I'd like to request a Flag for allowing in game Messages to also send notifications to the user's email address.
Assuming the simplest implementation (i.e. only sending notifications and not accepting/handling Email replies), Email details would be something like:
Email Subject example: Terris Message From CharacterX To CharacterY.
Email Body would contain: the message text and gold/item details, etc.
This allows for/allows us to:
more easily communicate with other players
respond and address communications quicker (if we choose)
stay IC (no need to hand out OOC info for communication)
awareness of communications to not-often-played and not-recently-played characters
I do know that we have been looking at a way to incorporate messages into either email notifications or the ability to login to the website in some fashion and manage them from there. It wasn't one of our "top" things...but we did have it on our list; so there is no harm in us reviewing it again.
Note: One reason we were hesitant is that AOL historically dislikes random domains if they believe it is spam (this happened a few times and they blocked us and we had to re-contact them). So if people spam your in-game messages it can cause issues. Just something that did come up in our past conversations also.
Thanks Silk. That makes sense. A suggestion: If we believe that the possibility for abuse is a concern, I'm thinking you could add a timeout or maybe a message-per-time-period limit (e.g. no more than 1 message per 2 minutes)
And - addressing Sabine's reply in this thread - I would like to make an additional related suggestion: A Guild Master/Mistress/Officer-only command such as GMESSAGEMEMBERS that will allow guild officers to simultaneously send emails to all members of their respective guilds. In this instance, the Email Subject would be something like Terris[GuildName] Message From <CharacterX> To <CharacterY> (e.g. Terris[Monks' Guild] Message From Kylu To Adonojah). A format like this is just for easy identification/labeling/filtering/sorting/etc.
You could then implement something identical for temples.
Well between GMs and members we currently have GMotD which is viewed every time a member logs in, as well as Gnotices, which members can check. The GM can always put a notice to "check our message boards" or "read your gnotices for more details"
I'd be inclined to believe the players that aren't willing to go through the effort to read those things would probably be bothered by also getting notifications in their e-mails from their GMs. Though I could be wrong. I think it's a good idea in theory, but a bit redundant, as a GM, I would then have to include new information on GNOTICES, GMotD, the message boards, AND an e-mail message. As it is, any time I forget any one of those places, I am told by members "oh, I only look at ::this medium:: not ::that medium::
I understand the role of a GM very well, and I know our role is to help facilitate a welcoming environment for our guild members to play the game in, but I'm not a fan of creating ANOTHER loop to jump through. At this point, I feel a bit like that's leading the horse to the stream, then shoving his face into the water to drink. I'm happy leading the horse to the stream, but if they don't want to drink, that's on them.
That's my opinion on a mass email from GM/GO to members though. The ability to shoot an e-mail via the game I still like though.
Can't the boards function as GM to members? People that want to be mailed can be subscribed to the board in question. Could always create a sub-forum for GM messages if a guild feels that's necessary.