Topic

The Following Issue

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Well the hot topic of the day seems to be based around the fact that folks can follow you without your knowledge/permission and right into your house. The primary concern about this seems to be that once there, they can steal your stuff. What are your thoughts/ideas about this ?

Posted 21 months ago by Divine~ Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • I liked the idea, given elsewhere, that you ought to be asked if it's okay for someone to follow you before they can do so. Seems as if since we can approve of someone knocking on our door it wouldn't be too difficult to implement a similar idea with "follow"...but then I don't know computer programming at all. Another thought is to make following into a home impossible. And if you're following someone to a party, you would end up outside the door and have to knock to get in, which doesn't seem like too much of a sacrifice for general home safety...my two cents.
    Posted 21 months ago by RM Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I would prefer an ignore/block option to being followed rather than an outright ban.  If a particular player following you becomes a nuisance to you, you could deal with it yourself.  I remember from a past forum thread that at least one player has found an unwanted follower obnoxious.

    I'm pretty sure I'd find it funny if a player I liked started following me unexpectedly.  I'd like to preserve that possibility.
    Posted 21 months ago by rothko Subscriber! | Permalink
  • As they have just implemented the block feature I don't think anyone knows yet what all that encompasses exactly. I do know that a lot of folks are setting their teleport spot to inside of their house so a relatively easy workaround for now would be to set it instead right outside your door, then the knock feature would keep out any unwanted company.
    Posted 21 months ago by Divine~ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It would be kinda funny if someone were to try to follow you into you house if they would instead "run into" the door.  There could be an animation like being splanked. 

    Following in general i can see as being either hilarious or somewhat creepy weird.  I don't think that following would need approval outright, but definitely for entering a home.
    Posted 21 months ago by RainyRain Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Don't we already land outside our front door when we teleport home? Am I not remembering right? If not, it certainly isn't hard to set your teleport point outside your own front door as of now.
    Posted 21 months ago by rothko Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I can appreciate the ability to "follow". I sure wish I knew about it initially when I would get so lost and kept running around in circles. The map and "set destination" really solved that problem for me, as did just getting familiar with the regions over time. And I suppose if there are group quests or parties or congo lines going on, "follow" is both necessary and cool. So to me, the notion of "follow" really benefits a follower.

    But being a followee is another thing. Other than logging out, there is no way I know of to disengage a follower. Indeed, there is no way to even know if someone is following you and that can easily lead to misunderstandings or even unpleasantness.

    One suggestion, already mentioned, is to enable a followee to give permission to be followed, like getting permission to enter a home. If that is too problematic, perhaps it could in a tutorial. The Rock could also explain home security and warn players that any item can be picked up by anyone anywhere at any time.

    I'm going to use Devine's workaround idea and reset my teleport destination to outside my door instead of inside my house.
    Posted 21 months ago by GreyGoose Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Another suggestion. No-one is allowed to pick up stuff from another players house, like we had at FS. Then if anyone does follow you into your home they can't touch your things. Obviously the Devs would have to work this into the game, but in the long run it would alleviate the suspicion.

    I also think the follow has it's good points and can be fun if used properly. On another vibe I wouldn't want any Tom, Dick, or Harry following me either. So requesting permission sounds like a good Idea.  
    Posted 21 months ago by tweetypie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • We're not supposed to be able to teleport to a location inside our houses specifically for that reason.  Report it in the bug forum if it's letting you do that.

    Not being allowed to pick things up off the floor in houses would need the same treatment with chickens/pigs/butterflies/patches/trees/gardens.  Door knocking could go away since there's no longer a harm to people going in your house at will.  And Beefcake, if you remember our little secret discussion a few months ago, this would help that, too.
    Posted 21 months ago by Tingly Claus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I can teleport into my house in Shimla, thought that was normal  ... not being allowed to pick things up in other peoples houses would have an effect on parties, as folks like to put out food and drinks for guests ...
    Posted 21 months ago by Divine~ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I was chatting with a dev last year when I asked him, 'What if you can follow a teleporter into their house?' Whoever it was screamed in terror, 'Oh no!'  A little later, he came back and said they realized and changed it before I asked so you can only teleport to your front door.  If you set your point inside, it's moved automatically.

    Can we still follow people into their houses? A thief could wait at your door and follow you as you enter. You'd have no idea until *pop*, there they are inside.  Setting up a knock for followers would be nice and let older houses allow teleports to end inside their homes.
    Posted 21 months ago by Tingly Claus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Me too, Devine! My teleport destination is inside my house now,  though I'm going to change it to the outside my door next time game is open. 
    Posted 21 months ago by GreyGoose Subscriber! | Permalink
  • i don't want to be alerted by a pop-up message every time someone wants to follow me.

    that would be bad.

    i do want to be able to "shake them off" if i don't want them following me.

    that would be good.
    Posted 21 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Maybe we just need more storage space or display cases that visitors can't access so we don't have to leave things on the floor...

    Here's another idea: what about an option to either allow people to pick stuff off the floor, or not?
    Posted 21 months ago by Shepherdmoon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yes Tingly - we can still follow people into their houses. The problem arose when someone was walking from the street outside and went into their home. In that brief second, Player B (a stranger) Followed Player A in.... common tactic of real work home invaders in apartment complexes, and something every self-defense instructor warns about. In this scenario - setting your destination on the street does *not* solve the problem.

    Again I'll argue, I rather enjoy people being able to access my things. I have no issues lending things out, and no problems sending people over to my house to collect bubbles or meat when they are short. Removing that ability significantly decreases role-play opportunities - it means we won't be able to have house parties anymore. Disallowing the Follow command in housing quarters entirely also means no more conga lines, no more high jumping chains.

    I suggested openly, I once played a game where your 'group status' could be set from open to closed. When it was closed, no one could follow you (unless they stalked you which was a thief skill). This feature *could* easily be introduced in the tutorial, preferably along with a little information on how to form a party and what Party Chat, Group Chat, and IMs are. Wonder if it would be too much trouble to have NPC Glitch inside the tutorial to form a group with. Might also provide a vehicle to teach the basics of other player-to-player interactions.
    Posted 21 months ago by Travinara Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Maybe our homes need guard dogs? Another good animal that those with animal kinship would be able to utilize :). They could take commands that would remain in effect until changed by the owner, for instance:

    1) "Attack *specific player*" to chase after an offending person and bark at them (biting them in the rear if they get to close, resulting in a drop in mood).

    2) "Attack all intruders" to chase after anyone that enters your home, with results as described above if they are caught.

    3) "Down, boy!" to be a good dog and allow everyone to be there, and interact nicely with them (like letting them pet it).
    Posted 21 months ago by Shepherdmoon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Had no idea this was an issue.  I recall having a quest last year where I had to follow another player  for three streets.  I can also remember a few people running away from me.  That was how I interpreted it until I realized they had a faster browser and until I found the follow command. Does that quest still exist?
    The idea that there may be more and more rules of behavior here is depressing.
    Posted 21 months ago by caley dunn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I fortunately do not have the problem of deciphering whether someone just happens to be on the street outside my house or has ill intent as my door is situated off in a corner where no one should be except my neighbor, who isn't a problem ... we had a somewhat similar feature in FS for jumping to people on our friends list, we also had an option to disable that feature and most of us left it that way except for special occasions but none of us would have wanted to not have the option as it was an invaluable tool for group events so you could override the instance issue whereby only so many people were allowed in an area at once. It is my understanding that there will be none of that nonsense here and everyone is always in the same world at the same time. Anyway ... likewise, I don't see using the follow feature that much, primarily for conga lines and leading lost newbies around, both of which are fairly rare occurrences and I would like to be able to disable it as while I am very social on the forums when I am actually playing I prefer to be left alone most of the time and wouldn't really care to have someone just following me around. Also wouldn't like people being able to come into my house uninvited whether they could steal things or not.

    @ Trav - What is NPC Glitch ?

    @Shephard - I like it ! I was thinking about training my pack of piggies to attack. Sometimes they nibble back ! HA 
    Posted 21 months ago by Divine~ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Heh, pick something up off the floor and instantly go to Hell.  :-)

    No matter what is or isn't done about it, something nice will be lost.
    Posted 21 months ago by Tingly Claus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Non Player Character
    Rube, Helga, Uncle Friendly are all NPC's

    *Edit - Follow is very useful when you're part of a Peat, Barnacle, or other party.
    Posted 21 months ago by Travinara Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I was musing on something along the lines of a punishment system for thievery but I think it would be practically impossible to implement such a thing as there is no way to determine intent i.e. whether or not someone has been granted permission to pick that up. In the case of being followed from a busy street into your home, people can't read your mind and it can be strictly coincidental that they choose to follow you when you were entering your domicile. I don't really see how having the ability to block following takes anything away from the game, if you want to be followed around you can still allow it. 

    @Trav- Thanks :) 
    Posted 21 months ago by Divine~ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm with Divine...just a simple ability to set a preference to "block" following would take care of all of this and still allow conga lines during parties, peat, barnacle, etc. +1 Divine!
    Posted 21 months ago by RM Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like people being able to pick things up! I think it adds a certain touch of reality to the game--if there are things on the floor, they can be picked up. Having/providing access to objects on a house floor opens up a lot of possibilities, like parties. Maybe there should be certain objects we can "lock down." Also, there should definitely be an "eject" option, so you can toss anyone unruly out.
    Posted 21 months ago by Cupcake Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the Marx Bros connotation of the follow action but the followee should be able to shake off the follower at will. But I could see that being some wild, evasive maneuver rather than a simple action. Perhaps a literal "shake off" like the Wiley Coyote earthquake pills effect?
    Posted 21 months ago by Mistress*of*Fishies Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Perhaps a small window that displays when you are being followed with the list of followers? Much like a Party displays in with the IMs and Channels perhaps? From there a block or eject option would be simple. Of course, groups and channels already get missed, so there's that.
    Posted 21 months ago by Travinara Subscriber! | Permalink
  • If you disconnect followers individually, you can be followed into your house before you realize you're being followed.
    Posted 21 months ago by Tingly Claus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • That's why I bought a house at the end of the street. It's easy to tell if someone is following me :D
    Posted 21 months ago by Essie Kitten Subscriber! | Permalink
  • After finding someone in my house without my permission I would really appreciate the option of blocking anyone from following me. Until last Friday I was under the impression that we had to invite or give permission for anyone to enter, Now that it seems that permissions can be circimvented it renders the whole permission options invalid.

    I would be more than happy to have some way of blocking the follow option. The one place in the whole game where we should be able to expect that people can't enter in any way without permission should be the home we have purchase. It was supposed to be the only place we can put things down and sort them out without leaving them open to being picked up by anyone passing by and now I find we don't even have that security.

    I wonder if the people who would follow you and take things from your house in a virtual game would have the nerve to do the same thing in their real life or if they simply think it's amusing to take things when there are no consequences for doing it.
    Posted 21 months ago by Leithwyn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • All I have to do is hang out by your street-end house and click on "follow" as you click on your door, me and the thousands in the [theoretical] thief group.  We'll follow you all at once and loot everything!  MUAHAHAHA!!!

    It doesn't make much difference now since we have a reset in our future.  But, it will be important later.
    Posted 21 months ago by Tingly Claus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Teleporting from somewhere to my home (outside the door as this is the only option I have) and immediately entering my house, I found I had an unwanted house guest, and with stories of thieving and I was storing items for a friend, I got cranky.
    It should not be possible to cross my threshold without permission - the "follow" should have disconnected the follower immediately I entered my house.
    I have also been silently followed (stalked?) while just walking around the worlds, a very icky feeling.
    I can see both the fun and the usefulness of the "follow" feature, however, I can not see neither fun nor usefulness when it results in having complete strangers in my house.
    So, following should disconnect if a followee enters a house to which the follower do not have permission to enter and it should be possible to break free from an unwanted follower.
    Just my 2c.
    Posted 21 months ago by Lellie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 to "block follow" & "unblock follow" options
    Posted 21 months ago by RainyRain Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Remember in FS, we could have an option to block friend jumping? I really think that's a good idea to implement here. The permish system sounds pretty cool, too, except wouldn't it be kinda annoying if someone keep clicking follow and you had to keep declining them? There ought to be some kind of policy against 'stalking', just like our begging policy in FS. And one against stealing, too!
    Posted 21 months ago by KitkatCat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I agree KitkatCat |a block follow option where you could block/unblock/block to allow only those who you know and want to follow would be the best way to go.

    Anti-stalking/begging/theft policies and deterents against such behaviour would be appreciated by many, but as such are in the hands of devs and their modorators in the future to handle. As has been stated there will be at least one reset before beta when we will all have to start over. I can only hope that this situation will be resolved before then.
    Posted 21 months ago by Leithwyn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • 1. following is fun.  waay back in the day, i had the privilege of being stalked by that silent observer guy.  and yeah, it was totally unnerving for a while, but i either decided just to keep playing the game as it's really not *that* interesting to watch me play, or maybe went afk for a couple of minutes, and he got bored and started silently observing another unwitting passerby.  so it was awkward for a bit, but overall, it was an entertaining gameplay experience to have had.

    2. rothko is remembering correctly, it has definitely been impossible to teleport inside your house in the recent past, not sure about the last test though.

    3. it's a good idea to incorporate information about following into early gameplay, either through the tutorial or maybe the rock could tell you about it at the first point you find yourself followed.  but even better, this could be skill-based, which brings me to my main point,

    4. Following should totally be a low level ninja-class skill that you have to learn in order to do.  then the more advanced ninja-class skill would be Shaking a Tail.
    Posted 21 months ago by katlazam Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 shaking a tail (hilarious)
    Posted 21 months ago by RainyRain Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Last test I set destination for inside my house and it worked. I haven't used teleport other than to do the quest so I didn't know it wasn't supposed to be possible. I don't know if it was a bug or not but it did work for me.

    I do still prefer the option to block follow as I feel that it could become a way to harass and intimidate as well as to take what we have stored in our homes.
    Posted 21 months ago by Leithwyn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't like the idea of following having to be a learned skill, although a skill called Shaking a Tail is awesomely funny.  

    But that's too darn much of basic abilities to learn, especially on top of having to get papers to ride the subway.  I would rather see more settings for the followee to be able to set their own level of official paranoia in the game, from "do what you will"  to "leave me the F@#$% alone".   And maybe there could be a short, snappy, early quest to demonstrate following and following etiquette.
    Posted 21 months ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 Nanookie, lol
    Posted 21 months ago by RM Subscriber! | Permalink