StarGateWars Forums

I was thinking (due to recent experiences) that it would be extremely beneficial, and more realistic if you could receive email notifications of certain events. Each user could select when they would receive notification and to what email (it wouldn't have to be the one they used to sign up with).

Possible examples of events that could trigger an email alert (the user could select which ones):

An individual sets you to war
An alliance declares war on you
Your alliance declares war on someone
You are attacked
Your officers are attacked
You intercept a spy/sabotage attempt
You are sabotaged
Etc.

Anyway, the point is that many of us check our email much more regularly then we are log into SGW (at work or school for example) and others (like myself) carry pagers or cellphones that can receive messages sent to an email (usually subscriber@provider.com).

This I believe would enhance gameplay by providing a realtime element to it, and making it so that alliances and individuals have to have a better strategy then just trying to hit someone when they think that person will not realize it until they've had a chance to run.

Also, as I said above I think this would make it more realistic-in RL a general would be instantly notified of anything they had commanded. Or going back to SG Gen. Hammond was notified the instant a new threat/attack had occurred, and so were his respective counterparts in the various races.

Also, speaking from a technical side-it shouldn't be too hard to implement... All it would take is a perl script tied in to the accounts... Well, perl is what I'm familiar with-I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to do it also.

I'd appreciate support/comments/feedback/etc from the other users as well.

Nice idea, although I think it'd be fair to restrict such options to SS-players.
Just because of the sheer magnitude of the mail traffic it generates, it might require some funding.

It might also bring back people that have long since retired from the game, but never deleted their accounts... Imagine being spammed...

Like getting 100 "You've been attacked" emails?
I remember somebody had similar idea some time ago, just that one was about texting mobile phones.

Yay stargateFACEBOOK.com........................

Well since this would be "opt in" only it technically wouldn't be spam. But yeah, if you go massed there would be a lot of emails...

I thought about integrating txting with this-but that would add a lot of work on the development side. Sending email is pretty easy. Also, like I said before if you set up your cell account you can receive emails on your cellphone as text messages, and my pager receives emails also.

And yes Auriel-it probably should be restricted to those with SS.

cyberblade wrote:I thought about integrating txting with this-but that would add a lot of work on the development side. Sending email is pretty easy. Also, like I said before if you set up your cell account you can receive emails on your cellphone as text messages, and my pager receives emails also.

sending SMS is easier than email to code, least with SMS people will always get it, emails get blocked by spam filters here there and everywhere.

I don't think sending to SMS is easier to code-because you'd have to have connections to the networks in each country... Every country where there are players. I don't even know if you could get SMS's to be sent to some of the countries...

As for spam filters-all it takes is whitelisting the sender (or the equivalent with whatever spam filter you're using).

Also, in some places people have to pay to receive texts... I don't think that would go over well.

cyberblade wrote:I don't think sending to SMS is easier to code-because you'd have to have connections to the networks in each country... Every country where there are players. I don't even know if you could get SMS's to be sent to some of the countries...

hmmm you're absolutely right there, i was just thinking linear i.e. what's quicker to code a PHP script that sends me an SMS or an email. But on a mass or 'global' scale emails could be better

cyberblade wrote:As for spam filters-all it takes is whitelisting the sender (or the equivalent with whatever spam filter you're using).

yes that's client side spam filtering, not the general spam filters around on ISP / Mail servers that you have no control over, can take a lot of fiddling to get right, done it enough times ><

cyberblade wrote:Also, in some places people have to pay to receive texts... I don't think that would go over well.

Also another good point, but then again it is optional just like you said

Rich™ wrote:

cyberblade wrote:I don't think sending to SMS is easier to code-because you'd have to have connections to the networks in each country... Every country where there are players. I don't even know if you could get SMS's to be sent to some of the countries...

hmmm you're absolutely right there, i was just thinking linear i.e. what's quicker to code a PHP script that sends me an SMS or an email. But on a mass or 'global' scale emails could be better

Well, I don't have too much experience with PHP but a quick google search shows up extremely simple PHP scripts such as the following:

?php
$to = "recipient@example.com";
$subject = "Hi!";
$body = "Hi,\n\nHow are you?";
if (mail($to, $subject, $body)) {
echo("<p>Message successfully sent!</p>");
} else {
echo("<p>Message delivery failed...</p>");
}
?>

Of course you'd set the variables to be populated with whatever details the user provides and the event that triggered it... I'm not sure how to do all that in PHP, but I know it can be done. I think perl is a much better language for that-but if the admins don't know perl then it might not be

Rich™ wrote:

cyberblade wrote:As for spam filters-all it takes is whitelisting the sender (or the equivalent with whatever spam filter you're using).

yes that's client side spam filtering, not the general spam filters around on ISP / Mail servers that you have no control over, can take a lot of fiddling to get right, done it enough times ><

You are correct-however, I've never really had trouble with ISP's filtering emails. I have the forum set up to notify me when replies are posted to certain threads, etc. But I've never had them blocked by ISP's. I guess I've been lucky in that sense. In any case, ISP's usually block based on lists provided by third parties who monitor for open smtp relays, etc. I doubt SGW would get blocked-and if they did all it takes is an email from the admin here to the contact person at whatever organization blocked us and it would be resolved. (Been there, done that).

Rich™ wrote:

cyberblade wrote:Also, in some places people have to pay to receive texts... I don't think that would go over well.

Also another good point, but then again it is optional just like you said

True, it is optional... But while I would use email notifications I wouldn't pay $0.15 to be notified...

Again, because of how many countries are users are from I don't think this would work. I'm sure it could be set up in the US, the UK, Germany, etc. But not in very country-and then you're giving an unfair advantage based to some based on RL trade agreements, infrastructure, etc.

But anyone with access to the game has internet access (therefore email) even if there isn't a method to tie in cellphones. Not that I'm knocking the SMS idea, I just don't think it would be fair for everyone because it wouldn't be available to some through no fault of their own.

I wonder if any of the admins/mods could post and say what their take on this would be? I'd be willing to help with the coding if I could do it in perl... LOL.

I'd really like if more people could comment on this idea and give constructive criticism or support (as I know it takes a bit of backing for the admin to implement it)...

If this can be easily done, I'm all for it

Looks like this idea can be implemented to me, from what i read here. Cyberblade is a smart dude and he knows what hes talking about when it comes to this, so im all for it...and even if i didnt know Cyberblade, its still a very good plan for ultimate convenience. Whoot whoot!

Sucks if you get raided though.

jreider014 wrote:Sucks if you get raided though.

Could you elaborate on this?

I would think it would be good because you'd be notified. I don't mind the criticism-but please could you explain why you said what you did?