Identity System

[Raze]

Preface:
I'm a new player so sorry if this suggestion has been posed already, however I have years of experience with other hardcore and immersive games, so I would like to suggest my two cents.​

Identity:
It is my suggestion that the game should provide more anonymity as a player. This is due to one main reason, immersion. As a player who values immersion it seems as though knowing who everyone is and their guild relation without speaking to or interacting with them is a very big immersion breaker. I think it would add immense value and depth to the game if names were anonymous to begin with. This could of course be altered by choosing to share information with the person such as a physical key interaction similar to trading, where you instead trade information instead of items, or through someone else trading this information to you. It could also be done through the interaction of being recruited into a guild, whereas you would know your current guild roster and all members who are allied with you.

The problem I see as a relatively new player is the fact that almost anyone can be tracked, recorded or accused simply because any action they do, be it friendly or hostile, can immediately be tied to their character name simply by hovering your mouse over them from a reasonable distance. Given the system of having one and only one character, it seems almost like an oversight to not protect that character's identity from the start. This can of course add a plethora of roleplay and social interaction to the game, which would not only make interactions between characters more immersive, but also more rewarding.

The exact details of how this work, with player names being what they are already, would be entirely up to the development team. This system, is simply a suggestion that was seen by several new players as an improvement to the already existing systems in place. There are obvious drawbacks and benefits to this, like any other system implemented, however for a game owning up to "most immersive", this seems like an obvious choice in terms of player interaction.​

 

[Woody]

They're trying to achieve the exact opposite of what you're suggesting in that your actions carry a reputation to your name. A name is necessary to be visible at all times on this basis alone. This is part of the reason we only have 1 character per account.

 

[Raze]

They're trying to achieve the exact opposite of what you're suggesting in that your actions carry a reputation to your name. A name is necessary to be visible at all times on this basis alone. This is part of the reason we only have 1 character per account.

I respectfully disagree. I am a fan of the reputation system and think its a great addition to the game. This system does not affect it at all in the way that actually works. All it does is promote the need to actually interact with people you desire to form a reputation with. Its not an unnecessary step but in-fact feels like a step that was skipped in the reputation system as a whole. Once a name is known, it will forever be known, and that exact reputation system continues on in perpetuity. Your actions should absolutely carry weight and that weight should fall on your name alone, however your name and hence reputation should not be known simply by hovering a cursor over it in a game that speaks so highly of immersion.

 

[Woody]

I respectfully disagree. I am a fan of the reputation system and think its a great addition to the game. This system does not affect it at all in the way that actually works. All it does is promote the need to actually interact with people you desire to form a reputation with. Its not an unnecessary step but in-fact feels like a step that was skipped in the reputation system as a whole. Once a name is known, it will forever be known, and that exact reputation system continues on in perpetuity. Your actions should absolutely carry weight and that weight should fall on your name alone, however your name and hence reputation should not be known simply by hovering a cursor over it in a game that speaks so highly of immersion.

I have to remember said name when I hover over it. If I hover over a name and don't recognize it as someone with a "community held" reputation, then so be it - they're either a nobody or I haven't seen them before. However, if I recognize their name and know they're a PKer or the Best Shield Crafter or the dickhead who called me a shitter, I'm going to know them for it.

The only way you could get away with not having a name is if the game had distinguishable features to a point everyone's "look" was unique, then not knowing a name would make sense. But we don't have that level of detail and immersion and no one wants to have to shake someone's hand to memorise or exchange names. I just don't see how this could work but I know where you're coming from and can appreciate it for that.

 

[Najwalaylah]

If I had the cents, two at a time, for all the times I've seen this kind of system suggested, I'd have a couple of dollars by now twelve years later.

It is my suggestion that the game should provide more anonymity as a player. This is due to one main reason, immersion. As a player who values immersion it seems as though knowing who everyone is and their guild relation without speaking to or interacting with them is a very big immersion breaker.

You're not wrong in saying that this would increase immersion. You're not wrong about that. A system like that could be a lot of fun to try.

But not everyone values it at the price most of them would have to pay.

But to this game with its history and highly ambitious and competitive players, even those who like us also value immersion, you cannot easily instroduce immersive elements that can and will compromise their political efforts. They base those efforts and their long-term plans (some are here to build empires & nations, or be the world's bank, as the Mortal games allow) on their intelligence of other guilds and individual players. Their in-group comms are on, their spreadsheets are open, they're using in-game VOIP as well, and any other tool Star Vault will give them. (In the first game, for some years, they gamve Too Much Information, but that is a tale for another time.)

I'll add, many of their opponents have long histories of contact with them that warrant hypervigilance. I'm sure you can imagine how much some of us know, or think we know, about each other, the learned trust and distrust, the respect and the deep loathing disguised with diplomacy. It's a fun part of the game, especially if it involves real work.

But you could say that the MO players who are not strangers to each other are or will be a minority. If the game succeeds, that might become true. It will take what, for MO games, would be a lot of players to succeed. Not sure that will change the essential nature of the warfare that will come with strong guilds, and also with territory control.​

Maybe you haven't had the experience in MO 1 or 2 of being told (not asked) "You will tell me your name, who you are on the forums, and your guild NOW, or you die." And those are 'the nice ones', who try to make some kind of practice of not Randomly Player Killing.

You must keep in mind that player-corpse/bags in Mortal Online games drop heads, which the avatar's name on them. No one with the slightest impatience has, at this time, to ask you your name. It's easy to find out. That does not mean that the system could not change, but signs point to 'it probably won't'.​

I think it would add immense value and depth to the game if names were anonymous to begin with. This could of course be altered by choosing to share information with the person such as a physical key interaction similar to trading, where you instead trade information instead of items, or through someone else trading this information to you. It could also be done through the interaction of being recruited into a guild, whereas you would know your current guild roster and all members who are allied with you.

Most guilds will want to know who you are to some depth before you join-- or are rejected-- or have dealings with them because they won't trust you. The ones that don't care who you are, I don't know if it's a good idea to trust them. Some guilds, on the other hand, interview everyone they can just to find out their details and see if the story they tell changes.

The problem I see as a relatively new player is the fact that almost anyone can be tracked, recorded or accused simply because any action they do, be it friendly or hostile, can immediately be tied to their character name simply by hovering your mouse over them from a reasonable distance.

I don't know whether to say

"If you're innocent, you have nothing to fear. Are you one of those people?"
or
"Don't do the crime if you can't do the perp walk".
​

It's more polite to say there is a certain rude but healthy accountability to this game and anonymity of names would not totally change it. You must assume that you might be seen starting at any moment, almost always. Seen, recorded, streamed live, timed, analysed as a particular avatarand turned into a meme-- and that's whether they try to kill you then and there or not.

Note: If some inimical & unsympathetic person wants to accuse you, the fact that they don't know your name won't help whoever they end up accusing.

Summary:
If you're not racking up murders or (with Thievery) getting caught stealing or maybe losing faction with NPCs (some day?), no-one (not player nor NPC) is going to punish you in any way for things they see you do...

... unless they really, really like punishing (including punishing you for being alive. I don't want to spoil anything for you so I won't explain what 'repent' means in this context).

... and that will have to make the way names are not anonymous once the avatar is in that 'reasonable distance' worth it to you because your idea, though always cool, has never had enough merit to overcome the fact that it would shake the very foundations of the pseudo-society. Unless and until @Henrik Nyström wants it shaken. Maybe he does? I don't know.

Given the system of having one and only one character, it seems almost like an oversight to not protect that character's identity from the start. This can of course add a plethora of roleplay and social interaction to the game, which would not only make interactions between characters more immersive, but also more rewarding.

Tjat's one character per account at a time, of course. No way of absolutely limiting accounts per person has been found. But on the contrary to your suggestion of an oversight by SV, to expose the mutual identity of the series of characters on a player's account would be the closest the MO games have gotten so far to Star Vault's concept of a Deva system. I think they're still fond of it, even though never implemented as such. We'll see.

Your idea could lead to roleplay and would urge some social interactions as well as mayhem, but for those interested in roleplay I find it easy enough to suspend disbelief and ask someone what their name is in-character without using the one I see for them when I have them targeted. If the story or conversation is interesting enough, I may keep listening even if what they say doesn't match that name, though later I'm going to remember, and wonder out of character and outside the game.

I hope you have a lot of fun here.