CoPaP

Convenient listing of hakpack links
If worlds are using different/extra hackpacks, it might be better to set up the downloads page as an up-to-date consolidated listing of links for the hakpacks used by different worlds so that CoPaP players don't have to search through several different sites to find the hakpacks.

Or make it purposefully inconvenient
Though by not having a consolidated hakpack page, it would force players to go and visit the different sites in order to visit that world if they have a special hakpack need. However it could cause problems mid-game when a player tries to go through some inter-world portal/link and finds that they can't get in because they don't have the hakpack. That would ruin the gameplay experience and cause an interruption in what we'd want to be a more seamless experience.

Any thoughts on this?

Personally, I would rather see a consolidated listing. I feel it would be discouraging and aggravating to run into technical difficulties because I didn't have a hakpak (that I probably didn't know I needed.) This is supposed to be fun, so I tend to favor the easier way that offers the greater amount of time for enjoyment.

You do make a good point though. I would encourage PCs to visit the sites/boards of every world they play on. Players gain useful knowledge from doing this that allows them to RP better. IC topics are a great place to post stories that become part of local gossip etc. and encourages interaction among players. Perhaps there is another way to encourage players to do this...maybe DM quest events you are required to sign up for on the forum? *shrug*

I think there should be a consolidated LISTING of the the required paks, yes, but not necessarily a consolidated set of links.

I can see arguements being made either way, but since this is the CoPap site, I would say a consolidated set of links is the way to go. Make it easier on players in general.

While not doing so might seem like a nice idea to get people to read the other world's site, experience tells me people are lazy and you're attempting to encourage them to move about a bit isn't going to be taken well.

Amongst the Avlis player base, there is definately a portion that don't read the forums, don't post, don't become involved, and so forth. The only time they show up on the boards is to get their character restored, or some such thing.

You can't eliminate that aspect, there's always going to be a portion of the player base that doesn't want to get involved more than they have to be drug kicking and screaming into. The rest of the player base shouldn't be penalized for it.

Another thing that crops up, is some people don't want to read the forums/website until they've visited the world at least once IC. That way they can form their opinion and then go for all the OOC information after their opinion is formed.

Including the link to the world site along with the hak listing is going to be the easiest/nicest way to give people the option of going to the world, or simply diving straight in.

Edit: Reading Orl's response below, I would also like to offer up the thought that just because there's a single page listing the haks needed, doesn't mean that ALL the haks should maintained by one server/world. It's not really fair for the one world maintaining the haks on their server to have upwards of 6 or more worlds storing their haks and generating all that additional bandwidth usage.

A consolidated set of links to the files, with the files being hosted by each individaul world would be the best I think. Less chance of a server going down, and breaking ALL the worlds for somebody new that needs to get the haks.

One factor in putting everything in one place is that our Avlis ftp server SUCKS right now. There's reasons for that, and the Avlis Team is working on them... hopefully it won't suck forever. But in the meantime, if any of you are wishing for this consolidation to be a reality, you'll have to take up the stick on it yourselves and make us an ftp site. I'm speaking to the other world leaders mainly.

All we need is a consolidated list of LINKS TO the hakpaks that all the
active worlds are using.

HAK NAME (world list)

example: VelsMines.hak (Avlis, Travellers, etc)

Just my 2 cents

-Themicles

Yeah just the links themselves. I think some of you are doing this already - the actual files could be put on NWVault and just a link to the download URL on the vault for them be placed - this is what the vault is there for. No need for servers to have to take up their own bandwidth to host the hakpacks that everyone needs.

Also next to the links should say when they were last updated or version number, making it easier for players to know if they need to download a new version of the hakpack.

Hey Manuel, think you can whip this up sometime?

Yes, I agree with Themicles, thats a good way to go, a consolidated page of links to various places to dl the haks for different servers.

I'm going to be keeping my hak packs minimal personally, preferrably under 15mb and hopefully under 10mb, I'll probably try to use duplicate hak packs that other worlds are using, its alot easier on other users that way and I would suggest other builders at least look into that as well, a good placeables hak could be used by most everyone, and it would only be one dl for a user.

And I agree the vault is probably the way to go for linking, the bandwidth is pretty good, and it beats sucking up server bandwidth, I'm only running 512kbps upstream, and alot of high speed connections have alot lower upstream rate than downstream so serving out of an ftp can cause lag on the servers.

We should probably do a list through the copap site with links to individual world sites and a list of their associated hak packs. Basically the Copap site could be the one stop spot to shop for what you need to find for Copap worlds.

HerMyT

I will have a look at putting something like this together asap.