Contacts List
The Urban Dead Contact list is a feature within Urban Dead that allows players to keep track of other players within the game. This feature was released in the game on October 20th, 2005, and given a large update on the 23rd November, 2006.
Usage
Using the Contact list is easy enough - one must find the character's profile, then use the 'Add Character to your Contacts List' button at the bottom. This requires that you know a person's profile number to begin with. You can also add characters via typing in the proper URL string. In this manner, you can add yourself to your own contacts list, although it has no effect. If you click a link to add a contact from off to Urban Dead site, you will be asked to confirm that you want to add them.
Each new contact first appears gray, but there are 8 other colours available. To set the colour of a contact, select the desired colour from the dropdown menu, then click 'make changes' at the bottom of the screen. The contact will now be displayed with that colour in room descriptions, and any other situation where you will see their name and profile link.
There is also an option to 'ignore' players, which prevents any of that character's speech or radio messages from appearing to you.
Removing a character from your contact list is also simple - simply select the 'delete contact' option from the dropdown menu and click 'make changes'.
There is a limit of 150 contacts in each contact list, after which no more can be added unless another is removed.
Features
The contact list provides several key benefits:
- Quick Information - The contact list provides information on the person's class, level and XP count, as well as their group if they have one. Players who haven't played for over a month have their names crossed out from the list.
- Post-Mortem Identification - Zombies on your contact list will be identified within stacks of Zombies. Likewise, contacts will be identified amongst any dead bodies in the vicinity.
- Mobile Phoning - A facility to allow long-distance communication via mobile phones to character on your contact list.
- Instant Identification - The contrasting colours of the list allow players to instantly spot their contacts in long lists of players, and differentiate between a friend in one colour, and an enemy in another. Bounty hunters or PKers targeting specific individuals find this feature very useful.
Before the November 23rd update, contacts were listed in the same colour as other players, and there was no ignore option.
Potential Features
Kevan has noted in the past that he hoped to add features to the Contact list, but these speculative features were not added following the large update in November 06. Among the ideas he noted were:
- Reciprocal Listing - A feature to allow users to make it easier to put people on your contact list that have you on their contact list.
- Attitude-flagging - A feature to allow users to identify friend or foe against each person on their contact list. While the colour system goes some way towards achieving this, and goes beyond the limitations of a friend/foe system, it is up to the player to remember which colour denotes which.
- Linked-GPS Feedback - If both characters have GPS units, the Contact list will provide GPS coordinates of each character that possesses a GPS unit.
