ESP
The ESP System, an in-game way to communicate with other characters or players regardless of their location, received a substantial overhaul in July 2020, decoupling it from reliance on crystal amulets and society abilities. The primary verbs used with the system are ESP, THINK, and CHAT.
ESP System Overview
The ESP System is comprised of in-character (IC) and out-of-character (OOC) channels which players can ESP TUNE to in order to send and receive messages from other players despite being in different in-game locations. Tuning twice to a channel sets that as the default to where all un-modified THINK commands will get sent. It is also possible to THINK TO a specific character to send private communication. Another use of the system is to send one character's location, whether they are alive or dead, to another character via THINK LOCATION <character>. The targeted character will receive something similar to the following message:
You feel the presence of <Character> in your mind. [The Slaughterhouse] Cracked and peeling paint decorate the walls of the small shop, their curled ends littering the rough floor amid a layer of scattered sawdust. One long counter stretches across the room, easily dividing the shopping space from the work area. Implements of the butchering trade, such as razor strops, black iron rib cutters, and knives, dangle from black iron hooks, which stand over sanguine filled buckets. You also see a vexed mountain spirit that is flying around. Also here: <Character> Obvious exits: out
The entire system can be toggled on and off via the ESP TOGGLE command at any time, requiring no items or society abilities. It can also be used by characters under all status conditions including being dead or in roundtime. When someone is dead and THINKs on ESP, the resulting type of message occurs:
[General] The ghost of <Character> asks, "Can anyone come help me?"
All channels are global, meaning that all messages on that channel can be accessed regardless of your location, except for the Realm channel. This channel determines which local realm you are in and only shows you messages being sent from that same local realm. In other words, if you are in Wehnimer's Landing, you only hear thoughts from people who are in the Wehnimer's Landing realm and would not be able to access messages sent from Icemule Trace.
Channels
The IC channels are commonly used to support roleplaying, especially during invasions, festivals, merchant visits, or storyline events. Common IC channels include General, Realm, Society, House (CHE), individually-named Meeting Hall Organization (MHO) channels, and some custom channels. The Society and House channel will always have the same label (Society or House) regardless of which society or house the character belongs. MHO channels are individually named and accessible dependent on which MHOs you belong to, since you can belong to more than one of these at a time.
When THINKing on an IC channel, thoughts can be directed at another player (but remain public) and be flavored with SPEECH VERBIAGE and TONE. This results in the following type of messages:
[General] <Character A> thinks, "Good morning everyone." [General] Thinking tiredly to <Character A>, <Character B> groans, "Good morning."
The OOC channels are used to communicate information that would be difficult to express IC. These include OOC, Help, Merchant, and some custom channels. The CHAT verb can be used instead of THINK ON OOC and will always result in a message on the OOC channel. It is not possible to CHAT TO <character> like you can THINK TO <character>.
Custom channels can be hidden from view or public, IC or OOC, and may have password protection. Each character can currently create one custom channel.
New characters are tuned to General and Help by default.