[quote=Urthdigger]
I find the wiki is updated quite frequently, and in fact I update it often with things like the challenge points for actions. [/quote]
FBG have now asked that the wiki not be updated at all, with non-fate as well as fate storylines being forbidden. Hence the comment about the wiki being defunct.
[quote=M_L_G][quote=Urthdigger]
I find the wiki is updated quite frequently, and in fact I update it often with things like the challenge points for actions. [/quote]
FBG have now asked that the wiki not be updated at all, with non-fate as well as fate storylines being forbidden. Hence the comment about the wiki being defunct.[/quote]
Really? Where have they said that? The only thing I’ve seen like that is that the wikidot wiki has been requested to change the Stories and Ambition pages so that you can’t just read through the whole story effortlessly.
[quote=Urthdigger][quote=M_L_G][quote=Urthdigger]
I find the wiki is updated quite frequently, and in fact I update it often with things like the challenge points for actions. [/quote]
FBG have now asked that the wiki not be updated at all, with non-fate as well as fate storylines being forbidden. Hence the comment about the wiki being defunct.[/quote]
Really? Where have they said that? The only thing I’ve seen like that is that the wikidot wiki has been requested to change the Stories and Ambition pages so that you can’t just read through the whole story effortlessly.[/quote]
And even just that is quite bad :( I felt it was handy to have a recap ready whenever I wanted to reconsider some events, to try and figure out the grand picture behind them… Currently I played quite a lot of content, but being the Journal as it is, the only handy way to remeber everything would have been to make screens of every action I took… At least the most important ones. And I only ever bothered to do so for a minimum part of the content, nor I intend to change now - saving screens and ordering them may be a pain. So I sincerely hope FBG will change its policy - it’s painful to fell like it’s impossible to figure out something because of some past storylet you don’t remember correctly, especially considering that sometimes important clues are given via a single passing phrase in an otherwise unconnected action description T.T
[quote=M_L_G]
FBG have now asked that the wiki not be updated at all, with non-fate as well as fate storylines being forbidden. Hence the comment about the wiki being defunct.[/quote]
[color=00ffff]Firstly, please be careful about posting anything that could derail a community consultation thread - we need these threads focused to get the most use out of them. If you want to discuss this further, please take it to a new thread.[/color]
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[color=rgb(0, 0, 204)]Secondly, this:[/color]
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[quote=M_L_G]
FBG have now asked that the wiki not be updated at all, with non-fate as well as fate storylines being forbidden.[/quote]
[color=00ffff]…is wildly untrue.[/color]
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[color=00ffff]We very much do want it updated! Partly because it’s in breach of our fan project guidelines - specifically: “We don’t want our content reproduced in a way that allows people to read through it in a narratively coherent way, as if they were actually playing it in-game”[/color]
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[color=00ffff]What we’ve asked is for the copy-pasted text to be replaced by summaries. Anyone interested can read more here. We think the wiki’s a fantastic resource and we want to see it thrive - I’m sure members of the community would be more than happy to help with changes and continued updates. [/color]
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[color=00ffff]We appreciate that people want more complete records of past stories. The solution to this is to improve journal functionality (hence this thread!), not to content-dump the game onto an external website.[/color]
I think the key word here is “external website”. Now, I do understand FBG’s concern about content dumps; on the other hand, I’d like to be able to reread everything I personally played, especially because game mechanics often make long-term stories (especially Ambitions) more a on-and-off job, with other minor storylets played in between the main storyline, and accessing it via a journal would be quite difficult.
So.
Would it be posible to create, on the EBZ site or wherever, a dump of all the content tied to a player’s qualities (from Accomplishments to Ventures), so that every player would be able to access the content he played, only his, and nothing else? Has it already been suggested? If it isn’t too much of a stretch, I’d eagerly try to suggest it to the Feedback section.
A tagging system or a search function would be indispensable.
A tagging system or a search function would be indispensable.
And it would need to be comprehensive. If it only focuses on some small parts, then it won’t be much use. At present, we can echo pieces of text, but results aren’t connected to intro, nor are the results complete. So - with pieces missing, it’s no good. If journals are getting improved though, there’s opportunity to slot everything together. If this doesn’t happen though, they’re still not going to be much use to players.
I’ll second/third/nth the search function though. The text is too complex for a tagging system to be any use - you’d need such an array of tags that it would be ridiculously unwieldy, and often give significant spoilers. Maybe a basic tagset for origin, but a free-form search is well-nigh essential.
I agree that you need a tagging and/or search system and the ability to edit past entries.
Let me also make this suggestion – a tutorial. Early on maybe a storylet that walks you through the journal system and shows you how useful it can be and what exactly gets saved. Maybe I’m an idiot, but I’ve been playing for over a year and only recently discovered how useful the journal system is to saving memories.
[quote=WintersNight]I agree that you need a tagging and/or search system and the ability to edit past entries.
Let me also make this suggestion – a tutorial. Early on maybe a storylet that walks you through the journal system and shows you how useful it can be and what exactly gets saved. Maybe I’m an idiot, but I’ve been playing for over a year and only recently discovered how useful the journal system is to saving memories.[/quote]
This! I would add an opportunity card fairly early on, whilst we wander blindly about the prison, introducing players to the journal. Perhaps it could have a brief paragraph about why they appear to be in the prison in the first place… musings upon it anyway.
~MF
A Lady writing
Something I’ve realized recently is the journal NEEDS to contain the whole action: The initial storylet text, the text for the action, and the text for the result. I like to think people actually click on the links I post to my twitter: After all, that’s the whole point of giving us an incentive to do so right? So I try to more often than not echo interesting things. The problem, however, is that often times I’ll come across an interesting success message (Or even a failure message), but without the other two pieces of the puzzle there’s absolutely no context.
What I liked about the Ambition storylines is that you could choose to ‘Reminisce about your adventures’ and all the important stuff would be reiterated for you. I wish there were more opportunities of that kind, perhaps embedded in one’s ‘hyperjournal’.
This
Also, I agree with Urth that the whole action has to be memorized, just so we have a clue on what we were doing in hindsight.
The reminisce works fine without, though, since you know what storylines the text is about.
In my experience, the reminiscing lacks a little something, as it doesn’t include the full wording. Sometimes the summaries miss out on the subtle clues which are essential to piecing obscure fragments together. An example (such an obvious thing that it’s hardly a spoiler): In Bag a Legend, does the reminiscing include the full description of the Vake’s appearance and voice, both pitch and wording? I found myself needing to know that for something a little while back. Comparing that to something else was rather interesting. There are countless times where things that didn’t seem important to make note of turn out to have significance.
I also wanted to toss out… I’d like to be able to journal those time based events.
“On April 23 the Dilmun club sent for me! My first official meeting since His Amused Lordship agreed to sponsor me.” (I know you can journal the story from this particular one, I don’t think you can with all of them though…)
~MF
edited by MaurnaFrost on 4/24/2012
I’m a fairly new player. I signed up with an e-mail address, not Facebook or Twitter. What I would like is for my journal to work at all. When I try to echo something to my journal, the message says “You’ve echoed a delicious fragment from Fallen London to:” with nothing following. Nothing has ever been posted to my journal at all.
If you’re sure that the “Journal” box was ticked when you tried to send the echo, then you should report the bug to ebbugs@failbettergames.com and they should fix it!
I don’t really need customized tags for my journal entries – it would be enough if every entry was automatically tagged with the name of the storylet or opportunity card it was taken from, and the name of the ongoing longer storyline it belongs to (e.g. "Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 13").
Of course, for the longer storylines there’d be an alternative to the journal we have now but I have no idea if that would be doable for you: just list them all up and let us reminisce about them like we can for the ambitions. Again, I’ve no idea how much of programming that would take but if there’s a way to do it… do it! ;)
When playing new content I’m often so caught up in it I totally forget to save to my journal. (I suspect I’m not the only one with this problem…) With the option for reminiscing the constant saving wouldn’t be necessary anymore.
edited by Rupho Schartenhauer on 3/24/2015
What I would absolutely adore is the option to have specific journals (perhaps through tagging, which seems to be this thread’s consensus) for storylines: much like the way you can read through ambitions, it would be amazing to be able to categorise things, or have a dream journal for example, for the dream threads.
I saw the Iron Republic Journal and was so gleeful at the idea of having a text-trove of the things I’d seen but it’s not an openable item. :( I’d HAPPILY use a move clicking it to open and re-read its entries. Which could be a way of doing dream diaries - perhaps through Dr Schlomo (he asks you to write down what you’ve been experiencing, or whatevs). So, every so often you could get a “read through your dreams of storms/fire/dead people/etc”.
This may be asking for too much, but when I think of the perfect journal system, I picture this. Each major storyline has its own chapter in my character’s journal, and as they progress through them, the storyline is automatically echoed to that chapter. I could click a chapter title and recall my oh-so-kind benefactor and all I did to help him, or I could reminisce on how two very different devils tried to win my heart and soul and all the times we shared together, or even click another one to reveal a half-unfinished chapter on recent events involving a strange box with seven locks. The echoing to the profile page would still exist, ideally separate from the journals. Otherwise you could look at an advanced player’s profile and see half the game laid bare. A private journal should be just that. Private.
As it is right now, however, I cannot even remember what some of my Stories are, due to not having the forethought to echo all of them. Even if I did, important pieces in between the beginning and end event would still be missing. Why am I an ally of the Widow? Why did I first start visiting Clethermont’s Tattoo Parlour? And perhaps the most pressing question on my mind, how did a certain spider-expert and I first meet?