Why not just have one mailbox for the account?

If we go with the one mailbox for the account, I'd like to suggest that each message for a specific character have that character name shown when you look at the message. The lack of this is the main problem I have with UNTIL's mail service.

Twisted Toon wrote:

Fireheart wrote:
I like the idea of a single mailbox, but it depends on how the mailbox is used.
For instance, CO uses the mailbox for returning AH items. It's a global mailbox, but only the character that put the item in the AH can retrieve it. Very annoying.
Be Well!
Fireheart

Not only is it global for CO, I get CO mail while playing my STO characters and STOmail while playing my CO characters. At least I can tell which game the mail is for, though.

It also goes to Neverwinter ^_^ Haven't noticed it going the other way yet...

Interesting....

Lin Chiao Feng wrote:

Foradain wrote:
If we go with the one mailbox for the account, I'd like to suggest that each message for a specific character have that character name shown when you look at the message. The lack of this is the main problem I have with UNTIL's mail service.

Again, why require that a character name be specified? Stepping back, there are five options:
1) Mail is addressed to @global and goes to the account mailbox.
2) Mail is addressed to character@global and goes to the account mailbox.
3) Mail is addressed to character@global and goes to a per-character mailbox.
4) Combination of 1) and 2), determined by address provided, i.e. character name is simply ignored by the post office if provided.
5) Combination of 1) and 3), determined by address provided. This is the hardest for developers to implement and the player to manage.
I could argue that 4) is the most realistic, because to this day I receive mail for the three prior residents of this house even though I've lived here over a decade. The postmaster simply ignores the name line; that's for me to interpret.
My preference order is 1), 4), 2), 3), and (please $DEITY no) 5).
P.S. I prefer 1) over 4) simply because it makes it explicit that email is account-wide.

I'm not suggesting that the character name be required; I'm asking that if it's given by the sender it be shown to the recipient. Although any system-generated mail that does pertain to specific character (from the market, for instance) should specify that character, in the text if it can't be shown in the address.

CO seems to use 4). My problem with it is that the address it's sent to isn't shown to the recipient.

Foradain wrote:

I'm not suggesting that the character name be required; I'm asking that if it's given by the sender it be shown to the recipient.

Sonds good.

Foradain wrote:

Although any system-generated mail that does pertain to specific character (from the market, for instance) should specify that character, in the text if it can't be shown in the address.

IMHO for system mail that applies to a character and not just the account, the character name shhould be in the body of the message regardless of whether it's in the From: box or not.

Foradain wrote:

My problem with it is that the address it's sent to isn't shown to the recipient.

I've seen most RL email software hide the TO: address in favor of the "real name". This, ironcially, creates the same mess you're describing despite the reversal of the situation (the same real name is used for several different email accounts).

Izzy wrote:

Hmm.. So, if i join an SG with Toon1, and they send me am email saying i better get my butt into gear and make some SG Credits before they kick Toon1... and i havent looged in in with Toon1 for like 2 months, I can see that email when im playing on Toon2, and know its Toon1 email? :)

Yep.

Twisted Toon wrote:

Some indication of which character you own that the email is concerning would be nice.

Regarding system mails, definitely. But should this requirement extend to player-sent mail?

And honestly, I'm not a huge fan of using the email system to return unsold items.But then again, I'd let your items stay in the market forever, and would use a more commodities-market-like system that would only show the lowest bids to sell and highest bids to buy for a particular item type anyway, which would control the pollution problem...

Twisted Toon wrote:

I had over 200 characters on two accounts. You seriously want me to check then all?

Of course not. That's why you should be able to see all your account's emails no matter which character you're on. But system-generated emails simply must indicate which character they relate to, and IMHO they should state that in the body and not just the From: line.

(Also, who bought my junk is pretty useless information.)

Lin Chiao Feng wrote:

Regarding system mails, definitely. But should this requirement extend to player-sent mail?

Yes.

Why should this system not apply to all mails? If someone sends a mail to my character Dude@ Guy, what is the benefit of removing the information that it was sent to that particular character? This strikes me as one of those weird, arbitrary "players don't need that information anyway" ideas.

Lothic wrote:

I'd favor an email system for CoT that would let you see a complete listing of any mail sent to any character on the account. This "account-wide mail list" should be labeled/sorted by which specific character it was sent to (if that applies).

That would be covered by options 2) or 4).

Sort by character name would be an option (basically, the inbox would have a "To Character" column) in addition to date received, sent from, etc.

Lothic wrote:

And crucially there should be a way for the system to selectively flag any email so that it's either openable by any character on your account or only openable when you're logged onto the character the email was specifically intended for.

This raises the question: should items sent to the player by the system be account-accessible or only character-accessible?

Lothic wrote:

This way people could send "general account" emails or "specific character" emails as the need arises but all of them would still be listed in the "account-wide mail list" regardless of that flag.

Next question: Should the sending player be given an "allow items to only be picked up by this character" checkbox? In other words, should the sender decide for the recipient which character can claim the items from the email?