Okay this suggestion is kind of in response to the multiple threads about unnamed exalts floating around at the moment. From what I see, many players who don't like unnamed exalts don't like them because they appear on their parents' list and they want to be able to control how their offspring list looks like by preventing unnamed exalts which can be quite a heated topic because its attempting to control how other players play.
I know the admins are working on a way to collapse exalted offspring so that they do not have to be visible if a player doesn't want to see them (although its been put on the back burner while they focus on bigger issues and try to figure out why it caused lag) which seems to be the best compromise to the issue.
This suggestion is related to the offspring list and the admins plans for it. I wasn't on line when they briefly rolled out the collapsing list, but from what it sounded like, it divided the offspring list into two lists: (Unexalted) Offspring and Exalted Offspring and players could hide the exalted offspring. This sounds good and would help with the unnamed exalt issue, but perhaps take it a step further and allow players to choose which dragons are displayed or not? I know something similar has been suggested in the past, and when I tried to find some of those threads, the ones I found had mock ups but the images were broken so I figured I'd start a new thread about it
There would still be a way for other players to display the entire offspring list (so they can see if they are truly buying an unbred dragon or not for example); however it would allow players a way to better control their offspring list. Zeus had the suggestion of having a line at the top or bottom of the offspring list that says "This dragon has hidden offspring" if some or all of the offspring are hidden which would make it even harder to pass off a bred dragon as unbred. Another alternative suggested by TheSilverFox was if there are hidden offspring, there be a plus sign next to the offspring title to indicate there are hidden offspring, and clicking it would show all of them.
This could be used for a variety of reasons such as for Lore/RP purposes, Cleaning up the offspring list (hiding names they don't like be it unnamed, fanon names, body part names, double names, etc), Displaying offspring possibilities for their hatchery (by hiding dragons that were born before their current genes were added or with previous mates), etc
One possible way to handle this would be to turn the lineage or offspring title into a link that took you to a new page. If you own this dragon you'd see the entire offspring list with check boxes next to the offspring, that you could choose who is displayed or not. (Possibly even choose if it separates the list into unexalted and exalted offspring). If this dragon wasn't one you owned, clicking on this link would show the complete list of offspring and not the edited list that's shown on the dragon's page.
Another way to customize the offspring list which would work well in conjunction to this would be the ability to assign nicknames to dragons (that only show on the offspring list). IE you have an unnamed dragon in your offspring list but don't want to hide it because they are active and have many offspring of their own, but you don't want to see the unnamed, so you give the unnamed offspring the nickname Alirea. Alirea would only be visible on the offspring list ((when clicked on to visit that dragon's page it would still be listed as unnamed as that's its true name))
Gemajgall had some very good points on why being able to customize the offspring list would be useful listed below. Please do not ping gemajgall about her list.
I know the admins are working on a way to collapse exalted offspring so that they do not have to be visible if a player doesn't want to see them (although its been put on the back burner while they focus on bigger issues and try to figure out why it caused lag) which seems to be the best compromise to the issue.
This suggestion is related to the offspring list and the admins plans for it. I wasn't on line when they briefly rolled out the collapsing list, but from what it sounded like, it divided the offspring list into two lists: (Unexalted) Offspring and Exalted Offspring and players could hide the exalted offspring. This sounds good and would help with the unnamed exalt issue, but perhaps take it a step further and allow players to choose which dragons are displayed or not? I know something similar has been suggested in the past, and when I tried to find some of those threads, the ones I found had mock ups but the images were broken so I figured I'd start a new thread about it
There would still be a way for other players to display the entire offspring list (so they can see if they are truly buying an unbred dragon or not for example); however it would allow players a way to better control their offspring list. Zeus had the suggestion of having a line at the top or bottom of the offspring list that says "This dragon has hidden offspring" if some or all of the offspring are hidden which would make it even harder to pass off a bred dragon as unbred. Another alternative suggested by TheSilverFox was if there are hidden offspring, there be a plus sign next to the offspring title to indicate there are hidden offspring, and clicking it would show all of them.
This could be used for a variety of reasons such as for Lore/RP purposes, Cleaning up the offspring list (hiding names they don't like be it unnamed, fanon names, body part names, double names, etc), Displaying offspring possibilities for their hatchery (by hiding dragons that were born before their current genes were added or with previous mates), etc
One possible way to handle this would be to turn the lineage or offspring title into a link that took you to a new page. If you own this dragon you'd see the entire offspring list with check boxes next to the offspring, that you could choose who is displayed or not. (Possibly even choose if it separates the list into unexalted and exalted offspring). If this dragon wasn't one you owned, clicking on this link would show the complete list of offspring and not the edited list that's shown on the dragon's page.
Another way to customize the offspring list which would work well in conjunction to this would be the ability to assign nicknames to dragons (that only show on the offspring list). IE you have an unnamed dragon in your offspring list but don't want to hide it because they are active and have many offspring of their own, but you don't want to see the unnamed, so you give the unnamed offspring the nickname Alirea. Alirea would only be visible on the offspring list ((when clicked on to visit that dragon's page it would still be listed as unnamed as that's its true name))
Gemajgall had some very good points on why being able to customize the offspring list would be useful listed below. Please do not ping gemajgall about her list.
gemajgall wrote:
I do support the hide offspring feature and hope the staff can get it working soon. And I hope it will be applicable not just to exalted hatchlings but all hatchlings. There's a ton of reasons why people would want to hide certain hatchlings:
1) User A runs a hatchery and only wants to show the prettiest offspring.
2) User B loves to role play and only wants to display hatchlings relevant to the clan lore.
3) User C winds up with some "dumb" names on the offspring list, so s/he can just hide those names.
4) User D dislikes scrolling and wants to shorten the offspring list so s/he doesn't have to scroll.
5) User E only wants exalted hatchlings to display.
6) User F bought a dragon that had been bred before and wants to hide the offspring that didn't originate from his/her lair.
7) User G's offspring wind up scrolled into something G doesn't like.
etcetc
Of course, I think that for genealogy reasons, other users should be able to click a link and see the full offspring list. That is the solution I support the most.
1) User A runs a hatchery and only wants to show the prettiest offspring.
2) User B loves to role play and only wants to display hatchlings relevant to the clan lore.
3) User C winds up with some "dumb" names on the offspring list, so s/he can just hide those names.
4) User D dislikes scrolling and wants to shorten the offspring list so s/he doesn't have to scroll.
5) User E only wants exalted hatchlings to display.
6) User F bought a dragon that had been bred before and wants to hide the offspring that didn't originate from his/her lair.
7) User G's offspring wind up scrolled into something G doesn't like.
etcetc
Of course, I think that for genealogy reasons, other users should be able to click a link and see the full offspring list. That is the solution I support the most.