Shattered Kingdoms

Having a moment to address some of the concerns that have come up recently in regards to seekers / HF of a faith not connecting, and some of the problem being that the seeker has no IC way of communicating with a HF he may not know / never sees.

The premise of the command is that a character could profess <deity> and a HF would get a message listing seekers/time of profession at time of login, regardless of if the seekers are connected or not. From an RP standpoint, the seeker professed faith to the deity, the deity is informing the HF. This way if a faith is smaller or the HF on at different times, at least they are aware of the situation and can take action (perhaps contact the imm, perhaps send an IC note along, something... anything). The additional catchall is a command for imms (any) to see who is out there professed but in a potential limbo (say 3 weeks since the time of profession and no religion flag) and can then they can follow up with the HF or do whatever else may be necessary.

Once invested, the notifications would go away.

Additionally, to cover the case of a seeker really waiting too long or having some legitimate reason to change their life pass, the HF could then 'relieve' someone of their profession. I'd make sure there was a good strong disclaimer in the help file though, that such things could be frowned upon in the eyes of some (esp. in character) and to not take professing lightly. I'd probaly attach a link to profess to the priest/pallie/hellion help files as well (tho any character could profess)

This would address several things:
Helping IC communication of seekers to the HFs. (sometimes followers just don't get to posting things in the forums)
Speeding up the investment process when the only thing hindering speed is lack of said communication/notification
Seekers wouldn't have to flash large 'I want to follow Thuban' signs around and there would be some potential secrecy gained, without crippling role play.
Helping staff be aware of what's going on readily.

... if this sort of thing works/is effective could be tweaked to function for organizations as a whole

A

I like the idea, but what about the HF's that are stubborn about who can join their religion and always want to meet face to face. I know they are out there for a fact.

Maybe I misunderstood and you already said this but perhaps for certain classes i.e. priest/hellion/pally when they profess they can use the abilities that need a deity to use. Because I wouldn't want to be a hellion running around just trying to kill things with my sword, or a priest running around bashing things on the head with a mace.

Kyle

I like this idea a lot.

But I do not like Osterich's idea of giving powers to priests/paladins/hellions before investment.

Or you could just, you know, do it the old fashioned way.

Take a minute to grab a pen and paper, write something up, and post it on the astral boards. Simple as that. If it's simply impossible to meet face to face, then an interview can be conducted via the noteboard system.

And if you're chicken about anyone seeing what it is you're talking about in your note, you're in luck because (*gasp*) you can direct the notes to specific people and no one else can read them! Wow! Cool, right?

What about those who wish investment and secrecy and don't happen to know who the HFs are? I like the idea of possibly having some kind of message akin to the mentor system for investment and even going so far as to notify HFs when they log in should a seeker use the command when they are not online.

The only problem I can see with it is people spamming it or using it to attempt to 'out' certain high standing members of more secretive churches, but it's not like people couldn't fake seeking before in an effort to do the same. I guess it might make some people a bit lazy, too, but then it's up to the HF to decide whether the seeker has shown enough dedication to be one of the faithful.

Are there any other problems with this sort of system?

If you make it like the mentor system, you could have an option to toggle it off.

3- I hardly ever read the astral boards. The one in the North is just in a very inconvenient place. I keep meaning to ask to get it moved, but I always forget about it.

Heck, I still don't know where the one in Teron is.

Nah, don't allow the ability to turn it off. Make it a reject command.

It's a notification that someone wants to join the church. It should not be togglable as that defeats the purpose entirely.

Unlike the mentor system, I don't think it should necessarily notify the seeker that someone is online to handle the request. That seems OOC to me.

It'd be a tag that gets put on the HFs of the church until which time:
1) investment
2) relieving (HF removes the flag, and allows the seeker to seek another church)
3) professed character deletes.
4) seeker wants to profess to someone else?*

*Now about someone who has professed who is going to want to change their minds... either 1) only possible after relieving from the original HF/staff, or 2) notification of a change of heart/faith getting sent to the original HF/staff.. which again would allow for more flexibility/freedom, and perhaps consequence due to change of faith. Also more reason to.. think before professing or before changing mind on it.

So it would be a one time command, and not one that could be spammed by the professor? My comment was meant as a solution to Gremlin's concern about spam abuse, but if it cannot be spammed, the he has nothing to worry about.

Aye, the thought is a one time command.

It MIGHT be nice to have something to check/notify if:
1) a professee is on at the time you log in.
2) a professee logs in while you are on.
3) notifies you simply the FIRST time if you are on when they profess.
but certainly nothing where they can type profess and spam you to death. ew.

An additional advantage - HF of certain religions don't have to advertise their affiliation with certain deities, esp if there's an RP reason to not be so public about it.