Title: In game IC chat
Summary: Implementation of an in-game live chatroom in region. I'd love ideas for what it could be, that nobles would frequent: a tavern? an inn? the local lord's court?
Details: I am thinking of a live chat with limited abilities, no logs, maybe a few commands (like buying the other drinks, buying a round, /me or whispering so only one person gets your message), click to enter, "see who is at the wayside inn right now". Exclusively for IC interaction, no nick changes, just character name and heraldry. I played another browser game where this was *the* feature that kept it together. It was mostly used to answer questions, getting to know each other and banter. Since there's no logs, official business must still go through letters, and since it's only to region, scope is limited. I'd take it one step further and make it possible to "enter guildhouse" or "enter temple" and there's a chat in there too.
Benefits: Drastically increase new player retention and increased sense of community. Battlemaster, more than a medieval roleplaying game, is a community. I strongly believe we must nurture that community and give it the tools to thrive. Combat can be broken forever, if people can interact in many different ways, they will make their own fun.
Possible Downsides/Exploits: Unlogged IC plotting (wouldn't show up on torture reports - or maybe hidden logs that might?), perhaps will crank up the pace of the game (which can be a good thing, for this day and age, but not sure about older players), courtiers might be excluded from most of it since never with the main army... Possible downside is people not wanting to move, ever, just so they can chat. The one thing that worries me is that it might remove healthy chatter/discussion from letters, suddenly letters become just a formality, and people not in region won't get the news or scoop. However, in that other game it didn't really happen, and I do believe the benefits far outweight this risk...
Please discuss.
