Topic

is glitch anti-social?

i am finding that glitch reduces my overall social interaction rather than increases it.

there are testers who i personally know who i actually spend less time socializing with because of glitch, even though we play at the same time.

glitch cuts into free time i can spend checking facebook or twitter and communicating with these people online, and since glitch is very anti-communicative outside of the help channel, the game actually has a net anti-social effect.

trade hasn't manifested in the game other than a few items given away here and there, and has been largely superseded by auctions, which are almost completely non-social.

there haven't been any foundational collaborative game elements implemented for testing thus far, and it always seems like i'm playing the game in parallel with all these other people, instead of playing with or against them. a chat window does not a social game make.

one promising area for collaboration i found was radiating meditation, which allows you to generate energy and mood for the people around you, and while it was fun at first to "follow" someone doing something energy intensive and act as a kind of "power pack" by constantly radiating, it eventually became a boring, anti-social click fest where i didn't feel much like a collaborator. more like a crutch or literally a hanger-on. there was also pretty much no gameplay reason for me to be doing this other than sheer desperation to try something, anything collaborative.

i understand that the game has to be significantly solo-playable, and that the most basic game elements are still being refined, but it is disappointing that [for me at least] at this stage of development the game is less social than not playing at all.

Posted 2 years ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

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  • I think Glitch needs some help with creating ways and spaces in which to be social too. And while I appreciated your radiation today, after a bit it was, well...it was kinda creepy having you follow me around like a ghost.

    I actually didn't think you were "there" there after a while because you didn't respond to my chat messages, so I thought it was some kind of autopilot thing you could set so you could run off and get a bowl of cereal or something...
    Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • are you psychic or something? jeez that was sadly spot-on : [

    *self-consciously munches mini-wheats*
    Posted 2 years ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Is Glitch intended to be social?
    Posted 2 years ago by Penguin Caffmint Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I am a Cranberry Almond Crunch lover myself.

    Live auctions would be much better than ebay type bidding, surely something like that is possible? Tag sales would also be great too.

    I didn't experience the radiation thing as collaborative at all, it was a neato thing being done to me, or on my behalf, but it's more like a gift anyway in the spirit of it, isn't it?

    I think the real collaborative stuff will come out of chat (yes, I agree that can't be the sum), and whatever ways that allow players to provide content. Right now there are no mechanisms in place for players to create content, but I think once that happens, it will have a big impact. As for chat, I just think it needs a different design--just speaking for me, but I find it hard to manage and hard to read.
    Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "Is Glitch intended to be social?"

    if not, why not just build a standalone flash RPG? why have it be multiplayer at all?

    there are relatively non-social multiplayer games of course, like multiplayer FPSers, but they're at least competitive on a player versus player basis. there's direct interaction and play isn't parallel.

    you see all these other *people* playing and they just sort of whiz past you on their way somewhere else. if the only point is for the world to look busy, they could all just be NPCs.

    "I think the real collaborative stuff will come out of chat"

    i agree, sort of. although there won't be a "main chat" much longer, so people will have to use IM and Group Chats to communicate... but IM and groups chats require friends and groups and probably a gameplay incentive to be opened in the first place.

    right now people only have their existing friends, who may or may not be interested in a game like glitch and may or may not be playing at the same time. they could make new friends through groups, but groups serve no in-game purpose to really spark their use.
    Posted 2 years ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • i know there are plans for community based politics and religion, which will make groups more useful, but i'm not sure if i like the idea of community being primarily bounded by *big* things like politics and religion. it would be nice to see collaboration outside of mobs/crusades, at the more foundational aspects of the game, one on one collaborations or small groups/teams.
    Posted 2 years ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I do generally get the feeling that the gameplay is a little too solo-centric for an MMO. Don't get me wrong; some activities in Glitch should definitely be soloable when you feel like playing by yourself, but there should also be more activities and quests that require cooperation between players to complete.

    Right now, Glitch looks like an MMO, but feels like a single-player game. This actually isn't bad when you have no friends to play with, but once I get my friends to start playing, I'll definitely want more activities that we can enjoy doing together.
    Posted 2 years ago by Lady Lovepuff Subscriber! | Permalink
  • or even just being able to better able to track where friends are and what they are doing, in order to make connecting a bit easier.

    or a way to send out general requests or questions to all your in-game friends that they could respond to asynchronously, from within the game interface.
    Posted 2 years ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • In earlier testing incarnations, I had chosen to 'study' bubble transmogrification before I had done spice milling or gas... whatevering. You need spices and gases for bubbles. So the recipes tell you to "get the spices from your friends." All well and good, but if you didn't have any friends who went down those skill paths in that round of testing, it made it quite tough. I wound up wandering around begging for spices, but didn't make lasting contacts from that. Which was a bit of a bummer, actually.

    I think in the long run, Glitch has the potential to be social, but we are still in early days. I think the skill and quest systems need to be developed to build in a social aspect that can either be embraced or ignored as one sees fit. At this point, they seem to be working on some of the smaller mechanics of the game, as well as these big picture things. But I do think it's good for us to keep bringing them up.
    Posted 2 years ago by Atalanta Subscriber! | Permalink
  • On the chat side of things i would like to see all the areas divided in to regions and have a region chat. In glitch i feel like you don't ever stay in an area long enough to talk to anyone since the areas are quite small, however at times you stay in regions for quite a while. I always feel bad using the help channel for chatting but it also really sucks to not be able to chat with people.

    Another thing i would like to see is region hubs that people maybe would have a reason to hang around in when doing a lot of cooking and such things.

    At this point groups feel sort of pointless to me, they are pretty much something you join to get an extra chat channel. Maybe making them more like guilds would be a good idea, there are a lot of bad sides to guilds, but group houses to hang out in and maybe a few benefits from doing big things together, like group quests or something that would tie in to the ideas in the painting thread to unlock new areas. This might suit glitch if they want to focus on the more social aspects of mmo's.
    Posted 2 years ago by Logrus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think the social facets of the game are still under development and we need to be patient.

    And also that when Glitch is open only for moments here and there, that we as players tend to be overfocused on discovering new things and less social than we might be if the game were always open. (Maybe I am just speaking for myself there.)

    But yeah, the mechanisms aren't yet there to foster collaborative projects. Yet.
    Posted 2 years ago by clare Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think I need some clarification on terms here. When we talk about levels, what are we referring to? When we talk about hubs, what are we referring to? Ti Street, any other area in the game that is represented by a tube-like connector shape on the map, what is that? Is Ti Street a level, a hub or what?

    Also, if a hub is a geographical term, part of the physical layout of the game space, then what terms define the social spaces?

    It's interesting how the tubey/subway tunnel graphic layout of the map, and the move left/right nature of the game reinforce a sense of being a critter in a maze--well, more like a critter in a giant platformy maze. I never really realized until now how the map image influenced how the game feels to me. it's a *good* maze, and a *fun* maze, but...

    I think on the downside, that kind of space creates two anti-social aspects:
    1. There's a lot of zooming past people you know or being zoomed past, and it's literally physically awkward to try to click on them or chat with them...often they are outta there before i can get my chat hello out, smooch 'em or friend request 'em.

    2. Talking together often feels like you are standing in a hallway talking to someone, with people zooming around you. This is only cool if there is a boring meeting somewhere else that you are avoiding. And I often have the thought, "Oh, he/she is probably too busy to talk."--even with people I know well.
    Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • By hub i mean and area that is a bit bigger and maybe more than one vendor, the kind of are where a bit more people could and would gather. By area (or level) i just mean one of the tubes.

    I should probably also clarify that when i'm talking about regions i just mean giving a name to a part of the map, for example like Ix is the regional name for the 5-6 areas you get to when you jump down the great hole to ix.
    Posted 2 years ago by Logrus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The few instances in the game when players collected together for something besides NPC-stuff were a refreshing break. One time stoot had collected a bunch of people to demonstrate something---of course he had to go to an NPC to find more than two people at a time.

    So maybe we need to build in ways that do that more often. We need a way to broadcast across the game (or the street/level) about events happening, and we might need to build in some actions for the players depending on the event, but the subject matter would be determined by the players.

    I was thinking about live auctions last night and that is one great way. As an auctioneer, all I would need is a stump of floating earth to jump on, a way to hold or show off an object, a way for bidders to bid, and some fast typing fingers, and a live auction could be pretty damn fun.

    In fact, that would be a great experiment for the next testing session even without the way to hold objects. Let's see how it works with just local chat.
    Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "Another thing i would like to see is region hubs that people maybe would have a reason to hang around in when doing a lot of cooking and such things."--Logrus

    yep, that is exactly what I was getting at with the paint by numbers thing.
    Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "And also that when Glitch is open only for moments here and there, that we as players tend to be overfocused on discovering new things and less social than we might be if the game were always open. (Maybe I am just speaking for myself there.)"

    i think you're speaking for most players at this point, but a lot of us who have been playing through all the tests pretty much have discovered everything new, or burn through all the new content in the first hour or so of the test.

    so while a lot of people are just too busy playing to talk or organize collaboration, i don't think the lack of options for collaboration and interaction are simply due to that. and if hours and hours of free time in the game are required for the most basic collaboration and interaction to be sparked, that's a problem.

    "We need a way to broadcast across the game (or the street/level) about events happening"

    but before that's useful there needs to be a good reason to hold events. if we had a feature like that during the next test, what would you broadcast? that you were mining in the caverns? that you needed a certain item?

    there's no reason for anyone to help you mine. as for needing an item - by the time someone stopped what they were doing, made the item and arrived at your location with it, you probably could have have made it yourself or be well on your way to making it.

    "yep, that is exactly what I was getting at with the paint by numbers thing."

    i do like the paint the level idea, and the musical level idea. they are simple and obviously collaborative and don't need to be tied into the overall quest system or economy. plus they sound fun and creative in a way that goes beyond mixing and matching doll clothes on our avatars.
    Posted 2 years ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "but before that's useful there needs to be a good reason to hold events. if we had a feature like that during the next test, what would you broadcast? that you were mining in the caverns? that you needed a certain item?"

    no, not broadcasting for that kind of workaday stuff. For that you can post a note to your friends, or like you say, just do it yourself.

    I mean events specifically designed to give people a reason to stop using a level/hub/whatever as a subway tunnel. Well, designed is a bad word, because it's really about what the users do.

    Say I walk into an area, broadcast that I am about to hold a live auction event, and then go to my floating stump and wait for a crowd to show up. I have my no-no powder and I conduct an auction right there, with people indicating their currant bids via the local chat. Yes, I know there are lots of other ways to get no-no powder..but with an entertaining and talented auctioneer, and a game bunch of players, it would make for an entirely different and way cooler way to get no-no powder.

    You could play specific chat-friendly games, like a trivia game (remember playing them in Flickr Live way back when?). I would assume political rallies would be held this way, as would impromptu sermons on the stump. Game playing tutorials for newbies...really the possibilities are endless. It's just something we haven't done yet because we are focusing all our energies on the coded activities and on exploring.
    Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "Say I walk into an area, broadcast that I am about to hold a live auction event, and then go to my floating stump and wait for a crowd to show up."

    right, my point is that the broadcast function isn't useful without the live auction function, or some other interactive/collaborative function.

    broadcasting doesn't spur collaboration or interaction in and of itself, and wouldn't do much on its own given the current gameplay [mining, asking for items]. it would require something like a live auction or other communal activity before becoming useful.

    "You could play specific chat-friendly games, like a trivia game (remember playing them in Flickr Live way back when?)."

    this is what i'm talking about when i say that glitch is actually anti-social. it isn't even socially neutral. if it was socially neutral, yeah, we'd probably invent games in chat, but there is a big non-social game that sucks any desire, attention or energy we would need to do that.

    it isn't possible to come up with creative things to do in chat when everyone is diverted by mindlessly and repeatedly clicking rocks over and over again in order to receive some kind of pavlovian endorphine hit each time they level in reward for their "accomplishment" of endlessly clicking rocks.
    Posted 2 years ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Well, if I don't unload that no-no powder soon, the Lembian mob is gonna go after my knee caps. So next test, I will be selling it in a live auction.
    Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "So next test, I will be selling it in a live auction."

    that will be difficult, since no one can currently buy anything from someone else.

    so you'll need to get the bidder to convert their currants into something that is both bought and sold at one currant per item, then pay you in that item and reconvert the item back to currants.

    the higher level players with the time to engage in this, since they are not busy with the low level questing, can probably just buy the item in the official auction system or make it themselves. no?

    people might participate in such an auction as a one off novelty tho, i guess.
    Posted 2 years ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I wouldn't say that Glitch is anti-social. Sure, I wouldn't mind collaborative quests but for now I am happy with discovering what I can do with all the items etc.
    Back in GNE times the social aspect really just kicked in after most of us knew our happy little online world like our RL neighborhood and we were looking for things to do with items beyond their original purpose.
    Speaking of ancient times... what I would like to see in Glitch again are NOTES.
    Basically, a piece of paper you can write on and, if you want to, leave around for others to read or add their thoughts to. You could write tips for new players on it, start a story, use it as a newspaper... endless possibilities.

    I agree that the zooming in and out of hubs creates a rather hectic atmosphere right now. This could be reduced by having a few extra rooms or spaces in certain 'important' hubs (e.g. the ones where vendors are). Maybe a backroom to meet with friends to chat or a market place for public auctions (I do like to see those!).
    Posted 2 years ago by Mina Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +10 on Notes, especially if you can leave 'em lying around inside the game.
    Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +10 for Notes, blast from the past!
    Posted 2 years ago by Peter Verona Subscriber! | Permalink
  • You can have a good social site with chat toys and a light game like alpha GNE & Helpnet or you can have a good game with a light social side enhanced by chat toys. Can't have both until we grow an extra pair of arms and brains. I can't really praise or criticize Glitch on either front, cuz we've only been getting glimpses at the first few days of play and everyone is in GO!GO!GO! mode.

    When notes come up, I get visions of huge drifts of them on the streets.
    Posted 2 years ago by Tingly Claus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "You can have a good social site with chat toys and a light game like alpha GNE & Helpnet or you can have a good game with a light social side enhanced by chat toys."

    gee, i dunno. World of Warcraft is a pretty heavy game and is very very social, tho i'm guessing a lot of that has to do with 3rd party VOIP components like Ventrilo. but not all of it.

    but still, i don't think the game side and the social/communal/interactive side are mutually exclusive. too many examples to the contrary.
    Posted 2 years ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I admit it comes across as anti-social. During the couple hours that I played, I never found it necessary to REALLY communicate with anyone other than the garlic kisses and mooning as hit and runs.

    I'm sure the community will come as the come evolves. I know that I was playing it passively and doing things in my downtime when I was on facebook or World of Warcraft. Glitch seems to be very good as running in the background like that, which is why it's really easy to keep yourself secluded from the community, you don't actually need to be on the page to play.

    I'm sure if quests were added that could be done in a group, it would be much more social.

    But, we'll have to wait until more features are rolled out.

    As for World of Warcraft, it's social because it's much more communication friendly. I find it really annoying that I have to CLICK the chat box to chat. Enter is usually how I chat, but enter is a action key here. I feel it would be much more natural to use WASD as movement keys, and "E" as an action key instead, and leave enter as a chat button. Also, allow keybindings.

    Being able to use the keyboard for all ingame actions would make Glitch MUCH more enjoyable to play, it was really my only annoyance. [Having to occasionally use my mouse for interactions]
    Posted 2 years ago by Hybrid Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "but still, i don't think the game side and the social/communal/interactive side are mutually exclusive."

    You can say it authoritatively, no doubt about its truth.

    We can do VOIP today, no problemo. Well, tomorrow.
    Posted 2 years ago by Tingly Claus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hybrid - ctrl+enter/command+enter toggles currently toggles between game and chat: alpha.glitch.com/help/
    Posted 2 years ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "We can do VOIP today, no problemo. Well, tomorrow."

    but WoW has guild raids that spur VOIP use, glitch has no such team-play elements.

    so it is possible to do, but there are no social/communal/interactive play elements to make it worthwhile.

    same with live auctions. you can try doing them, but the whole game design pulls in the opposite direction.
    Posted 2 years ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Glitch has next-to-nothing so far since we're still in newbieland and even that still has aways to go. The social side is more something for the devs to keep in the back of their collective mind at this point. It may even be best that the social game is tiny at this point, basically a very early and incomplete version of Day 1. Let people ease into it like people normally do with anything social. So I guess a better question is how social should the game be at the start.
    Posted 2 years ago by Tingly Claus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Although I get where you're coming from in terms of reaching a plateau and still not seeing much opportunity for socialising, I think there aren't enough people in your situation at the same time to let that social stuff develop naturally. From what I can see, the vast majority of playtesters are still spending most of their playtesting time working through the lower levels. (witness the crowds around vendors etc.) I certainly know I only get an hour or so maximum play time on a testing day.

    To get around this, I wonder if it would just be easier not to wipe characters or to give us all a boost so that we can explore some of the more developed ideas. Are there going to be playtests where we start at level 10 (or whatever)?
    Posted 2 years ago by wurzel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Maybe as the world expands....we could have a community participation in making it unfold in game...Like an area where a new street will open soon,and we can go in and help build so to speak...Pick an area to contribute to and make a quest of it.. .jmo
    Posted 2 years ago by Tilly TrinkleHouse Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "It may even be best that the social game is tiny at this point, basically a very early and incomplete version of Day 1."

    yah, this is a good way to put it. And certainly for those who have gone through multiple resets, it also feels like Groundhog Day, which possibly makes socializing less of a priority. But I do think the existing social tools could be improved.
    Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "When notes come up, I get visions of huge drifts of them on the streets."

    I love the idea of notes. To keep from all the clutter of having them littering the streets, why not have a community bulletin board on one or two of the busiest streets where notes can be posted? There could be a limit to the number of notes... once they've been inactive for a certain length of time they'll fall to the ground and *poof* away and someone can post a new one. I see some snazzy wanted posters up on the board too - perhaps for people known for obsessive garlic-smooching or, if the Mini-Mes were implemented, for those whose little shadows were wreaking havoc in the area. They wouldn't necessarily have to be captured, just have their picture up for pure entertainment.

    Back to the intent of the post, though. I think once the game is open, we'll be forced (not in a bad way, but naturally) to interact more with others. Think about it - there will be many, many more players than we have right now. I doubt there will be nearly as many instances when we find ourselves alone on a street, wallowing in self-pity and loneliness. ;) Aside from all the creative ideas pouring in, it's up to us to type a few words into local chat and say "hey! sweet panda skins, dude!" Not everyone will be receptive to chatting, but those that will - those are the people that will make the game what we're hoping it will be. So instead of hoping with fingers crossed that the game will somehow become more social, we can be proactive while we wait and try more to actually BE social in-game. I find it entertaining to watch the speech bubbles. Use 'em! :D
    Posted 2 years ago by Bunyip Subscriber! | Permalink
  • ohsuziecue, next test, i will come find you, and let's see if we can draw a crowd of our own, and make a bunch of speech bubbles. Maybe kazatlam will use some of his sparkly powder to help us to get people's attention, others can kiss people and spread the word, and you, I and anyone else in the mood can take turns speechifying: Maybe a lecture on the dangers of disemprobablization, or myths about the giants, maybe a Glitch Q&A...or some nice light stand up comedy. striatic can radiate heckling vibes. ;-)
    Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • haha Sounds like a plan! I am so excited for this next test. ;D
    Posted 2 years ago by Bunyip Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "it's up to us to type a few words into local chat and say "hey! sweet panda skins, dude!""

    yeah, i've tried that.

    by the time i hit "enter", they're usually onto the next street already, or at least off the screen where they can't see the bubble. and then the message gets clobbered by the unending torrent of local event messages. like if i'm meditating, a player says something locally and my meditation event messages push whatever they've said 'above the fold' of the chat box almost immediately.

    "So instead of hoping with fingers crossed that the game will somehow become more social, we can be proactive while we wait and try more to actually BE social in-game."

    sort of assumes we haven't been trying.

    part of the problem is how difficult it is to do anything with anyone in the game, because of the fundamental nature of the game's geography.

    so i remember one of the few social gatherings that has occurred so far. it was when stewart debuted the music blocks in Lem Hill, and he made an announcement in help chat for people to come check them out.

    it took me about five minutes to end my mining run and recharge my energy to simply be able to walk from the caves to lem hill. then it took me somewhere between 7 to 10 minutes to actually travel the distance, in part because of the walking time but the load screens between each and every street added a considerable delay. so all in all, it took about a quarter of an hour between deciding to go to the event and actually getting there. that's about as much time as it takes for me to get on my bike and go to the other side of the lake to hang out with people i actually know. just to have the most basic interaction in a shared space.

    other games have geography, most MMOGs do, but most of them aren't so fragmented into streets so merely moving from one place to another isn't such an ordeal. it still takes time, but can be done much more casually. i see that the pet rock is going to offer a teleportation option soon, which is good, but is it going to cost currants to teleport? will that stand in the way of doing group activities on a whim, especially when the game gets bigger? again, socializing becomes at odds with gameplay, since dealing with the slow geography is part of the game. it seems like it is supposed to be difficult to get around, since otherwise collecting resources would be easier. indeed all teleportation options thus far have required a fairly significant outlay of currants.

    which is a long-winded way of saying that i don't think it is our fault as players that we aren't being social enough, or not experimenting enough. and that maybe there's something about the way the game environment is structured that deadens the instinct or ability to experiment.
    Posted 2 years ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • We haven't really seen "the game" yet, just an incomplete view of the first days of play. Didn't someone say that the chat area is getting a big revamp later?
    Posted 2 years ago by Tingly Claus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "striatic can radiate heckling vibes. ;-)"

    going to be travelling today, so no.
    Posted 2 years ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This is really interesting - as people have said I think it's a factor of people currently focussing on levelling up and testing the mechanics, perhaps also because of the density of players at the same levels at the moment (all clustering round vendors and then fairly empty elsewhere inworld). However, there might be something in the nature of Glitch being a little antisocial - I've not witnessed many chats about testing things or people discussing bugs inworld, which I would have thought might be likely.

    Conversely, this thread is very social.
    Posted 2 years ago by Snufkin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Besides adding some more collaborative or competitive elements, I think perhaps the maps could show places where you can go to find congregations of people willing to socialize. I like the solo exploration aspect, but I would also like to know where I can go to actually interact with other people who aren't on solo exploration missions.

    Also, for some reason I find the chat window UI easy to miss... and is there a shortcut to enter "say something" mode?
    Posted 2 years ago by Zachstronaut Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Also also, I think there should be a clear indication when an avatar's owner is away from the keyboard or has their focus on some other window or is otherwise occupied and definitely isn't going to respond to you if you talk to them simply because they aren't paying any attention to the Glitch window.
    Posted 2 years ago by Zachstronaut Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Zachstronaut - I think this may have been mentioned before, but it'd be a fun idea if when the window was minimized or behind another application, the player dropped to the ground and took a snooze, complete with "Zs" :)
    Posted 2 years ago by Bunyip Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Or if their head did that dropping forward and then jerking back thing that happens when people keep dozing off and then waking up...cracks me up every time!

    the way text balloons cover each other up is sort not great--it forces you to jerk your eyes back to the chat window to see what is being covered up. That's already bad enough with all the stuff that happens in the chat window anyway. I think what I would rather see is the ant-crawl format of the chat window get transposed into one fat chat bubble in the interface, if that is possible.
    Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This has been an interesting thread - thanks for all the feedback.

    In answer to the original question: "no" ;)

    But the answer depends on what you mean by "Glitch": if it was just what you see implemented on alpha.glitch.com today, then, sure, it is not particularly social. But we're still in the early stages and since we can't develop all at once, we need to choose some things to do first.

    Building a basic world with a few things to do/accomplish which can serve as a context in which people interact before working on explicit social tools/features has made sense because:

    (i) Social interaction comes more easily when there is stuff going on in the world (something to talk about);
    (ii) Most of the solo activities are building blocks for multiplayer activities and need to be solid before they are used in construction, and
    (iii) We haven't been ready to test with more than about 100 simultaneous players until recently and we wouldn't get much out of testing social features with such small numbers.

    We're maybe 75% done on tools & technology for a 1.0 (open beta/early launch), about 50% done on features and probably only 5-10% done in developing content (quests, skills, achievements, locations, npcs, and so on).

    However, most of the remaining features in the pipeline operate at the level of multiple player – things like p2p trading, collaborating to develop and upgrade new locations, group ownership, multiplayer quests and more.

    (And, of course, 1.0 is just the starting point … then the real work starts. We will be in active development for a very long time after that.)
    Posted 2 years ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Lalu: "the way text balloons cover each other up is sort not great--it forces you to jerk your eyes back to the chat window to see what is being covered up."

    Yeah, I have long believed that the best way to handle that would be the ability to "click in" to someone's talk bubble and reply inline and start a conversation, somewhere between the local chat and party levels. Then others could click in too and it'd have its own scroll history separate from the local chat/activity pane.

    Also, when we get around to auto-spacing avatars out when you settle in to chat, and orienting people to face each other, and turning the avatars heads to look towards the person who is talking, etc., etc., the in-situ conversing will be much smoother.
    Posted 2 years ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Stoot - It's great to hear that interaction between characters, ingame in the manner that you describe, is being worked on. Having subtle things like that really pull the mind in.
    Posted 2 years ago by Bingobar Subscriber! | Permalink
  • If you could have a group of friends share a house and improvements could be made on it, they could have a shared storage environment, etc. then it would encourage the group of friends to grow in different specialties, knowing they could get help in certain areas from other members of the house. I think this could bring some cool social elements. I really enjoy games where group participation is encouraged and where it takes multiple people to complete a quest.
    Posted 2 years ago by Flickerfly Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 shared houses
    Posted 2 years ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So, shared houses = guilds?
    Or clubhouses. :)
    Posted 2 years ago by Bingobar Subscriber! | Permalink
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