Diabolical wrote:
As a programmer, I can tell you that implementing a name-changing feature or picture-changing feature is horribly complex in a server/client situation. The database that tracks statistics and order of objects would be broken with bad links to non-existent default names and whatnot.Just the idea of trying to implement something like this would be daunting, but the users would find it confusing too. After all, when playing as a European nation in the World Map, and the News Reports indicate that an Atomic Bomber has been constructed in your neighbor's nation which he's just renamed "Voodoo Land", trying to figure out which nation and where that potentially devastating unit could be located becomes untenable.
That being said, having the ability to pre-edit names and game objects for a match would be interesting and more doable than on-the-fly editing, but that really falls under the pirvue of a modding system which -- as far as I know -- the developers at Bytro are not included to permit.
Believe me, I would love to get a hold of the source code and start "tweaking" it for fun. Who wants to see a modern day version of the game? ...Or a what-if scenario where Hitler never rose to power or the South won the Civil War or the Inca were never wiped out and are now the most dominate nation on earth? Or, who wouldn't want to see a futuristic mod of the game where aliens have landed and devastated humanity in an apocalyptic post-war era where humanity scrounges for the scraps of their alien overlords while secretly plotting a massive planet-wide rebellion?
The point is, that making those kinds of changes is very hard in an MMORPG on a dynamic basis. But, if you REALLY want to see the changes like what you are requesting, you should instead request of Bytro to release the source code (or an interface to protect their copyrights) which would allow the modding community to take this game to the next level...and the next...and the next...ad infinitum.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. If there are misspellings, and you aren't sure whether they are considered indigenously accurate, there is a section of the forum just for alerting the folks upstairs to the possible issue. The same is true for images, I think. Just check in the forums under:
Support & Feedback >> Bug Reports and Issues >> (sticky) Spelling and Grammar Checks: Ongoing Thread >>
There you can draw attention to all those misspellings and geographical problems that you've noticed.
Releasing any part of the source code or interface will never happen in my opinion. Possibility for modding is not even considered here. I believe it is the official view of the company because there are still so many features in the game which are not fully understood by players because there is no detailed documentaion avalible to us.
About changing names or flags, I don't think it would be so hard. You mention databases, but I think that those links that could be broken usually shouldn't even point to default names but some id which would have a possibility to contain a name or flag that is changable.
However, for a browser game that is already well established, it could be a too complicated thing. Not to mention ever present question of users putting inappropriate names of flags.
It seemed like such a waste to destroy an entire battle station just to eliminate one man. But Charlie knew that it was the only way to ensure the absolute and total destruction of Quasi-duck, once and for all.
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