A recent post on the General forum led me to this suggestion, which had bothered me before I discovered plugins. Rather than hijack a lengthy thread, here I am.

A new player had a list of observations and suggestions, one of which was based on a lack of real-life Player Character interaction.

Early in the game, I also noted a lack of People. However, it turned out I was passing other players all the time, but with levels like 1 1 0 1 0, I had enough on my plate and didn't know who I was sharing sectors with, I had gotten used to NPC's all over. Thanks to a quality mentor, it didn't take long to discover plugins; namely the Toaster Crush Suite, and namely IT'S Alert Machine.

Plugins like Targetless and TCS seem essential now, and aren't for super-newbs; I still don't use them to their potential. But something like the Alert Machine or some other built-in PC indicator, I think would be a small but welcome change to the 'new-to-vo' experience, and could very well mean the difference between a new inhabitant to the 'verse or an 8-hour apparition.

Targetless and TCS should, in some form, be baked into the standard client.

Other than that, there should be no additional PC indicator.

I will see your suggestion, and raise you one "completely remove all indication of npc/pc indication" suggestion.

I raise with an optional to add a * to your character name on login for the purpose of impersonating an npc.

I dont use plug-ins... I know there are a few like me out there... So yes, anything we can add to the interface to make things more beneficial for non plug-in users should be persued.

There are probably legal issues preventing this, but I don't think that having some of the most useful plugins to be included in the download and install would be a bad idea.

have people forgotten about the 'u' button and *?

And roda, stop jacking threads and get over it, your not a bot, even though your personality mimics one.