The ~gm feature we have at our disposal is, so far as I can tell, implemented to be a channel for players seeking to contact the collective group of game masters. In this capacity, unfortunately, it falls short in a two (very much related) key aspects, based on my past interaction with game masters and players alike: Messages sent through ~gm are stored in the chat buffer of the game masters logged in at the time of transmission. If no game master is logged in when transmitting, no one hears the tree falling. The first issue I have seen arise on many occasions when a game master either disconnects from the game, inadvertently or not, or simply has enough text written to their chat that the ~gm report disappears. The second problem is one that is fairly often hinted at in the so-called chatbox of the forum's main page: players sometimes complain of getting no response to in-game queries to the game masters. Fortunately, both of these issues are easily resolved by means of a slight change in infrastructure. I propose that the server-side code of ~gm (which, really, ought to be all of its code) added messages sent through this channel to a small database (or even write it to a text file). The information contained therein could then be accessed by game masters through a small web page. Game masters could then access the recent messages in their browser of choice regardless of the current state of their in-game chat buffer (though certainly ~gm messages could still appear there as well). Likewise, if, say, a game master just arrived at his or her computer after fashioning a cup of tea, they could discern from this web page that a player made a report ten minutes ago, even though the game master at hand was, at that time, not present in-game. There are, as I see it, additional potential benefits of such an approach: Such a web page gives the possibility of additional pieces of information. Since the server knows whether a given account is logged on, reports could inform the game master whether the person who reported this is still online. (Thereby obviating the risk of game masters attempting to deal with a slightly old message, the sender of which has since signed off, which is perhaps the only downside I see of this suggestion). Rudimentary issue tracking could be implemented, should it seem necessary: that way, on busy days, game masters could mark ~gm messages as resolved or similar. Ultimately, the above seems to me to be a reasonably simple thing to implement, the benefit of which, I think, is to make the lives of both players and game masters just a touch better.
I think that having the ~gm messages appear on both a webpage and in the chatbox would be great. More than once, I've had to put out an ingame notice asking for people to try contacting me again because their message has gotten lost in: - a list of items I needed to search to help another player with a bugged quest - FM1 spammage - A lengthy whispered discussion with players who need help - rather a lot of smegas Also, there's occasions like now where I dc-ed while trying to help someone.
Thank you Chok, this seems like a good idea, we will consider the suggestion and discuss it within the staff.
