Jump to content

A RESTful Api to for Third Party Applications


Crowmeleon

Recommended Posts

I think it would be amazing if we could access a RESTful Api to build third party applications. 

 

Uses of a Restful Api: 

- An Economics Application to monitor the current market. 

- Profile Viewer to allow for an in depth look at your character or even look at players constructs

- Access the market blueprints to be able to browse the different ones freely without being in the game itself.

 

Honestly the possibilities are endless with we had access to one of these.  

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure it's something I'd implement right off the bat, if I were NQ. I'd want people to first build up attachments to the game, before expanding features. That said, at some point it is something which will add a lot, and attract a lot. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure I want too much external tools... I love the idea to have a Dual world and everything in it.

 

It would be to players and market managers to offer data to this kind of tool, but inside the game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, Jon Oxdale said:

I'm not sure I want too much external tools... I love the idea to have a Dual world and everything in it.

 

It would be to players and market managers to offer data to this kind of tool, but inside the game.

Never underestimate the sheer impact on development and growth of a game from things people are enabled to do out of game. 

 

Like, at work :) 

 

Joking aside, I am serious. I can understand the reservations, but a sandbox is about human behaviour in all its forms. Community building is a huge part of that, and while the game "is" there that does not mean that everybody always has acces to it. There's a default element of game / out of game connectivity that ties in with both making a game succesful commercially as well as rewarding from different player perspectives. 

 

In game also carries limitations on its own. No developer can provide for everything a player might want or need. That isn't just a debate on resource allocation in development for and by developers, it's also a product marketing topic. And a topic for players themselves. Practical example, I'd love to be able to dig through market data in game. But game time is limited. Elsewhere I typically have more time to dig through things. As such from my perspective I'd be happy with just a market interaction mechanism in game, but I would appreciate deeply a way of having an out of game webapp that would let me figure out patterns, logistical dependancies, historical tracks and so forth. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Nanoman said:

Hmm I'm thinking maybe it's a good idea if the web-api allows access to the databank elements on ones own constructs or something (would require authentication of course). Maybe even not just for reading but also for writing. This could be a fairly simple and flexible way of exchanging data between the game and the web without compromising security or privacy. I don't know, just a thought.

 

With the proper scripting that could also enable management of all kinds of in-game things, without having to login to the game.

Agreed. I understand that NQ may not want to implement an API at this time because they are concerned it will lead to unfair advantages by some (i remember someone at NQ saying something like this - please correct me if I am wrong), I feel that an API for certain aspects of the game can be a valuable tool, especially for the larger organizations. For example, being able to read information on storage containers to keep inventory on resource amounts or receiving market data on a specific item from the day before (real-time market info gathering would not be good, not to mention that it can be a really fun job for someone to do). Refer to the CREST API from Eve Online, which does allow you to pull market data on a specific item, given certain arguments that you pass to it. The freshest information you can obtain is of the day before (as far as I am aware), which while valuable for seeing long-term trends, is not necessarily good for doing anything in the short term (in hours). This is my opinion of course. Those who are more experience with this kind of thing are free to correct me.

 

Its just a matter of finding the right things to implement and what limits to impose on those aspects of the interface to give as much utility as possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, Nanoman said:

Maybe RDMS access would also be a good candidate to be part of an eventual web api.

 

Unless of course NQ wants that you always have to physically travel (in-game) to the thing you want to edit the RDMS settings on.

 

I haven't heard anything about the ability to do it remotely, but I don't know of any reasons not to. Would there be exploits?

 

Let's say I'm on planet A and I have a ship on planet B that a friend wants to borrow. So either I would have to travel to planet B to give them permissions, or the game allows me to do it from wherever I am on planet A. If the latter, then I think it would also make sense to put it in the web api (if there is one). But if the former then obviously not.

That could be done without remote access to the object. Simply give it flag "guest ship 31" in advance, and if anyone wants to borrow it you give him "guest ship 31" access tag.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...