Suggestion talk:20080827 Cellphone Auto-Response & GPS Bluetooth
From Talk:Suggestions
Cellphone Auto-Response & GPS Bluetooth
| Timestamp: |  Swiers 07:41, 26 August 2008 (BST)
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| Type: | improvement |
| Scope: | cellphones & GPS units |
| Description: | Cellphones would have an "auto response"; whenever anybody texts you they would get your auto response message. To set the auto-response message, you'd just send a "text message" to yourself; the "auto-response" message would be the last message you had sent to yourself, or no message if that is blank. This may seem useless, but it actually is quite handy for group leaders; group members could text them, and the auto-response could contain plans of action for that day, allowing them to send out orders with very low AP cost to themselves and no meta gaming. Anybody remember back when they used to organize raves by having a vice mail you would call? (I'm talking about 20 years ago here...) Group leaders (or anybody who gets people to text them regularly) could do the same thing. Optionally, if the character also has a GPS, they could click on the GPS to enable / disable its bluetooth features. When enabled, the character's location is appended to all outgoing cell phone text messages, including auto-response messages, allowing the cell phone to act as a "homing beacon" even if the character is a zombie. Mind you, both of these features still require that the user(s) be in range of an operating cell tower. Also, cell communication requires that the users be mutual contacts, and the auto-response (and hence homing ability) would not work properly if either had set their contacts list to ignore the other, even under the current effects. |
Discussion (Cellphone Auto-Response & GPS Bluetooth)
Auto response is a goodun. Homing beacon is a bit too stalkerish for my liking. I want my enemies on my contacts so i can see them but i don't necessarily want them being able to find me whenever they want despite us technically being 'mutual contacts'.--xoxo 08:33, 26 August 2008 (BST)
- That's what the "ignore" part is for. Contact list them and ignore them. Or s that not useful for enemies?
Swiers 09:19, 26 August 2008 (BST)
- But what if i don't want to ignore them? I'm not 100% how that feature works but do they still show up in a room? The speaking thing is less of a concern.--xoxo 09:22, 26 August 2008 (BST)
- I think they do still show up if physically present, yes, because you certainly CAN kill text rapists. All it blocks is speach & radio braodcasts and cell messages- you even still see what observable actions they perform.
But its a moot point anyhow; if being trackable by mutual contacts concerns you, don't carry a GPS and a cellphone both, or don't enable the GPS Bluetooth functions (by clicking on the GPS) if you do carry both. You actually have to make an EFFORT to be tracked by this method. Swiers 09:43, 26 August 2008 (BST)
- I think they do still show up if physically present, yes, because you certainly CAN kill text rapists. All it blocks is speach & radio braodcasts and cell messages- you even still see what observable actions they perform.
- But what if i don't want to ignore them? I'm not 100% how that feature works but do they still show up in a room? The speaking thing is less of a concern.--xoxo 09:22, 26 August 2008 (BST)
I like it.--Themonkeyman11 14:35, 26 August 2008 (BST)
Nice. I'd Keep this, if it went to voting. --Blake Firedancer T E RNL? P.I.S.I.T. 22:30, 26 August 2008 (BST)
Yes, Good. Bring it to voting and you get a strong keep. ■■ 02:28, 27 August 2008 (BST)
I like the auto-response, since I can see when it would be valuable to people, but I have the same concern as J3D about the homing beacon. I'd probably still vote Keep, since I can choose not to be tracked. --JaredTalk W! P! 16:15, 27 August 2008 (BST)
Kool mechanic! Keep --UCFSD 17:18, 27 August 2008 (BST)
Keep I believe these are good ideas that should be workable. --Zhani 23:57, 2 September 2008 (BST)
Current & Voting Discussion
One thing I'm not clear about is this; do I still get the message from the sender, even though I set my phone to auto-respond? Also, this creates a problem for people who like having their enemies on their contact lists (for easy recognition). They might not mind talking in game to their enemies (bragging during kills, negotiations, etc), but they might be very opposed to their enemy getting info left for allies as an auto-response. If they ignore the enemy they wont hear what they have to say in game, if they don't ignore their enemy they leave their auto-response open to the enemy. Simple solution is just don't have your enemy on your contact list if you don't want them listening in, but that means they are not coloured and easily spotted as an enemy. - User:Whitehouse 22:51, 27 August 2008 (BST)
- Yes, of course you still get the messages sent to you. (If the only reason they are sending you a message is to get your auto-reponse, THIER message may be blank, assuming that is allowed, but at least you know who is "pinging" you. Maybe Kevan could make it easy to tell if a message is blank without reading it, to save folks AP in those cases.)
You are right about the problem with enemies on your contacts list who you want to banter with. A third solution would be to not set up any auto-response if you like doing that. None of those is perfect, but they are all viable options that don't introduce any new complications or limitations on existing abilities . Swiers 23:35, 27 August 2008 (BST)
