librarian design document

[das bread]

I never really finished this, and working in a new gig in the medical field has taken my time away.  But the main idea remains for the gameplay.
 
Core Focus

Replacing Librarian with a station traveling role that interacts with various departments for a reward.

How we'll do it

Create repeatable, easy to learn, difficult to master gameplay that doesn't over step its role.

Here's my doc page, comment there please.

Also comments here are fine, I'll just refer to the ones on the document first.

 

Feel free to link your own ideas, and add to the thread that way.

 

[das bread]

reserved for changelog and other

[destinycall]

1) Give the Librarian a book cart, similar to janitor's mop cart, for carrying around books to other depts or for visiting perma brig to entertain the prisoners.

2)  Randomly generate a list of people who owe the library "late fees" for overdue library books.  The missing book(s) will spawn nearby or in the inventory of the person who owes the fees.   The Librarian must collect the late books or associated fees by the end of the shift to get green text.

3)   Change the library into a museum with display cases. Librarian job title changed to "curator".  One or two cases will start with some kind of special item inside.  All cases must be filled with "rare" items to achieve green-text.  Curator can ask for help from explorers or other people with access to rare or high-value items.  Various opportunities for themed museums.

 

[Longpipe23]

From a balance perspective, this seems absolutely ludicrous. Solving a fucking cypher in exchange for one of the strongest genetic mutations in the entire game or a wizard item(s) is completely unfathomable. Cult stuff is fine, just seems like a trash item to bemoan instead of getting the other one. At the very least with miners they have to kill something and its mildly difficult. With telekinesis you either have to slog through genetics RNG garbage or do Russian Station - both are jokes to complete and incredibly easy, but still, you have to complete some kind of skill-based challenge. Even in both respective cases the community is still irked by it and its not balanced in the slightest. You also run the issue of librarians just not solving the cypher and still "not doing anything", or the polar opposite where they just do that one thing the entire round as opposed to manning the library, both are bad. The same thing happens with miners where they just don't do their job and run around with their fancy gadgets on station. 

All things aside, despite the scathing criticism, I think the idea is definitely there. Having the librarian go on a fun little scavenger hunt is a very interesting concept and I look forward to whatever modifications you'll make to this concept in the future, assuming you intend to do so. Perhaps giving them some kind of communal bonus whilst people are in the library? Maybe if they finish the book people can come curl up in the library and gain some kind of mild passive bonus as opposed to some fancy do-hickey they have to put away anyways. That way it would stick more to the original idea of what a Paradise librarian is supposed to be: a nerd den. 

[Landerlow]

I wouldn't want the librarian role replaced/removed. There just needs to be more incentive for people to visit the library. Currently, the library is often only visited by a select few players who like to RP and chill and renovate the library. But it IS an important part of the game imo, for some people. Also there are some really good books there. 

[Spacemanspark]

I think if any overhaul happens to the librarian, we need to root through a good chunk of books (or hell, wipe them all [with warning so people can copy their own books first]) because currently there's a ton of dumb things like Naruto fanfictions. 

Onto the actual librarian, I also think that while an overhaul may be beneficial, forcing it onto players and characters isn't the way to go about it. IE forcing a character to have a 'late turn in' where their character may not even be interested in books in the first place is a bit jarring, for example. It should ideally not breach character agency. 

[Landerlow]

I would not mind personally going through books and wiping shitty ones. You know which ones are serious and which authors put effort in it, and who do not. 

 

 

I also agree with spark. Forcing an overhaul like that, and the late fees thing .. it would be best to actually stick with the librarian role, I just want people to actually use and visit the library more often. It's really a good place to hang out, roleplay, read actual books people put effort into. It's just that a large group of players do not have the same values as a select few who utilize the library now. I think the play2win mentality, the focus on greentext, etc, eats away on RP, which is, quite frankly, disappointing. 

Fun isn't just muh greentext. In my opinion, roleplay is more valuable than anything else. But that's just me. 

Edited September 26, 2021 by Landerlow
spelling

[Landerlow]

Just going to leave this here.

 

 

Behind the door is the Adult section.

 

 

Don't remove the librarian job. Don't remove the library.

Edited September 26, 2021 by Landerlow

[Longpipe23]

Quote

11 hours ago, Spacemanspark said:

because currently there's a ton of dumb things like Naruto fanfictions. 

My personal favourite is hit romance novel, "Obama Golfs in Equestria". Really just a good light novel for the kids at home to sink their teeth into. Just a real story for all ages. A banger, if you will. Timeless classic. 

[Pokebro2000]

While the concept is interesting, I certainly wouldn't want the Library, and by extent the Librarian, changed significantly to accommodate it. The Library itself, in my opinion, is more neglected than flawed. Adding a museum or display section to the library would be a nice addition, I believe, and I would at least personally enjoy solving some riddles and ciphers in my spare time on station, regardless of the reward.

 

15 hours ago, Spacemanspark said:

I think if any overhaul happens to the librarian, we need to root through a good chunk of books (or hell, wipe them all [with warning so people can copy their own books first]) because currently there's a ton of dumb things like Naruto fanfictions. 

13 hours ago, Landerlow said:

I would not mind personally going through books and wiping shitty ones. You know which ones are serious and which authors put effort in it, and who do not. 

I've actually been working on an excel spreadsheet atm trying to document which books are good as-is, which just need a reformatting, and which should never see the light of day. Admittedly, i've given up listing bad books for a while and have started listing only books with potential, but I would be more than happy to share it at some point to help.

 

 

[destinycall]

Would be possible to add a way for bad books to be reported or flagged in game?   Someone would still need to review the flagged books to determine if they need to be removed, but it might streamline the process and allow crowd-sourced book review.

[Pokebro2000]

32 minutes ago, destinycall said:

Would be possible to add a way for bad books to be reported or flagged in game?   Someone would still need to review the flagged books to determine if they need to be removed, but it might streamline the process and allow crowd-sourced book review.

atm, there is the option to flag books, but it's meant for explicit content like WgW, rather than just poor quality. I did ask a mentor about this ages ago, I forget who.