Rework of Comms and Networking

[GlitterGuts]

Could you imagine irl listening to 30-40+ people at once over comms, trying to tell them apart by voice while also make sense of people talking over eachother? An entire stations worth of talking right in your ear at all times. It would be awful. What I think would be a nice test is if common was removed, and things like request consoles (which are EVERYWHERE) would become wayy more useful, for things like calling for sec, requisitions, etc. NT chatrooms would also be used once in a lifetime, perhaps as a discount-common. This would also make sec patrols more vigilant and have them use cameras a bit more. Its a mixed bag that isnt all good, but I think it would make for some strong RP moments and make a little more sense. It could be kept, but be listen-only for non-head staff. Heads and AI could use it to make small announcements to the whole station or for ERT to make orders.

This is just personal preference, but I like long drawn out paperwork and putting a T H I C C stamp on it (if only we had envelopes instead of "small parcel" that I could seal). The slow methodical parts of ss13 instead of just complete chaos on common when something happens to upset them. This is just a way to filter it out a little and put a bottleneck on the amount of crazy that you can see at one time. because dear god Im so guilty of going text blind because I just start subconsciously blocking out common because its just so active.

Pros

• Chat will be less cluttered, leading to less text-blindness because of a long rambling conversation over common.
• It would be a little more realistic RP wise to not have a ton of people in your ear at all times.
• Request consoles and chat rooms would get the love the deserve.
• PDA messages would be more common and attention grabbing.
• Antags will no longer have their stealthy cloak-and-dagger moment ruined by someone screaming bloody murder over comms.

Cons

• You cant scream bloody murder over common when you're getting shanked. (dept radio would be fine I guess, or we could just add a sfx to the scream emote already)
• Might make less attentive players oblivious to important notices on the request console or Nt chatrooms.
• Modes of communication would be slower.
• People without any encryption keys, like assistance and visitors might have trouble keeping in touch without a tablet or laptop. 

[nicemoreoften]

i play jobs where you don't get interaction with anyone except over the radio. all this change adds is i now get no interaction unless it's someone in my department who wants something from me

[GlitterGuts]

Just now, nicemoreoften said:

i play jobs where you don't get interaction with anyone except over the radio. all this change adds is i now get no interaction unless it's someone in my department who wants something from me

you still have PDA, NNet, Req Consoles, talking in person (things like the holodeck would be more widely used to fraternizing. ), and mail/fax/letters

[nicemoreoften]

3 minutes ago, GlitterGuts said:

you still have PDA, NNet, Req Consoles, talking in person (things like the holodeck would be more widely used to fraternizing. ), and mail/fax/letters

PDA - one on one convo
NNet - literally never used, costs a sizable chunk of some jobs' credits so have fun ordering anything from cargo
Talking in person - jobs that get majority of interaction from radio are physically isolated
Req Consoles/mail/fax/letters - very formal, slow to get a response, inaccessible from many areas of the station
i suppose holocalls would be the best solution to be honest but they're kind of clunky and you have no real way to know if there's someone on the other end

[Doxxmedearly]

There is a suggestion thread on this already posted just a month ago.

Lots of discussion already present there, though it seems to have died down. It does discuss the pros and cons of other communication as well as voices of concern about being cut off from people, which echo the valid concerns nicemoreoften is raising.

 

[GlitterGuts]

12 minutes ago, nicemoreoften said:

i suppose holocalls would be the best solution to be honest but they're kind of clunky

wow, I forgot those exist. see? there's so many modes of communication being ignored because of a universal radio system.

 

11 minutes ago, Doxxmedearly said:

It does discuss the pros and cons of other communication

NNet- You can personalize chat rooms and aren't forced to listen to hooligans, balds or unsavory characters, the sounds of people dying and mutemas grunts. Might be tedious to check due to no notification sound. (please dear god dont add the discord noise)

PDA- Gets your attention and is easy to respond too but restrictive on recipients.

Holocalls- makes you blind and vulnerable to things around you, but lets you hang out with a few people on the other side.

Req/Fax- Lets you know exactly what is wanted of you or what information you need to know. used for more formal things like sec reports, autopsy, releases, etc. Alerting sec via req also tells you an exact location, so instead of "SEC TO MED" its "security requested at virology" with a big flashing screen thats hard to miss.

Mail- Can me very personalized ICly and can be poured with character and charm if you want. Slow, and easy to miss, but I think it would be nice in some instances.

Edited July 16, 2019 by GlitterGuts

[Doxxmedearly]

I didn't ask for the pros and cons to be summarized briefly; there is good discussion in the previous thread that would be tiring to repeat here, which was why I linked it.

I've already stated my opinion in the other thread and it goes unchanged after a month. Nothing here changes my mind, either.