Hard code it so that you can not make character starting with self at character creation.

wear 'return wand'
zap self
selfgrukar dissapears\does not.

sleep self
opps, lost 5%.


Self is something people write often, so its "hard coded" in the fingers of players. Meaning that in a stressed PK situation, people would often forget that the char at hand started with self. That can get you killed, due to targeting the wrong person. This should be a minor thing to code up. Removing a possible abuse of game mechanics, if you can call it that.

Names starting with "Self" will be illegal starting next reboot. You can still have "self" in the middle of the name, FWIW.

Another coder and I conferred, and we aren't quite sure how this will affect the current Self*-named character. However, based on an email link I got where the player admitted it was intended, we made an executive decision to not care what the exact effects are.

As for some of the other keywording issues mentioned in this thread, I don't see us changing any of those. Self is a special enough term to merit unique consideration.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

I moved the penalty for self-casting offensive spells from 5% down to 1%. We think that's sufficient to discourage 99+% of the stupid powergaming abuses 5% would prevent, and it's a lot less harsh on the occasionally confused.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

nt

At the moment, if you type "spell trip", you get a message saying "That's not a spell. It's a skill" or something similar.

Is there a particular reason that when the check detects that it is a skill, it doesn't just show you the skill instead?

It's only a really minor thing, but it is something I always wondered. I was reminded of it because I seem to recall that in the old days, if you tried to cast a skill, you also lost percents in the skill (or something along those lines).

Is there a particular reason that when the check detects that it is a skill, it doesn't just show you the skill instead?


Probably to accentuate the difference to a player who doesn't know which category something is in. It's something we could adjust, but not a terribly high priority.

I was reminded of it because I seem to recall that in the old days, if you tried to cast a skill, you also lost percents in the skill (or something along those lines).

Might have been for casting a commune. I remember passing by that code while doing some of this, and it was all commented out, safely neutering it. You'll only lose skill% for offensive abilities directed at yourself.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

f

Even if it doesn't affect current chars, it is one problem less for the future.

This is a good thing on a number of levels.

>Another coder and I conferred, and we aren't quite sure how this >will affect the current Self*-named character. However, based on an >email link I got where the player admitted it was intended, we made >an executive decision to not care what the exact effects are.

See, this is why I love you guys heh.

And In a recent log on DIO's they admmit that's their intention when they point out where it saves them from a PK.

I for one use tabkeys, but on a laptop I often miss it and am left with the abbreviation.

If it's self or a name that has Sel in it I may tell the wrong person something, or attack them.

Make self always default to "self", and not "self*".

Make it so <action> <your name> works even when you are blind (if it does not already). Then people would be able to just alias self with their name if they want to protect against targeting someone else instead of themselves.

Just write the full name if you know you might harm someone with the Self*-whatever.

or

If someone wishes to have accidents happening to him with a character named Self*, then probably he deserves it. There are a thousand/million names to choose from. Why would you choose Self*?

This is a change that would harm no one, yet make a few players happier, and take like five minutes to code.

And Narissa, I think you misunderstood me. The zapping of the return wand was aimed for yourself, not named something with self*. But since Self* had come and attacked you, he was the prime target for "self", not yourself. Resulting in a possible death, not due to your skill, but abuse of game mechanincs.

Also a number of transmuter spells require you to target "self" during combat. Like haste. How fun would it not be to haste your enemy instead of yourself. Or that villager and recieve a hail of hits from bane.

Since Selfarg admitted he chose his name to intentionally abuse "self". However with the spell thing, I believe there is a simpler solution at least for now. If you type a spell without a target, you are the default target. Unless you are fighting, and then the guy you are fighting becomes the default target. Besides you don't have to type the whole name, just selfa instead of self. (in the instance of Selfarg).

Not all spells are like that, some you need to add self to, to work on yourself.

That which does not kill us,
makes us stronger.

You can't have 'Vlad' in your name, why should you have self?

It just makes things easier. I can't see any possible reason why you'd want to allow "Self" to start names. Anything where the game mechanics are forcing a character to do something they don't wish to do (such as sleep themselves) should be changed if its an easy change. In the case of 'Self' its an easy change and it makes sense.

Is that then arguements can be made to ban name starting with

Out
Inn
Merc
Guar
Zom
Elem
Ang
Arch
Dev
Dem
Tre
...

The imms don't want to impose a million restrictions like that. Yes, Self is more universal than any of the above, but in many cases other names are actually worse in that respect, because for many attack types "attack self" does not do anything. You can get around these problems by simply making an alias, which is not such a big deal, and which you had to do anyway before names completion was implemented.

IMHO if you hit "self" instead of "Self*", it is your mistake. Yes, you can claim that "Self*" is laim (and you will probably be right), but it is still your mistake.

However, when you hit "Self*" instead of "self" (e.g. c haste self), it is a different matter. This one IMHO is a real problem. Some spells must be targeted (although I cannot think of any that would be critical in combat).

Except perhaps "Guar".

The problem is that for any other character you can abbreviate the name except in unusual circumstances.

For chars beginning with "self" you cannot. Hitting yourself with a hostile spell loses you percentages, and if that spell is sleep or pwk, will probably guarantee your death.

I have become used to just typing the first few letters in a pk. It is instinctive when the room is empty. So my natural tendency will be to target myself accidentally in the heat of battle. Maybe not going into it, but as things become more chaotic.