<P><B>The PDX private messaging system
<P>The full manual by Evil Invasion
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<P>ii. Introduction
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<P>I designed the PM system used in PDX Forum City by request from Despot as a way for the citizens to send instantaneous messages to each other without necessarily knowing the recipient's e-mail address or telephone number.
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<P>A question I often get is "can other people watch what I'm doing through this thing?" Of course the answer is a resounding no. I think the cause of these concerns is that the PM system is set up very similarly to the datalink in Deus Ex, but rest assured that the PM system is a one-way voice communication channel with absolutely no direct connection to the HUD.
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<P>For the sake of clarity, I feel I should describe the functionality of the HUD before I move on. Skip this paragraph if you feel you already know all you need to know about the HUD. The HUD, or Heads-Up Display, is the visual interface through which you perceive the world. I didn't create it, it's an obvious necessity for easily comprehending all the data which makes up Forum City. The HUD is a very personal system which is entirely isolated from communication with any other system by default, and therefore nobody can spy on you through your HUD systems. There is, however, an option for forwarding certain ports to your HUD so other people may link themselves to your visual output, but this requires that you give them a set of access codes. If nobody has your HUD access codes, NOBODY can see what you're seeing. End of story.
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<P>When you understand that the HUD system is a completely entirely 100% secure system, and that it has nothing to do with the private messaging system, it should become apparent that the PM system does not allow anybody to spy on you. Somebody who sends you a PM can't even see if you receive it, not even if you've given him access to your HUD and he's watching*. This also answers another frequently asked question: "Can other people see what PM's I receive?" Since you are the only person with access to your PM system and the voice messages are exclusively played in your own head (in your imagination, so to speak), nobody can see what messages you receive.
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<P>I hope that has eliminated a few understandable concerns. In the following chapters, I'll be discussing the source structure of the PM system and the problems I plan to fix in future updates...
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<P>*With the notable exception of the moderator corps. King Kashue has the means to monitor the PM traffic to and from certain individuals, but while the moderators can see which PM's you get from whom, they have no way of actually reading the contents of each message.