IN-game voting.

[NegInfinity]

It would be nice if there was a mechanism for in-game voting on various features/etc.

It could be implemented as a full-blown npc with voting system done via dialogues, or just an npc that hands out "voting tokens" to cdkeys known on the server and then those are used on actual voting site.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

Would just need a UI dialogue tethered to SQL, nothing more, but this is more an OOC feature than an IC one.

[Young Werther]

It would be interesting and more informative than polls here I imagine. As long as it's not a pop-up of any kind I'd be fine. Only issue I see is that it could make people feel bad for being in a minority of an important topic to them. Oh, and who is calling the votes and how is another issue. But it wouldn't replace our philosopher king Maecius and council of elders (QC,DM's) would it?

EDIT: Oh, and also it probably wouldn't dissuade a common, but maybe not here, online mentality of being a troll with anonymous voting... and I have multiple CD keys fyi.

[NegInfinity]

Would just need a UI dialogue tethered to SQL,

That might not be the best option, due to nature of the server software. Either way, it requires testing.

but this is more an OOC feature than an IC one.

I think it is a very important OOC feature, because I think that only a minority visits "suggestions" subforum, BUT polls in the subforums are routinely used to shutdown someone's propositions or arguments, even though they do not really represent opinion of majority.

[Eclypticon]

I don't think we can pull this off before the 25th guys. We would need to test it first. Several very important things use the SQL database already, and I am afraid of issues popping up. The way we tie into the system also has me concerned, so, I would need some reassurances.

I'm not against IG voting (we could use this for other future things too), but it would have to be tied to CD keys to avoid cheating. My opinion on the RCR has not changed though. I am for a minor compromise (under specific conditions) rather than keeping the 100% all the time. I feel like I need to make this clear (see my post history).

[NegInfinity]

I don't think we can pull this off before the 25th guys. We would need to test it first. Several very important things use the SQL database already, and I am afraid of issues popping up. The way we tie into the system also has me concerned, so, I would need some reassurances.

I'm not against IG voting (we could use this for other future things too), but it would have to be tied to CD keys to avoid cheating. My opinion on the RCR has not changed though. I am for a minor compromise (under specific conditions) rather than keeping the 100% all the time. I feel like I need to make this clear (see my post history).

I don't expect anyone to pull this off before 25th (although it could be done), but I think this mechanism is needed anyway. I wanted to suggest this a long time ago.

The problem with SQL I see that if database query establishes a new connection this might create a tiny hiccup. And because the server is single threaded, you might not want any hiccups to happen. Then again, if something already uses that without much trouble and it is only one voting npc, it could probably work just fine.

And yes, it should definitely be tied to cdkeys.

[Akroma666]

+1
Since I make majority the polls, I could submit them to QC.
Specially if I get promoted to ADM if not I will be applying for QC.

[Eclypticon]

. . .

The problem with SQL I see that if database query establishes a new connection this might create a tiny hiccup. And because the server is single threaded, you might not want any hiccups to happen. Then again, if something already uses that without much trouble and it is only one voting npc, it could probably work just fine.

And yes, it should definitely be tied to cdkeys.

I could be wrong, but SQL does not necessarily have to operate on the same thread or even the same server for that matter. NWN2 being on a single thread, may be a problem, but a delay function might remedy that, right?

[NegInfinity]

. . .

The problem with SQL I see that if database query establishes a new connection this might create a tiny hiccup. And because the server is single threaded, you might not want any hiccups to happen. Then again, if something already uses that without much trouble and it is only one voting npc, it could probably work just fine.

And yes, it should definitely be tied to cdkeys.

I could be wrong, but SQL does not necessarily have to operate on the same thread or even the same server for that matter. NWN2 being on a single thread, may be a problem, but a delay function might remedy that, right?

It is simply something that requires testing. If you already have sql-based queries, it'll be probably fine.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

It connects to a listening port on the same machine when nwserver starts up. Using delay insert is a one directional send of the information without nwserver waiting on a response. There's a number of features in BGTSCC that rely on SQL now.

[chad878262]

and I have multiple CD keys fyi.

This is what I see as the issue... Just like many players have multiple forum logins, there are players with multiple CD keys. What's the point of creating an in game mechanic, at the cost of development man hours if the same issue that exists with forum voting also would occur with in game voting? Unless there is some way to ensure each individual is only voting once you have an exploitable mechanic whereby a small portion can make it LOOK like they are in the majority.

[Eclypticon]

. . .there are players with multiple CD keys. . .

They are a minority and would likely not effect the outcome of a vote that had high participation rates. If this is a major concern, I suggest adding another qualifier such as IP address too. Most people do not have the means to bypass this consistently. So, what if they spoof their IP address during the vote, what then? We can cross reference some logs and catch them, then pull the vote which was likely an insignificant outlier in the first place. I sincerely doubt there are many people using separate CD keys on different IPs every time.

[Young Werther]

**REMOVED**

You can add a minimum character level to vote to stop multi-key abuse too.

[Eclypticon]

Please don't troll this thread. The staff is not stupid. We will figure something out. Thanks for your input anyways.

[Young Werther]

*shuts mouth*