Wish List for Software Projects

gaim

remote control: should be able to set away messages per account via remote terminal.
logging in
- account manager's columns should be resizable (and remember sizes).
- login window should be removed in favor of account manager.
- status bars for logging in should be in the account manager (as a column, progress bar and cancel button go there, plus "cancel all" at bottom).
grouping
- buddy groups (right click on a buddy and go to expand - you can put other contacts in there) should have an option to have the first buddy as the group so as to not use up space.
- buddy groups should have an option to display all buddies that are available (not away, n/a, dnd, etc)
pouncing
- pounce expiration field - remove pounce after specified time/date.
- menu of offline buddies in new pounce creation, hierarchical by buddy group (online buddies
- prompt to make a message a pounce if buddy signed off before it got sent, option to to it autmatically.
- queued pounces for a buddy with a conversation window open should show up with at least beginning of message content and a cancel button
hotkeys for toggle sound, logs, formatting toolbar.
option to strip html from logs except links.
disconnected?
- unified window for "disconnected" messages that lists disconnects and attempts at reconnecting, with a 'reconnect' button that de-activatees when user is online. do this on a per-account basis (perhaps one button per account and mention of account in log?).
- keep buddy list even if no accounts online (i'm tired of getting reconnected in the wrong desktop).
- option keep status and away message through reconnects, another option to preserve them between sessions.
monitor focus of windows; when a message is received in an unfocused window, system tray icon should have the message status (with an option to blink) until that window gains focus. the system tray should have a tooltip mentioning who has sent unseen messages. clicking it will bring you to the oldest unread message's window and tab.
show idle time somewhere in msg window (since status is now there)
plugin to report the title of any url/link mentioned

rhythmbox/gstreamer

This will be a great player, but has the following problems that need to be addressed before I will use it:

pause must happen faster and without garbage noise for even a fraction of a second (which it does for me w/ OSS)
command line must allow for the following commands:
- --stop ... why is there no ability to do this? stop as in next time you play, it starts the song over.
- --play rather than --play-pause. if already playing, this restarts the song from the beginning.
- --pause, which should do nothing if there is no music playing. I don't really require this, but it is needed for completeness.
options must include an option to run a script on each songchange (xmms does this).
way to edit mp3 info (id3) and ogg info. there should be a setting or argument to disable this feature.
more keyboard shortcuts and the ability to customize them ... or at least to not need a modifier key.

these are enhancement requests, not so mandatory

--stop-after-current, do not play anything after the current song. Works like Winamp's shift+stop (or was it ctrl+stop; i forget). For xmms, i wrote a script that runs a temporary file every time a new song starts. i have another script which writes 'xmms --stop' into that temporary file when I press my keyboard's stop button while holding shift.
way to view files by filesystem sorting (filetree and/or sort by location)
helper program that can display song, artist, album, time left, and progress bar ... i want this on all desktops like xmms

mozilla and mozilla firefox, etc

so much goes here that it has its own page.

A first-person shooter

hackproofing: pgp handshake client and server, sending checksums of programs
character building (like a role-playing game) with levels, equipment, money instead of experience. have this carry over between games rather than resetting (allow server overrides that support counter-strike style start-from-scratch play). see old fighting game One Must Fall 2097 for reference.
large map support via zones; limited connection between zones to give illusion of one large area. model such areas after things like college campuses or cities
theme idea: a prison world
- one main gang controls most of the world, including remnants of structures that used to be prisons and/or guardhouses.
- players can join that gang after passing a series of tests, and it has benefits like comaraderie and access to equipment, but side-effects like quests, dues, and some other stuff that i haven't thought of yet.
- dungeon crawl mode (a la Serious Sam): rescue a reporter held by the gang to win a ride off the planet.
- assassinations: have a stealth stat, which determines how good you are at sneaking. to kill a character, you have to have a good reason (as determined by heuristics judging karma, target's prestige, and inter-gang relations), and then you have to sneak up and "attack" - best of five one-on-one deathmatches. loser is permanently dead. if caught in sneaking (by a fellow gang member or somebody who notices and cares), the assassin can be challenged in the same format, but the challenger does not risk permanent death. assassination makes for a good gang quest and does not necessarily need to be against a player's character.
console should be a bash shell with a $PATH to include game-specific scripts. this will allow for a few remote commands, but not too many, as we don't want cheats. the shell will therefore be a special restrictive version of bash (limit output rate of un-approved programs, text-only in non-fixed-width output to prevent maps and other help).
weapon queue keybindings: something like 'best weapon' but have a queue per binding; example: i want e and r to select the topmost weapon i have in that button's list. this lets me quickly switch to my most powerful weapon or a secondary weapon (like a grenade). q should be configured to cycle backwards through my 'e' list. a good scripting language should make this kind of thing simple.
gpl'ed bots which can be allowed or denied (by checksum, ip, or password) in server configuration.
modes: dungeon crawl, deathmatch, team deathmatch, ctf, hostage, bomb, borrow (get a device from enemy, use it in home base, then bring it to a third site).
weapons: allow custom created weapons (server can set a permissible list) that have some sort of forced balance in key elements. for example, damage/accuracy/rate-of-fire/penetrativeness. default set should have a std. weak weapon, one or two weak weapons that have tricky ways to be used powerfully (see Unreal Tournament's #3 and #4 (names: plasma and goo?)), three or so medium weapons, and four+ good weapons. weapons should have more than one method of fire and should require some level of skill to use one or both methods effectively. Unreal Tournament (with exception of redeemer) is extremely balanced in this regard.

wouldn't it be cool...

this section is for items too abstract or unique to otherwise be categorized