Reading ID's From A Distance

...should be somewhat hard to do. IDs should only be fully readable (Name and such) from within a tile or two, otherwise it should just show as 'a Security ID' or, simply, an ID. It doesn't make too much sense to be reading it from such a large distance like seven tiles, and it'd make sneaking into a place with chamshit much easier.

I'd like to BAMP this suggestion that seems to have been glanced over

You shouldnt be able to read tiny print in a ID from across the room, just like you can read a book or read a paper only if you're right next to it.

Mouse hover should just be "ID", distant examine should only tell you the color of it "He/She is wearing a white/blue/gold/etc ID" if it is worn, or "An ID. It is (color)" if on the ground.

Close examine would give the normal description that we have now, with name and occupation. Like "John Doe's ID - Assistant"

I would argue for close examine distance to be 2 tiles at maximum.

This would give Checkpoint a reason to exist.

Also make everyone check for proper clearance of strange people, give Sec something to look out for. It would also make infiltration and espionage much more interesting, as a proper disguise would not be fucked over by Ulrist McMetagamer reading your ID from the other side of the hall with his bionic eyes.

This is a small change with big implications, that I personally think contribute to the gameplay AND RP

EDIT: Another idea that I would like to tie into this suggestion: Remove owner's name from PDA mouse hover and examining. You can't tell whose it is unless you use the item and check the linked ID. It is another item that you shouldnt be able to see specifics unless you even use it. Just change the mousehover and examine to just the standard flavor text of an unlinked PDA

But I'll probably make it a separate suggestion.

snip

+1 to everything stated here and to the OP's suggestion. It would help with being sneaky and would make for better RP.

Security could possibly ID a name through examining the player at range with a SecHUD, but not simply right-clicking on the player (that should still say "ID".

SNIP SNIP

all of this please. Ive been shut down so many times in espionage, taking as many steps as completely changing my entire outfit AND haircut/beard, to be outed by a mouse hover.

I actually genuinely like this idea. It wouldn't be too hard to implement (That I know of), and it'd increase the use of Traitor items such as the Agent Card, Ninja equipment, espionage and intelligence, and help a bit with metagame (From a passive, subconscious standpoint).

I can safely +1 this, but I'd like the Coders to have their input here.

I actually genuinely like this idea. It wouldn't be too hard to implement (That I know of), and it'd increase the use of Traitor items such as the Agent Card, Ninja equipment, espionage and intelligence, and help a bit with metagame (From a passive, subconscious standpoint).

I can safely +1 this, but I'd like the Coders to have their input here.

I think this would make the Agent Card pretty useless except for its access features, as now one of its main uses would be gone.

I actually genuinely like this idea. It wouldn't be too hard to implement (That I know of), and it'd increase the use of Traitor items such as the Agent Card, Ninja equipment, espionage and intelligence, and help a bit with metagame (From a passive, subconscious standpoint).

I can safely +1 this, but I'd like the Coders to have their input here.

I think this would make the Agent Card pretty useless except for its access features, as now one of its main uses would be gone.

Aside from the ability to change the appearance of the Agent Card, along with custom names and appearance that could be changed? I think it'd capitalize on the use of it, especially if this suggestion was implemented. But, differing points of view.

>Perp leaves crime scene

>Ask witness who it was

>they can name him and tell me his occupation but they don't remember what color his hair was, what clothes he was wear, ect

I think this would help a lot with both antags and Security fun. I hate how uninvolved some people are when providing witness reports. They rely entirely on the ID. This would force better descriptions.

>Perp leaves crime scene

>Ask witness who it was

>they can name him and tell me his occupation but they don't remember what color his hair was, what clothes he was wear, ect

I think this would help a lot with both antags and Security fun. I hate how uninvolved some people are when providing witness reports. They rely entirely on the ID. This would force better descriptions.

This is a VERY good point that I had forgotten about! Nobody identifies the person by visual (unless its a ninja), yet everyone remembers names.

I'm not liking this. From a roleplay standpoint, I can see what you're talking about. From a roleplaying GAME standpoint, I feel it's unnecessary.

I will preface this by saying "Yeah, maybe this is just me, I'm a fucking weirdo, I know" but it makes me really uncomfortable if everyone I hover over would be named "Unknown" or "Security Person" or "Science Person". We're groups of pixels. It's kind of hard for me to identify one group of pixels from other groups of pixels a lot of the time. My eyes are often glued to the lower left corner even if I know what it is I'm hovering over. I don't identify things by sight; it's just something I can't do. By enabling this, you're limiting my characters by my own faults--and my characters aren't me. It's up to the person to make the judgement call of "I know this person" or "I do not know this person." That's just another fact to accept about roleplay. Just because we have the information doesn't mean we should use it.

I'm not liking this. From a roleplay standpoint, I can see what you're talking about. From a roleplaying GAME standpoint, I feel it's unnecessary.

I will preface this by saying "Yeah, maybe this is just me, I'm a fucking weirdo, I know" but it makes me really uncomfortable if everyone I hover over would be named "Unknown" or "Security Person" or "Science Person". We're groups of pixels. It's kind of hard for me to identify one group of pixels from other groups of pixels a lot of the time. My eyes are often glued to the lower left corner even if I know what it is I'm hovering over. I don't identify things by sight; it's just something I can't do. By enabling this, you're limiting my characters by my own faults--and my characters aren't me. It's up to the person to make the judgement call of "I know this person" or "I do not know this person." That's just another fact to accept about roleplay. Just because we have the information doesn't mean we should use it.

I'm talking about ID. If the person has their face uncovered, You'll see her name still. But you won't see John Doe (as Jane Doe) or see that the person's ID details from afar.

Ah, okay, yes. I can see where you're coming from now. But don't people just put their IDs into their PDAs anyway?

Ah, okay, yes. I can see where you're coming from now. But don't people just put their IDs into their PDAs anyway?

PDA flavortext still shows the person's info, which shouldn't be possible to be read from afar at all, that's another suggestion.

>Perp leaves crime scene

>Ask witness who it was

>they can name him and tell me his occupation but they don't remember what color his hair was, what clothes he was wear, ect

I think this would help a lot with both antags and Security fun. I hate how uninvolved some people are when providing witness reports. They rely entirely on the ID. This would force better descriptions.

 

This is a VERY good point that I had forgotten about! Nobody identifies the person by visual (unless its a ninja), yet everyone remembers names.

Be the change you want to see. Unless I've met the person face to face, my characters don't know anybody, only their voice. Unless I've gotten a good close front look at them, I don't ever know their ID either.

It's not hard to roleplay a disadvantage to your character, you just have to be willing to do it.

if you want to be stealthy/get away with examines, just wear a mask and put your ID in your pocket or something,.

Be the change you want to see. Unless I've met the person face to face, my characters don't know anybody, only their voice. Unless I've gotten a good close front look at them, I don't ever know their ID either.

It's not hard to roleplay a disadvantage to your character, you just have to be willing to do it.

I do RP it myself. but the problem is that obviously not everyone will "pretend" they never saw the name and such. if we can just RP lack of info, give everyone X ray vision too and access to all department channels....

Unfortunately your way of thinking is too utopic. because as it is given information, it can't even be considered powergaming (which I kinda think should tbh)

if you want to be stealthy/get away with examines, just wear a mask and put your ID in your pocket or something,.

Walking around with an identity-concealing mask is the utter opposite of stealthy, everyone notices someone wearing a gas mask/balaclava and instantly knows they're up to no good. This goes against what the OP is going for in being able to blend in and not be noticed and singled out from across the room.

And it's not legal to be without an ID on, even on code green, so that just invites Security to hassle you even more as well

-snip-

Not everybody will roleplay as you do, this is something I've found. Most of the time people don't roleplay that strange voice over the radio as a strange voice. They just call out Death Fister the merc whenever they can, same for David Copperfield the wizard. Enforcement of that as a roleplay standard is hard to address, as we don't currently have rules against it.

I don't know if it'd be easy to alter the ID code, or the visual code, as we are all currently existing as named objects which only change name depending on if the face can be seen, so it'd be somewhat hard to handle, I imagine.

snip

What I mean is only for the IDs. no change in visuals, it's literally just putting the paper-reading mechanic on the ID.

All ID objects are just named ID until you examine it within 2 tiles

>be far

>examine person

>you can only see that person has ID on them

>John Doe is wearing an ID

>Be withing 2 tiles of person

>examine person

> John Doe is wearing an ID (John Doe, Assistant)

literally just this

snip

 

What I mean is only for the IDs. no change in visuals, it's literally just putting the paper-reading mechanic on the ID.

All ID objects are just named ID until you examine it within 2 tiles

>be far

>examine person

>you can only see that person has ID on them

>John Doe is wearing an ID

>Be withing 2 tiles of person

>examine person

> John Doe is wearing an ID (John Doe, Assistant)

literally just this

In that situation you would still get their name if they didnt have a mask on, making this suggestion moot, as you can just look on the manifest.

Unless you want EVERYONES name to fall under that criteria, then that's a solid "no"

In that situation you would still get their name if they didnt have a mask on, making this suggestion moot, as you can just look on the manifest.

Unless you want EVERYONES name to fall under that criteria, then that's a solid "no"

You wouldnt know John Doe had Captains ID for example. You would still get the face name, but not the ID.

bumperino

Yeah, i like that. IDs, PDAs, holobadges with attached paper showing mechanic would definitely make disguises work better and prevent stupid situations where witnesses make out names and occupations of criminals in near-darkness across the room. As i see it, you examine John Smith. >He is wearing a green id (look closer). If you click on "look closer" while too far away, you'll get the message "you're too far away, get closer if you want to read it". If you're 1-2 tiles away it will say "ID (John Smith, assistant)" or whatever the id actually says. Same with holobadges and pdas.

Definitely +1

P.S. The voices will still be the same, although, you'll not get the obvious "John Smith (as Bob Simpkins)" text. Face recognition would work the same way, unless the guy is wearing a mask, in which case he is "That's Unknown, he's wearing a green id (look closer)"