Not sure how easy this would be to code, but it would be great for monitors.
By allowing a nickname option - and you could do it so only people with the appropriate skill could nickname - it makes for a cleaner, easier to navigate interface.
Doesn't become meta because the people nicknaming it would know exactly where the feed leads, which allows people who stumble across them to then be able to say they know where they are without fear of gaming the system.
(Sorry 4 double post)
it would make them easier to use, after all that outlay has been committed.
I'm not seeing this idea stimulating more investment in nets.
For example a person can install a surveillance device in "Apartment 123" and it is totally okay for them to know that they are looking at "Apartment 123". But ANYONE ELSE who looks at the feed has no idea what apartment they are looking at.
With the way the system is currently set up, the location that the device is installed and is displayed whenever someone looks at it.
For example a person can install a surveillance device in "Apartment 123" and it is totally okay for them to know that they are looking at "Apartment 123". But ANYONE ELSE who looks at the feed has no idea what apartment they are looking at.
If that's the idea being presented, the reasoning makes zero sense to me. You could just as easily argue that all room names be done away with because you can't know which room/street you're on inherently.
It's totally reasonable that a camera feed would include a location label. If the argument these can be changed or amended for secrecy or whatever other reasons, and by default the location is shown, then sure, but removing all location labels from feeds is just needlessly obtuse and is a solution for a problem that doesn't exist.
However, seeing the title of a room you're actually IN is a very different thing than knowing where a camera is pointing because of - I mean, how does the camera "know" what room it's in?
If you recognize the room because you're familiar with it, great. If you're looking at someone's setup, and there are rooms you've never seen being monitored, it's a recipe for meta.
Plus that's not the only reason this @idea was proposed. Nicknaming feeds makes them easier to use, too - if it has been done.
I agree! I was under the impression there was a limit on how many feeds a network could handle at one time (but could've been wrong), but heard different a while back.
I think a way to curb huge, sprawling and expansive networks to a point would be to either limit the number of feeds the right output source could handle. Or the specific device in game that makes all the magic come together could have tiers based on the person's skill. Lower skill could handle smaller amounts, the higher you rise the more you can handle. Woven into those could be a skill factor in play of if the skill doesn't match up the device could risk becoming overloaded and frying or shorting out.
The reason why I support this idea isn't for huge sprawling networks but even small ones can be strange to look at when you're dealing with the inbetween device. Give someone five locations that all read 'viewing machine', for example, and it might be frustrating. Allowing someone to name those five locations, "Viewing machine - inside the ice cream truck" "Viewing machine - arch-nemesis' pad" adds a little flavor, adds function that isn't meta (could also label the title on the viewing machine's feed itself too) and just makes the interface easier to use.
And yes, there is a command for aliases in game, but honestly in two years playing someone who did the skill I could never figure out the function at all. Which in all truth I could've just been too stupid to figure out as a player. I can be pretty literal and dense at times.
There are large surveillance networks that are not going anywhere, so any restriction would just be on new networks and create a situation where some players have an advantage over others just because they built them before X date or for Y purpose.
Anything that makes them easier to manage would be great.
Being able to alias a device and not have to refer to it via list position would be wonderful.
As it is....
scan 18th blah to 4th blah is a recipe for misconfiguration.
