tablet user guide
THE TABLET
Tablets are sort of like those really expensive flip open mobile phones that come with a pen thing. You can draw and write on them. You can dictate to them. You can call specific people with them or make announcements to everyone. You can project holograms of yourself with them. You can have video-type conversations with them. They also come with a handy 3D map function that can tell you where everyone is at any one time- unless someone doesn’t want to be found, in which case they can cloak themselves. The tablets can shrink to whatever size you like, because they’re amazing like that- and they can sync themselves into the wrist-bracelet too, to work like a comm-watch.
This is what the tablet will look like when your character first sees it in the arrival room. With some amount of effort, they can change its appearance in both size and color. At its largest, the screen will hinge to make it feel more like a laptop, and at its smallest it syncs with the silver bracelet.
And this is what the screen looks like when a character is receiving a message. Characters can touch elements on the screen with either their hand or a stylus to access menus and make posts, as well as change their settings. All the options are pretty self explanatory, and the menus are designed to be ridiculously simple (which makes accidental posts that much easier) and relatively easy to navigate through for characters that have used cellphone menus in their own worlds. Characters can also (with regards to permissions given by the players involved) view the public conversations of others over the tablets.
POST TYPES
[holo]:
Like in Star Wars, only better! Holo posts are full color, very detailed three-dimensional holograms to 1:10 scale of the character posting, and that are transparent only if you squint and turn your head just right. These posts are recorded with transmissions between the character's bracelet and the tablet, so only the character posting will be seen by others, in addition to whatever objects are being held or touched up to two feet out from where contact is being made. (Meaning, most of a small chair will be visible if a character is sitting; a little bit of floor can be seen if they're standing or laying down; tables that are getting leaned against will be partially visible, but will then fade out into nothing.)*
[visual]:
Kind of like having a conversation over webcam! Except it's crystal clear quality and has no lag at all. The tablet's screen records the image of whatever it's facing (future technology, how great thou art) and will automatically focus on any face or faces in front of it so there's no awkward blur going on. Remember, this is high quality images, so this setting should be avoided if you want to hide a bad hair day.
[voice]:
Like a phone call or LiveJournal voice post! Nothing at all is visible, but it will be of good audio quality. The microphone does have drawbacks, though, and there'll be interference noise of something touches the mic.
[text]:
This can be hand written or typed depending how you feel. The tablet comes with a small stylus pen for handwritten or drawn messages and a keyboard for typed ones, though anything your character sends or posts in this mode will include their name as it appears on the city map.**
POST MODIFIERS
[locked (to whoever)]:
Not a type of post in and of itself, locked posts mean only that person or people another type of post is locked to will be able to get the message.
[anon]:
Fancy being a bit mysterious? This means people won't know who is writing. Anonymous holo posts are impossible (sorry!), but on visual posts, the face will be blurred out; audio will have your character's voice sounding garbled with changes in pitch and tone; and text will have the font exceptionally small for... some reason, and their display name will not be sent with the message.
[private]:
Need that extra level of privacy? This setting will record another type of post solely to a character's tablet and won't be accessible to any other characters unless they post it later themselves.***
[machine (for whoever)]:
Don’t feel like talking to someone? Give them this. Or maybe someone isn't picking up? Leave them an irate message! Characters will just press the "message access" button and record a message in whatever format to be sent to someone else.
POST FORMATS
subject lines
Subject line tags for tablet entries: [holo] | [visual] | [voice] | [text] || [locked] | [anon] | [private] | [machine]
The subject line of your post or comment needs to include what type of post it is, in addition to any modifiers that post may have.
Examples: [ holo, locked: to Bob ] ; [visual | location: Shelley] [anon] ; [ voice//private ] ; [visual // locked from Bob // anon]
Prose:
Any posts (except for text, see below) can be written in third person narrative with a character's speech in quotation marks and actions or thoughts written in complete sentences. Most of these posts are done in either past or present tenses, but feel free to use whichever tense you are most comfortable with.
Example: This was looking grim. "So, that means you're in the clear for now," he said. "Right?"
Brackets:
Any posts can be written as "quicklogs" or "commentspam." This means that speech or text is written out normally, with any additional narration put in brackets. The only tablet mode that forces this kind of tag is [text].
Example: [sounds tired, but still determined] Not even close.
HISTORY
The tablets, being fantastic, can also let a person view their own previous conversations as well as conversations made over the tablets by other people, going so far as to let them see conversations that took place before their arrival in the city.
However, should your character decide to look at past communications (remember individual player/character permissions, please), of versions of themselves that were around before they came to the city, all they’ll see is either static, some “Access Denied” message, a clip from an old H. R. Puffenstuff episode, or some other random thing that isn’t what they want. Again, this will only apply if they’re new to the city and are trying to get to communications made by a different version of themselves that has been dropped.
SUBJECT LINE OPTIONS
While, like detailed above, most subject lines will follow the format with brackets and the name of the function as described above, we do allow options in how it's written. Some that have been shown so far in game are as follows:
• location → action
• visual → video
• voice → audio
There is also the option of using song lyrics or giving a thread a title for action threads only if you so choose. We do ask, however, that for at least the first comment of that thread, the subject line includes either "location" or "action" with the lyric so those unfamiliar with the format can more easily adjust.
*For your arrival post in Taxon, please note that the tablet's default mode is always [holo], for further details on how to construct your arrival post please refer to the arrival section of Gameplay & FAQ.
**A character's display name can be changed the same way they can change whether or not their location is shown on the map at all. It's possible, but it will take a lot of messing around in the tablet's settings to find the right function unless the character is already familiar with advanced technology and knows what to look for.
***Because of the nature of private posts and the fact that it does not lead to any interaction between characters, posts of this nature do not count for activity check.
N A V I G A T I O N
Tablets are sort of like those really expensive flip open mobile phones that come with a pen thing. You can draw and write on them. You can dictate to them. You can call specific people with them or make announcements to everyone. You can project holograms of yourself with them. You can have video-type conversations with them. They also come with a handy 3D map function that can tell you where everyone is at any one time- unless someone doesn’t want to be found, in which case they can cloak themselves. The tablets can shrink to whatever size you like, because they’re amazing like that- and they can sync themselves into the wrist-bracelet too, to work like a comm-watch.
This is what the tablet will look like when your character first sees it in the arrival room. With some amount of effort, they can change its appearance in both size and color. At its largest, the screen will hinge to make it feel more like a laptop, and at its smallest it syncs with the silver bracelet.
And this is what the screen looks like when a character is receiving a message. Characters can touch elements on the screen with either their hand or a stylus to access menus and make posts, as well as change their settings. All the options are pretty self explanatory, and the menus are designed to be ridiculously simple (which makes accidental posts that much easier) and relatively easy to navigate through for characters that have used cellphone menus in their own worlds. Characters can also (with regards to permissions given by the players involved) view the public conversations of others over the tablets.
POST TYPES
[holo]:
Like in Star Wars, only better! Holo posts are full color, very detailed three-dimensional holograms to 1:10 scale of the character posting, and that are transparent only if you squint and turn your head just right. These posts are recorded with transmissions between the character's bracelet and the tablet, so only the character posting will be seen by others, in addition to whatever objects are being held or touched up to two feet out from where contact is being made. (Meaning, most of a small chair will be visible if a character is sitting; a little bit of floor can be seen if they're standing or laying down; tables that are getting leaned against will be partially visible, but will then fade out into nothing.)*
[visual]:
Kind of like having a conversation over webcam! Except it's crystal clear quality and has no lag at all. The tablet's screen records the image of whatever it's facing (future technology, how great thou art) and will automatically focus on any face or faces in front of it so there's no awkward blur going on. Remember, this is high quality images, so this setting should be avoided if you want to hide a bad hair day.
[voice]:
Like a phone call or LiveJournal voice post! Nothing at all is visible, but it will be of good audio quality. The microphone does have drawbacks, though, and there'll be interference noise of something touches the mic.
[text]:
This can be hand written or typed depending how you feel. The tablet comes with a small stylus pen for handwritten or drawn messages and a keyboard for typed ones, though anything your character sends or posts in this mode will include their name as it appears on the city map.**
POST MODIFIERS
[locked (to whoever)]:
Not a type of post in and of itself, locked posts mean only that person or people another type of post is locked to will be able to get the message.
[anon]:
Fancy being a bit mysterious? This means people won't know who is writing. Anonymous holo posts are impossible (sorry!), but on visual posts, the face will be blurred out; audio will have your character's voice sounding garbled with changes in pitch and tone; and text will have the font exceptionally small for... some reason, and their display name will not be sent with the message.
[private]:
Need that extra level of privacy? This setting will record another type of post solely to a character's tablet and won't be accessible to any other characters unless they post it later themselves.***
[machine (for whoever)]:
Don’t feel like talking to someone? Give them this. Or maybe someone isn't picking up? Leave them an irate message! Characters will just press the "message access" button and record a message in whatever format to be sent to someone else.
POST FORMATS
subject lines
Subject line tags for tablet entries: [holo] | [visual] | [voice] | [text] || [locked] | [anon] | [private] | [machine]
The subject line of your post or comment needs to include what type of post it is, in addition to any modifiers that post may have.
Examples: [ holo, locked: to Bob ] ; [visual | location: Shelley] [anon] ; [ voice//private ] ; [visual // locked from Bob // anon]
Prose:
Any posts (except for text, see below) can be written in third person narrative with a character's speech in quotation marks and actions or thoughts written in complete sentences. Most of these posts are done in either past or present tenses, but feel free to use whichever tense you are most comfortable with.
Example: This was looking grim. "So, that means you're in the clear for now," he said. "Right?"
Brackets:
Any posts can be written as "quicklogs" or "commentspam." This means that speech or text is written out normally, with any additional narration put in brackets. The only tablet mode that forces this kind of tag is [text].
Example: [sounds tired, but still determined] Not even close.
HISTORY
The tablets, being fantastic, can also let a person view their own previous conversations as well as conversations made over the tablets by other people, going so far as to let them see conversations that took place before their arrival in the city.
However, should your character decide to look at past communications (remember individual player/character permissions, please), of versions of themselves that were around before they came to the city, all they’ll see is either static, some “Access Denied” message, a clip from an old H. R. Puffenstuff episode, or some other random thing that isn’t what they want. Again, this will only apply if they’re new to the city and are trying to get to communications made by a different version of themselves that has been dropped.
SUBJECT LINE OPTIONS
While, like detailed above, most subject lines will follow the format with brackets and the name of the function as described above, we do allow options in how it's written. Some that have been shown so far in game are as follows:
• location → action
• visual → video
• voice → audio
There is also the option of using song lyrics or giving a thread a title for action threads only if you so choose. We do ask, however, that for at least the first comment of that thread, the subject line includes either "location" or "action" with the lyric so those unfamiliar with the format can more easily adjust.
*For your arrival post in Taxon, please note that the tablet's default mode is always [holo], for further details on how to construct your arrival post please refer to the arrival section of Gameplay & FAQ.
**A character's display name can be changed the same way they can change whether or not their location is shown on the map at all. It's possible, but it will take a lot of messing around in the tablet's settings to find the right function unless the character is already familiar with advanced technology and knows what to look for.
***Because of the nature of private posts and the fact that it does not lead to any interaction between characters, posts of this nature do not count for activity check.
N A V I G A T I O N