[reborn] Friends Search/List

[AussieJay]

Yes, I realise there's some threads that ask this (such as here) and I've done a search. But I want to bring it up again, so instead of gravedigging I've made this thread.

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Instead of a list of friends that would just be useless, a search feature could be useful. A field where you could search for other people, or people on your friends list, and it would present you with what game they're in.

HOWEVER, people could be annoyed that other players have the ability to follow them wherever they go. It's a win-lose situation.

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Discuss...

[STM1993]

People can just change their names. That's one.

Two, it'd be a whole lot better if you ask for that person's IM or irc or something, then tell him that you want to join him in a game. This solves the problem of stalking. Plus, you'd only want to follow someone if he is a friend. If you're following some other people who is not your friend, you're stalking, and he won't give you any information, so you can't track him.

[DarkCrusade]

Get both, you and your friends, xFire and you are done.

[AussieJay]

Friends must accept a friends invitation. A simple popup with yes or no buttons would do the trick.

I'm confused with your post DarkCrusade.

[scarface09]

Dark, XFire causes BattlEye violations and lag.

[Clawbug]

Dark, XFire causes BattlEye violations and lag.

How does xfire cause lag? Besides, when you disable the in-game trash xfire has, it gets quite usable. However, real men use IRC, xfire is for newbies, at least as far as it goes to managing a clan.

[L[0ne]R]

Not everyone uses MSN, IRC and/or XFire, so if you want to keep all your soldat friends together - you'd have to get all those programs, create an account there and then add your friends to several different contact lists.

A very basic friends system would be great. One that simply shows who's online and where each of your friends is playing.

P.S. XFire works with soldat perfectly fine for me. But I heard that it causes problems for some people.

[AussieJay]

R]One that simply shows who's online and where each of your friends is playing.

Exactly what I'm suggesting.

[scarface09]

Yes...none of this xfire crap.

[STM1993]

That'd mean adding an account system in Soldat, which is actually even more troublesome. Otherwise there is no other way in Soldat to keep track of friends - using IP and name is not accurate/reliable/effective. I seriously believe that using 3rd party programs are still the best. Too bad if you don't have the 3rd party programs.

On a side note, look at the failure of the lobby chat. We all asked for it, yet barely anyone uses it. What would make you think that a friends system would work? People in Soldat, unlike in other games, don't stay around in chat lobbies, they just join a server they normally go to and are confident that they'll meet most of their friends there.

[scarface09]

It's just to find what servers your friends are in and to chat with them in-game maybe? Sort of like css chat system would be cool.

[AussieJay]

An account system would be a good idea, thanks for suggesting it lol. It would be hard work, but it actually sounds good. Right now, it's any random name for players which isn't exactly the best.

I can't use the lobby chat, it says it can't find the server. I can play online games though.

[Furai]

I had suggested account system in other thread but it didn't catch ppl attention. I think account system should be fused with reg system.

[DarkCrusade]

I had suggested account system in other thread but it didn't catch ppl attention. I think account system should be fused with reg system.

Well, that´s probably because this had been suggested like 10 times before.

[AussieJay]

So I'm guessing that it was thrown in the rubbish bin, hmm?

Well for an accurate and fully operational friends system, we would need some way to authenticate friends and their friends.

[DarkCrusade]

But it is nearly impossible. There are 2 ways of doing it:

1) Keep a list of friends, you search for names. Problem: Everybody is able to name himself in this way

2) IP. Problem: Dynamic IPs change, many players change their IP to avoid votekicks / bans

[Furai]

That's why it should be done similar to CS steam account system, we've got one step behind us already - registration which is individual value for players.

[Centurion]

No more new features!

New features = New Bugs

and this is crap, use MSN or other messenger or w/e but don't add this friend thingy

[L[0ne]R]

No more new features!

New features = New Bugs

and this is crap, use MSN or other messenger or w/e but don't add this friend thingy

I'll tell you the horrible truth. MSN is not the ONLY messenger out there and not everyone has/wants/likes it. As i said before, some people use ICQ, AIM, XFire, whatever, and you cant make everyone go with same program.

Lobby chat was coded pretty nicely, and as far as I know final version is pretty bugless.

That's why it should be done similar to CS steam account system, we've got one step behind us already - registration which is individual value for players.

I thought of that too, but then what about unregged players? The point of friends system is to keep friends in touch. But if not everyone has bought (or even stole) the game, they'll still be unable to use the system. Also, if several people are using computer, they would get on Soldat under the name of the game owner since they're using the same client.
I think the only proper way would be a simple login & password system.

[STM1993]

Lobby chat was coded pretty nicely, and as far as I know final version is pretty bugless.

It is well-coded indeed, but after implementation and released as 1.5.0, practically no one uses the lobby chat. Everyone just plays in their usual servers and trusts that their friends would be there.

About "lobby chat being flawless", due to lack of people in it, I'm not sure if the lobby chat would still automatically scroll down when someone types in a new message when I'm looking at previous messages.

Either way, it doesn't really matter, the lobby chat was a failure. Everyone demanded for it, but never used it.

I thought of that too, but then what about unregged players? The point of friends system is to keep friends in touch. But if not everyone has bought (or even stole) the game, they'll still be unable to use the system. Also, if several people are using computer, they would get on Soldat under the name of the game owner since they're using the same client.
I think the only proper way would be a simple login & password system.

Unregged players don't deserve the free game in the first place. If you have any arguments on this, bring it to this thread: http://forums.soldat.pl/index.php?topic=35037.0;all

If players really wanted to keep in touch, as I have stressed, naturally they'll ask for the email address and so on. Otherwise, they'll just go to that server more frequently, or don't bother at all. People join a game to PLAY, not to TALK. The talking part is just an extra, and if you really want to talk more than you want to play, go join an IRC or something, or join another game whereby its lobby is always filled with people.

As for account system...

I've searched an old topic. Read:
http://forums.soldat.pl/index.php?topic=5480.0