Town Cryers

[GalenKnighthawke]

Almost everyone knows what I'm talking about.

So much potentially positive going on.

Why not fix something comparatively small that has a big impact?

Or should I just give up on this?

-Galen's player

 

[hen]

I agree 100%.

 

[Yen Sid]

Or should I just give up on this?

Yup

 

[Mapper]

I'd suggest you give up on it so you aren't disappointed, Then when they do fix them, You will get a surprise.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

I'd suggest you give up on it so you aren't disappointed, Then when they do fix them, You will get a surprise.

That's been my approach to the Virtue System, but this seems off-hand like it'd be much easier, seeing as how, you know they don't have to INVENT anything for this, so guess I deluded myself into thinking thinking that'd matter.

-Galen's player

 

[G.v.P]

Almost everyone knows what I'm talking about.

So much potentially positive going on.

Why not fix something comparatively small that has a big impact?

Or should I just give up on this?

-Galen's player

If you mean they should delete some lines of code that says stuff like "treasures of tokuno!" still, I def agree. Seems like a ridiculously easy fix.

 

[Uvtha]

Long over due, especially when its just a matter of taking out the dated material. It couldn't take more than a few minutes.

Then we wont have the monthly post about tot being turned on. :O

 

[Merion]

Or they could just swith the treasures of Tokuno back on - probably easier

 

[Coldren]

They'll fix it in an upcoming booster pack..... For the low low price of $14.99!

... Yeah, that's pretty much going to be my smarmy remark to just about every fix request from here on out.. rolleyes:

Frightening, because I'm half serious...

 

[Taylor]

Someone once joked that the dev team member responsible for updating the town crier had been fired, taking their knowledge of the system with them. I'm starting to wonder if it actually is a knowledge management issue...

 

[hen]

They could use town criers as part of the war on cheaters.

"Hear ye, hear ye, Lord XXxxXXX is about to have his balls cut off and stuffed down his throat at Nujelm prison, come join the fun."

 

[Taylor]

Did Draconi or Sakkara leave backdoors for themselves? Maybe they can fix it.

 

[Ni-]

I'm not sure exactly how the Town Criers are designed, but it seems like their triggers/output should not be hard coded in the program, rather in a table or database.

On top of that, it seems like they should be accessable by the EMs for their shard. That way each shards' EMs would be able to control the Town Criers' output.

Actually, it may already work like that, including a separate overriding level of Town Criers' output that is triggered by a UO Emp, and that has just been neglected. If originally coded correctly, then it doesn't seem like a big issue to remove a message.

I don't know how it works, though.

I stopped paying attention to Town Criers quite a while ago, because of the outdated messages.

It'd be nice if they worked more appropriately.

 

[Xalan Dementia]

shouldnt be any harder for them to change town cryers as it is for us to change what a barkeep in our houses says. Why cant they turn over control of town cryers to the EMs? instead of having them place thier own town cryers, colored books, crystals etc that announces an event.

 

[northwoodschopper]

town criers could've been a good goldsink for advertising. people could pay them to broadcast their advertisement randomly in their queue of news for a day or two.

then roleplayers could have their 'news' broadcasted too using the in-game systems rather than leaving books on the ground.

 

[Aurelius]

town criers could've been a good goldsink for advertising. people could pay them to broadcast their advertisement randomly in their queue of news for a day or two.

then roleplayers could have their 'news' broadcasted too using the in-game systems rather than leaving books on the ground.

Only if they have an off switch! And while typing that, I realised the way ahead would be to have them spam stuff at us, and for only $14.99 the next booster pack comes with a 'Town Crier Filter'....

 

[Beer_Cayse]

the filter alone would be worth it if it removes outdated spam from the game.

 

[Scarst]

town criers could've been a good goldsink for advertising. people could pay them to broadcast their advertisement randomly in their queue of news for a day or two.

then roleplayers could have their 'news' broadcasted too using the in-game systems rather than leaving books on the ground.

I agree it'd be nice to actually give them a use besides being annoying.

 

[Leeda]

I agree Galen.

I still check my mouse everyday to see if they updated or fixed it and ask Town Cryers for news.

I agree about the Virtue System.

It has been very disappointing there has been no attention given those.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Mark said he was going to 'look into' having this fixed many months ago.

Seriously, how hard can it be?

ToTIII tells should have been atomatically turned off when the event ended. The Criers should be babbling about the Bane Chosen and such.

A few EMs have set up oracles to act like town criers, but I agree that they ahould be given control of the system on their shards. They can add in player events to the system and act as the sanity filter on the submits. Simply having players pay for X number of shouts per day could lead to very, very scary messages (i.e. any system that can be griefed will be griefed...)

 

[StaticOnAtlantic]

They could use town criers as part of the war on cheaters.

"Hear ye, hear ye, Lord XXxxXXX is about to have his balls cut off and stuffed down his throat at Nujelm prison, come join the fun."

Thats funny my friend, I am in tears!

 

[hen]

Sounds like a job the intern could have been doing.

 

[Mapper]

Whelp, if it was done with the standard system, a developer or GM needs to log onto each shard, track down a single town crier, open their control panel, and remove the global message, which will then remove the message from all town criers on the shard.

This will only work if the global message option was used (which it sounds like). Otherwise, they're really individual NPCs with a special "repeat and broadcast" script attached to them, and will need to be deleted by hand.

You'll know if it's a global broadcast if the Sherry the Mouse statues repeat the Treasures of Tokuno message =)

Otherwise, ew, might take a while to clean up!

If they need to be manually adjusted on each shards, They should maybe get the EMs doing it, Might get them updated far more often that way.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

If what Draconi said is true, and I'd wager quite heavily that it is, then there is ZERO excuse for the Town Criers to have continued spouting ToT III messages THIRTEEN MONTHS after the event ended.

Pure unadulterated laziness.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Oh, I don't blame you, Draconi. While yes, you could have turned them off.. your.. departure wasn't.. uhm.. scheduled?

While I know those who were left to pick up the pieces due to EA's shortsightedness were swamped with work, so many little things have slipped through the cracks since that it is embarrassing for them.

The Town Criers, Throwing, the SW Ter Mur landmass, releasing T-Maps in an unfinished state, the EC male paper doll, hell the EC itself. The little things add up. While turning off the Criers seems inconsequential, and in the grand scheme it is, it would display a more active interest in day-to-day stuff.

Heck.. The Criers haven't been used since ToT III was turned on and there have been SO many missed opportunities to use them to inform players of what is going on event-wise. Not everyone reads Stratics.

Turn over the system to the EMs, I think 18 months into their position they have more than proven themselves as valued employees of Mythic and pillars of the community.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

I'm pretttttttttttttttttty sure I was the one who put them on there in the first place.

Yep.

I remember it pretty clearly; it was for "Distracting Decisions," part of final Chapter of Warriors of Destiny, which was titled "The Last in Line." "Distracting Decisions" opened "The Last in Line," as the Shadowlords and Casca sought to distract Britannians from goings-on in their own country. It was never made clear if the minor artifacts were there all along and no one noticed them (and the government of Tokuno was simply persuaded to hand out rewards again) or if the SLs and Casca threw a new batch around. Either is as likely.

The SLs of course didn't realize that one of the things they were looking for was probably in Tokuno, thus necessitating that they search there. They had, in other words, 'distracted' us right into their path.

But I'm going off track. Yes, you turned the Cryers on, or had someone do it for you.

Any theories as to why they haven't been turned off yet, though? Their not being used is a perennial issue. You were one of the few to use them. But their simply being left on? That one's new, at least in my memory.

Hmm, I don't remember if we added a "Let EMs use me" line to the security check for town criers or not - I could swear we did but, *shrugs*.

Seems unlikely, as the EMs appear to have to create and use their own Cryers. Which is fine with me; there should I argue be separate global and shard-specific announcement systems.

-Galen's player

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Hmm, I don't remember if we added a "Let EMs use me" line to the security check for town criers or not - I could swear we did but, *shrugs*.

They can find out really easy though, they just have to walk up to a town crier and double-click the NPC.

We asked the GL EMs quite a while back if they had access, they were under the impression that they didn't. Whether they didn't know, or simply weren't 'allowed to' may be mitigating factors.

Still, 5 mins spent on every shard to shut them off isn't much to ask.. The GMs could even do it between sending out worthless canned responses.

But their simply being left on? That one's new, at least in my memory.

Not the first time they've been left on, just the longest... by far.

there should I argue be separate global and shard-specific announcement systems.

Gotta disagree with you on this one, Galen, at least in theory. Town Criers should bark the news whether that be a meta fiction event, EM event, or submitted player event. One in-game source of news. (Less upkeep overhead = more likely to be updated/used)