Whererp off by default

[Ava]

I think this was brought up a couple of weeks ago in a meeting, but I think it would be great if it defaulted to off; it seems like you're going to get more false positives with people just forgetting rather than doing it intentionally. I don't know--maybe some public rooms like the Bluebird or the Queen's Tavern or the Crossroads, popular spots, temporarily override people's toggled setting to show their where as on, in case it's something that people forget altogether.

Thoughts?

[Silrie]

I'm of two minds regarding this suggestion. On the one hand, oops! I forget about where rp a lot myself and may get rp when I'm trying to grind skills and stuff, so I can see the part where it could, at times, be tedious. By the same token, this is supposed to be an interactive game, and I know that if I signed in continually only to find three people appearing to be on grid while the wholist says there's fifteen of us around, I'd feel a bit disinclined to keep coming back. If I were a newbie, it would make me feel as if people prized their solitude over reaching out for an interactive experience with new people rather than their comfort zone people, if that makes any sense.

Rena

[Ava]

I totally get that, but if a bunch of those places are inaccessible, that might cause frustrations as well, right? I realize that sometimes I'm working on something, in POLCAs, reading rumors, writing notes, reading helpfiles--all that, and I both forget about whererp and don't at all intend to be role playing while I'm dealing with stuff like that.

Doesn't it seem like having it deliberate is a bit more purposeful/will contribute to people knowing where to go instead of trying to figure out who actually wants to roleplay on that list, and who is spacing out/dealing with stuff?

[Applesauce]

As someone who has a pretty consistent habit of turning whererp off immediately upon login, then only turning it back on if/when I'm sure I'm available, I would still vote against it being off by default.

It's a social game, opting out should be intentional IMO. Really doesn't take much effort to build the habit of turning it off right away. And that also makes you more aware of it and therefore likely to turn it back ON when you should.

[Silrie]

I totally get that, but if a bunch of those places are inaccessible, that might cause frustrations as well, right? I realize that sometimes I'm working on something, in POLCAs, reading rumors, writing notes, reading helpfiles--all that, and I both forget about whererp and don't at all intend to be role playing while I'm dealing with stuff like that.

Doesn't it seem like having it deliberate is a bit more purposeful/will contribute to people knowing where to go instead of trying to figure out who actually wants to roleplay on that list, and who is spacing out/dealing with stuff?

I can see this side of it as well. Tons of 1's and not truly knowins if those 1's want to actually rp is a difficult one as well. And yes, a lot of the time, all those 1's are behind locked doors. You do bring up a point.

[Dice]

I've always wanted this. There are just times that I don't want to RP, and a lot of times I'm not super into random, unplanned RP.

It's so much easier to remember to put up a flag that says "Hey, I am accessible to RP with anyone and everyone right now!" than it is to remember to turn off that flag when I'm crafting, or grinding, or chatting, etc.

And as Ava says, I think people get turned off by all the 1s in rooms they can't access.

[Gerolf]

I am like Silrie, I have mixed feelings.

I tend to log in and if I am just idling I will turn it off, but sometimes I forget and people see I am in my bedroom all day long. (What is he doing in there?!)

I think I would adapt either way, but do think auto off is fine, if the public flag still overrides someone's preference.

[Romewhoa]

Although I don't really like the concept that the proposal addresses, I do see the need for it, especially since it's off putting to new players to see fourteen people, not including staff, logged in, but only four on WHERERP and a majority of those in private rooms.

I'd say make WHERERP on by default for cyans, but off for everyone else.

[BattleJenkins]

I think a good compromise might be to flag certain rooms as private - like phomes behind locked doors and such - and have those rooms not show up on 'where', even if the players inside have RP on. Even if someone is up to RP when they're idling in their phome, usually only people who have access to those rooms can easily find them, so most people can't show up and knock on the door anyhow.

[Ava]

I like seeing some people in closed rooms, because it's possible for me to go knock on their door if I have access--it can still be used to imply that someone could knock the door to your house, or on the room to your infirmary/cell room because you want your solitude disrupted. I think flagging a few really obviously public rooms (taverns) would be less of a workload than flagging all private rooms whererp off, too.

I know that seeing the who list as fifteen people and the where list as like five would bum people out potentially, but is the false positive really better?