User:Aichon/Sandbox/Archive 2009

WIP Suggestions

Swap the Rots

Timestamp: —Aichon— 20:22, 3 October 2009 (BST)

Type: Skills change

Scope: Zombies

Description: To quickly summarize: Brain Rot and Flesh Rot should be swapped in the skills tree, such that Flesh Rot comes first and Brain Rot comes under Flesh Rot. Problem: Zombie characters currently have a difficult decision to make: whether to pick up Brain Rot in order to have access to Flesh Rot, or whether to set aside some time (and dignity) in order to seek a revive so that they can procure a Flak Jacket and Body Building. This is unacceptable. Solution: Thankfully, a simple way of solving the problem is available: swap the two skills in the zombie skills tree. By doing so, zombies will have immediate access to Flesh Rot, enabling them to weather the attacks from attackers more capably, while also allowing them to avoid making a difficult decision. Given that Brain Rot is considered a very pro-zombie skill, placing it further down in the hierarchy of skills also makes sense, since it will now take one additional level before it can be procured (though, in practice, this will affect very little). Justification: I see four main justifications for making this change. Enjoyment: Currently, Flesh Rot is a skill that many players either cannot or will not purchase for a variety of reasons. Dual Nature characters avoid it since it makes switching sides more difficult. Many pro-zombie characters avoid picking it up if they want to be able to engage in some of the various trans-mortal tactics or are simply not willing to commit so heavily to being a zombie. But there exists no reason why such a commitment should be demanded for a skill such as Flesh Rot. Forcing such a decision merely diminishes the enjoyment of those playing the game how they want. Philosophical: Many players share the opinion that their characters should not have to switch to the "other side" in order to play at their best. This means that zombies should not have to become humans in order to be better zombies, and vice versa, since that makes little logical sense. In order to alleviate one such issue, Kevan introduced Flesh Rot, but Flesh Rot was placed underneath Brain Rot in the zombie skill tree, which still forces many zombie characters into choosing the same path as before: become a human in order to become a better zombie, rather than having to pick up Brain Rot in order to enjoy Flesh Rot. Fairness: Currently, Body Building and Flak Jackets can be picked up by any level 2 survivor character. Making Flesh Rot more easily accessible puts it on par with Body Building, which can be picked up immediately by humans, while also allowing zombie characters to remain zombies, instead of having to switch sides to be better zombies. In-game Sense: In terms of flavor, it also makes sense. Rotting should start on the outside and work its way in with (un)living beings, since bacteria, critters, or physical damage will occur externally at a very early point after death. A rotting of the brain should take quite a bit longer to accomplish, since it likely won't begin until the brain is exposed to open air, so it only makes sense that it would be located under Flesh Rot. Caveats: I do observe two potential points for consideration with this suggestion. First, making Flesh Rot more accessible means that more zombie characters will be picking it up. Flesh Rot, in and of itself, has no drawbacks, so it's almost certain that any zombie character with the XP to spare will pick it up as soon as they are able to do so. This change may affect the balance of the game slightly. I think it's easy to agree that this change is fair though, given the position of Body Building within the survivor tree. Second, placing Brain Rot under Flesh Rot means that Brain Rot no longer acts as a gateway to a useful skill. As such, players will either choose to pick up or ignore Brain Rot on the basis of its virtues alone. This means that it will likely be picked up by less zombie characters than before, potentially simplifying some survivor tasks (e.g. DNA extraction, managing reviving points, engaging in combat revives, etc.). I see this as a virtue though, since it puts the power of the decision more firmly in the players' hands, rather than forcing them to weight their decision. Disclaimer: I play both sides actively, and have since I first joined.

Discussion (Swap the Rots)

This idea was reconsidered. The primary reason for pulling it is the fact that any level 2 survivor that gets zombified would be able to pick up Flesh Rot, effectively making Body Building and Flak Jackets obsolete. Flesh Rot would be far more desirable than BB+FJ, since it would negate the need to carry a Flak Jacket, freeing up some encumbrance space. While I'm not opposed to the idea of negating the need for Flak Jackets, I am opposed to making Body Building obsolete, so unless a good alternative can be found for that skill, I won't move forward with this suggestion. —Aichon— 17:00, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

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Password Change Option

Timestamp: —Aichon— 04:18, 4 October 2009 (BST)

Type: Interface/settings change

Scope: All players

Description: Currently, there does not exist a means to change the password for a character. This can be problematic if a person's character gets "hacked" or if a person simply wishes to better secure their account by changing the password from time to time. I would like to propose that a typical password change option be added to the Settings page. It would prompt for your current password, your new password, and then for you to confirm your new password. In addition, a "veto" e-mail message would be sent to the e-mail address that is on file whenever you change your password or e-mail address. This e-mail message would provide a link (valid for a few days) that could be used to undo any changes that might have been made by malicious parties accessing your character's account. Note: The suggestion description has changed since some of the comments in the discussion were made.

Discussion (Password Change Option)

You'd need a qulaifying question, otherwise if I have your password, I could use this to take over your character and change the password, so you couldn't use it at all. --Rosslessness^{Want a Location Image?} 09:48, 11 October 2009 (BST)

Excellent point and it's definitely something I overlooked. Rather than a challenge/response though, something more passive might be in order, since the common case would be people changing their own passwords. For instance, perhaps it could be set to send an e-mail to the account on file whenever the password or e-mail address is changed, and that e-mail could provide a link that could be used to veto the change. I've seen a similar system on another website, and it seems to work well while requiring less of its users than a challenge/response system would. Then, the only way to compromise the account would be to compromise both the e-mail and the account's information. —Aichon— 10:40, 11 October 2009 (BST)

Hope you don't mind my comment. Having a reset password option tied into an email account would be good. Also it might even cut down on zergers a tiny little bit. Are you going to take this idea to Developing Suggestions?--_GANG Giles Sednik _CAPD 10:51, 11 October 2009 (BST)

Don't mind one bit, and yep, I'll take it there eventually. I thought of the idea the day before I left on a week-long cruise, and didn't want to post it to Developing Suggestions while I was away for that long. I'll probably post it sometime this week, assuming that nothing else comes up that keeps me away from a computer. —Aichon— 16:14, 11 October 2009 (BST)

This was posted to Developing Suggestions a few days back. —Aichon— 10:35, 23 October 2009 (BST)

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Alt Proximity Warning

Timestamp: —Aichon— 16:35, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Type: Interface

Scope: Players with alts

Description: Many Urban Dead players have multiple characters (alts) that they play. The rules regarding alts are relatively simple, but are oftentimes overlooked by new players. Even veteran players may occasionally run afoul of the rule if they don't keep track of the locations of all of their characters, and find that a few of them wander into one another's vicinity. This suggestion is aimed at helping players identify and move away from these sorts of accidental occurrences, rather than dealing with intentional zerging. This suggestion proposes a proximity warning whenever characters controlled by the same individual (as identified by e-mail address) are getting too close to each other. Similar to the IP warning, if a character moves within 10 blocks of another character controlled by that player, they would receive a simple warning along the lines of, "This character is nearing the vicinity of CHARACTER_NAME, another character in your control (you are currently X blocks away). Please be aware of the rules regarding alt characters and note that countermeasures may be automatically applied if your characters are thought to be working in conjunction with one another." As for why e-mail addresses are used, rather than IP addresses, cookies, or some other means, the reason is simple: if those other means were used, zergers could test, map, and learn the limits of detection currently used by Urban Dead, enabling them to more easily circumvent the countermeasures in the future. By using e-mail addresses instead, the accounts that are linked are obvious and the warning becomes a tool for honest players to identify times that they might be absentminded. Again, this suggestion is not aimed at curbing intentional zerging, but, rather, just honest accidents made by regular players. Please note that this suggestion is not meant to have any impact on existing detection methods or countermeasures, which will still be kept in place as they are now.

Discussion (Alt Proximity Warning)

A slightly reworded version of this suggestion has been posted to Developing Suggestions. Feel free to offer opinions there. —Aichon— 08:28, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Soldiers of Crossman Recruitment Advertisement

Moved the work over to here instead.

Barricade Template Test

Just fooling around with an idea for the appearance of a barricade plan template. While normally I'd be cool with people commenting about it here, if you feel compelled to discuss this idea, I'd suggest heading to the proper place instead. Of course, you're welcome to talk directly to me on my talk page, if you'd like.

	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29
20				Dark			Dark			Dark	20
21						RP					21
22											22
23											23
24											24
25											25
26					MPM	Dark					26
27					RP						27
28				RP							28
29		RP							Dark		29
	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29

Legend
	Extremely Heavily Barricaded		Very Strongly Barricaded		No Barricades
		Auto Repair Shops		Hospitals		Other (non-TRP)
		Factories		Necrotech Buildings		Unbarricadable
		Forts and Malls		Police Departments
	Dark: Dark Buildings		MPM: Mobile Phone Masts		RP: Revive Points

Unless interest is expressed in this larger version, I've stopped updating it for now. Only the small version is being updated with ideas from the discussions taking place.

Halse Crescent Police Department	the Brodribb Building	Burdock Walk	Howel Bank	a factory	Crossman Grove Police Department	Williames Bank	Dustan Towers	the Goodson Motel	Taylor Bank
Altham Row	Yorke Grove	Postlethwaite Crescent Fire Station	the Cranfield Museum	Dandison Auto Repair	Nurten Avenue (RP)	Freeman Towers	the Stothert Building	the Scaife Building	Shehan Way Fire Station
Bussell Way	Wenmouth Park	Lilly Square	Piers Park	the Rugvie Monument	Lascelles Library	Doon Avenue	Teek Road	Cottingham Plaza	the Smithfield Building
a junkyard	the Farris Building	Butt Road Railway Station	Caplen Way	the Hallett Building	St. Eutychian's Hospital	Wheelhouse Auto Repair	Sherriff Place	the Waddington Building	Tayler Lane Police Department
wasteland	the Papps Building	Hallinan Towers	a junkyard	Clissold Road	Pirrie Park	St. Pius's Hospital	Edbrooke Street	Lance Towers	the Bathe Building
Lorgh Walk	Hibbert Walk	Pilcher Avenue	the Chubb Building	Silley Park	the Nurcombe Building	a carpark	St. Matheos's Hospital	the Rippon Building	the Henslow Arms
a warehouse	Coker Avenue	Stocker Lane	Tompson Walk	the Herman Building (Phone)	Priddy Bank	Stockham Towers	Hebdidgh Road	Scallon Crescent	the Davidge Building
Caiger Mall	Holloms Auto Repair	the Wagner Building	St. Isidore's Church	a cemetery (RP)	the Gadd Motel	a warehouse	Nettleton Way Railway Station	Cundham Library	the Jillard Museum
Caiger Mall	the Latrobe Building	Cockle Street	Yeandill Towers (RP)	Perram Avenue School	Mudford Plaza	Sherman Road	Allan Square	Keevil Walk	Bonville Drive
Pagram Library	Salopia Row (RP)	the Blackholler Arms	Selwood Crescent	Snygge Boulevard	Adney Auto Repair	a factory	the Desmond Monument	Club Colridge	North Library

TRPs

Auto Repair Shops {{{ARS}}}	Hospitals {{{H}}}
Factories {{{F}}}	NecroTech Facilities {{{NT}}}
Forts and Malls {{{Mall}}}	Police Departments {{{PD}}}
Bulletin Boards {{{Board}}}	Revive Points {{{RP}}}