As the divine are fond of saying, Prism tattoos are fine as because they are so easily defeated. While not disagreeing with this from a purely mechanical standpoint, I still find it incongruous that a tattoo which can be bought from Vinci by anyone with enough gold (which is practically everyone) can potentially be so disruptive. In any case, the problem, as I see it, is not so much one of how to prevent an unwanted Prism attempt as it is of its complete anonymity of use which pretty much mitigates against any deterence from its use as a form of anonymous harassment - there is zero risk to randomly attempting to Prism to someone just to see if you can and continuing to do so until you are successful.

What I am proposing is a slight alteration in how Prism works so as to partially or wholly strip this anonymity and thus make the use of a Prism tattoo less free of consequences. Basically, a multi-staged materialization process with each stage revealing more detail about the person travelling along the beam. As a practical consideration, barring a major change in how long a Prism attempt normally takes, a monolith sigil in the target room would be required to allow for sufficient time for this process to take place; otherwise, the process takes place as usual. Something like the following:

1. A beam of prismatic light suddenly shoots into the room. [As usual.]
2. The beam's colors collapses into the shimmering outline of a <RACE>. [RACE = goggle-eyed grook crouching wetly/grumpy dwarf standing grumpily/etc.]
3. Pulsing urgently, the outline quickly gains definition and detail as it solidifies into a luminous figure. [Figure can now be EXamined to see what the traveller is wearing.]
4. Colors explode outwards from the center of the luminous figure as the light coalesces into a discernible presence allowing you to make out the features of <PERSON> as s/he slowly materializes before you. [... quickly - though not instantly - followed by...]
5. [Materialization as usual.]

The longer the target waits before moving, the more likely the chance to identify the traveller. However, this is balanced by the likelihood that the target may wait too long and not have time to break the beam allowing a successful breach by the traveller. To add complexity, how long it takes to identify the traveller could be tied to a particular skill, new or not, in Vision or merely to the target's level in Vision.

None of the above prevents Prism tattoos being used as a cheap means of transport between friendlies. Organization properties won't necessarily be any safer but there is value in being able to positively identify who is attempting to breach security. In any case, it may make the use of Prism tattos more interesting and, hopefully, their abuse less common.

This would be a waste of coder time. It is already relatively easy to identify hostile prism attempts into secure locations because of things like fullsense, angel/demon presences, etc.

No.

I vote for this if you say yes to the double whip for seprents idea.

gogogorly.

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Edit: to clarify, I don't care if you guys make some amusing comments here and there and respond to those comments. But this is totally unrelated and unnecessary and simply there to be mean.

Buy a prismatic lantern (I think that's the artefact name).

??

Snicker. Misleading name maybe?

I thought there was one that worked on prisms. I guess I am mistaken.

I really don't see why you need to know who's coming down the prism. Either they tell you because they're friendly, or you assume they're not. While I don't have any major problem with the idea, it doesn't seem to be popular. I'll let it sit for a bit and see what happens, but it looks like it's not wanted even if I approved it.

No. Stop idling in your househall/subdivision/temple. Or buy a chameleon tattoo and use it.

Unnecessary to be insulting.

Hrm, no thanks. I have found that if a prism enters Fish street unannounced chances are nobody is going to move anyway. If it is a friend prisming then they should be announcing it.

Was writing something long but bottome line.
Very much no.

The idea isn't meant to negate the use of unwanted Prisms, merely to make their use a little more diverting for both parties than the current boring and uninteresting dynamic of Prism attempt/move. In any case, I believe any hostile act should incur some risk by the perpetrator even if it's a small one and due to its anonymity there is currently no inherent risk to using a Prism tattoo over and over again until successful or boredom sets in. I just find the current dynamic cheesy when there are far more interesting and exciting ways to breach an organization's security that actually requires some skill and planning.

I've only recently returned to Achaea and don't really follow the forums so I'm unsure how to gauge the response in terms of numbers but I haven't seen anyone present an argument for why this would be a bad idea for Achaea or is otherwise untenable, merely that they don't want the change for unstated reasons.

Cheers!

The solution to the cheesy dynamic is to not stand idly (or AFK) in your organisation's property. Then you'll never see a prism. Do your business there and leave. And it's not so easy to infiltrate a househall by other means unless you know where the entrance is, know the password, conveniently find a person of that house standing there idly (not likely, except the Mojushai, and they have an extra means of security for that), and have a skill that allows you to command them to say the password. It's easy to defeat, whether or not it's anonymous, and if you don't get out after the first prism attempt and find it cheesy that there're more...well, that's your own fault, and your own problem.

Achaea is already on safe mode for most people. It's retarded. Househalls that only sell items to their own members? (AK, CIJ, SW). Househalls that are enter by sending a tell, a fricken TELL, to a denizen to enter. How the hell do you carefully plan around that? If you stand around afk in your HH, then lolsucks for you. [But if you have to hangedman a novice and then prism to enter, lol-issue the person who broke in ]

Edit: Don't include the CIJ in my mini-rant, they've suffered enough in the past.

Just to clarify, nothing presented in my original post necessarily makes org properties safer - merely that the use of a Prism tattoo incurs a small risk that you will identified as the source of the Prism. This risk is counterbalanced by the target having to choose just how long it is safe for them to stick around to identify the traveler before the Prism fully materializes. Unless you start from the premise that only complete anonymity makes a Prism tattoo a viable tactic to use, I don't quite understand why it's assumed that I am trying to create safe zones. I'm not. Nothing changes except you run the risk (just the risk, not certainty) of being identified as the source of the Prism.

no to op

It's unnecessary, though, because prism's are already more or less useless if you're cautious. It's not worth coder time.

Also, if you were a sentient denizen merchant in one of the House halls of Sapience, would you sell stuff to intruders? It's easy to think of shops as vending machines because that's how they work, but in-game, that's not how they're actually supposed to work.

Well, doing this to prisming makes it creation of a safe zone. Entering cloaked on a prism is the only real way for serpents to have time after entering to do what they came to do before the entire organisation comes rolling in to kill them. I, personally, would hate it. It's bad enough they see my name when I hit totems, I don't need them seeing it before I even get there. Just move a room away and you're fine.

Personally, I like the idea. If it's an un-monolithed room it would go through as normal. If it's mono'd, it would go through the new messages. Along with giving a few extra messages in case you're doing something spammy and miss the message.

I don't see the harm in putting this in. It's annoying while I'm sitting in my househall either performing rituals, or initiations, to have to stop and wait for whomever to stop their repeated prism attempts. (If I don't just put the ritual off until a bit later) It would be nice to know who's doing it so I could do something about it and continue on with my ritual.

I've always envisioned prism tattoo working like sliding down a rainbow rather then a star trek materialisation. Nonetheless a question:

What would happen to the prismer if the attempt was interrupted past halfway through? (Less than half their.. um.. particles? are in the original standing place and majority with the target.) Would they get damaged slightly and pulled back or is it successful?

I agree.

It doesn't have to be like materialization. I don't really care if it stays the same, just do something like the OP or Keep everything the same, except give a 1st person message to the person who was targeted saying who it was.

Don't think of this like ST materialization, think of it as the exact same, except it has to force its way past the monolith, so it has to do one part at a time. If the prism attempt fails, the prism just basically vanishes and the person's "particles" just recede back to them, kind of like Lord Marshal bringing his body to his soul-thingy (from The Chronicles of Riddick)( (but in reverse).

"Pulsing urgently, the outline quickly gains definition and detail as it solidifies into a luminous figure. [Figure can now be EXamined to see what the traveller is wearing.]"

When somehow someone interrupt prisming at this phase, all your inventory (plus items weared) will fall to the ground and your naked body will pulled back from where you came. Also all body parts will be greatly damaged.

Actually, no. Just no.

Edit: Changed to no, and fixed bolded.

I admit straight up to not liking the staged messages to a prism attempt, since by the time you can recognised a person via their visage then they are probably more than half in the room and past the point of being able to prevent it. However, perhaps altering ground eye sigils or monoliths could be used?.
Instead of "A beam of prismatic lights shoots into the room."
"A beam of prismatic light imprinted with the energies/visage of <name> shoots into the room."

no

Nice idea but largely unnecessary in my opinion for reasons already mentioned.

Right. It's unnecessary, and there are plenty of other things that need to go in first. Not -every- aggressive action needs to identify who the aggressor is. If you really want to know who is prisming, then let them prism in.

I would argue that an act which forces someone to interrupt whatever they are doing and physically vacate a room for up to 15 seconds should carry some element of risk.

Regarding priority, I'm under no illusions that this is urgent and needs to be taken care of immediately. However, if the idea has merit and makes Achaea better, I hope it at least gets put on some kind of wish list and gets reexamined when resources are available and not get discarded out of hand.

Cheers!

That's just plain stupid. I can't just let someone prism into my House estate. We have them for a reason, and we can't even use them because every time someone goes into one, they get spammed with anonymous prism attempts. I've only had one time where I wasn't hit with any less than 5 prism attempts while in my House estate, and I go in there all the time.

And what if I do let them prismer in and they manage to kill me? Not only have I let an enemy into my estate, they now have access to any denizens that may be within the few rooms they have access to.

It got so bad at one point, I had to go learn from Tyrandiel because I couldn't learn from my House tutor. It's just plain sad that we can't use our House tutors.

Edit: And I'm with Daare, this could go at the bottom of the list (if it makes it there) and have the lowest priority possible, but it would allow people to actually utilize places like their House estate without being scared of being spammed with multiple prism attempts (if it ever went in). They can let it go through enough to see who it is, and then move and confront them.

I truly lament the fact that Househalls are so under-used, particularly with the (recent?) increase of raiders prisming to people in the Househalls hoping to catch them off-guard or by some stroke of luck (for them), dc/ed or lagging. So much time and effort has been put into the creation of Househalls and the various things that make it special (hidden entrances, special items/denizens that have various reactions) that it's really a genuine shame, in my opinion, that we encourage House members to get in and get out as soon as possible because of the fear of prisms and raiders breaking and entering.

I don't think the idea suggested is quite the fix to the problem, however..if it's a friendly prism, it would be announced, and generally people know no prisms of any sort are allowed in or out of the Househall either way. I'm sure if you saw a prism to you in the Househall you wouldn't stick around to see who it was or what race they are, you'd just get out of there as quickly as possible and ask who later when you're out safe. Once a prism attempt is announced, the Guard would start checking for enemies and be on high alert anyway. Generally, it's quite easy to identify the likely prismers because it's usually the same people, or at the very least people who are potentially hostile to your organisation.

Frankly the problem of underused Househalls has been discussed for a long while now, and I'm not sure if there really even can be a solution to it - people are going to keep wanting to break into Househalls for RP goals, personal goals and such. I recognize that it is indeed a valid form of roleplay, and can have very interesting consequences. I simply regret that because of this particular form of RP, others are necessarily stifled (in-House rituals and games, reading in the House library, etc). I know they're not impossible to do, but nobody wants to put their Househall (which is supposed to be sacred to the character) at that kind of risk.

I would not mind in the slightest if House halls were impenetrable to prisms. The RP of breaking into a House hall and killing lots of stuff is...RP? Mostly that sounds like "I'm bored. You know what would be cool? Breaking into an enemy House hall! I bet I could do it, too." Seriously, the House hall isn't at all sacred to any of my character who've been part of a House. You're constantly on edge when in one, because you're afraid of an incoming prism. If a House were instead a place that's totally safe once you're inside, I'd probably get attached much more easily. I'd pop into one just to read help scrolls/library books or write bardics and I would be much more relaxed when taking lessons from the house tutor.

No location in Achaea should be 'totally safe.'

Nirvana/Inferno/Isolation(sort of)/Temples(sometimes) what?

I didn't say that there aren't places that are totally safe. I said that they should not exist.

Why not?

Oh, right. I disagree with that though.

Because anything that is 'totally safe' will be abused to hell, back and Pluto.

I really just want Inferno/Nirvana to be off-plane like Isolation.

Okay, I meant effectively safe. There are still ways to get into a House hall if you're unwanted that don't involve prisming. Besides, what're you going to do hiding in House hall? There's hardly anything to bash and they're all on your side anyway, there's nothing to do after a few hours. There already is a totally safe place in Achaea. It's wherever your character goes when you log off. Hiding in a House hall would be about as good as being logged off, except you can talk to people, read news, and check messages.

Just as an aside, I'd probably use the HH a bit more if it was effectively safe, although by no means would I turtle up in there. It just seems pointless. If someone wants to hole up in a House Hall, let them, because there's not a whole lot you can do just in there (EDIT: for an extended period of time).

I've often thought myself it's a shame househalls can't be implemented more into RP for fear of prism and portalling attempts.

They should NOT be totally safe, but there are other ways to enter an enemy estate without prisming in. One possible solution is to put them effectively offplane to the point of how ships are offplane, but still have access to CT and HT.

I don't see the potential for abuse here.

The CIJ just has theirs in a separate area (not Delos). Still ways to get in, but it gets used more than most HHs do.

We should all listen to this guy by virtue of his awesome avatar.

Green + Blue =/= Red.

lol wat

I've always felt as if Househalls should have a higher degree of Safety than public areas. I do not, however, feel as if the OP effectively improves the current situation.

I honestly don't think prisms should be able to enter Househalls at all. They should be places where house members can go to train without having to run to Tyrandiel because of a prism attempt, or sit in a bar/willpower room/training room/etc. and take care of business without fear. I don't mind, and in-fact, encourage other ways of entering house halls, like tracking, forcing someone to say a password, following in, etc. I also don't think that House halls should be used for idling, but what negative repercussions does idling in a Househall have? What benefits does it have?

Everyone shouldn't have the ability to break into private areas. That should be left mostly to serpents, as it's their shtick.

I propose that prisms shouldn't work in househalls, and that all househalls must have a forceable way to enter.