General Plea - Be Searchable

[Root]

Okay, but then, what would stop people from turning searchable, toggling player search, and then turning nonsearchable?

A timer. Simples.

Toggle on, wait five minutes whilst searchable then you can search for people.

[Kaizen]

Or maybe just the honor system?

It's frightening how low your expectations of your fellow roleplayers are.

And even if they did, who cares? Is it really that big of a deal?

[Satoshi]

Is it really that big of a deal?

The size of this thread should indicate that, to some people, it is. I personally don't think the current system needs to change. Others think it does. If we can find a suitable compromise (where people with searchable off cannot search or 'activity hotspots' are always searchable), I hope everyone will just settle for it and not continue to throw fits because it's not one extreme or the other.

Either of the above in parenthesis are agreeable to me. I simply refuse to have searchable on due to personal preference. I'm not particularly hard to find if people actually wander around, and a few people can attest that simply sending a tell works fine too.

[Zoberraz]

That big of a deal? I don't really care one way or the other. Any expectations on roleplayers does not compute: I'm addressing the toggle suggestion and the possible exploit on its own merit.

Besides, it's not like it really affects me. Maia is searchable most of the time. I usually only turn it off on DM request to help keep an event private.

[Root]

Or maybe just the honor system?

It's frightening how low your expectations of your fellow roleplayers are.

And even if they did, who cares? Is it really that big of a deal?

Agreed. Which is my main argument for leaving yourself searchable, since not everyone on the server is out to gank or metagame, and those who are deserve swift bans.

[OnyxTigress]

I'm not particularly hard to find if people actually wander around, and a few people can attest that simply sending a tell works fine too.

This is true. And it's also fun to just randomly find one another. Amirite Satoshi?

[Zoberraz]

I'll agree that I spend entirely too much time having Maia run around trying to find people/characters I'd like to roleplay with. More than once, I drew blank, and logged off for the day.

So, on some degree, I can relate with the thread. It does have a stake in server enjoyment. But I kind of took the thread's purpose at face value: an encouragement for people to toggle being searchable if they don't have a compelling reason not to be.

[Kaizen]

The size of this thread should indicate that, to some people, it is.

When I said, 'Is it really that big of a deal?', I was inferring to the issue inside the issue IE - if people toggled search on, searched players, toggeled searched off - not the overall Search issue. Reading back on it, I should have been more clear with my context.

[Root]

But I kind of took the thread's purpose at face value: an encouragement for people to toggle being searchable if they don't have a compelling reason not to be.

Please do. There's no underlying desire for a mechanical change here, just a bit more trust to have easier RP for the community.

I simply refuse to have searchable on due to personal preference. I'm not particularly hard to find if people actually wander around, and a few people can attest that simply sending a tell works fine too.

I completely don't understand this way of thinking. If you're in a place where you could be bumped into easily anyway, why not make people able to bump into you without wondering around a 100+ area server for long enough that random chance dictates you need to not cross them at a loading screen, search somewhere just before they get there, etc.

[Satoshi]

I completely don't understand this way of thinking. If you're in a place where you could be bumped into easily anyway, why not make people able to bump into you without wondering around a 100+ area server for long enough that random chance dictates you need to not cross them at a loading screen, search somewhere just before they get there, etc.

Because using a magical button to find out where groups of people are trivializes a wizard's ability to scry locations or a ranger's (or skill-focused rogue/bard) ability to track people.

[Zoberraz]

...isn't that kind of like saying that it's bad metagaming to assemble a D&D group around a table do get some roleplaying going on?

[[DM] Grinning Death]

Look! A bird! A plane!

Wait, it's none of those things. It's a thread lock.

While all of you have very valid points, I'll be shutting this thread down as it has served its purpose in raising awareness of the detriments of turning yourself off searchable. If the staff thinks a change is needed, then they'll do something about it.

My personal view is that people can do what they want. If they don't want to be bothered, then they shouldn't be forced to interact. While this is and will always be an RP server, we will never institute penalties for folks who wish to remain under the radar. If you want to interact with them, send them a tell. This is probably the best way to instigate RP, through mutual agreement.

And remember, the community likes you. Probably.

You'll never not benefit from RP interaction.

Anyway, thank you all for your opinions.