Date convention

[xGugulu]

Ah ok good to know. Well then my know ledige is wrong about measurment of a second..

[FredTheDane]

Are there different day/night-cycles per planet or is it the same for all?

[Anonymous]

Are there different day/night-cycles per planet or is it the same for all?

Good question. I'm assuming that's unknown at this point so assume yes (most complex scenario)?

[Danger]

I think that we need to do this:

Before Collision = Aladeen

After Collision = Aladeen

Yes = Aladeen

No = Aladeen

Maybe = Aladeen

 

Now seriously, it's a nice idea :-)

[Father]

I'm anxious to see how the devs deal with this. Maybe we'll get something like in-game time later on, but most likely we'll see a standard real-world clock

[MinerMax555]

The devs mentioned 0 AA (after arrival)

[AccuNut]

If planets across the galaxies do end up with different day / night cycles, (as in, same amount of time per day, different times of day / night at any given moment,) I think there should be 2 standards to measure time: Alioth time for when you are in space, ( no day / night cycles in space, so you will need some kind of reference,) and planetary time for when you are on / near a planet. You could even have them displayed side-by-side:

Alioth-3:47pm

Xanadu (nearby planet)-7:51am

[Limyaael]

You could even have them displayed side-by-side:

Alioth-3:47pm

Xanadu (nearby planet)-7:51am

This brings up an interesting problem future humanity will have to deal with - after Mars is colonised, what time will the locals use? What time will be used for interplanetary communication?

 

I think the difference here is whether or not it matters. It'll matter in real life because businesses don't work at night or on weekends. But when in the game people will be working for their organisation or themselves no matter the time, is there any point in a set of nonuniform times? Is there a point in not just displaying UTC in the game?

[AccuNut]

This is true, however, I would find it a bit odd to be referring to a time like "8:01pm" when I am talking to someone on the same planet about meeting them, and it would be more like "2:01pm" planet time if it was based on planetary rotation.

 

Now, when communicating with someone in space or another planet, UTC is the way to go, which I assume would be based on either real-life UTC or Alioth time.

 

I guess I could get used to a universal time, but I think that allowing each planet to have its own time-zone would be more immersive, even if it would be a tad more confusing. You would just have  to make sure you check the suffix on the time stamp: "8:01pm/UTC"(or /AT for Alioth Time,) or, "2:01pm/PT" (PT = Planetary Time).

 

By the way, those times are based on the real difference between Earth's UTC and my local time.

[Lights]

problem with planet time is where is the median time and how do you keep track of it???

[Lethys]

problem with planet time is where is the median time and how do you keep track of it???

 

?

 

just define one timezone for the whole planet? who cares? with spaceships you can cross it anyway in minutes

[Lights]

yeah but how will you know planetary time as some people suggest. On Earth we can travel around in like 20 minutes now with jets, doesnt mean we dont need clocks anymore. 

[Lethys]

It's a game ... just define one standard time and your good

[Lights]

Yes, but some people want different times for different planets and systems by day cycles and stuff, so i decided to contribute some ideas of how this could happen if it did, part of it being deciding on a meridian.

[HUB Universal]

GST - Galactic Standard Time, which is the local time at the ark. Then everything else could be based on where you are in relation to the sun as GST +- 12. Would not matter what planet you are on, just where on the planet in relation to noon on said planet. There may be some issues with the rotation of the planet and how long a day is on any given planet, as they would never line up though.

[DarkHorizon]

Redefining SI units is... not a good idea.

That got me thinking... How did we get our current systems of measurement? During our time on earth of course. Wouldn't it be rational to redefine our systems of measurement based upon our new homeworld? Sure it could throw off some caculations and some math, but it's not like those variances however subblte should hurt your character or anythig. Then again I'm of quite the simple mind and of imperial measurements. At the end of the day, my foot will still be a foot long. c:

 

(community and all that, and there may be a professional metrologist amongst us)

You're looking at a future one, although I avoid SI like the plague. Thank you american school system for not teaching me this in fourth grade, now I refuse to learn a system of measurements based around ten.

 

Thinking about it though, it should be easy, just gotta place the numbers with the words, that's all I seem to struggle with...

 

This brings up an interesting problem future humanity will have to deal with - after Mars is colonised, what time will the locals use? What time will be used for interplanetary communication?

 

I think the difference here is whether or not it matters. It'll matter in real life because businesses don't work at night or on weekends. But when in the game people will be working for their organisation or themselves no matter the time, is there any point in a set of nonuniform times? Is there a point in not just displaying UTC in the game?

Mars would probally run on it's own standard clock of however many hours add up to one revolution. An earth based clock would probally run alongside the mars clock as far as communications are concerned and I'm sure a computer will handle scheudling meeting times so that both sides can see eachother on their screen even though it's 11PM CST on earth and 5:40AM Mariner Valley East in martian time.

 

As for orgs, we'll still use standard time here on earth. Perhaps if DU set up a server time from the timezone where the servers are hosted then everyone playing DU can use that as a standardized time.

 

problem with planet time is where is the median time and how do you keep track of it???

Median time could be established running thorugh the ark ship perhaps? Of course that would vary from planet to planet since there is only one arc ship from which to reference. As I mentioned in the quote above, we'll probally use some sort of server established time... hopefully...

[HUB Universal]

I imagine, to keep things simple, that Planetary Rotation and Gravity on Alioth will be roughly similar earth. So an hour will be an hour and a kg will be a kg. 

[Limyaael]

That got me thinking... How did we get our current systems of measurement? During our time on earth of course. Wouldn't it be rational to redefine our systems of measurement based upon our new homeworld? Sure it could throw off some caculations and some math, but it's not like those variances however subblte should hurt your character or anythig.

 

It would screw up every scientific equation, and most of them will now need pointless constants that are introduced only because people didn't want to stick with the perfectly acceptable SI units of today. They have been purposely designed such that they are universally applicable.

 

I imagine, to keep things simple, that Planetary Rotation and Gravity on Alioth will be roughly similar earth. So an hour will be an hour and a kg will be a kg.

 

There are going to be lots of planets in the universe and mass does not change no matter where you are. Hours are just convenient divisions of the approximate length of an Earth day.

[Deathmorphe]

How about separate dates?
For each discovered planet there will be a local time meassurement but while travelling in space, a universal time meassurement would be adapted instead?
This is to ensure that day/night cycles on days are not completely thrown off by dates on the various planets.

(for instance, if the dates change from the 5th to the 6th, then on earth, 24 hours would have passed since the previous date-change. The rotation differs from planet to planet, obviously, and finding ones with exact timeframes as earth (or other points of references) would be exceptionally rare at best.)
Of course, for players who traverse the space 24/7, this wouldn't really matter much, but if society is placed on a world, then it would be logical for that society to use a local timezone.

The idea about using seconds is nice too, but human biology is fixed on a "sleep at night, awake at day"-clock, and it would also complicate the daily lives of inhabitants on planets.
If we were to talk about work, then saying "I work on the 5th" is a lot easier than "I work between the 3082000500th second and the 3082032900th second" (Though naturally they would slim it down to something easier, but even so..)

By the way, how about months and years? Would we need those? And Weeks? Maybe add the 8th day, Blunday? xD
Or are these things we should leave for the various planetary governments to invent on their own?
And about the "universal time standard", how about using the starter planet's dates? (I don't see how we can throw out years and eras) Or maybe Earth's dates to make things simpler? - After all, they came from earth so it makes sense for the Arkships' time settings to be adjusted to it.

- Sorry if I mentioned anything that anyone has mentioned before, the first few posts got me riled up and I felt more compelled to give my thoughts than to read all the pages before mentioning things, though I guess I should've done that (although I don't really have the time on me to do so at the moment).

[AccuNut]

What you have described was mentioned, but you did an excellent job of describing it anyway.

 

I completely agree on the idea of planetary time and space time, in fact I mentioned it further up. For those who will be spending a large amount of time on a particular planet, it just makes sense to have some kind of planetary standard. Likewise for those in space, as there will be no day / night cycles to distinguish one day from the next out there.

 

But my favorite part of your post was this:

If we were to talk about work, then saying "I work on the 5th" is a lot easier than "I work between the 3082000500th second and the 3082032900th second" (Though naturally they would slim it down to something easier, but even so..)

 

As far as leaving time zones to individual governments, I would say that should be an option for actual LOCAL time zones, not planet-wide time. They would have to work it out with all the other governing groups on their continent, possibly their planet, but it could be done. They could just make it as a third option when you land on the planet; you could calibrate your clock for space time, planet time, or local time. Better yet, have it display all 3!

Some people will say that multiple time settings / zones adds unnecessary complication to things, I say as long as using it is OPTIONAL, it shouldn't be an issue. You can use it...or not, your choice. But that is no reason the rest of us shouldn't get it.

[Lights]

the thing is, does DU provide us with a way that the "elements" will be able to distinguish time for each planet?(no matter who sets it0

[AccuNut]

the thing is, does DU provide us with a way that the "elements" will be able to distinguish time for each planet?(no matter who sets it)

You mean like clocks? I can't imagine it would be hard to do. If nothing else, it could just "calibrate" once, then keep track of elapsed time. But I am no programmer, so I honestly have no idea how involved / not involved it is.

[Anaximander]

You mean like clocks? I can't imagine it would be hard to do. If nothing else, it could just "calibrate" once, then keep track of elapsed time. But I am no programmer, so I honestly have no idea how involved / not involved it is.

No, it's not hard to script a clock in-game. 

 

You set a clock to add 1 value of a second on a display  ( 00+1), then you script it than when the output of this script is 60, to add +1 on a minute counter, then do the same trick for minutes for hours, up to however much a day lasts on a planet hours-wise, then add an alternating AM and PM display next to the clock, because peopl e may not understand it's night if there's no natural light outside, or they may be confused when logging in during dusk and think it's dawn. Problem is, said clock would have to work non-stop, which means you need to remain online for it to work without having to readjust every time you go offline and the scripts with you.

 

The real question is ... why?

[AccuNut]

Good to know that it wouldn't be hard.

As far as logging off / on and the clock remaining accurate, maybe it will be possible to script the clock to automatically check its own time against that of the planetary or local clock? This might mean that someone would have to actually BUILD a planetary or local clock that emits a calibration signal.

 

Why? Why not?

 

It would be a nice feature for those who want it. If you don't want it, don't use it.