Make Torn Playable WITHOUT Images

As an experiment, I've turned images off for Torn.com.

[background color=var(--bbc-body-bg-color)]You would not believe how fast pages load - the difference, for me at least, is beyond significant, verging on WTF???
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Unfortunately, Torn has not been built as a pure text game - many of the images are an important part of the navigation system.

Given that this actually is a text-based game, it should be playable without images. There should be a choice to play all-text, or, at the very least, it should still be playable when images are turned off.

Either of those options would make a great change for those of us who are either sick of Torn's graphics, or sick of 2-minute page loads, or both.

Give us a break - give the servers a break - give us the option to play a truly text-based game. The difference it would make to wars and competitions could be...well...game-changing.

Absolutely support this, much needed especially after the dumb decision of adding 3D models without an option to turn them off.

How did you turn off images?

As I said in the first thread you replied to: It's different for different browsers.

On Chrome, you can turn images off for specific websites by going to Settings / Privacy & Security / Site Settings / Images.

Don't get me wrong though, Torn navigation is currently image-based and often alt-less, so it's not a lot of fun.

Thanks for both responses. I wanted to make sure people could find the information in both places. I like this idea too btw.

Because the menu system is images...

^Exactly what Penetration said. Much of the Nav system is image-based and when it disappears there aren't even any alts to let you know where your cursor is hoveriing.

I wonder if doing this would also help the vision-impaired who use text-to-voice readers when navigating the site (pun not intended).

You're correct - I did come up from the MUDs, but I do not mistake Torn for a MUD - it is a related but much richer paradigm. So rich, in fact, that people continue to play despite the regularity of lag during important events.

Torn's lag can be profound over here on the west side of the North American continent. If I had an option to turn the rampant (one might even say excessive) item images off and leave the important NAV images on, I think it would make the game more playable, especially during wars, comps and peak hours. During regular hours I would probably turn the images back on and enjoy the whole Torn experience...but it is such a drag to experience crippling lag at crucial moments in a war, or an event, that I am now trying to teach myself to play with all the images off, by memorising the NAV layout.

Meanwhile, you double down on the imagery, making increasingly complex graphics for an expanding inventory of items. Would it not be a good idea to fix the lag issues before you do that - or at least give us an opt-out to preserve our sanity?

P.S. (Thank you for making this game, and please take any implicit criticism I ever voice in context - I wouldn't bother engaging for something of less worth - cheers!)

I totally support this access without image option. I expanded certificate of lame on my phone and my browser hanged. Took me more than a minute to close that page and move. I use a 5 year old phone and it's low on processing power. Torn was a game where I never needed to worry about which device I'm using. Looks like that's not going to be the case anymore.

Actually, a MUD does not have to be entirely text, the definition simply requires that it be multi-user, and involve dungeons. The MUD as a game type has largely faded into obscurity with the rise of MMORPGs (which is what Torn actually is). The ability to make games Massively Multiplayer being the main distinction. Also, an RPG does not necessarily con-notate a "dungeon" game. The "Dungeon" in MUD of course derives from Dungeons & Dragons, so it specifically references that classic RPG, which was paper and pen based long before it was ever adapted to computerize play.

Ched, ditching the graphics would greatly reduce server load (although not nearly as much as fixing the items database). Offering it would thus impact server costs... a great many people would flock to this option at least part of the time as it would speed up their game-play and give them an advantage over those playing with graphics. Furthermore, the development investment for this option would not be all that huge. It would also widen the scope of players able to play the game for reasons such as Dakarnob suggested: those who cannot afford newer hardware. May even open up whole regions of the world for play.

Brilliant idea Sepulchrave!

100%.

I would like to turn off all graphics, especially if it will improve my U.S. / North America West Coast delays on all attacks. During wars we load an attack and the fights usually over from someone with a better geographic reach. Or, we come out of the Hosp just to see we are back in before our attack even loads. I use multiple screens / tabs, but it doesn't matter. It's real slow for Western North America. Any help there would really be an improvement.

So, if we could turn off the graphics and improve the playability for those far from the Torn Servers that would be swell.

So it's more playable. While it works with graphics off, it's pretty bad since the game uses many graphics for the navigation.

It would be awesome if you guys found a way to remove the graphics for us players in regions that are much slower to load. The graphics are killing us competitively. We could turn off graphics during wars / events and be more competitive. We currently live with a significant disadvantage. We would then turn them back on when not in wars / events.

Is there a thread for the bad game play North American West Coast players endure due to the latency / lag?

In RWs where you wait for someone to come out of a Hospital and have to compete with Mercs for the kill, we are totally helpless and of no help to a faction.

If you are in the HOSP and you med out, the screen can refresh with you back in the HOSP... that one is always fun.

I've seen people dropped from top 20 factions because they could not compete. Is there a solution here, or just this is just the nature of the beast and we are second class Torn citizens?

Note: I have a blazing fast quad core with 400 Mbps down.

We should form a support group.

Welcome to Torn, where half the players get to hit, and the other half gets to watch.

[image: external-content.duckduckgo.com]
Me, waiting for my attack to load.

ROFPML
That was me our last war, embarrassing af as the leader.

Bump
R+
Love the idea