[Accepted] Information points

[Chillosophy]

Since LVP 3.0 will be packed with lots and lots of features, I think it would be a good idea to give players another way to get help, integrated in the gamemode. My idea is to create infopoints; an object or icon that is pretty obvious for all players (and all nationalities). When a player enters an infopoint they will get some explanation about the place they are currently at in their main chat.


not exactly what I meant, but I couldn't find a good object that represents an infobooth

Examples might be easier to understand. Here are a few locations that could use infopoints:
- The ship: The ship is a safe zone, you can stay here for a while and gain some money
- Derbyarea: This is a derbyarea, type /derby to participate in the race. You will be respawned if you try to enter this area
- Challenge area: This location is used for challenges. If you want to fight another player in a 1vs1 battle, type /challenge [userid]
- Train station: Get your train license by spending 2 hours in the train! Type /help train for more information

Dynamic infopoints would be great too:
- Penitentiary Bay: You were jailed for <reason>, you will be free in <x> minutes

Another related idea is a tutorial island. Packed with lots of infobooths and a few things to do (IE a kart-track). This could be used instead of /jail to inform new players about the rules in a playful way. They won't see this as a punishment, but they will have fun learning and understanding the rules.

All this could be done with a few checkpoints, too. But I think it's better to have everything integrated into the game world. Most people won't read all /help-pages (they are way too summarized anyway), but if they get some advice or tips by using the infobooths they will be more interested.

[Peter]

Awesome. Totally agree, this will be intergrated in LVP 3.0.

[Chillosophy]

Note: the following post is from a brainstorm with the management team.

Idea by Nakebod: Using the City Planning Department (the Frisia) as a Tourist Information Office (dutch: VVV-kantoor)

Most people don't know that the Frisia is actually a huge building with lots of rooms. Since it's located in Las Venturas, we could use this building for many infopoints. We could let players find this out for themselves

Problems: The Frisia is currently used for loans and the proaccount. We don't want to change that. Will it be confusing for players if we use the rest of the building for something totally different?

Idea by Fireburn: Setting the camera on the infopoint subject + delayed information

Example: You're on the ship, reading the infopoint. The camera will change to a view where you can see the entire ship (plus it's ramp) while the information in main chat will be send to the player with a delay. Between every sentence (if there are more than one) will be a small delay of a few seconds, so players can read the info even if it's very crowded.

Problems: If there's a infopoint indoors (like in the Frisia) there will be problems if the camera switches to an outdoor location. We need some developers input on this subject.