Descriptive Markers

[skeletee]

This has probably already been suggested, but I wanted to suggest an addition of descriptive markers. Descriptive markers are used to describe the environment surrounding the player.

When I did the compromised bomb workshop RP with LEO, I had to RP on an alternative character and RP huge sets of lines to describe the inside of the bomb workshop as most of it was up to the imagination, and usually multiple times as new people entered the workshop. Here were some of the lines to give you an idea of what I mean;

~r~[DESCRIPTOR]~w~ When you enter the building, it would be completely quiet.

~r~[DESCRIPTOR]~w~ You would enter the room with the Irish flag, immediately seeing crates stacked upon each other, and machines in the middle that are turned off.

~r~[DESCRIPTOR]~w~ In the middle of the main room, there would be a lone crate that is not yet bolted shut.

~r~[DESCRIPTOR]~w~ Upstairs, there would be a planting set-up, with remnants of leaves. A pungent smell would come from them, but may need further expertise.

~r~[DESCRIPTOR]~w~ There would be a whiteboard, and on the whiteboard would be a blueprint for the Semtex C4, detailed with all its materials. It would also list details on how to make Molotovs.

~r~[DESCRIPTOR]~w~ In the back of the room, there would be two large machines; one to mix ingredients, the other seemingly to dry them, both not turned on. There would be a barrel of RDX powder on the side.

~r~[DESCRIPTOR]~w~ In the far left room, there would also be crates stacked full of motor oil and gasoline.

 While a lot of the RP did end up being quite interactive, i.e. evidence collection, confirmation of DNA, blood splatter analysis, allowing RP to progress based on character knowledge and depending on how the different players reacted to their surroundings, it was seriously time consuming and probably broke some immersion as I walked around the inside of the workshop using my alternative character even though RPly I am meant to be outside. 

How would descriptive markers benefit the server and its RP?

• Enrich RP quality and opportunities by setting the environment/stage for surrounding players.
• More opportunities to plan RP stories and situations.
• It provides the opportunity to change the course of certain RP, which I think would enrich player experience.
• Makes exploring the server more interesting as you don't know what type of RP can come out of certain descriptors.
• EDIT*: Maybe it is something that can be added as a result of RP approval?

How would they work?

• Players will have to set a blip with /dblip and can remove the blip with /deleteblip.
• Players would leave a temporary blip that would last 30 minutes/1 hour.
• Staff would have to approve the placement and content of the blip. It would have to be considered realistic.

This is only a suggestion following some past RP planning experience I've had! I know it is an extremely flawed suggestion and can come with a lot of ill-use and uncertainties of how to use it, but I thought it would be good to plant the idea, anyway. Feel free to leave your opinions and thoughts.

 

Edited September 2, 2021 by Lola

[isBrainDed]

Nice idea, this could be used for lots of things.

Wish we could have a way to have them without mod+

Maybe make it so when you submit for a request, it opens a same queue as using /report and then support staff could also review and approve them,offloading some of the work.

[HobGoblin]

This is a nice idea and would be used in a lot of RP.

 

I don't think that staff should have to approve the marker, if we set the marker so anyone can remove it then the object can also be interacted with.

 

For example if you had a marker indicating something on the floor, another player could come and move the object RPly and also delete / move the marker. The markers would be logged anyway so if anyone places down a marker to troll they can be dealt with by server staff.

[Harley]

Reminds me of the graffiti suggestion that Bala made in his crim overhaul suggestion a little bit. I love the idea of both

[IAmTurtle]

I like the idea of it. The only down side I see is it getting kinda messy with a lot of them.

[skeletee]

Maybe the proximity threshold should be different to admin markers; as in you would have to be extremely close or directly on top of it to see. Alternatively, it could show up as a triangle and you would have to interact with it to see what it says.

[skeletee]

Below is an example of what it would look like in practice that was used for a recent RP opp. Instead of "ADMIN MARKER" it would read "DESCRIPTIVE MARKER".

It's really amazing that we could get a staff member to approve this marker for the purpose of RP, but it would be great if there were less obstacles to go through and we could do it ourselves (with some level of moderation).

Edited September 5, 2021 by Lola

[Aldarine]

As somebody who does a lot of interactive roleplay with my environment such as placing/moving things that have no game physical object, I really do like this idea. My worries would be things such as moderation/abuse as well as marker clutter and potential server sided issues with so many markers being around the map at any given time.

[Ash]

I really love this idea, it would just bring a little more immersion to things. 

I also agree with Aldarine above, it could get messy pretty quickly.
A potential solution for moderation could be a new /report type where you request a marker and it shows the markers requested text for support staff or higher to approve. This however poses the issue of adding more 'reports' for staff to deal with.

But if those issues can be figured out, I'd love to see this implemented.

[Puzzling]

I love this idea, as someone who would love to put "On Duty Mechanic - Call Elias @ 123-4576" on the wall of my mechanic shop, or even at any player owned businesses so they could advertise. Maybe make them only available for at the most 24 hours.

If people abuse them, just punish them for it, whenever you run the command to place one just create a log so they can be easily tracked. Sure there might be some people who abuse it but it would be the same as unrealistic building where it just gets reported and taken care of with a notice to remove it.

 

For a trial, we could try to allow admin markers for RP use ICly, use a /report 1 to get it approved and see how they work along in the server in an attempt to gauge how often or how much of a use it could have!

 

Implementation, 

  

On 9/5/2021 at 10:08 AM, skeletee said:

Below is an example of what it would look like in practice that was used for a recent RP opp. Instead of "ADMIN MARKER" it would read "DESCRIPTIVE MARKER".

It's really amazing that we could get a staff member to approve this marker for the purpose of RP, but it would be great if there were less obstacles to go through and we could do it ourselves (with some level of moderation).

It can be removed the same way how blips can be removed by the owner with /removeOrderBlip to clear it if you are done with it.

[skeletee]

I think then with all the points considered, the main things as summarised to implement this would be:

- To add, use command /descriptivemarker or /dmarker for short. To delete, stand over marker and /deletemarker OR /clearmarker to remove all existing markers when not nearby or when more than 1 descriptive marker at once is accepted.

- Allowing support/senior support to review marker descriptions to alleviate work load from administrative team.

- Implement a timer on set marker (1 hour) until expiration.

- Implement a cool down (1 descriptive marker maximum per week to begin with as a “trial”)

- Make it so that players have to be either on top of the marker to see it displayed like an admin marker OR have it then show up in the chat box when moving over the marker.

This would also come after being added to the commands list to explain its appropriate use.

More examples of what this would look like in practice and what markers would be considered appropriate is TBA.

Edited August 1, 2022 by skeletee

[LucasMadrazo]

I think this is a great idea and could be used a lot to improve the roleplay around the server.

Many factions can use this as well, such as PD, FD and others.

+1 from me

[skeletee]

Requesting the descriptive marker using the /dmarker command

Blip that appears upon descriptive marker being approved.

Text that shows up in chat when you step over the marker.

[XeV]

THIS WOULD be insane for RP, imagine you kidnap someone and burn them alive rply, and Police show up and instead of just seeing an easily identifiable body on the ground

see the marker that says "you would see gasoline on the ground and a charred unrecognizable pile of bones" and go off of that for RP

there are so many possibilities for RP if people can SEE it rather then somehow get the ID of someone and do a /ldo 

[Icarus]

I would LOVE this from a detective side. Most of our RP is going to a dead body, seeing there is no evidence and closing it. People being murdered should be a much more serious crime than people make it out to be. I would love to have just an ID of a player to go off for RP. 

[XeV]

5 minutes ago, Icarus said:

I would LOVE this from a detective side. Most of our RP is going to a dead body, seeing there is no evidence and closing it. People being murdered should be a much more serious crime than people make it out to be. I would love to have just an ID of a player to go off for RP. 

THIS, alot of people IC try to do serial killer RP and this could help

Just drop a marker that even says ((ID 127 For RP)) and then cops can Ldo

[Osborn]

Hello, we submitted a development request a few weeks back for floating /do's to replace admin markers, I am trying to get it expedited as I understand it means quite a lot for primarily business RP. 

We are basically asking for floating /dos. 

- Osborn. 

 

[Requiem]

+1 Could certainly improve RP capabilities!

[RAttlesnake7473]

+1000000 could've used this, this weekend ) :

[Chunder]

This has been added to the server!