Overview
Chat is broken down into two sections chat channels which are designed for out-of-character or meta-game conversation (or talking about your local sports team) and in-game communication which are designed for communicating in character.
Chat channels only identifying individuals by player aliases. In-game communication only identifying individuals by character aliases. As a result you can keep your player and character identities separate. By design it is possible to have a conversation in a chat channel while also having a separate conversation in-game - and never know you are talking to the same person.1
|
Table of Contents
|
Chat Channels
Chat channels will be player made channels with the capability to register/reserve and moderate channels. These chat channels will work identically to the way IRC channels work. Players can be either invited to join a channel, choose to join public channels listed in the channel index, or choose to join a private channel if they know the pass word. There's no limit to the number of players in chat rooms2.
While not signed in access to the chat can still be gained through any XMPP chat client. People can therefore stay in contact in and out of the game and be kept up to date with developments.
Unlike other games there is no automatic guild chat channels, as guilds will function in a different way to other games. If you want a channel for your guild you will have to create a custom channel.
In Game Communication
There will be no trade, general or other typical channels provided in game. For new players to ask for assistance a help channel will be provided where questions go to GMs and approved volunteers to answer, the question will only be published to all in that channel once it has an answer.
The main ways to communicate in-game will be tells, often known as private messages in other games, and three local area channels 'Whisper', 'Say', and 'Shout'. These work at different radiuses depending on what type of group you are currently a part of.
It is hoped that by adding separate chat channels (discussed above) these in-game channels will remain for in-character communication.
Tells
You can only send private messages to people on your friends list, and one other group of people that have yet to be confirmed. This can be done while not signed into the game using a XMPP chat client.
This is more restrictive then many other games of this genre. The reasons given for this were in part to limit unsolicited tells, and therefore spam. And also because the game has, as yet unannounced features which will encourage meeting players in person to identify them effectively.
Whisper
- Solo - Only one other player in close range.
- Party - All party members in close range.
- Raid - All party members.
Say
- Solo - All people in a close range.
- Party - All people in a close range.
- Raid - All party members and all those with a level of command.
Shout
- Solo - All people in a wider range.
- Party - All people in a wider range.
- Raid - All raid members.
User Interface
Chat channels can be displayed in a number of different ways. Each channels can show up as separate tabs in the same chat window, or as separate, minimizeable chat windows on the bottom of your screen. If you choose separate, the dialog titles will flash whenever you receive a new message so you'll know to restore them to read the message.