Topic

Anti Theft Booby Trap Potion (Imploding Piggies of Doom?)

I was thinking it would be fun if we had a way to booby trap piggies, feeders and other items that are in or around our houses so that when people try to steal them they implode into little currant eating black holes.  You wouldn't even have to have the currant sucking black holes eat much for them to be effective. Just like 2,000 currants would be plenty. Each time the greedy little thief would have to wonder if this is going to be the piggy that implodes on him when he goes to snatch it. It would be seriously funny.

Posted 9 months ago by Melting Sky Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • There's some merit to this idea.
    But a way to make it glitchier would be a random teleport.
    It is as if you are infusing an object with a door drink.
    So there's the fun (for object-grabbers) of wondering if an object is infused.
    The delight of finding something new (assuming object-grabber is not a fully achieved completist).
    And the inconvience of walking/energy burn from teleport to get back to what one was doing.

    I don't mind the currant-sink-mine proposed here.
    Just adding this existing functionality to the mix of ideas.
    Posted 9 months ago by CrashTestPilot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like Crashtestpilot's variation!
    Posted 9 months ago by Pascale Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Especially if, instead of the regular sound effect, it made a "BOING!" sound when it teleported you across Ur.  That would make it clear what had happened.

    This could be part of the Pranking skillset, suggest in another thread.
    Posted 9 months ago by Carl Projectorinski Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My only objection to this idea is that it seams pretty mean spirited to suggest a feature specifically to allow you to set a trap with the expressed intent of punishing players that do not conform to your arbitrary rules of conduct, especially when the behavior you want to punish is explicitly allowed by TS.

    Thumbs down from me.
    Posted 9 months ago by Syruss Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like this, especially with the TP variation.

    @Syruss: I don't think this is intended to be a mean spirited trap per se. At the moment there are many threads suggesting various ways of dealing with the latest changes, one the biggest of course being the strange blend of public access with some private controls that is the new Home Street.

    I don't think this is intended to punish players for who do not conform to anyone's "arbitrary rules of conduct", but to suggest that the behavior currently allowed by TS on "normal" public streets be changed on the newer Home streets.

    I personally am in favor of some alteration of current rules on Home Streets. Why not allow me to place a Meat Collector that can't be removed as long as anyone passing by can collect from it? Icons somehow qualify as irremovable objects on Home Streets but Collectors do not.  If collectors are not made irremovable I would love to see some alternative to at least discourage their removal if not outright prevent it.

    Somehow I don't think it will change in any of the ways I would like it to, but stoot has said in another thread on the public/private debate:

    "The fact is, though we have lots of opinions internally, we're going to wait a little while and see what kind of uses and issues arise before making any significant changes. It's a subtle thing. Besides, there are other features coming (style-switching and cultivation) which will change the way they are used and understood by players."

    So at the the moment the way these Home streets will function is up in the air.  If things remain the same as now I'm guessing it won't bother me with whatever new features soon appear. But until then I will hope for change.
    Posted 9 months ago by The Cat Face Subscriber! | Permalink
  • TCF, Once a booby trap has been suggested, and the intended victims labeled "thieves" (as done here and in the thread where this idea was born) there exists in the suggestion a clear delineation between sets of possible behavior, with one set being arbitrarily defined as better or more correct.

    The idea that we might be able to "lock" items is interesting, however I worry that such increased privatization of home streets would potentially detract from what is effectively our ability to individually customize a Public space.
    Posted 9 months ago by Syruss Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So, let's change labels!
    Imbuer of Surprise rather than Trapper/(Keeper)/Pranker.
    And!
    The Dyson (after the vacuum)! rather than the thief.
    Or my preferred pair: The Sprite and the Scooper.

    However, on this topic, owing to /home, let us say one is on a circuit of home streets, and one, say, scooper picks up ... stuff, that is imbued with spritely goodness, s/he bamfs to another location.  AwesomeCardinal2000(or so...)argues that hey, they could simply /home...um...home.  What I'd add to that is if they were bamfed to, say, somewhere remote, yes, they could /home to "do stuff," but that when they finally get back out into the world, it's still walk or teleport, so energy/time+/-tokens becomes the cost of that act.

    As a caveat, I have also argued the very point of "stuff that enables you to enforce how you play on others is bad."

    On this particular, and only this one, I think the idea, at worst is an inconvenience -- a bit like garlic kisses, or splanking.

    And that's actually what recommended the idea to me -- it creates an inconvenience, and at the same time allows for getting back out into Ur.

    So, in the /homes we have resource loops that at present offer everything that trees can offer, sans eggs, and everything that minerals can offer, sans every mineral except metal.  Then there's the emergent behavior among some to offer other resources.  Such as animals, icons, stills, "take-something/leave-something" etiquette, and more.

    The fear I have is with such resource loops after housing adds bog goodies and dark patch goodies, is why would anyone ever explore Ur, except to explore and be a completist?

    Now, do not mistake me, I LOVE the resource loops. And I still explore Ur. There's a neat mix of social, explorationist, and resource-seeking that I get from the current configuration.

    My point is twofold. Some or all of this may change. But I think the idea of a non-locked (ala stills/icons) object that can be imbued with a kind of random-destination door potion is not only amusing, but is, at the end of the day, quite Glitchy.
    Posted 9 months ago by CrashTestPilot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So, first, so you know where I'm coming from, this bit from Richard Bartlett is quite good.

    I was having this realization. I do understand the quest for currants.
    Just like in the real world, what does wealth mean is an open question.
    But most of us measure it in money. Not the best decision or the right one, necessarily, but one that is really good at establishing hard metrics.  It also represents some kind of capability.

    Since I topped a certain currant level, it widens my possibilities for how I elect to spend time on Ur.

    If I want to take a night off, and put shiny objects up and down a street, I can. If I want to donate to a giant, I can. If I want to give new players tons of free stuff, I can do that.
    I feel I can afford to.

    Victorians and earlier would have called it noblesse oblige. But candidly, compared to many here that have been here longer or more avidly, I'm just middle class.

    Wealth broadens your possibilities within Ur. You don't have to hunt for spice, because you have stacks of it. You can go to a party without worrying whether you'll have enough energy during your planned session on Ur.  You can afford to buy gifts.  To exhaust your stocks of goods making Pi.

    It's not all about class, however.

    There is, I think, a notion that surrounds leaderboards.  The most badges. The most currants. This gets back to the Bartlett piece above. There are social players. There are completist players. There are achievement based players. There are players who win when others lose.  Those are, in Bartlett's piece, hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs, respectively.

    Right now, Ur is trying to accommodate all of these.
    What we all should pay attention to, Bartlett suggests, is the ratio of the suits.
    Posted 9 months ago by CrashTestPilot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the random teleport idea.  : )

    Or possibly give the booby trap a random effect. Like have the game show wheel pop up but instead of a wheel of goodies its a wheel of funny surprises with the image of a rook on it. You could have of the options be the random teleport, another could be the glitch's clothes vanishing, another could be to fill their entire inventory with notes that say "surprise!" You could have all kinds of fun options.

    The options are limitless.

    You could even put in chat effects like making people talk backwards for a minute or two or make their typing appear scarlet red for 10 minutes etc.
    Posted 9 months ago by Melting Sky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Or you could imbue them with something like the Amorous Philtre, except instead of a heart above their head, they'd have, perhaps a club (?) for a finite duration.
    Or an opposite of Hairball, where their ability to walk (bags too heavy with appropriated swag) is slowed down.
    Or an opposite of the "faster learning" drink, where they can't learn as quickly (overcome by guilt).
    Or a mood de-buff.

    Personally, my favorite is the random teleport, still, but you can sort of see how many forms the traps could take.
    Posted 9 months ago by CrashTestPilot Subscriber! | Permalink