Vox Books

[GM Oden]

So I asked this on UO Auto Map chat. I will just do a poll for it.

I have run into a bit of an issue converting the Vox books over to the new standardized gump system, I have a couple options I can do and none of them I am very thrilled about save for one. The options are really not important as two of them will keep the Vox books around and the latter will remove it but it comes with a promise of replacing it with a much more useful system that I will explain so you get the idea. There are literally three options I am going to throw out there and they are as follows:

1.) Keep the Vox books in. (They will eventually be replaced anyway but you do not lose access to them before I fully script their replacement. I am not thrilled with this option personally as it leaves around old code that could be later hooked into IF other scripter(s) do not heed my wishes of using the new standardized gump pkg)
2.) Remove them with the promise you will replace them with this new system in a timely fashion.
3.) What is a Vox Book and why am I reading this?

The third option is just an empty vote but it might give me a gauge into in total how many people use them and might miss them.

The replacement system I wish to replace it with is a proper, fully functional, mail system. I just designed the inbox gump and it should be no surprise that it will be modeled on the WoW mailing system in terms of the look and feel. This system will allow you to do the following:

* Send messages or items to other players even if they are offline.
* Send items as Cash on Delivery so that merchants can better sell their goods off even if the customer is not around.
* Give Carpenters one more item to craft (have to throw them what I consider a pittance in terms of the grand scheme of the class system goes)
* Maintain an address book so that you can quickly select a player from your address book or just type in the player's name.
* Maintain a blacklist should you find that pesky Demauno Shop guild master is sending out in game advertisements for their "Lord British' Day Sale where everything is 50% off" or that annoying person is just trying to fill up your mail box.
* Place a mailbox at your house (Hopefully, I will honestly give this a whirl in figuring out I have a general idea in my head how to do this BUT it is wholly dependent on how sign placement is from house to house.)

There is a drawback to this system however at least the way I see it. It will be house owner only so only the owner of the house will be able to receive mail at his/her mail box, this will however incentivize your pesky Big Brother House Mates to buy their own damn house and write in their own journal about their house mates.

So with that said, I am asking these questions:
Does anyone use this system regularly?
Will it be sorely missed and will I be hated for removing it temporarily to make my life potentially a little bit easier?

Keep in mind, I have not begun scripting the mailing system yet but it is definitely on the to-do list as I have other requests from the POL community asking for a system such as this and I would like to bring it to Pangaea first before I release it to the great masses.

Please cast a vote and if you have any thoughts on why it should go or be removed or any other thoughts on Vox Books in their current form, please do not hesitate to leave a note.

[GM Oden]

Okay.

I think I have the answer. Upon further consideration I've decided to keep these around but I might revamp them, their design is what I'd consider, horrible, clunky and discombobulated. A mixture of dot commands and gump stuff., I will likely rewrite this to take up less file space on Pangaea and move everything into the book gump and add a renewable market for scribes with them, nothing overly annoying.

I still plan on a mailing system, but I can see this being useful for those among us who want to use such an item in game. They'll also likely get a rename, vox books just doesn't sound great.

Thanks for the feedback, it was not wasted effort, just I've opted to make this item more simple to use and keeping it in the game.