to do that' for the player that was holding the key I had just used.

[Kinaed]

We've had heaps of problems with keys because they're poorly implemented. There are no identifiers to track them except clunky help files.

Paranoia over keys hasn't been cutting it. The original key spec came into being when Kaerrick started collecting people's keys and then started arresting them just to take their keys and later search their home. Earlier this week, Haeva was found to have access to another character's phome that had never once RPed with her because of phome recycling (Evangeline's old keyset vnums had accidentally been reused).

It's bizarre to players mainly because players don't deal with the persistent key headaches staff do. For those of you who legitimately own a key, I'm vvey surprised to hear you're upset about an extra layer of security to ensure that if someone gets their mitts on your keys that they can't use them without a legitimate IC trail? For thieves and the like, we are closing this loophole because the legitimacy of "illegitimate" key ownership is too broad and definitely a huge area of player complaints when it comes to keys.

Assigning a key to someone is as simple as typing a command. Getting a new key made is now done at an IC locksmith, costs the same amount as before, and no staff member is required to be around.

If you have "legitimately" stolen keys, please contact me via the personal board. I'm not sure yet what we'll do about this, but I think we do need a reset on all the keys lying around willy-nilly, so it's unlikely that we will legitimize those keys, though I think using them with RPA is reasonable.

[Leech]

Could we at least have an IC reason for keys no longer working for thieves? Let's just say all keys are magical, and bond to their owner. That'll cut it. I'll start writing a book about the mystical power of keys and their symbiosis with their masters.

[Dice]

Can we possibly discuss alternative solutions to the same problems at the next OOC chat? A system that allows staff to get past their key headaches, by and large, but that sits a little more comfortably with IC considerations?

[Onyxsoulle]

I don't know how much of a hassle it causes for imms, but I know it can be a headache if you have someone always asking for keys. However as a player, I know that keys are a risky object to have. With Terryn I had him change the keys out the moment Eva was arrested. I did this because I knew she had copies and that they could be used by other players to get into his house. This is a risk that every player should know about, and it falls on the player to defend against it. By making it so only 'attached' players can use the key, this takes away from investigations and the like(and probably causes more work for Imms in the long run for rpa to get into a house under investigation).

I do love the idea of getting copies made by an npc, this will likely help reduce pboards to get more. But I honestly think that all keys should be left 'open'. I understand that there are a few people that have abused the power of the 'open' keys, but that falls on those players.

[Kinaed]

Issues from GLs going inactive and being replaced to having no idea who has access to an area, to people commiting brrak ins and not posting because they have a key - these are major ongoing problems that the staff handle frequently.

I'm happy to discuss the issue in the OOC chat, but these issues need resolution and I still don't really see a problem with the system. There are a lot of places where people suspend their disbelief because it is a game, and people don't have to pretend illegitimate keys don't work. If you want to use a key that you got illegitimately, you can RPA for it. This allows staff to track break ins and prevents thieves from doing abusive things like walking past the NPC guard standing there because they have a key.

[Geras]

In real life I have tonnes of keys I'm not supposed to because people forgot to ask for them back. Yes, keeping track of who has what key is an issue, especially when people change jobs, but that's true in real life too.