Poll Closed: VC & Emote Command Alteration

As suggested by several players (and since I think it's just a good idea), I'm planning on altering the VC and emote commands. This will entail a couple of changes.

1. Prefacing VC and emote commands with a couple of letters/symbols.
2. Reworking some of the VC commands to use whole words (since I've recently added the ability to better parse entire words from entered text).

This particular poll is directed more at the 1st change.

I'm going to put up several options in this poll. Please vote and/or leave comments. If you pick the last option (something else), please post what you think would work better. The goal is to find a symbol that is not often used "doubled up" in normal typing (at the start of a sentence) but would still be easy to use often for VC commands.

Oh, and "//" is already used for prefacing Out Of Character speech, so that one won't be used, and I plan on keeping "ve " for those "visible (text) emotes". Also, "##" is already used for DM console commands.

\\ (this one might be good for dedicating to emotes, since it's kind of the opposite of the OOC "//", no "Shift" required)
]] (no "Shift" required)
!!
@@ (this one is used by CEP for some of their scripting, but we could use it, too)
$$
~~
>>
??
.. (two periods, no "Shift" required)
:: (two colons)
;; (two semi-colons, no "Shift" required)
zz (no "Shift" required)
something else (post idea below)

Thanks!

I've gone for \\ ... I like using // for OOC speak and \\ would be good for "OOC VC Commands" .... both keys on opposite sides of my keyboard and neither require the shift key..... one side for OOC speak, one side for OOC comands....

....though to be honest I'd actually like the idea of using ## as well, which was left off the list above, this is another symbol key requiring no shift and would also work just as well....

RustyDios wrote:

....though to be honest I'd actually like the idea of using ## as well, which was left off the list above, this is another symbol key requiring no shift and would also work just as well....

On a US keyboard ## does require a shift (it's the 3 key).

And I like the \\ idea too.

I voted for '..', but could go with ';;' or 'zz' as well. I'm not a very good typer but those keys are 'reflex' for me. The '\' makes sense, but I usually have to look to where to stretch my pinkie finger to. :-)

I prefer a single / as it is never going to be used at the beginning of a chat, and if the goal is OOC speech you just hit it twice. I don't really see a large probability of typos between one and two slashes.

Not really sure where to put my vote yet; leaning towards "\", but Dave makes a good point. FWIW, I think "qq" would be better than "zz" on the off chance that a PC could want to "talk in their sleep" or some such.

Since I just mentioned this in another thread, I'll bring it up here as well.

When I do make this change, several of the more commonly used VC commands will get seriously shortened (to make them easier to use on a regular basis without resorting to using up a quickslot). Using the "\" example above, they'd end up like:
\\s (instead of pc tool search...one that's going in sometime today)
\\t (instead of info time)
\\x (instead of info xp)
\\w (instead of info who or info where)

So, while we're at it, which other VC commands do you find yourself using all the time with most of your characters?

Oh, and in this poll, you can vote for more than one option.

I'm looking at going for the double-character (instead of single) prefix simply to prevent people like me (who sometimes hit incorrect keys at odd times) from initiating a VC command when they really intend to have their characters speak. Plus, since we already use a double one to indicate OOC speaking, I figure it'll be easier to remember instead of keeping track of "which takes a double and which takes a single".

\\p for piety information...

Personally I also find myself referring to info levels often during character development, esp. since most of my PC's force the third level from the char sheet and I often forget which semi-class I have... so maybe an \\l should go in too... I can forsee calling and sending your dragon (if you have one) becoming more and more frequently used as time passes so maybe a \\dc (for call) and \\ds (for sending) .... ...

I would also suggest shortening the enchant xxxx x xxxx xxxx commands as well, but to be honest the way they are now kinda makes me think that it is the "imitation of taking time to create the item", a few seconds/minutes to type that out correctly is akin to few in-game hours actually making the thing...


As an avid modder/crafter of stuff I also use the renameitem/itemdesc commands a lot, but I guess this might not be the case for others...

The only other thing I can think of changing/adding/improving is an update to the way we use languages.. so each language has a prefix too and colour change, much the same way // and ve are used... but I have no idea if it can be done to "scramble the words to jargon" for those that don't speak it, yet kept it primarily in the "chat box"... ...


... and @ Amethyst347 .. thanks for the info, that was something I didn't know... UK keyboards have the # key just above right-shift, next to enter... the shift+# being the tilde~ key... ..

RustyDios wrote:

... and @ Amethyst347 .. thanks for the info, that was something I didn't know... UK keyboards have the # key just above right-shift, next to enter... the shift+# being the tilde~ key... ..

Hehe. Yeah, I'm keyboard bi-lingual. My laptop is American, but then I go to work every day and have to switch to UK keyboards. Keeps my fingers nimble.

I don't like the // idea for one major reason; the key is too close to the enter key. I hate the apostraphe for the same reason.

I'd shy away from ... because I frequently will state a speechless character by saying ...


As for commands...how about

scp (Currently sc power)
ecc (Ethereal Chest Call)
ecd (Etheral Chest Dismiss)

I voted for the \\. Its simple and logical (to me anyway) as an escape sequence since the \ is used to quote shell metacharacters and some perl regexes. A single backslash wouldn't be bad either... in fact combined with its position right above the enter key you can type the "Enter... backslash... any-letter-on-the-left-hand... Enter" sequence pretty fast. Try it!

Greetings,

Simple means brilliant in my book. ;; or .. look simple enough to me and therefore get my vote.

Cheers,
Thral

I've removed the initial poll, which had these as the top 3 vote winners:
\\ (6 votes)
;; (4 votes)
.. (3 votes)

I put up a new poll at the top of this thread, where you can vote for your 1 preferred VC command prefix. The one with the most votes will be the one that gets used when I revamp many of the VC commands.

Just bumping this for those that might not have voted in the newer 3-option poll yet.

I'm going to let it run for a few more days, then I'll put working on the update for this on my "higher priority list" (right below "finish aenean epic magic system").

I could see why people like the ;; It's in the home row and easy to strike with the pinky. But on the other hand \\ seems more logical. Though I guess ;; is next to the other prefix // for OOC messages making it more ideal.

Tough choice...

Closing the poll, with final votes:
;; (8 votes)
\\ (7 votes)

I'm very close to finishing up the new epic magic system, so I'll soon tackle updating all the VC commands.

For a sneak peek at what I'm working on with updating the VC commands, you can look here.

It's nowhere near complete yet (and none of the changes have been made in-game at this time), but there's definitely a little progress.

Basically three VC "prefix" types:
;; (used for 99% of VC commands)
.. (used for emotes)
// (used to denote Out Of Character speech, for those that care about in/out of character differences)

All three types will recognize the double-character prefix with or without a space after it.

Doing some rearranging of commands, some reformatting, some retiring of some outdated ones, and some adding of new ones (such as a PC-run command to fix the "stuck in a horse" error caused by logging out while mounted).

Yes, I am still around. Twins and older kids have been keeping me busy during the day since my wife went back to work last week, and I've been buried in the toolset at night updating the VC command scripting (and working on that VC guide page for the main part of the site).