[reborn] Friends Search/List

[AussieJay]

Here are some points I want to bring up...I read everyone's posts so don't worry.

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Email Log-In ~ Similar to the Playstation Network / Xbox Live system. When you start up Soldat a pop-up would ask for your email address and password. To have a quick system, there would be a "remember me" check box for quick log-ins.

Profiles ~ This system is already in place but not for registered users. If it were for all users, it could make a friends system very easy. Players could have a customisable nickname but one name that wouldn't change.

IP Addresses ~ A bad idea to use IP addresses because as someone said, it changes regularly.

"Your friend has changed names" ~ New suggestion. You save that player's nick into the program and when he/she changes their names, the game updates your friends list automatically. However, people could have identical nicks which could cause problems.

Unique nicknames ~ To answer the above, nicks should not be identical. This is where email addresses come in. They are unique.

Response to "adding new features isn't good" ~ Get over it. Bugs occur whether you like it or not.

PLAY not TALK (STM's post) ~ That's what I'm suggesting. Not for talking, but for playing.

Hah - I tried to find my friend online and was contacting him through MSN but it ultimately failed. We had trouble hosting our own game and when I tried to contact him through MSN, he had Soldat fullscreen which blocked all alert sounds, etc. Funny that, hey?

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Geez...I said a lot in that post. Well I hope you find something to comment on lol.

[L[0ne]R]

practically no one uses the lobby chat. Everyone just plays in their usual servers and trusts that their friends would be there.

I dont think "trust" is the case. From my experience - I join soldat to play a game, not to chat. For that I have separate programs like ICQ and MSN. And most of my soldat friends are using those too, so for me and them there wasnt need for lobby chat, even though it is annoying to have a bunch of chat programs.

Sometimes "usual servers" are empty, and I dont feel like waiting for people, or simply wanna play on a different server. In this case I would like to know if anyone else is online and playing somewhere. This way I could join them on their server, or call them to find a new one together.

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

If you look at this thread: http://forums.soldat.pl/index.php?topic=16894.0
You'll notice that there were doubts about Lobby Chat from the very first comment. And some of those who supported it, hoped that it would work like IRC, but really it turned out very limited in features like limited number of channels you could connect to, which (IMO) is what ruined it.

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

I'm not saying this feature should be free just to make unregged users feel better. I'll repeat,

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.

If this feature isnt available for everyone from the start, it'll die just like Lobby Chat.

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.

I think you're slightly confusing friends list with lobby chat. I aggree that people join a game to play, not talk. But friends system will help them play with players they KNOW, not random screaming whining noobs. Even on the usual servers. And that without having to msn/irc/xfire them and never get a reply anyway because well.. they're ingame.

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

The account system suggested there is far more complex than what friends list needs. They're talking about stat tracking, ranks, etc. Not to mention the fact that you cant get into a game without logging in. Of course that would scare many people away.

[STM1993]

You'd still need to log in as long as you use an account system though, even if it is a relatively simple one. Other than that, I can't argue, but I don't believe this feature would be coming up anytime soon.

[L[0ne]R]

You'd still need to log in as long as you use an account system though, even if it is a relatively simple one. Other than that, I can't argue, but I don't believe this feature would be coming up anytime soon.

Simply entering a login and password isn't gonna kill anyone, especially if there is a "remember me" feature. It can also be used to protect your profile (i mean custom profiles that regged users have) from a noob kid brother. ;O
But you're right about "it wont be coming anytime soon". There arent many suggestions that ever make it in the new versions. And considering the amount of bugs soldat still has, we dont need any right now.

[AussieJay]

As long as this is considered for a future Soldat, I'm happy.