A Return of the Central Holodeck

[WickedCybs]

On the stationmap (The Aurora) we had a holodeck in the center of the station. This made it see widespread use and had it be an excellent place to coordinate crew events, antag gimmicks and so on. It also made it easy to look inside the holodeck and see what's up. Currently. we've lost the spectator angle the holodeck used to have since the removal of the pool and exercise area.

Spoiler

I thought it might be worthwhile to consider how we might be able to put a holodeck in the Horizon's central ring too. Such an implementation would probably mean shuffling around a lot of things and a reduction of the "verticality" of that area.

[wowzewow]

This is a terrible idea!

 

Ideally, you'd want points of interest to be away from the center of the ship so that people will spread out and actually interact with the rest of the map!

There should be NO additional draw for people to gather at the center of the ship - it inherently draws people in because it's the center of the ship! It does not need anything else!

 

From my perspective, the new map change to the Horizon has, in a way, eliminated some of that Main-floor-itis that had plagued Aurora,

in which everything literally just happened on the 2nd Z-Level and every other deck collected dust.

Right now, things are getting better! With the popularity of the Idris Cafe, it shows that Multi-Z Level Roleplay spaces can work! And sucessfully, I might add!

Regressing to Aurora-style mapping is not good! We've barely had this map for a year or two, it still needs to be developed further!

 

Also, as a fair warning, this will remove/gimp Patience and the Stargazer. I don't particularly have any strong opinions of them,

but they've been a hotly contested part of the new map, and I don't think it's wise to throw some kindling into that fire again.

Edited October 12, 2023 by wowzewow

[Tomixcomics]

I feel like holodeck alpha is mainly placed enough. I've seen several pretty high-profile events happen there. Plus the points in the post above me are pretty valid.

[WickedCybs]

13 hours ago, wowzewow said:

From my perspective, the new map change to the Horizon has, in a way, eliminated some of that Main-floor-itis that had plagued Aurora,

in which everything literally just happened on the 2nd Z-Level and every other deck collected dust.

Right now, things are getting better! With the popularity of the Idris Cafe, it shows that Multi-Z Level Roleplay spaces can work! And sucessfully, I might add!

Regressing to Aurora-style mapping is not good! We've barely had this map for a year or two, it still needs to be developed further!

I don't think simply occupying the same z-level can be said to be a factor in main-floor-itis. If it is, this is something that is even worse on the Horizon to me because at the very least on the station map, there were still some very good reasons to move between the surface and main (not often the sublevels though) with enough variety that it wouldn't be as predictable as it was now. Just being the most central part of the map shouldn't consign an area to have nothing in it either.

On the deck you mentioned (3), the only places anyone ever visits are the bridge, the cafe and sometimes one of the holodecks. Every other aspect of of the third deck is gone with little reason to venture around it. These are the only options used. We've lost a lot up here, including what this thread was about. A holodeck people could naturally spectate from and see what's going on in rather than the more enclosed versions we have now. All in all, I don't really see this as successful. I see it as the only real option if I really want to get away from deck two at the moment and so far at least, I've been personally disappointed that the current holodecks never quite get the turnout for events that they used to, which makes the increased size a little too big. 

Deck two is the central ring, the hallway in front of medical and service where the vast majority of traffic goes. Here people will still sometimes go off the beaten path to Operations and the like, but not often. We're past the heyday of frequent gatherings in the ops lobby by more than just cargo/operations personnel. The library became less of a roleplay space than the paths outside. Things are centralized and so close to each other.

Deck one is almost completely unused for roleplay outside of what a job entails. It's very enclosed and the divided hangars makes navigation more time consuming.

For the station map in particular, the holodeck still was never such a central gathering point that it centralized the entire station to it. Service was still the most popular place to be. The location of the holodeck had one important thing going for it though, which was that while travelling anywhere else people could see what was going on in it because it was in the middle of major hallways. It was a good meeting point used by the crew or by antags. A good place for gimmicks. Sized to the point that you could see what was going on from most angles. I don't think we have that at all at the moment and gathering everyone or even just a lot of people has never really hit the same anymore outside of lowpop for me.

The verticality is the one loss I could sympathize with here, although even that is losing its luster to me. Vents and gas leaks are absolutely devastating due to it affecting three different decks and multiple areas. 

[Carver]

I would never use the holodecks if they became so readily visible as to invite the peanut gallery again, and I never used them on the Aurora for this reason. Even from a purely IC perspective, why the fuck would you want to be seen and stared at by everyone when you’re trying to relax?

[WickedCybs]

1 hour ago, Carver said:

I would never use the holodecks if they became so readily visible as to invite the peanut gallery again.

Considering we have two entire holodecks and that it would remain that way, I don't think this is a valid fear.

1 hour ago, Carver said:

Even from a purely IC perspective, why the fuck would you want to be seen and stared at by everyone when you’re trying to relax?

I don't think it's so surprising that some people enjoy more opportunities to talk and roleplay with others, especially if something is going on. I quite enjoy it, and I've always enjoyed strolling by and assisting security when they're training the newest cadet or medical holding a demonstration and so on. While this can still be done, it's far easier to get engagement when the space is more inclusive. 

[Carver]

You can get engagement plenty with the current holodecks, the difference is that you generally must invite it now - which is markedly better than the Aurora’s holodeck that I generally never used. Even better having two semi-private holodecks.

If the value as a gathering location is desired, then it’s already met by the dining hall featuring plenty of seating - perhaps the most inclusive area on the ship given the crew’s drifting toward the bar and kitchen.

[Flpfs]

I feel like a compromise could be made with one of the holodecks being moved to the central ring without the window blinders and shutters, and another holodeck being kept in the original spot for more private occasions.

Mapping is supposed to be done in a way that encourages roleplay, and centralizing things on the second deck isn't bad. The server population is not large enough where there would be groups occupying many leisure locations on different decks simply because there is not enough crew to use them.

This change could lead to more roleplay opportunities and I am all for it.