Rumor has it that the non-working /who feature isn't going to be fixed

[shynner]

Even this forum shows who is on right now. If the developers thought it was important enough to add "online now" to this means of communicating, why in the world would they delete it from the game itself? It just simply doesn't make sense to me... unless, of course, they can't quite figure out how to fix all of the many issues they had with chat, and are not willing to exert the effort to fix the now missing functions in the game itself. I suggest they find someone who can handle the task of fixing chat properly without taking the drastic measures they have by removing a well used, and viable part of in-game communication.

 

[DeletedUser]

I suggest they find someone who can handle the task of fixing chat properly without taking the drastic measures they have by removing a well used, and viable part of in-game communication.

Which is exactly what they have been trying to do for at least a year. If it were a simple fix, it would have been done by now.

 

[SoggyShorts]

Which is exactly what they have been trying to do for at least a year. If it were a simple fix, it would have been done by now.

It's true that a problem which only happens sometimes to some players is much harder to fix, but it takes far less than a year to "simply" replace the entire thing with a proven, working system.
There were chat systems that I used with a dial-up modem 20 years ago that were significantly more advanced than Elvenar's chat.

 

[Gath Of Baal]

Even this forum shows who is on right now.

This is true, but at least with the forum you have the option to uncheck the box that shows you online so a person if they wanted to could remain hidden and browse the forums in peace

 

[shynner]

This is true, but at least with the forum you have the option to uncheck the box that shows you online so a person if they wanted to could remain hidden and browse the forums in peace

In peace? A person also has the option in game to keep the chat boxed closed.. not even look at chat, if so desired. That would be as peaceful as one can get in game if a person doesn't want to be sociable, I suppose. As I have stated before, most members know their fellowship mates and probably wouldn't single out those that have shown to be unwilling to chat anyway and those who do not want to chat can simply ignore the chat altogether or ignore the request to chat... no harm done. The only time that we chat on here is if someone posts. Soooo the ones that are here and don't want to "chat" simply read this forum in "peace" and decline to comment.

 

[Gath Of Baal]

In peace? A person also has the option in game to keep the chat boxed closed..

But there is a difference between people knowing you are there and you remaining silent and people not knowing you are there and you remaining silent.

Simply keeping your game chat window closed does not stop others from knowing you are in the game when the /who command was still active.. Keeping your chat window closed now is fine since a person cannot see anymore if you are there or not..

The /who function in my opinion would have worked just as well if it would show how many people from your fellowship are online instead of listing names

player logs onto game and types /who.. …………. 11 players online...
Instead of
player logs onto game and types /who...……. Jim, John, Jill, Jessica, Jammie, Julia, Justin

The first way still satisfies your curiosity and lets you know you are not alone

 

[DeletedUser6547]

Most likely the simplest fix for knowing who is online is adding a green dot before their name in game when on and grey when off. Might help to unload extra features from the chat bugs to various places.

 

[shynner]

But there is a difference between people knowing you are there and you remaining silent and people not knowing you are there and you remaining silent.

Simply keeping your game chat window closed does not stop others from knowing you are in the game when the /who command was still active..

Sorry, Gath. I can't see how the ability to see someone as online is offensive in any way. Again, the option to refrain from chatting is still available if one desires to refrain from chatting. There are times that someone is showing in game but, for whatever reasons is not available to chat or just opts to not engage in conversation. We, as adults, know and respect that option. Even "stalkers" have no power by knowing who is in game. Let's get real here.

 

[Gath Of Baal]

Sorry, Gath. I can't see how the ability to see someone as online is offensive in any way. Again, the option to refrain from chatting is still available if one desires to refrain from chatting.

I don't think its offensive but some people might take it in an offensive manner when ignored by someone they singled out in conversation.. What I have been saying is that the /who was never needed in the first place in the game. And its only use in the game, that other game functions could not be used for, was to be able to single people out and satisfy curiosity of the person who typed /who

/who.... Jessica.... Oh Jessica is online let me say hi to her or ask her questions or ask for trades etc... after several times of Jessica not responding back to anyone, Jessica starts to develop a stigmata about her within the fellowship.. Some of the thinned skinned memes of the fellowship start taking it personal that Jessica ignores them all the time even tho Jessica does visits 6-7 times a week and clicks the right help asked for in a city.. Jessica participates to the max of her abilities during fellowship adventures and tournaments and Jessica is an active trader.

I compare it to this, at least in my mind I do:

Jessica and Julia work for the same small company of 25 employees, they eat lunch at the same restaurant daily.. everyday Julia sits next to Jessica (because Julia can see Jessica) at lunch and says "Hi Jessica, how are you" Or "Jessica,can I borrow $10?" or "Jessica I got a question about work" or "insert something personal" .. Jessica never responds back or even looks at Julia ever... Julia knows Jessica can speak and that Jessica is a hard worker... Julia after time (or maybe even after the first attempt) starts getting really upset that she is being ignored by Jessica and starts spreading rumors and bad mouthing Jessica to fellow employees because Julia is a thinned skinned meme.... If Julia could not have seen Jessica as she walked into the restaurant and said "hello everyone" or "can someone in here lend me $10" or "hey everyone me and my husband made pasta last night for dinner" Jessica is then giving the choice whether to respond back or not with out having to Butthurt Julia if she choose to remain silent.

Fellowship drama to the extreme, but crap like that happens more then you would think.

for whatever reasons is not available to chat or just opts to not engage in conversation. We, as adults, know and respect that option.

You are probably more mature, well grounded and have an understanding nature .. But not everyone is that way.. In my opinion there are just as many petty people as there are people like you floating around in elvenar.. been there and done that with that crowd several different times, one of the reasons im in fellowships of 1 in this game is because of drama burn out..

Like I said if the /who would show numbers logged on instead of names I would be a fan of it, but either way the point is moot now since the feature is gone

 

[shynner]

I compare it to this, at least in my mind I do:

Jessica and Julia work for the same small company of 25 employees, they eat lunch at the same restaurant daily.. everyday Julia sits next to Jessica (because Julia can see Jessica) at lunch and says "Hi Jessica, how are you" Or "Jessica,can I borrow $10?" or "Jessica I got a question about work" or "insert something personal" .. Jessica never responds back or even looks at Julia ever... Julia knows Jessica can speak and that Jessica is a hard worker... Julia after time (or maybe even after the first attempt) starts getting really upset that she is being ignored by Jessica and starts spreading rumors and bad mouthing Jessica to fellow employees because Julia is a thinned skinned meme.

Not really a good comparison, at least in my mind, Gath. We are not actually seeing this person in person, and therefore are not personally snubbed. (Although I enjoyed the scenario you so aptly presented.)

if the /who would show numbers logged on instead of names I would be a fan of it, but either way the point is moot now since the feature is gone

Although I respect your suggestion, and it does sound like it would work, I believe that if enough people would show their dissatisfaction about the features that had already been in place being removed, maybe.... just maybe.. the point is not yet "moot" and we would receive an announcement stating "back by popular demand". Elvenar has done fine with the functions that were previously in place.

Fellowship drama to the extreme, but crap like that happens more then you would think.

I agree with that statement to a degree.. to the extreme is the key. However, it doesn't happen enough to even suggest that feeling "jilted" is a problem. If it does become a problem for someone, there are other plenty of other fellowships that may be a better "fit" for the person who is offended.

 

[Laochra]

In the past, occasionally, I would get a newer player who would join one of my fellowships & then a short time later, would complain to me that no one was talking to them. I would then explain to them that because we are in different parts of the world, we may not all be online at the same time. I would then tell them to use the /who option so they could see if anyone was logged in--if they had an immediate need. I also advised them that many of us have multiple cities & may not respond right away & even if no one was online, they could post their message/question & check back at a later time to see their responses.
So I guess the only recourse now is if you have an urgent need, you can just post "HELP!"

 

[DeletedUser]

It's true that a problem which only happens sometimes to some players is much harder to fix, but it takes far less than a year to "simply" replace the entire thing with a proven, working system.
There were chat systems that I used with a dial-up modem 20 years ago that were significantly more advanced than Elvenar's chat.

Well, for whatever reason, they can't seem to get it to work here. Three pages of this and not one mod has chimed in. Either the developers don't really know what's going on, they can't fix it and don't want to admit it, or they don't care.

Complaining, demanding and barking at each other isn't going to change a thing. Not like there aren't chat programs out there that people can use.

 

[DeletedUser51]

Sorry it took me so long to address this

The 'who' and 'whisper' features were actually never supported, they just happened to work as long as we have had chat. We have forwarded that players would like to actually have both of these features supported and to have them become a permanent part of the chat system. I believe that in order for the 'who' function to be restored, we will need to give players the option of actually being seen as visible or to be invisible, just like we do on the forum, to avoid any conflicts of player privacy.

I know many players liked those functions, and hopefully they can be restored at some point - I just don't have an answer as to when or if that may possibly happen.

 

[shynner]

The 'who' and 'whisper' features were actually never supported, they just happened to work as long as we have had chat. We have forwarded that players would like to actually have both of these features supported and to have them become a permanent part of the chat system. I believe that in order for the 'who' function to be restored, we will need to give players the option of actually being seen as visible or to be invisible, just like we do on the forum, to avoid any conflicts of player privacy.

I know many players liked those functions, and hopefully they can be restored at some point - I just don't have an answer as to when or if that may possibly happen.

Ælfwine? You are officially my hero...

 

[Deborah M]

Well I sure feel silly! For 2 1/2 years I never used /who. I heard mention once but forgot about it. The first time I ever used it was this last FA because I was coordinating it. It was very helpful for that purpose but I can't think of any other reason I would feel like it is a must have. I think it is nice to know but it has already been pointed out that someone can be logged in and not be there. I'm also curious whether it shows players there who are actually in their city in a different Elvenar world. Plus, I still don't know how whisper works. I'm not sure I like that. It sounds like a mechanism to talk behind other players' backs. I'm sure there are other reasons to use it but I don't see the value.

 

[SoggyShorts]

I still don't know how whisper works. I'm not sure I like that. It sounds like a mechanism to talk behind other players' backs. I'm sure there are other reasons to use it but I don't see the value.

Cross conversations. If 2 players are talking about their dogs and I want to help another player with strategy on their orc chapter, then whispering allows more than one conversation to happen at the same time.
Any chat system less than 20 years old should have multiple tabs so that you can have multiple topics, but whisper was the closest Elvenar had.
It's the same issue as the notifications bell- trades overwrite visit info all the time. Normally this would all be separated by tabs.

 

[Yogi Dave]

I see essentially 3 opinions about the /who commands.
1) You liked, miss it and was useful.
2) It was okay, but not needed.
3) It was an invasion of privacy.
The 3rd one, sigh, I can see how some would feel that way, but I have difficulty in seeing how except in one case. Many people are AFK, but are still logged in. You can always ignore someone talking to you. Chat is optional in most FSs, but not all. In an FS where the AM or mages monitor participation via /who, well, what can I say but each FS can have it's own rules. I wouldn't like that one and if I wanted to be in that FS, I would be happy it is no longer available.
The 2nd one, I very much agree with. It wasn't/isn't needed and there are other ways of dealing with everything it helped with. Thank you for your suggestions as they appear to be what we now must do.
Obviously that means I'm in the 1st category. While there are many reasons I liked the command, I'll just explain one I haven't heard or missed in my reading this thread. I'm a mage in a couple of FSs, one of which is pretty chatty with both everyday conversation and a lot of helping others. It's not uncommon to log on and see 100 chats. I back read it to see if there were unanswered questions or the answers were incomplete or incorrect. /who let's me know if the right people are possibly on before I chime in. Especially in the last two cases, it is good to talk directly with them and let others also hear and discuss. It is, after all, usually opinions. An FS wide message often seems too formal, doesn't invite much discussion and the person who gave incorrect info may feel slighted or reprimanded when done that way. It's easier, at least for me, to prevent that from happening with chat. Oh, and thinking about it, the mobile version doesn't yet support messages, though they may see it later when using the browser version. (Please, lets not divert this thread that version.)

So, to me it was useful.
Was it necessary? No.
Did it serve a function? Yes, for me and others.
Was it harmful? In my opinion, no, but others will disagree with that.
Will Inno bring it back? Not unless they replace the entire chat system, and maybe not even then.

 

[Yogi Dave]

Plus, I still don't know how whisper works. I'm not sure I like that. It sounds like a mechanism to talk behind other players' backs. I'm sure there are other reasons to use it but I don't see the value.

I've talked with someone about a TV shows we both watch, but didn't want to put spoilers in chat.

 

[GroomerWoman]

But there is a difference between people knowing you are there and you remaining silent and people not knowing you are there and you remaining silent.

Simply keeping your game chat window closed does not stop others from knowing you are in the game when the /who command was still active.. Keeping your chat window closed now is fine since a person cannot see anymore if you are there or not..

The /who function in my opinion would have worked just as well if it would show how many people from your fellowship are online instead of listing names

player logs onto game and types /who.. …………. 11 players online...
Instead of
player logs onto game and types /who...……. Jim, John, Jill, Jessica, Jammie, Julia, Justin

The first way still satisfies your curiosity and lets you know you are not alone

Oh me like this idea! As an Archmage that would be an awesome feature to know when posting a message to the fellowship how many see it right away!!!

 

[DeletedUser17999]

Sorry it took me so long to address this

The 'who' and 'whisper' features were actually never supported, they just happened to work as long as we have had chat. We have forwarded that players would like to actually have both of these features supported and to have them become a permanent part of the chat system. I believe that in order for the 'who' function to be restored, we will need to give players the option of actually being seen as visible or to be invisible, just like we do on the forum, to avoid any conflicts of player privacy.

I know many players liked those functions, and hopefully they can be restored at some point - I just don't have an answer as to when or if that may possibly happen.

I personally would just like chat to work, consistently. It's down more than it's up, and and when it is up, it's up long enough we get comfortable, then it goes down again.