I've been around for a long time but I've never really noticed nor used this ability. So, I tried using it a couple times and found only 1 library that I could actually get it to work and I did visit many libraries. So, I was wondering if this is this something that is in its infancy phase or just never really got fleshed out? So far, I think, it's a really cool addition because it's taught me a few things in a historical sense about the game, kinda like reading little excerpts from Drizit books back when he was a NPC. Will this be expanded or just kinda stay a little niche thing?

Research is not a commonly used feature, but it does work and is available to any area author who might like to take advantage of it. Because it's obscure and requires some additional work, most people seem to rely on the tried and true hidden descriptions (e.g., "look book", "look chapter4", etc.) over research, but there are times when research is more interesting.

I think it got destroyed when the server crashed and wiped, and they never re-implemented it.

That most of the stuff was lost and it was a Scarab project.

Sort of reminds me of the NPCs which respond to sayto, or... something? I remember it being a thing when Voralian City came in, but I don't think was ever used elsewhere. Maybe it was speakto or something...

Area authors have a limited ability to make NPCs respond to speech in addition to regular speech progs that can be coded. There are at least a handful of areas that make use of this feature, including Galadon.

I can only think of one area that makes use of the feature in such a way that isn't purely cosmetic/informational (i.e., it's part of a quest).

Or research for that matter as it is poorly documented, and generally very obscure with no obvious reason for a player to stumble upon it. At least with hidden objects or NPC started prompts there is an obvious reason to engage rather that going to every NPC and using sayto just in case. I'm 99% certain I made the same argument 11 years ago when this came in:

"The area also marks the debut of the use of the 'sayto' command for exploration purposes. When using 'sayto' directed at an NPC, you can ask about a variety of subjects in the hope of eliciting a useful or amusing response. I recommend starting with something simple such as 'hello, 'name' or 'job'.

For now, this function is mostly limited to Voralian City, but expect to see it expanded to other areas in the future."
http://www.qhcf.net/phorum/read.php?6,42829,42829#msg-42829

If a feature is only used in a handful of places after over a decade, perhaps it would be better to simply kill it and find a different way that uses the pre-existing tools to accomplish the same goal.

Sayto has uses. Sayto with NPC's does not (other than a pure RP tool, just as with PC's). Research is just the same. It's an easter egg hunt with very little reasonable chance of being discovered.

nt

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nt

I just started chatting with NPC's at an inn I found, and lo and behold there was a quest.

When the server crashed we lost everything in the RESEARCH database, which was pretty annoying. Some players helped restore a small portion of the lost text, but it was difficult to feel motivated to re-create everything.

That said, we have in the past welcomed player-submitted texts.

The feature is implemented in such a way that any area author can incorporate libraries into their areas (places where the RESEARCH command can be used), but we've never really advertised that to heroimms for some reason.