Salem

It might promote more interaction between players if you could look at another player and get a vague idea of their ability to destroy you.

Given the system in place currently (which I like) you don't really know anyone at a glance and need to "memorize" them to remember and get to know them. If you see a stranger walking toward you for the first time you have no way to tell if they are strong or weak aside from the clothing they wear(which means nothing as it can just be purchased).

I can look at a weightlifter and tell at a glance that he is much stronger than I am. If you were able to get a general idea like this in the game you might be more willing to defend yourself against someone of comparable strength.

It would also promote more social interaction in the wilderness as you wouldn't need to be AS afraid of another player if you knew he/she was close to you in strength. You might actually stick around to say hello rather than logging out at the first sign of a red square on the map. If someone as advanced as the Chief came along, you'd know there's no point in sticking around, but if some noob comes knocking on your gate thinking he could get some cheap loot because you'd log out as soon as you see him, he'd have another thing coming.

I think it should just be a vague comparison, not an accurate readout of their humors of course.

Betabry wrote:It might promote more interaction between players if you could look at another player and get a vague idea of their ability to destroy you.

Given the system in place currently (which I like) you don't really know anyone at a glance and need to "memorize" them to remember and get to know them. If you see a stranger walking toward you for the first time you have no way to tell if they are strong or weak aside from the clothing they wear(which means nothing as it can just be purchased).

I can look at a weightlifter and tell at a glance that he is much stronger than I am. If you were able to get a general idea like this in the game you might be more willing to defend yourself against someone of comparable strength.

It would also promote more social interaction in the wilderness as you wouldn't need to be AS afraid of another player if you knew he/she was close to you in strength. You might actually stick around to say hello rather than logging out at the first sign of a red square on the map. If someone as advanced as the Chief came along, you'd know there's no point in sticking around, but if some noob comes knocking on your gate thinking he could get some cheap loot because you'd log out as soon as you see him, he'd have another thing coming.

I think it should just be a vague comparison, not an accurate readout of their humors of course.

I like this idea, or possibly some sort of hostility/morality indicator as well. A character which has murdered countless newbies (defined as the difference between their stats/victims stats) would glow faintly red or something of that nature. Either way more transparency into the characters and objects we interact with in game would be a good thing.

This will probably be hammered as being a "soft-core anti-dev nooby suggestion", but I do agree with the sentiment of it.

In real life you have some ability to judge the intent and capabilities of another person you meet. You are not forced to regard everybody you see as a potential murderer. This means you can go up to people and say hi to them and make new acquaintances without having to constantly weigh this against the risk of death. There cannot be any meaningful social interactions if the only means of self-protection is paranoia.

Terrible idea. You have no idea if someone can kick your ass just by looking at them. Thats how a majority of people get their asses kicked actually.

Hans_Lemurson wrote: soft-core anti-dev nooby suggestion]

Yes I agree, it is.

If you need to judge someone's strength from their character you can still get a rough idea from their clothing. Yes strength can be hidden, but it can be hidden irl as well.

Nothing in this game is supposed to be easy why would finding friends be any different?

Besides if you came across someone in a Maple Mustache Masque wandering around the woods picking mushrooms in real life you'd most likely regard them as a murderer, why should the game be any different?

I don't think players should be able to see the current level of other players. It would ruin an enticing game. I say it will ruin it, because if other players can see or have a good judge of someones level of character, there will probably end up being more PKs. The mystery to ones level makes others hesitant before acting.

I do believe that there should be a strength comparison for NPC critters/creatures like snakes, deer, bear, rabbit, so on and so forth. This will actually improve the game to some degree in my opinion.

When I get 500 in all humours I will go outside Boston in noob clothes (Fully slotted) and pretend to be new.

I like the idea of supplying more information but I don't like the idea of just a flat out list of stats and other things.

EVE's approach is good, Character strength can only be gauged based on Character age. Supplying that information alone can give people wise to the
meta-game an idea as to what they're looking at beyond the gear but still leaves room for uncertainty, I.E, A two day old character may just be an alt for someone that's
played for years and there shouldn't be a way to know who the player controlling the character is for certain beyond asking.

-Vision quest complete
Faithfully yours, Mao "Puppy blood is delicious" Ze ****.

MaoZeDong wrote:I like the idea of supplying more information but I don't like the idea of just a flat out list of stats and other things.

EVE's approach is good, Character strength can only be gauged based on Character age. Supplying that information alone can give people wise to the
meta-game an idea as to what they're looking at beyond the gear but still leaves room for uncertainty, I.E, A two day old character may just be an alt for someone that's
played for years and there shouldn't be a way to know who the player controlling the character is for certain beyond asking.

Showing character age...that's a nice middle ground! Gives you a sense of what's what while retaining uncertainty and some ability for deception.

Personally I think that anonymity is a good form of defense.
When I got off the boat, one of the first things I did was collect jute and snakeskin gear.

Funnily enough, players would log out as soon as we hit screens in the wild.
Just keep a large distance between you and the other player.

If they come closer, run away and log (so they dont see where you logged off)