Buddy list

[Whateversam]

I already did a search on this, but found nothing of the like, so I'm making my own thread about it. I'm sure this could be a useful feature, for me. I'm not sure how many other ppl would like it, thus this post. Don't think about flaming until you have read the entire post, pls. I know this won't be easy to do, but it's possible.

Many games, and nearly all IM systems, allow users to add other users to a buddy list. It could be used like the Address Book, and the Web Server List, a tab that does nothing, and uses no memory or CPU cycles until clicked on. In this list you will see the users that you have added to your Bubby List, what server they are in, and what channel they are using. You could personalize your buddie's information so that you can better identify them.

Once a global tracker is set up, just like the web server list, it would only have to send small amounts of data to and from anyone requesting a list. (TS might flame me for suggesting such a thing. <.<; Wouldn't take up bandwith in game, and wouldn't be much for the client anyway. The servers would work in the same manner. Sending data when users log in and out. I don't imagen it any of this would take up much of the system power, or bandwith. I'm not a network tech, yet, so the pros out there will have to fill in the blanks.

This would, of course, require more coding. I imagen it could range from reprogramming everything to just a simple plug in. I'm not a coder, and havn't a clue how this part of it would be done, so the pros out there will have to fill in the blanks.

I would like to know what others think about this. Do you like the idea? How hard would it be? Would it cause secerity issues? ext.

Thank you for your time. ^.^

[SuperTyphoon]

This would be extremely useful, yet i doubt it will be considered.

[Brain]

Basically a fine idea, however there's one big problem: Teamspeak doesn't have unique IDs for users. This would make Buddy lists kind of useless, just imagine one of your friends is named Steve and you add Steve to your buddy list. Since there's no way of uniquely identifying a user how can you be sure that the Steve you see online is actually your friend?

Maybe that's something for Teamspeak 3 if it comes with unique user IDs. Who knows? Let's wait for the big surprise

[sgtbenc]

But, Brain, the developers did say that they were remaking TS3 completely. Starting from the ground up. And, Whateversam, they would have to create and maintain an enormous database, and yes it would take a lot of bandwidth.

[ScP]

But what if unique IDs could be created without storing them in a database?

I think a global buddy list whould cause too much traffic because we need some kind of "master server" to know the status of a specific user. A server based buddy list would be a nice feature - especially on a public server.

[Brain]

You could already have a server-based buddy list, only prerequisite would be a registered user account on the server. Then you can simply identify people by server id and account name.

[Whateversam]

When I made the post I was thinking about the master server they currently have for the Web Server List. This master server could be altered. for unique ID usage. *insert good, but forgotten statement here. ><* The biggest problem I can think of is the TS Team. I don't think they would like the idea at all unless everyone payed extra for this. I wouldn't blame them at all if they said it would cost too much to add it as a free addition. lol.

[Semideus]

What about the users who are registered that don't use teamspeak anymore or the people who just want to be called Steve instead of Steve123456? With that being said, I use teamspeak as a casual gaming night communication software between from friends across the states, but a mass database of users just for a buddylist is sort of illogical. Not trying to shoot down your idea, because it's ideas like this that make applications like Teamspeak better but I like being able to put my real name in there and not have to worry about a nickname. What if there is a connection problem with connecting to the database, can people use TS? What about lag issues? The final part is making a buddy list available and then immature people following other people into the rooms/servers that they are in.

On the other hand, making a buddy list via IP instead of name? But then again there's the fact that most people don't have a dynamic IP so you'll have to be updating your buddy list like crazy. Not trying to promote here, but it sounds like what you're looking for is something similar to xfire. Anyway, just my thoughts on it.