Goonhub
06-27-2024, 12:12 AM
I had a bit of a think about your post. At first I was just going to cover one example of how this would make it harder to be disguised from less-observant (or busier) people if you happened to have a way to disguise yourself for antagonistic purposes but didn't have an ID. But what you wrote has been bugging me because there seems to be two different things going on, Radio-based communication and face to face.
For radio, you've currently got the Headset-based departmental indicator, "CE" for Chief Engineer for example, or "Sec" for Sec. They're colour coded. They can of course be spoofed by obtaining a spare (or having an ability or item that let you spoof it) but I feel comfortable saying this is entirely by design and part of the game by choice rather than accidental inconvenience. For the most part though, who is speaking is apparent and if not, there's a deliberate reason for this.
In person, you can tell who is speaking both by the "I'm typing something" speech bubble and then the floating text. In person, you've got the method you've mentioned, ALT + Click, but you also have the basic visual cues of uniform. Sometimes they might not be wearing it, sometimes the uniform they're wearing might not be theirs, but at least you can see exactly who is saying something to you.
So when you said "...needing to examine people to tell who im even talking to" especially when you follow it with "In terms of rank" suggests this isn't about being confused as to who is speaking, but more confused as whether someone is speaking with appropriate authority. Correct me if I'm wrong there as what I'm about to say only really applies to that rather than getting confused as to who is saying something, the former is something that'll catch out players who have been playing for years not just new players, and I would argue entirely intentional. The latter is more about making sure basic visual information is clear to new players and the previously mentioned visual cues hopefully do that, but I'm definitely not against exploring that issue.
Socially engineering a situation to make it tricky for you to tell they're not actually supposed to be somewhere, or are giving you an order as a captain when they're not by just making it confusing enough for other players to tell is badass. I've had it done to me, I've done it to other players. One of my top 5 rounds involves being completely -hoodwinked- by a salvager who kicked off their mining suit, threw on a staff assistant outfit, and quietly waited outside security until their fellow salvagers attacked. They patiently waited and as security was trying to withdraw, used the confusion of the situation to convince the captain to open the door for them to access the lobby. They snuck in and absolutely looted the hell out of the back area while we "Dealt with the real problem"
This guy had the salvager backpack on, and no ID, but by just a little clever social engineering and timing they exploited a chaotic situation to make bank. If a quick ALT + hover showed (No ID) that turns a captain's split-second decision to pause and check their manifest, or perhaps examine a little more closely why that person had such a strange backpack less expensive and more routine. I do not like that, and I was that fool of a Captain. I'm not exactly Mr Pro SS13 Gamer, but I'm hardly new at this point, but they got me good, and I wouldn't want to discourage that entirely on the basis of convenience, which I think this suggestion is instead of accessibility.
So, I love QoL stuff, I don't like this particular suggestion personally. I hope all this covers why.
For radio, you've currently got the Headset-based departmental indicator, "CE" for Chief Engineer for example, or "Sec" for Sec. They're colour coded. They can of course be spoofed by obtaining a spare (or having an ability or item that let you spoof it) but I feel comfortable saying this is entirely by design and part of the game by choice rather than accidental inconvenience. For the most part though, who is speaking is apparent and if not, there's a deliberate reason for this.
In person, you can tell who is speaking both by the "I'm typing something" speech bubble and then the floating text. In person, you've got the method you've mentioned, ALT + Click, but you also have the basic visual cues of uniform. Sometimes they might not be wearing it, sometimes the uniform they're wearing might not be theirs, but at least you can see exactly who is saying something to you.
So when you said "...needing to examine people to tell who im even talking to" especially when you follow it with "In terms of rank" suggests this isn't about being confused as to who is speaking, but more confused as whether someone is speaking with appropriate authority. Correct me if I'm wrong there as what I'm about to say only really applies to that rather than getting confused as to who is saying something, the former is something that'll catch out players who have been playing for years not just new players, and I would argue entirely intentional. The latter is more about making sure basic visual information is clear to new players and the previously mentioned visual cues hopefully do that, but I'm definitely not against exploring that issue.
Socially engineering a situation to make it tricky for you to tell they're not actually supposed to be somewhere, or are giving you an order as a captain when they're not by just making it confusing enough for other players to tell is badass. I've had it done to me, I've done it to other players. One of my top 5 rounds involves being completely -hoodwinked- by a salvager who kicked off their mining suit, threw on a staff assistant outfit, and quietly waited outside security until their fellow salvagers attacked. They patiently waited and as security was trying to withdraw, used the confusion of the situation to convince the captain to open the door for them to access the lobby. They snuck in and absolutely looted the hell out of the back area while we "Dealt with the real problem"
This guy had the salvager backpack on, and no ID, but by just a little clever social engineering and timing they exploited a chaotic situation to make bank. If a quick ALT + hover showed (No ID) that turns a captain's split-second decision to pause and check their manifest, or perhaps examine a little more closely why that person had such a strange backpack less expensive and more routine. I do not like that, and I was that fool of a Captain. I'm not exactly Mr Pro SS13 Gamer, but I'm hardly new at this point, but they got me good, and I wouldn't want to discourage that entirely on the basis of convenience, which I think this suggestion is instead of accessibility.
So, I love QoL stuff, I don't like this particular suggestion personally. I hope all this covers why.