There should be a friendslist

[biggeruniverse]

There's a few practical problems here:

1. There is absolutely no code for doing this currently in bzfs, list server, or client
2. Lots of queries to the list server to find friends would come from everyone until the list server fell on its face.

****WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS CONSIDERED BZFLAG SACRILEGE****

!EVIL!EVIL!EVIL!EVIL!EVIL!EVIL!EVIL!EVIL!EVIL!EVIL!EVIL!EVIL!EVIL!EVIL!EVIL!EVIL!

Let me open the floodgates wider with this scenario:

Player-list server is implemented as a Jabber server. Every user who registers automagically gets a Jabber list server account. Client implements simple Jabber XML to be able to set friends, query friends, etc. Since the account is the same in jabber as in forum, you could use Miranda/GAIM/Adium to connect to it, since you know username and password. Client could know whether you were in-game/out-game, and what server based on Jabber XML data.

The further leap- client can chat via Jabber with in-game/out-game friends using /msg just like always

[[dmp]]

On the plus side, all of the leagues do have some sort of method of finding the information we are looking for on their websites.

Yes, there is a "export" scripts, that allows you to fetch various infos from the leagues, including teams and its members and some stats (games played etc).

One solution might be that you specify your league-teammates on your own. Like a line in your config:

/group "ducati" player1, player2, player3
/group "GU" player4, player5, player1

By writing something like "/group 'GU'" ingame the list-server would check if it finds any playernames that match "player4", "player5", "player1" and report back to you where they are.

The idea I was working with is similar. First of all, some default groups were created (ducati, pb, gu etc) and you could add more (etc ducati.admin) that was automatically updated. (based on either league site data, or forum groups)

Then every one of these groups was able to set a shortcut - or /command. So you could just write "/ducati wanna match" - the shortcuts was defined by the chatserver, and there were two kinds. Globals (eg /ducati) and player specific (eg /team /myfriends). You configured this from the chat www site, and it was stored there, centrally. Once you logged onto a bzserver, the bzserver would fetch your info from the chatserver. If the system was used, the next step was to integrate gateways, so that IRC users could interact (and then icq, msn, etc) and even a webchat.

Then I figured that Jabber would probably be the way to go and then then the funding ran dry

This system only works with globally auth'd players.

[GeckoV1]

I like that idea, but only if it was in the game, and optional

[Ck_asdf]

Lots of people seem to think that this is a silly idea, and some peoples' ideas are.
But I think in some form, this would be pretty cool & handy.
I think maybe the best implementation would be having "Find Player" under "Find Server."

However, it's good that many of you pointed out the statistics web pages ... I never thought of using the bzstats to find a player before. I'll have to see how it works next time I'm looking for someone.

But I still think an in-game thing would be better, and not TOO intensive to the list server, because it already records where players are, anyway, right?

[Grackle]

I like this idea. It would be handy if it was implemented, and it would improve the connection between players, thus helping the BZFlag community.

People have mentioned that there are websites that provide these services, but I don't think that's a very good reason not to implement it in the game. It would be convenient to have it available ingame, with facilities for finding and joining servers that your friends are on, and the ability to /addbuddy <callsign> or select them from the list of users. Obviously that's a bit of work to implement, but that doesn't make it a bad idea. It's just not an easy one.

[edit]

However, it's good that many of you pointed out the statistics web pages ... I never thought of using the bzstats to find a player before. I'll have to see how it works next time I'm looking for someone.

This is a good reason to have it available in the game. People would see it and its usage would be apparent immediately.

[CannonBallGuy]

Grackle
"Patches Welcome".

As BZFlag is OSS, the few active developers code hat they want, when they want.
There is a huge list of stuff they could add, but I'm not sure this is one of the few that will be added.

[Grackle]

Duly noted.

My skills aren't there yet, but I'd like to help out in the future.