Poll

Would you EVER like to see the described feature implemented?

Yes!
Yes, but only if X is included (describe X in your reply).
No, this is a waste of the devs' time!
No because of X (describe X in your reply).
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Author Topic: Persistent notebook/journal  (Read 601 times)

Offline Jarod "Brickwit" McBrickerton

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Persistent notebook/journal
« on: December 21, 2014, 08:30:59 pm »
This isn't a new suggestion for AW, but it hasn't been discussed on the forums for many years and I think it'll be greatly useful so I'm suggesting it again.

It would be great to have an in-game notebook/journal system where you can write anything down and drag and drop (or make in-game screenshots of) item images and/or links that give more information. This should be persistent and remain with the account in the PDA at all times so that you can keep long-term notes and ideas that can be edited later on.

This would allow us to keep track of whatever we want to within the game instead of having to go to another program outside of it, plus we could have that information whenever and wherever we log into the game. I log in both from home and from work and it's tedious and cumbersome to work on anything that isn't available in the game, which this notebook/journal would solve.

Later additions to the notebook/journal could include:
  • It could have tabs with editable names that can be selected in the same way that inventory sections can be chosen so that we can separate things cleanly and keep things organized, just like with an IRL notebook/journal. Which reminds me, why can't we edit the tab names in our inventory and storages?
  • If possible it would be great to have cells where we could set up calculations that would dynamically update as the cells are updated, just like in a modern spreadsheet program, though I know that this is stretching things.
  • Something else?
What does everyone think of this suggestion? Please vote in the poll and post a reply if you chose one of the options with an X in them. Please post a reply to add any comments, especially if you have any improvements or additions to the suggestion itself.
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Offline Jarod "Brickwit" McBrickerton

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Re: Persistent notebook/journal
« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2014, 05:20:59 am »
How interesting that there are already two votes for "No, this is a waste of the devs' time!" when there are only 8 total votes! I knew that someone would probably pick it, but didn't think that two people would so quickly say that this should NEVER be put into the game - not even five years after the gold release!
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Offline Jarod "Brickwit" McBrickerton

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Re: Persistent notebook/journal
« Reply #2 on: December 25, 2014, 10:29:54 pm »
Whoever voted for "No because of X" forgot to post what X is. If you'd rather PM your reason, I'll be happy to post it on your behalf.
« Last Edit: December 25, 2014, 10:55:55 pm by Jarod "Brickwit" McBrickerton »
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Offline Tripple "TriMoon" Moon

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Re: Persistent notebook/journal
« Reply #3 on: December 26, 2014, 12:04:59 pm »
IMHO, the "No, this is a waste of the devs' time!" should have been left out because non staff members should never be allowed to vote in such a way as they are not paying their salary and thus can't decide on how the devs times are spend.
Take note that this poll does NOT provide any timeline in which this suggestion should be implemented....
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Offline Jarod "Brickwit" McBrickerton

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Re: Persistent notebook/journal
« Reply #4 on: December 26, 2014, 09:04:36 pm »
The fact that it does not include any kind of timeline is why I included the "waste of time" option. This suggestion is based on the knowledge that we won't be getting new features for a while and that there are far more important features to be implemented/re-implemented before "wish list" things like this should really be considered. But some people might feel that they would never, ever use an in-game notebook, which would mean that they would rather have the devs work on other things instead.

The nature of AW has always been that the devs want to not only make their vision of the "perfect" game, but also that we as players have some of our wish list items implemented as long as they don't conflict with the devs' vision. Until there was outside funding for the game, ALL of the devs' pay came from our donations and those donations are still probably a significant portion of their total revenue. So if they don't take any heed of what we would like to have as players who love the game already, they know that they would probably be shooting their future success in the foot.

When everything's all said and done, this is just a player asking other players what they feel. Whether or not the devs pay any heed is an entirely different issue and in no way dictates how the devs spend their time.
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Offline Tripple "TriMoon" Moon

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Re: Persistent notebook/journal
« Reply #5 on: December 27, 2014, 07:24:10 am »
Just a FYI Brickwit, i votes "Yes" ;)
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Offline Old "Snowy" Leopard

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Re: Persistent notebook/journal
« Reply #6 on: December 27, 2014, 10:44:56 am »

(Sorry if this is a bit of an off-topic ramble ... )

Win 8.1 keeps trying to persuade me to use something called 'OneNote'. 
iirc, it can store images, etc. as well as text, and has a filing system.  It also saves to the cloud.
(Needless to say I haven't managed to get it working: but that's another story).


It sounds to me as if you might be wishing for an entire App. within the game, and I wonder how much of an overhead it might cause.
If you want to add spreadsheet functionality that's really asking for a lot.


(The only other MMORPG I play is EU where, iirc, this type of functionality is provided by User-written add-on programs: not within the game).


I've voted 'No because of X' where 'X' is the presumption that this sort of facility is likely to become standard with current/future operating systems, and use of the cloud, but if this doesn't happen then I guess you can put me down for 'Yes - in the Far, far Distance'.





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Offline Jarod "Brickwit" McBrickerton

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Re: Persistent notebook/journal
« Reply #7 on: December 27, 2014, 09:06:16 pm »
OneNote is actually a Microsoft Office product that I don't believe is included with Win 8.1, but I'm not 100% sure about that. I've seen people do some pretty amazing things with it, but my hope is to not have to use an outside tool of any kind to keep my in-game notes and data collection.

I fully realize that the "later additions" are very large tasks that would take a lot of time and effort, which is why I mentioned it as a later add-on/upgrade. When I said "later," I was thinking "much later,' but I guess I should have worded it that way to make it more clear that I don't think it's appropriate for the devs to be working on those kinds of tasks at all right now. To be honest, I'd be very happy just to have something as simple as Notepad in the near future that is built into the game and attached to my account. I already use SkyDrive and Google Drive, but it really kills the immersion to have to jump out of the game to take notes - and paper notes are far too easy to lose.

I thought about looking into making my own top-layer program for AW just like what you mentioned for EU, but the PA explicitly says these are not allowed without prior consent from DL. So I could spent who knows how much time working on it (I've never made such an app and never made anything the directly integrates with an MMO) only to be denied being able to use it by the devs and having to wait months and months to even get a decision.
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Offline Event "Janе" Horizon

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Re: Persistent notebook/journal
« Reply #8 on: December 28, 2014, 06:28:12 am »
The PA does not forbid players placing external windows over the top of their game windows. So an app is allowed to be the top most window if required.
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Offline Jarod "Brickwit" McBrickerton

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Re: Persistent notebook/journal
« Reply #9 on: December 29, 2014, 02:25:09 am »
Interesting. I know that at one point the PA or what was in place before that (which was possibly just a post or two on the old forum site) had explicitly stated that the software could not be modified in any way, shape, or form, including external software that directly draws data from the game through any means. Previous players had posted their interest in creating similar software to what is available for use with EU and were told that it was forbidden without the express written consent of DL.

I doubt that they have changed their position on this, but it would be nice if Anti or Bank would confirm or deny their stance on the use of external tools to help players as described in my original post.
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Re: Persistent notebook/journal
« Reply #10 on: December 29, 2014, 07:11:22 am »
Apps that do not alter nor rely on the AWS code base are allowed. If I had the inclination I could embed my AW mapper tool into the AWS window (as long as players do no use full screen mode).
Dedicated Logic have already stated in PMs that this is OK ... again as long as this didn't alter or change the AWS code in anyway ... there are plenty of code examples on the net showing how this is achieved (e.g. I could embed MS word into a notepad window if I wanted).
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Offline Jarod "Brickwit" McBrickerton

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Re: Persistent notebook/journal
« Reply #11 on: December 29, 2014, 09:03:53 pm »
Well now, that's pretty cool. I'm glad they have that opinion now and I now have to consider whether or not I want to try to take on this challenge myself...
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Offline Serenity "SerenityFireFly" FireFly

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Re: Persistent notebook/journal
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2014, 05:39:45 am »
Voted Yes, so worth it and helpful to players who plan there time out an future think stuff,  you know  keeping up with what to do an such :)
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