Lost and Found

[TheTrickster 2,284]

[9 April 2022 - I posted this a couple of years ago when I was much more of a newbie than I am now. Still a newbie, but less so and with the benefit of experience I want to revisit this].

 

Here is my fresh version of this suggestion.

 

A facility to tag items as possibly abandoned or lost.  This would apply to vehicles and containers.  The item would then stay where it is for some period (30 days? more? less?) and then be transferred (teleported) to a holding area at a spawn town.  The owner would receive a message when they log in, along with a claim slip of some sort. They can then use the claim slip to either receive directions to the item (if is has not been transferred to holding) or to have their item teleported to them (if it has been transferred to holding).  While in storage, normal decay would apply, so there is no reduction or acceleration to decay.

 

Here are what I see as benefits;

 

• This would somewhat automate getting rid of clutter.  Instead of pushing off deeds, or lodging GM tickets, a facility to simply tag it as possibly left behind and then there is a mechanism to clean it up.
• The clean up does not deprive the absent owner of their stuff.  It would still be in-game for exactly as long as if it was left in-place, but it is out-of-sight of everyone else for that duration.

 

 

Original Suggestion (plus strike-outs)

 

A facility to tag items that seem to have been left behind by absent/inactive players, that flags them as possibly abandoned.  The owner is notified (if possible) and given a limited time to claim their item, after which the finder may claim the item as their own, or have it either destroyed or perhaps consigned to some lost & found holding area for another fixed period of time before destruction.  I am thinking mostly of things like carts and boats which litter the landscape and coastlines in some places but can't be cleaned out, at least on Independence.

Edited May 9, 2022 by TheTrickster
EDIT: with the benefit of experience and hindsight

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

They used to have a similar system for boats, where people could post a public notice to put in a "finders keepers" type claim plus pay a fee to gain ownership if the owner did not return after a somewhat long period (90 days? I forget), and till then GMs would move the boats to a special boat harbor.

 

I can't recall now why they discontinued the practice, other than that they determined after many years it was not a good practice. Carts would certainly be an excessive headache.

 

I am pretty sure GMs will move most carts/boats off deeded land if they interfere with a new deed owner's ability to use their land.

 

 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Brash_Endeavors

[ArthurHawkwing 176]

Several times its bee mentioned either lock should decay off deed rather swiftly or allow off deed lock picking on the Freedom Servers to clean up all the garbage laying around. I am seeing where players are pushing piles of boats and carts/wagons off deed in places. We need a way to clean this junk up. Even a server cleanup day where we can buy the stuff or something......

[Thalius 246]

Simplest thing to me would be to allow locks to decay on items that are off deed more rapidly if a player falls into "inactive" status, just as buildings decay faster if a player is inactive, and then provide a way that other players can claim ownership of abandoned items.

Another simple option might be that locks of inferior quality (under 10ql) can be picked on the Freedom servers.

Both are things that have been suggested already, as Arthur mentioned.

It would certainly be a huge qol improvement for the general environment if we could do something with all the abandoned stuff lying around cluttering the shoreline and clogging up deeds that have had players go inactive.

[TheTrickster 2,284]

I am not sure about off-deed lockpicking.  As a newbie, this would make security of my objects a bit iffy.  I am working towards earning some silver, and I am using BSBs to store building materials for later sale.  I know we aren't specifically talking about BSBs but if locks are pickable then my on-site storage (e.g. for wooden beams close to plantation forest) is vulnerable.  

 

Rapid decay of unused locks would definitely be good, and maybe a Lost/Found tag to trigger a time to ownership transfer.

 

Deed is not the word to use, because of its usage on Wurm, but for large items (including houses) title documents of some sort could be useful.  Instead of having to physically move stuff between people and fiddle with permissions and/or keys, trade the "Certificate of Title".  If you trade P2P then the buyer gets the certificate and all permissions are transferred to them along with ownership.  If it is low value stuff, like a dodgy small cart, you could sell the title at a token and the cart would go where all such sales go.

 

For crates etc this could even be a bill of lading of some sort, whereby you "lock" the crate with an updated title, showing what it contains (and maybe even its location).  Once you create a bill of lading, you must have it in inventory to work with the container, add or remove items or move the crate.  You could show a copy (like a chat window copy paste) to demonstrate contents, and simply mail the bill to a buyer COD.  Once you have mailed it, you have no permissions for the container or its contents unless the buyer sends it back.  Once they have it, they can simply collect the container with the bill in their inventory.  No fiddling with permissions, locks, etc.  It would be like sending a key but simpler for the player to manage and more informative all round.  BIlls could be "opened" as an action on the container whenever a player decides and "closed" as well as an action on the container WITH the bill.  I have not yet done any trading, so I have not experienced the mechanics, but I would figure this would be simpler than the stuff I have read about handling trading of big of bulky items.  Actually, this is probably a whole separate suggestion, but the notion of transferable ownership documents sent me down the mental garden path.

[TheTrickster 2,284]

This a bump and a reformulation.  I have more Wurm experience now, and the current form of the suggestion is more in keeping with how I currently view things.