Forums » Suggestions & Development Discussion » Showing names in the chat

Y'know, this has to have been discussed before (I'd know, I'm the one who discussed it first, if my one and only accolade has anything to say), but would it be possible to implement a dA-like system to show usernames (and character names, perchance) in a little sidebar in the ForumChat? I sometimes get frustrated if I'm waiting for someone in a thread, then I see the count of active users says "*insert number above 1 here* people are in the chat"......but it turns out it's not the person I was hoping for. The idea I'm getting is that it could use a user's login cookie to see who's connecting, then once it identifies this user it can display the name. If said user has chosen to be invisible (like Sanne usually is), then they can have their privacy upheld and the system won't display his/her name in the sidebar.

I like the sense of adventure from not knowing who exactly is in chat! Always fun to me to guess.

I wouldn't mind, but as a mobile device user I'm hesitant about a sidebar. It'll clutter the small window really fast and possibly add additional stress to low-memory devices. Maybe allow to toggle the online user list and/or display it in an additional window when clicked on "x users online"?

Oooh, I like the sound of both ideas (the name list itself and the toggle). I've had similar frustrations in another chat elsewhere, although fortunately they've been very small frustrations (more like a tiny disappointment). To be able to see a list of people in chat and to toggle it if it clutters up even a laptop like mine would be awesome (plus, I'm always up for helping out the mobile folks, even if I don't use the RPR on any mobile devices myself!)

This idea has been brought up many many times, and as always, the answer is flatly no. The issue is anonymous characters. If you forget to set yourself as invisible before joining a RP chat, your anonymous character is immediately not anonymous anymore. The potential for mistakes here is astronomically high, and my #1 concern is protecting people's privacy. I realize that this creates some minor inconveniences on the other side of the fence, but it's one of those trade offs.

I completely forgot about this! But that's a super solid reason not to implement it, for sure.

And now's about the time I start feeling like a jerk for opening the old can of worms back up.

It doesn't hurt to do a quick search for similar suggestions, but it's inevitable that people suggest the same things repeatedly over a longer period of time. Don't feel bad about it! Suggestions are always welcome, even if they're not going to be implemented for one reason or another.