In-line Private Messages

[dmw71]

I don't know what would be involved in order to add functionality like this, but I'm also participating in a play-by-post game on a different website (Roleplay Online) and one cool feature on that site is the ability to embed private messages within an actual post to a single player (or group of players) while not broadcasting this message to everyone participating.

For example, here is a snippet from the game I am playing on that site (Hootuk is my character and he is being introduced in this post):

'Here's where you went last time in:



Hootuk, feel free to introduce yourself now.

[Private to Hootuk Thadyyz: Only you and I can see this private line. You can send one using the bar at the bottom right-hand corner of the box you type in. "Insert a private line to:" You can send to another player (like if the two thieves scout together out of earshot of the others) or to me if you're doing something you don't want the others to know about. It's a cool feature of this site - one of many. ]'

By the way, I used the 'imgurl' tag to display the map... sweet!

Anyway, as for the above, the DM composed his post and included, within the same post, a private message directly to me. It's a pretty cool feature and one that would be pretty useful. A DM could prompt a particular character to make a an ability check (or saving throw, or surprise roll, or ask them to check for a trap, etc...) directly in the same post, without needing to compose a separate PM to that player (which also helps preserve context).


Low priority, if even possible, but you did ask for suggestions.

[ToniXX]

Interesting... so the post itself had regular stuff that all players could see, and also included an embedded PM to you that (assuming) only you could see. Is that what you're saying? If so, that's a great feature.

Can you post a direct link to the post/thread? If I see what kind of forum it's in, I may be able to replicate it here.

[dmw71]

Interesting... so the post itself had regular stuff that all players could see, and also included an embedded PM to you that (assuming) only you could see. Is that what you're saying? If so, that's a great feature.

Yes, that's exactly how it works.

Can you post a direct link to the post/thread? If I see what kind of forum it's in, I may be able to replicate it here.

My guess is you'll have some permission issues and won't be able to access the thread, but here's the link:

http://rpol.net/display.cgi?gi=22756&ti ... 1329918790

With RPoL being the first site I was aware of that did play-by-post games, I did create a private space for my own campaign and have been playing around with it a bit, adding threads for initial player creation, house rules, etc.... You'd probably need to create an account on the RPoL site, but I'd be more than happy to grant you access to this campaign I've been tinkering with and work with you to test it out (put the 'private' nature of the post to the test). That said, I do believe the messages meant to be private are working as intended since there have been other instances of private messages within other posts and no unintended player has reacted/responded to anything they shouldn't know. It's kind of cool. I also notice that both here, on Unseen Servant, and on the Dragonsfoot forums, almost every private message I send seems to get hung up in the 'Outbox' and I'm never certain when the message actually does reach the intended recipient. Embedding the private message in the actual post (and not actually sending a separate message through private "e-mail") would help eliminate this problem.

[rredmond]

About the only thing I liked about RPoL was that feature.
Interesting to note too, that whichever characters you added to that PM line could see the PM but the DM didn't need to be added, they can see all the PMs in their game.

Also, Dave, I'm not sure if this is what you were talking about, but the PM hangs out in the OUTBOX until the person you send it to opens it up. Once they open it, it goes to your sent box. Up until they open it, you can actually still edit it. Once they open it, you can no longer edit it. I learned that over on DF.

[Alethan]

Ugh.

I spent a little bit of time on RPOL. Tried to join a campaign, even. Fussed with it for about two weeks before I decided that too many of the features of the board were not user-friendly or intuitive. Then the campaign I was in ended up not being a good fit, either, so I kindly stepped out and haven't been back to that board since.

But... why would I? Plenty of great stuff here on a friendly board that is easy to use and has an administrator who implements good suggestions in a timely manner.

That said, the feature being discussed would be incredibly cool.

[rredmond]

But... why would I? Plenty of great stuff here on a friendly board that is easy to use and has an administrator who implements good suggestions in a timely manner.

Agreed a million-fold.

[ToniXX]

dmw71 - Yes, you're right: i can't see that thread.

What Ron said about PMs moving from outbox to sent, etc, is right on. I was going to say that, but Ron beat me to it!

I agree with Alethan that trying to do too much for the users of the forum can become cumbersome, and I don't want that here. I like the basis that as long as you know how to use pretty much any forum software, you can ramp up here quickly... Nothing too complex. That being said, the inline PM is still a damn cool feature. I'll see if someone has developed a mod that does that for phpBB (the forum software being used here). The phpBB development community is huge.

[dmw71]

About the only thing I liked about RPoL was that feature.
Interesting to note too, that whichever characters you added to that PM line could see the PM but the DM didn't need to be added, they can see all the PMs in their game.

I agree with you that the RPoL website is frustrating... I do like that feature, though, and the game I am participating in has been fun (but painfully slow). I don't think I'd do another game on that site after my current game ends.

Also, Dave, I'm not sure if this is what you were talking about, but the PM hangs out in the OUTBOX until the person you send it to opens it up. Once they open it, it goes to your sent box. Up until they open it, you can actually still edit it. Once they open it, you can no longer edit it. I learned that over on DF.

That is exactly what I was talking about. That's really cool if that is how the process works. It's almost like a built-in return receipt for your messages sent.

[dmw71]

dmw71 - Yes, you're right: i can't see that thread.

I suspected as much. The single game I'm involved in has multiple groups going through it at the same time -- I suspect each taking on different tasks within the larger campaign. I do think that split-group functionality is pretty cool, too (e.g. If the party gets separated, the DM can form a Group A and a Group B, assigning the appropriate characters to each, and can post messages to one group or the other, or both, as needed.

Aside from the groups and the in-line private messages, though, there really isn't a lot to like (other than the game itself).

What Ron said about PMs moving from outbox to sent, etc, is right on. I was going to say that, but Ron beat me to it!

Now that I know that, it's actually pretty nice. Like I said in my reply to Ron, it's almost like a built-in read receipt for your message.

I'll see if someone has developed a mod that does that for phpBB (the forum software being used here). The phpBB development community is huge.

If you can, great. I do think it's kind of cool, but my primary reason for mentioning it in the first place was due to the fact that I kept thinking my messages were not getting sent. Now that I know they'll appear in the 'Outbox' until being read, I'm less concerned with the reliability of the regular PM method.