A proposal regarding the lengthening of in-game messages Chokladkakan 2014-03-09 We propose that the maximum allowed length of an in-game message is increased from the current limit of seventy characters. Feasibility study We know from observing Figure 1 that it is possible to achieve the suggested goal. We posit that, in the case of game masters, this is achieved by means of a special game master client¹. After transcribing the content of Figure 1 (seen in Appendix 1) we further remark that the permissible length given such a hypothetical client is at least two hundred and fifty-eight characters—likely more as the message is believed to have been prefixed by the string '!say '. Rationale We suggest this only partially because of our own self-admitted verbosity. Much more importantly we believe that a feature like this would serve to aid the community in at least the following ways: When utilising the ~gm functionality (which so-called RoyalTips recommend we do) we are presently hampered by the particularly stringent message restrictions. We believe that allowing longer messages would aid both users reporting problems and game masters responding to said reports. The present limit discourages the use of proper language as it demands intermittent line breaks, something which we believe to be detrimental both to the author and reader. We believe the quality of discourse would be positively affected by allowing single messages to contain more words and therefore more content. We also wish to add that whilst we recognise that a person prone to engaging unsolicited repetition of nonsensical or vulgar text would be able to fit more such language in every message, we do not believe that persons of this ilk would be any more annoying than previously. They will go about their dastardly business regardless and should, presumably, be dealt with by the relevant authorities in either case. Finally we note that the various virtues and disadvantages of very short messages and their effect on language, especially in the context of the microblogging service Twitter, have been discussed by scholars far more qualified than the author of this text and we happily leave it for them to quibble over this. Particulars We believe that at least doubling the existing limit of seventy characters would be a reasonable move in the right direction. More to the point we feel a lesser increase would be little more than symbolical. ¹ In particular because of how obviously this is a limitation imposed by the client; no traffic pertaining to an authored message is transmitted before one attempts to send it. Appendix 1: A transcript of the contents of Figure 1:
I'd personally be happy to be able to write longer messages in-game, as it's frustrating when explaining something to get cut off mid-explanation.
It would be nice for a longer message, as Kat said it sucks when you cant write all of what you want to say and get cut off. +1 Op GJ
Absolutely agree…multiple times I've gone to report something but I can't fit the problem in the chat bar, so I decide to not report it because 1) I obviously have to wait the two minutes between messages, but still have to "spam" you with multiple messages in a row to capture the full problem. 2) because I don't want to give you half of a report and have you sit there like "dafuq is he saying?"
I agree with this. On multiple occasions, we GMs were wondering what someone is trying to say... I'd think a limit of 120-140 characters would be nice.
Thank you for the suggestion and incredibly (maybe overly) detailed post. So here's what I know about how the client handles the chat message length, and why I think this idea may not work out well, and may even cause more problems than there currently are... You can only either have the client to limit or unlimit the message length restriction. It is not possible to set a new different character limit in the client itself due to how the client is assembled and encoded. Nobody knows how to reverse engineer it or if it would even be possible. We would likely need the pure source code of the client before it had been assembled by Nexon. Only thing we can do is HEX edit the client, find the memory address for the action which limits character length, and then NOP that address. This will mean that any player would then be able to send a message up to 32,767 characters in length. However... When sending messages in game, it has to go through our source code as well, where we can set limits of however much we want. But the problem is that we cannot implement the brick wall to appear when you hit that amount of characters. So for example we could set a limit of 500 characters in the source, and then make a pop up box appear if you typed too many characters and then block the message from being sent. But I have a feeling that this may cause even more frustration as you would need to count how many characters you are typing because the client itself would not stop you after 500 characters. Regarding the player command to contact a GM. We could simply remove or reduce the time between sending messages which would likely solve that issue.
This time I quote myself: I appreciate the response: it is in most ways what I expected. I do stand by my argument, however. The only true downside of arbitrarily long messages that I see is the potential for abuse. This, whilst momentarily worsened by having longer messages, would be solved in precisely the same fashion as previously: if someone is found to use the chat system in such a way that it violates the rules, the person at hand is to be reprimanded. I personally believe the benefits outweigh the potential disadvantages. Whether this is a position others hold I obviously cannot say. Edit: I should add that given the above you certainly have it in your power to monitor suspicious chat activity. A user found to be authoring several very long messages in a short amount of time probably isn't typing them manually and so, presumably, is engaging in some manner of spam. Having said that I don't imagine such measures need be taken unless we first observe it being a problem, should you decide to try this out.
Sadly this (STREDIT) is v62+. Altough someone replied saying he cracked it to work on earlier versions (link). Not sure if this would be useful on this topic though. But it find it worth mentioning nonetheless. I'd really love if the message limit was longer though.
I have used a < v0.62 STREDIT to edit some strings in the game. However it can only edit strings, nothing else. Thanks for the suggestion though.
Revision due to new findings Chokladkakan 2014-04-09 New research has found that certain players without game master privileges are able to transmit messages exceeding the seventy character limit. In Figure 2 we see a message composed of ninety-five characters. In light of this new revelation we propose to have the issue of the removal of the message limit reopened for further hearing. ² The identity of this player has been removed from the figure for privacy concerns.
Uhm... That's someone with a GM client (so an ex-GM or GM on their legit account, I know who said that), so he/she can use such long messages due to their client. And even that is limited (I know that from personal experience): You'll get d/c'd when the message exceeds 200 characters. Isn't that a possibility, though? Implement a d/c system (or your message not being sent when it's too long) when the message exceeds e.g. 200 characters? That's how the GM client works on normal characters.
In which case I must submit both application and resignation post haste! (Edit: by which I mean to suggest that game masters, former or present, being allowed to leverage game master privileges—even small ones—on ordinary characters is absurd.) I would rather suggest that, if a limit of two hundred character is agreed upon, all but the first two hundred characters are stripped from the message as it is received by the server.
