Mr Spot
I Blame Chum
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Posted - 2009.07.22 13:38:00 -
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Edited by: Mr Spot on 22/07/2009 13:40:29
 Originally by: CCP Caedmon
Will we have mail-list functionality in an early release?
The mail system we are designing will be more in line with the mail clients we all use out of game. We want to reproduce as much of their functions and flexibility as is useful in-game. The old in-game mail has served us well, but the world has moved on and itÆs time for an update. There will be more details on the new mail system in an upcoming devblog.
Please consider using an IMAP/SMTP set up, as others have suggested. It doesn't need to send/receive mail from other servers, but using pre-existing protocols would allow everyone to use these more powerful email clients that already exist. Let's face it, you guys are known for making a good internet spaceship game, not a good e(ve)mail reader. BYO standard mail client also means all platforms get native support without any extra effort required for porting if CCP decides to provide its own desktop evemail client. And if you decide to go down the custom-API-only route, it just means everyone who cares will end up running evemail clients alongside their regular email clients anyway.
Originally by: CCP Caedmon
Chat Client
Out of game text and voice chat are both on the roadmap for later releases of COSMOS, i.e. after Winter 2009.
Another request to reuse an open standard, this time XMPP. Again, it doesn't need to be federated with the public XMPP network, you don't risk leaving users on any platform behind, and we don't end up having to run another application that duplicates functionality we already have built into our desktops.
Having a chat system attached to EVE with as little barrier to entry as adding another account to the chat client you are already using could also save a lot of hassle exchanging out-of-game IM details and finding out they use a network you don't have an account on. Everyone would just have addresses like "[email protected]" as their IM address. You could also use the shared roster support to automatically provide everyone with a contact list of everyone in their corp.
Originally by: CCP Caedmon
iPhone Apps
There are currently no firm plans to release a CCP-made iPhone App. This is in no way connected to iPhone envy induced by AppleÆs decision not to launch the Jesus-phone here in Iceland. There are some player-made apps out there though.
If you decide to use IMAP/SMTP for mail and XMPP for chat, then the iPhone (and lots of other phones) will already support your shiny new communication toys out of the box.
Originally by: CCP Caedmon
In-Game Browser
We do have plans to upgrade the in-game browser for the Winter 2009 release. Indeed, a lot of what we want to do with COSMOS depends on it. One of the other Scrum teams is working on it and there should be a devblog coming soon with more details.
Have you looked into using WebKit? It's built for embedding into other programs, and it's available under a BSD-style license. Compared to the current IGB, it's standards compliant, it can render real websites people actually use, it's not horribly slow, etc...
OpenID support
One further suggestion, not related to any of the other points above, is to make your new COSMOS thingy act as an OpenID provider. This will provide an alternative to the IGB's trusted headers that can actually be used to authenticate users. It could also mean that we would no longer need a giant stack of usernames and passwords for each of the EVE-related websites on the net, and sites can know that the guy registering as "Character Name" is really who they say they are.
Since OpenID authentication would mean players only ever send their password to CCP's servers, it can help avoid the security risk of players using their EVE password on a site that gets compromised, or is run by a dishonest admin.
And hey, logging onto your corp's forums by clicking a "Log in with COSMOS" button would be pretty awesome.
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