In-Game Email

[Shar]

Greetings all,

I used to play SWG before I started Horizons, and though I like this game much more, there was one item in SWG that I loved...in-game email.

It was a great way to leave a message for a player that wasn't online, which I find myself wishing for almost daily in Istaria. Would anybody else agree that it would be a great feature for future improvements and would it ever be a feasible concept?

Shargrailar

[Vaz]

It benefits everyone or at least a majority: Check.
It harms no one: Check.
It doesn't fundamentally alter the nature of the game, its community, or its potential community: Check.
It is community-supportive: Check.
It fits the lore, therefore does not harm roleplay: Check.
It is not a far-fetched feature to develop: Check, probably.

Yep.

[Shian]

There have also been suggestions such as a message board attached to plots for leaving notes and such- directions for silos and the like. All are good ideas.

Really any way to be able to contact someone who is not online would be nice to have as it is a staple feature in nearly every MMO.

[Terao]

Would be nice to see some kind of ingame mail and a message board in every town where crafter could anounce what they produce or build.

[Velea]

It benefits everyone or at least a majority: Check.
It harms no one: Check.
It doesn't fundamentally alter the nature of the game, its community, or its potential community: Check.
It is community-supportive: Check.
It fits the lore, therefore does not harm roleplay: Check.
It is not a far-fetched feature to develop: Check, probably.

Yep.

Actually, Xoshara, if I may wear a player hat for a moment, I disagree.

It benefits everyone or at least a majority: not check... People have enough sources of electronic communication to be paying attention to already. The feeling of obligation to go through the process of logging in to game just to see if they have email is yet another time sink.

It harms no one: Definitely not check. Every piece of mail I got in LoTRO for months was spam, some of it highly inappropriate. And there's no realistic way for email content from one player to another to be filtered, at least not that I've seen. So there's a great deal of potential for both harm and abuse.

It doesn't fundamentally alter the nature of the game, its community, or its potential community: Again, uncheck.... You think it's hard to ignore someone who is being a pain in your backside now, imagine if they could leave you hundreds of pieces of email that you'd have to filter through to get to the one piece that is legitimate.

It is community-supportive: Ok, there I have to agree with you.

It fits the lore, therefore does not harm roleplay: How does it "fit the lore"? Thus far, there is nothing I am aware of in game that suggests Istaria has some universal messenger service such as the postal system. The closest anything I'm aware of comes lore wise is the existing audio story where Ellien delivered a letter to Master Khemplo. But that can easily be explained that it was delivered by a special messenger, not a service which is available to all.

It is not a far-fetched feature to develop: Far-fetched? No, not far fetched. But extremely complex, especially if it is done so in a way that addresses the numerous potential negatives and abuses. Other games have "thrown in" an email system because it was requested by players, and it turned out to be a disaster. I do not want to see the same for Istaria.

Perhaps being able to identify what specific benefits people are looking for and feel a need for would allow the development team to consider the addition of a system that would address the issues without introducing the headaches that an in game email system would bring.

I'm sorry to disagree with you so point by point, Xoshara, but I strongly feel that those things which you checked off are not so easily a "check".

[Sindala]

For me, somthing like the post-box in WoW would be great.
To be able to send items and coins to myself without having to use a third-party or chance using the connies.

As for it being a time-sink, thats easy to overcome. Just make it so they are readable in a tavern, heck were gonna be sat in their long enough now doing nothing while waiting for the next food timer.

As for malicious mail, 'Block sender button' problem solved. If they want to make multiple chars to harrass you then their idiots as they will have given you all the proof you need in the mail to get them banned.

Don't make it possible to send 1 mail to everybody in the world, Spam stopped.

[Shian]

Perhaps being able to identify what specific benefits people are looking for and feel a need for would allow the development team to consider the addition of a system that would address the issues without introducing the headaches that an in game email system would bring.

People have enough sources of electronic communication to be paying attention to already. The feeling of obligation to go through the process of logging in to game just to see if they have email is yet another time sink.

I'd much rather have an email system that consolidates these resources rather than check the 15 outside souces I need to check for messages and notices. If an in game message system was put in place, it would nullify a gread deal of these other places I have to look for info and notices. It would not create a time sink for me, but save me time because I would only need to go to one source.

Every piece of mail I got in LoTRO for months was spam, some of it highly inappropriate. And there's no realistic way for email content from one player to another to be filtered, at least not that I've seen.

Yes, but Horizons is the only game that I have seen that lacks such.... unpleasantries like gold farmers. And we do have an ignore feature that restricts seeing any message from a blocked player -tells and anything said in channels and spatial. Perhaps it could extend to emails as well.

You think it's hard to ignore someone who is being a pain in your backside now, imagine if they could leave you hundreds of pieces of email that you'd have to filter through to get to the one piece that is legitimate.

Really? The ignore function works just fine for me although in defense I will say HZ has the best community Ive encountered in an MMO. I'm just saying that compared to the other places I've been, Istarians are far better behaved as a whole.

How does it "fit the lore"? Thus far, there is nothing I am aware of in game that suggests Istaria has some universal messenger service such as the postal system.

I agree with this, but I would still like to see some way of communicating with players while offline such as the plot bulletin board idea:

"I am looking for <specific comp> and am paying 20s per. Please leave a note if you are willing to sell."

"Keep out" For a dragon that wants to keep thier privacy for thier lair.

"I have the comps you were looking for yesterday. I have placed them in your T2 silo next to the smelter."

"The bars in the silo next to the smelter are for Merrel's Vault at <coordinates>. If someone wants to gather the needed orbs and place them for the xp, feel free."

Honestly, there is nothing more frustrating than finding all the silos at a public crafting spot full. If I knew what the resources were for, I would gladly help empty a silo, place the resources whatever so I can continue my own work.

I realize that there are negatives like spam, harrasment and such, but it's far easier to just delete an unwanted email than spam the IG channels, 5 or 6 message boards, messenger etc. to get a word out to Istaria.

[Valornyx]

I think when the OP says "email" it would not be so much something that you log in to check - but an in-game message service for offline players generally. As far as my guild is concerned, we always use the guild calendar as a message board rather than for its intended function - highlighting the benefit for such a service IMO.

Yes - most guilds have an out of game website, perhaps with forums, for communicating, but I would love to see that same function as a part of the Guild window, and also the ability to leave messages for players that are offline.

As I am 12 hours out of sync with a lot of the Americans who play and 6 hours removed from the Europeans - it would be highly useful for me to be able to ask people to help me with things and offer to help them at times when I am playing but perhaps they are not.

Personally - I do not think that the Hz crew would start spamming each other incessantly - but maybe that is just my optimistic view of the world.

As for role-play .. as someone else pointed out - a tavern is a traditional place for passing information .. if you got a message on logging in that there was a message for you at the tavern - you could go read them whilst eating all the food we're going to need to get rid of DPs now.

my 2c

[Chioxin]

Shian - I can already think of one rivalry where email spam would be... unpleasant =) We've also seen how well that "ignore" button worked for me =P That aside though...

I think the idea is awesome, I actually think a plot bullitin board would be MORE awesome and more in line with how Horizons works... You'd have to visit their plot/liar to leave a note =) You couldn't just "leave a note" from anywhere. Yes, some of you dragons with OUT OF THE WAY holes in the earth would have some issues but... You made that choice too =P I'm sure they can put a "message rock" at the bottom of your mountain or something =D

Now, the things you don't think about, as you're players...

You'd have to understand that in order for HZ to even consider doing this, they'd have to consider adding in a new database and building a system to work with to suit this.

New Database.. Well, you already see how slow some of the databases are for accessing and what nots. I don't know the tech behind HZ or the code, I don't know how easy it would be for them to implement a new database like this. I don't even know how many resources it would hog to do so.

Use the WoW mail box for example... They have to consider that people use that thing like a bank. So... People can have TONS of mail piled up on a character or what not. It takes up space on their hard drives. Now, for WoW this is probably ok because they have the income to increase space if need be to a degree. HZ on the other hand, I'd rather they spend their money else where.

.....

So! In conclusion... OMG yes I want this badly and I think it would rock. I like having "mail" for a game, and "mail" for RL. I like keeping the two seperate! However, I'm unsure of HZ's capabilities to have this =(

[Justa Mirage]

Velea, as posted before, this is mostly a mature community with less scriptkiddies playing and trying to pwn you.

If "countermeasures" and "safety interlocks" put in to keep people from spamming the world, or blocking unwanted players, it would work. The idea of emailing items and money work EXTREMELY well in WoW. It saves me lots of time doing 3rd party or PC to PC concurrent logins to transfer goods.

Since the game probably can track who sends what to whom, an electronic paper trail probably can be set up so no one will be flamatory if it does happen, and all the person receiving the bad email has to do is forward the message to an admin account in-game for harassment.

It is up to the individual to determine if the mail is legitimate or not. Maybe the character wants 50 marriage proposals or requests for romance on a nice kion beach somewhere, and then again... maybe they don't.

Also, there could be a simple option "I do not want to receive in-game mail" can be added so the sender gets an error "This person does not receive mail at this time."

[LaughingOtter]

The simulation & DB code for a mail system were written about two years ago, but the client portion could not be completed and none of the code has been tested. While there is interest in adding in-game mail as a feature, the priority right now is fixing some things which are actually broken. Because Virtrium's current focus is on fixing problems and improving fundamentals like stability & performance, it will be some time before a significant new feature such as mail can be worked on.

Bottom line: Yes, this is a feature Virtrium would like to add at some point in the future, but other issues have higher priority. Nothing more, nothing less, no promises, estimates, or guesses.

(Yes, I asked Rick about this a little bit ago. )

[Galilee]

That's good to hear LO, thanks!
Do you also have any indication, if the plot-message-board has any chance of becoming reality? (Frankly, I would like that even móre then email too )

[Chioxin]

Ahh... cool beans LO =)

[LaughingOtter]

No idea on that, I'm afraid.

[C`gan]

Something to consider when talking about item/money transfer between alts is that with upgrade 382 Horizons will allow concurrent dual logins (or at least is supposed to).

As for the mail system itself, while I'm certain getting flyers for Kohl's, Circuit City, Miracle Ear, AARP approvals, pizza, DirecTV, Comcast, Scooter Warehouse, and Retirement centers (yes, I'm 36 and I'm getting ALL of the above as spam mail) will be eliminated in the simple fact they're not in Horizons, there should be a way of reducing the capability to cause spamming. Something like a charge per piece sent would work, especially if it's sufficiently large enough that people will think twice. Do you really want a quick message sent to everyone in Istaria for cheap prescriptions from Canadian importers working in the Bahamas for pennies on the dollar or that rare component from the Vielo that's otherwise not in game for that specific tech for your next armor set?

[Creme]

I've thought this was an excellent idea for a very long time, and there's been numerous suggestions for both an in game mail system, as well as a reverse consigner system...think Craig's list.

[Vaz]

I'm sorry to disagree with you so point by point, Xoshara, but I strongly feel that those things which you checked off are not so easily a "check".

Thank you, actually. You make good points, and I'm glad to be corrected on something which I normally try to think more carefully about than I did.

How does it "fit the lore"? Thus far, there is nothing I am aware of in game that suggests Istaria has some universal messenger service such as the postal system.

It may not have one currently, but at Istaria's level of development it's not impossible for some form of frequently-accessible message delivery to occur. The only hampering factor I can think of at the moment is the Withered Aegis, which might jeopardise messengers. But that opens an opportunity for at least one quest to be added which would involve doing something to investigate and, to some degree, prevent such jeopardy.

[Velea]

Oooo I like the way you think!

Now if when some sort of in game email does exist, if there's a really complex quest that you have to go through before you can use it... Blame Xoshara. That's where the idea originated.

*has the really pointy, nasty looking developer hat on for this particcular post*

[GalemThawn]

The only hampering factor I can think of at the moment is the Withered Aegis, which might jeopardise messengers.

Log in.
You have 3 new messages.
1 New message has been intercepted by (random) Withered Aegis agent (based on character's highest rating). In order to view your message, you must find and kill (random) in the vicinity of (random location with fits Tier of character's highest level).


Hmmm. Is the message worth it?

[tramsan]

*has the really pointy, nasty looking developer hat on for this particcular post*

That the one with horns on, or the one that looks like Barney?