I've seen this happen so many times in my long career playing EQ that I always comment upon it... to myself. Now I'm commenting on it HERE to see if someone else experiences this phenomenon.
It goes like this...
Someone said something in general chat. Might be a question he wants answered, or a request for a port, or a PL. Could be just about anything. I see this phenomenon the most when I'm afk for a while and I return. But in those cases I notice such a comment IN RECENT CHAT. Meaning it's right at the bottom of the chat scroll for general or a continent channel, like PLANES.
Before I answer such questions I like to have an idea of the class/level of the inquirer, since it helps provide helpful background.
So I do a /who [PLAYERNAME] all
...
and it come back "There are no players in EQ who match these filters."
This has happened to me HUNDREDS of times, if not more. Granted, i've played since 2000. So that's a lot of opportunities. But still... it seems remarkable to me.
I'm trying to ascertain the mindset of such a player. Did he make an inquiry and when he didn't get an instant response, he threw a fit and logged off? Was he about to camp and decided that was a good time to ask the question... while the camp timer was winding down?!
Yes, I realize if I myself just returned from afk, that question might have been an hour ago and if nobody else "spoke" in that channel in the interim I'm seeing it very belatedly. But generally there is plenty of action in the channel and looking at the context, the discussions "around" that question, it's not hard to infer that it was asked very recently.
If I were paranoid I'd suggest the devs throw in random "made-up" chat into channels to stimulate further discussion.
But I'm not that paranoid!
"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
PS Quite a few times I saw the question "live" and I spent a couple of minutes checking on the right answer, via Google or even this site. By the time I go to respond, either in the channel or via direct tell... the inquirer is already gone.
Very curious...
Edited, May 10th 2020 2:37pm by Sippin