In Game Chat

[RumblingSky]

Very good suggestions, QuickLightening. Again, I don't really know what is possible (especially without using HAKs) so work arounds and those kinds of suggestions aren't that easy for me.

And even though I already stated it in my original post, I do know how to shut off the Shouts. The problem with that is Shouting is the only method of informing other players about bugs that may prohibit being able to play. Which is great for Beta, as Lokey said (and thank you for responding).

And technically Qui, we're not open to letting people do what they want. You can't be profane. You can't harass. You can't exploit bugs. I get what you're saying, but the statement is a bit too broad.

Lively debates.. I love em. It's good for everyone.. thanks for keeping that in mind.. LOL.

At any rate.. back to what QuickLightening was saying..

There is something else that Exaria does which I thought was very odd and probably HAK related.. but they have a LFG system.. where you can click on something in a text window and it brings up options.. One of them being, "Look for players around my level" and it tells you who they are and where they are. Since the system is designed for grouping, you never have a problem finding one. I would not recommend adopting this since I would imagine it would take a LOT of work, but it's just another example that I know of where things are made to be more condusive to everyone's playstyle.

And yeah, I wish Bio had put a little more effort into the chat system.. man, an in game email would've rocked!

[QuickLightning]

i've played on quite a few servers that used those without the use of any hak paks... and the devs work would be non-existant (or close to) since all that would be required would maybe by minor tweaks (unless all they wanted was the LFG beacon, then they could most likely get it without the need of adjustments at all). The mods that have it might be willing to give it to the devs...it never hurts to ask...

[AlienOverlord]

I started on another server and had no idea what to do, where to find critters and shouted for assistance and got several tells saying not to shout and very little help otherwise. I left there pretty quick. I don't like spending time wandering looking for monsters, ending up in an area that is too difficult and being killed and trying again.

The only problem I have with shout is that this server is popular and sometimes there is a lot of shouting going on and I lose messages from people in my party...but I still like reading the shouts, if I can catch them before they scroll up.

[HPD_234]

I don't mind the shouts too much, that is if they are kept to a minimum. People having conversations about game mechanics, real world stuff and generally cracking on each other is a bit much. I kinda look at it like one team of Army Rangers communicating with another Team; minimal radio traffic and only what is necessary otherwise Put a Cork in it.

Honestly, i have used the shout channel to find other players to hunt with and if i get really really screwed up and lost I may shout for some help, but other than that I really see no need to have full conversations in shout mode. Yes I can turn off the shout option but if I do that, what if someone comes on and is looking for me or someone to party up with at my level? They shout and I got it turned off, now I look like an [censored] cause I don't answer or I miss out on some really fun teamplay.

Just an example, and no it doesn't bother me enough to ruin my gaming experience or NS in general; just takes away from the mood a little. And to me it's all about getting away from the real world for a little while

[GrieffShadowbane]

I think that we shouldnt use shout to simply talk to one person. Many times I see that people only want to talk to one person but they do it in shout mode. I think that we can use shout within certain limits. Sure, it is Beta and things will get better but I think we should start now by limiting the reasons on why we shout. I like to RP. I don't mind OOC but I tend to stray away from it. I think that the beacon idea suggested above is a great idea and should be looked into by the Devs in future updates. Untill then I say that shout be used within certain limits and eventually I think there should be some ground rules on useing the shout channel. Maybe only use it fer Town raid awareness and LFG calls (and of course DM serverwide messages.)

My 2 cents

[Denort]

The simple fact is that shout can be turned off. If you do not like shout, if it breaks your roleplaying mood then just turn it off. Asking for it to be disabled (effectively turning it off for everyone) is just plain silly.
The shout channel is like toilet paper. If you don't like it, don't use it, but don't make everyone else cr4ppy by denying them.

[Maestro]

well, the threads author said clearly why she doesn't want to deactivate shout: something important from the server or a DM wouldn't reach her. but to be quite frank, i think you should put up with the non RP chat going on. I started playing nwn online some three days ago, and i had been looking for a non RP-server for quite some time then, there are almost only good RP servers. when i found ns4 it felt like paradise, because of the lack of restrictions (you know what i mean by that), and once i had found out how to shout (as i said, i hadn't played it online much before that only on an RP server when i didn't even know what that meant, in the end it was a horrible experince) it got even better. for me, the shout channel is THE possibility off getting to know new people, most of which are pretty nice actually, and being able hunt and chat crack one of my famous wordplays ("lets go rock the woods. you get it? rock the woods! i'm awesome!") is just what defines this servers gaming experience. without the shout-channel, i would leave. seriously, and that would be a pity (not for most of you i guess), because i mostly love everything about this world, the innovative settings, the background, and the community. of course, i can't really judge this from an objective point of view since i do not nearly have your gaming experience, and maybe it's a question of age also (i'm 18), what you expect from the game, but still i think this would be an intolerable restriction and it would not suit in with the general "spirit" of the server.

excuse my english, i AM from germany after all, and normally i'm rather good at it but the shout channel totally influences my vocabulary: it grows smaller (diminuishes..?) uh, i should get a thesaur for this.

[Mathiuz]

I am all for a channel that is only for ooc chat only, completely seperate from shouts that the player can turn on and off at will. Call me an child of everquest if you will, but thats what im actually used to having, with it being my first mmorpg experiance. I know that i definately abuse the shout channel at some points during my playtime, but not because i want to make others experiance worse, but because i enjoy the witty ( and sometimes wit-less) banter that goes on. it can be quite amusing, or quite annoying. For the most part, thats the whole reason i even get online. If i wanted to just go on a mindless killfest vs hordes of computer controlled enemies, then there are tons of other ( and more well suited ) games of that nature. If i wanted to do any serious roleplaying, id call up my DnD buddies, or Vampire the Masquerade budies and go have some fun in a campaign. But instead, i rather enjoy having a place that i can do either, at my leisure, knowing that if there is an aspect of either i dont like, that i can just stop, or tune it out.

My opinion, in a nutshell is this. Does the shout channel get abused, and is it annoying to have to listen to some fools prattle about subjects that a person could have no intrest in hearing? Yes. Does this mean the shout channel should be taken away ? No.
The only real problom here is there is no way to truely enforce any kind of RP freindly or purely ooc chat channel that all could hear, and enforce it. The only ral solution is a Shout channel for in-game and RP purpouses, and a seperate channel for ooc conversations, and for beta reasons.
Well, thats the end of my mindless prattle. see you all in game