Have we considered using OOC accounts?

I did a password recovery the other day and, lmao, I got over 30 passwords recovered to my email because of all the characters I've had. It got me thinking -- if those characters were active, my account switcher might reach a limit, or the list itself would just be soooo long and ridiculous.

Has there been any discussion about having Player accounts, with character accounts as secondary? So like, my account would be Java and it would show up on the online list, and when I go to post there'd be a drop-down menu of attached accounts which I could post with, or something?

I feel like it'd be beneficial for people with lots of characters, like me. Or maybe my player account wouldn't show up in the online list and be organizational only - I dunno how to explain this. Time for a crude diagram!

Java (Player account) -> Tryphon (main), Njal, Eigma, Tavi, Radova, Snitch

- Show up as Java around the site (to myself).
- Maybe posts in OOC areas show up with the player name?
- Show up as Tryphon (or whichever account I set as my main) to everyone else / on the online list.
- Have the ability to switch the author of posts in IC areas with a drop-down menu.


Does anyone else think this would be possible, or even beneficial? Am I just overthinking because I just woke up. lmao.

I think that player accounts were previously discussed and decided against at the time.

If you had a player account though, wouldn't it just add to the list of accounts and not help this particular problem? Unless they would no longer be accounts and only the main account would be, but if you want profiles I don't think you can have the characters be non-accounts, if that makes sense?

I thought the idea of player accounts was a good one when it first came out, but when I first used them somewhere I didn't like them much. A lack of wolf-y avatars and sparkly-coloured pack titles, maybe? I'm not sure. So I'm not much for the idea of player accounts.

Well hrm. I'm thinking of http://relic-lore.net/ and the system they have set up. In OOC areas, the Player account becomes "active" and when in IC areas, the character account is "active". You can look at your character's profile and edit it all pretty, and the IC area has all the avatars and stuff.

God no lol. I can't speak for the other admins but I personally cannot stand the separation of IC and OOC accounts. I find it more difficult to keep track of people and their characters. I think having an OOC name displayed beneath the avatar and linked accounts is sufficient and preferable. On that note, I actually don't bother to link to accounts that are not active.

I'm not sure how Relic Lore does it, but I believe it's custom development. When I first created Wolf, I looked for a plugin that would do something similar to what you're describing, and the account switcher was the closest that I could find. I also don't know how exactly theirs works/it's been a long time since I had an active account there, but I'm pretty sure you still register for each individual character...?

I don't believe RL shares their code at all (which is fine!), so the developers here would need to write something custom to create similar functionality. Not to mention the migration of existing IC accounts to become "sub"-accounts of the new OOC accounts would be a lot of work. :x

tl;dr: I don't think it's worth it at all when the system we currently have is fine! Similar to Chels, I drop characters from my list that are no longer active in the game.

That's Kris, I'm Chels! :P

My reason for not liking OOC / IC accounts revolves around player privacy. OOC accounts make true anonymity difficult if not impossible, and requires creation of a fake alias and/or multiple OOC accounts in the event someone wants to play a character anonymously, or doesn't have an OOC name and would prefer to go by their character name. I am wholly against anything that removes or reduces a player's right to hide their OOC name or alias or not have one at all. I don't have my OOC name on my accounts, not because I'm really trying to be anonymous but because imho who plays a character shouldn't matter and I don't mind being called by my character's names. I realize it does matter to some people but I am very opposed to forcing that mentality on those who don't share it. It is my firm belief that people can, and should, keep their OOC name / alias / which characters they play to themselves as they wish... and requiring an OOC account makes that more challenging.

I also just can't be bothered to have to care about which account I'm on in order to post OOC or IC. I just want to post OOC from whatever account I'm on, which is typically my admin account.

You make good points! I was mostly curious if it had been discussed, so thanks for the responses. :)

DERP. I'm sorry, I was totally skimming names and got myself confused. @Ferahgo @Farstep

<3 <3

YOU BETTER BE SORRY..

no jk <3

Lol I actually thought of this when first looking into my own RPGs.  I've always thought it would be super sweet to have a main ooc account and a drop down with character names when posting.  So if you are in if forums, you are still posting from the same ooc account, but it appears as if it is an ic account

i was still thinking of possibly looking into it! I wouldn't do anything obvs without discussing with other admins, but if there was a way to do it and still allow anonymity, it would be a neat concept and a fun challenge.  (I've never personally felt much of a point to anonymous accounts but know others really appreciate that ability to separate <3.

the ooc account could even be optional, easily replaced by character main.  Idk tl:dr it's a neat idea and would be nice to streamline the account ability if possible in the future.  I'll brainstorm :)