So I had this idea a couple weeks back, and thought I'd toss it out there for fun.



Or something like that.
Basically the inkpot would work to put journals, manuscripts, and scrolls in different colours, working with the CONFIG COLOUR codes, sort of like:

WRITE JOURNAL PAGE 1 COLOUR 5

And whatever you write in the editor on page one under that command would be in that colour.

I'm not sure, with the editor, how that would work or if its coding would even be possible, but it's a neat idea nonetheless.

Yeah, sure, okay, why not?

It doesn't seem like it would really add much... In fact that might be incredibly annoying if you're the reader of something written with this. And what of manuscripts? Those are generally publicly editable - what happens to the colour if someone with the inkpot writes in color, and someone without it edits it? It might make more sense if you could change colours on a character-by-character basis, but that would be even more annoying, and brings up its own set of issues about writing in colour.

The intent here is good, I just don't think it's a good idea.

This.

It's insignificant, but sort of nifty. I would not be opposed. Maybe make it work only on personal journals though.

Also, it might be a better idea to have it just set the colour of the page rather than setting the colour when you write. That would solve the problem of what happens when you write on a coloured page without the inkpot with you or even when others write on a manuscript page. This probably seems a bit odd from an IC point of view, but it would be an artefact, so having it change the colour of text rather than offer the ability to actually write it in that colour the first time seems fine.

Basically, I'm suggesting that rather WRITE JOURNAL PAGE 1 COLOUR 5 you write as normal and just have some command more like COLOUR JOURNAL PAGE 1 COLOUR 5.

I think I would find it more annoying than anything else.

The only use I could possibly see for this is if it was added to the editor as a command, and instead of "write journal page 1 colour 5" you could use "*colour 5" (while in the editor) to make it easier to make things stand out in a help file.
That's all I really have to add.

Edit: This would make it a command people that could edit help files could use, not an artie.

I like this idea. I wouldn't buy the artefact myself, but I'd like letters and journals written with it and think they were cool.

But, because people use colours so much for their own purposes in combat, it's reasonable to expect that it would also annoy lots of people. So, I think such an option should only be implemented if the coders were also willing to implement some config option to turn journal/letter colours on/off, so you wouldn't have to see the colours if you didn't want to.

(I used to play a MUD where you could even put coloured text in your craft descriptions - jewellery and clothes and the like - and also in your own personal description. Some people over-used it and it got out of hand, but then I just didn't buy their clothes or jewellery, or look at them. Problem solved. I liked all the pretty colours. It's silly, but I felt it added to my enjoyment of the aesthetic and craft features of the game. This suggestion is a smaller one, but I like it for similar reasons.)

I prefer Jonathin's way ("*colour 5" in the editor) as I'd actually be more likely to use this to highlight certain things, maybe just the title of the page, commands in newbie scrolls (as they're a different colour in the trial, too) or key points, rather than change the colour of the whole of the page.

I'd also prefer this to be something everyone can do, not just an artefact, although the artefact is very pretty!

Wow, I like the idea of that just being a straight command too. There'd have to be some buffer against people running around and making everything WTF-RAINBOW, but the idea originated from, as Laiila said, as a way to highlight and make things pop more to the reader.


Though if it were to be an artefact, probably for personal journals only would be the best way to buff away confusion on who can colour and who can't. I can see the reasoning behind why it shouldn't be, though.

This. Help files are sometimes a wall of text that just get more annoying to read and decipher. Colours would help, especially if I'm just looking for a particular subsection of a lengthy file.

The problem is when people begin coloring every subsection of a lengthy file. Then wall-o-text becomes wall-o-rainbow-text. Same problem, just more annoying. This is a neat idea, but I guarantee if it's implemented it gets abused.

Most people in a position to edit help files are smarter/more mature than that.
I like the idea.

I like this alot!

I'm on board with the idea, especially with help files and the such.

+1 Bandwagon

NO

Not everyone has the same colours.

I'm really not sure I understand the above argument. Are you saying your color settings for 'say' and ct and things aren't the same as those of other people? If so, that won't matter, because they're referring to the colors by number. Are you saying your color #8 isn't the same as everyone else's color #8? None of the above?

Everyone uses the same numbers for colours within Achaea - see the bottom of CONFIG COLOUR.
It's different client side, but this is irrelevant.

The second. I believe. I can understand this because 2 can be barely readable in nexus, but impossible to read in gmud or whoever uses it.

So how about make the idea only for colours uh I think it's 9-15... the bright ones.

I am in support of this for journals, manuscripts, letters, and tentatively for help files. As opposed to an all-encompassing *colour command, I would suggest some sort of colour tag that is interpreted by the editor into ANSI colour codes.