Topic

Staff Topic

Your Opinion: Replace Global Chat with "Region Chat" or "Random Chat"?

Global chat will go away sometime soon. I know there are some people who think that should never happen, but I don't think those people have a clear idea of what it will be like with 1,000 or 5,000 or 25,000 participants (it'll break your computer, for sure).

We are considering two alternatives:

Region Chat
A chat pane which everyone in the same area as you ("area" could be as narrow as the thing we have called "hubs" — Shimla Mirch or Ix, for example — or it could be small groupings, like all of Groddle Isle, all of the Firebog areas, etc).

Pros: easy to understand (natural grouping), easy to know when you are leaving
Cons: we Glitches change areas/zones pretty quickly compared to many games

"Random" Chat
A chat pane with a random selection of the people online, simulating the old Global Chat, which would stay with you for a whole session (spanning over multiple reloads).

Pros: consistent for a play session, so doesn't force you to make a choice between staying put and finishing a conversation
Cons: not easy to understand/not tied to anything in the world
--

So, what do you think we should do? (If we had implemented the damn voting system already, we'd be using that ;)

Posted 15 months ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Both, + keeping your home-region-chat pinned.

    Downside to region chat is that it can get overcrowded too. Downside to be able to "pin" or anchor a chat is that statistically everyone could still join the same chat... So if it is about distributing people evenly, it will have to be a random chat or a chat you leave when changing zones.

    Braindump:
    How to divide a group of players into an undefined amount of chats
    - Not on level
    - not on appearance
    - On location?
    - Random?
    - On total time played
    - On giant (with different instances of the chat if there are too many)
    - On housing region (those without a house can select 1 home chat, that way they can check if they like the neighbours befor buying a house)
    - Leave it up to players to create a general chat. (With a max of participants)
    - Put a counter in the chat to see how many people are in it, and what the max is for the chat. (So you know if your friend is able to join it or not)
    - Make it easy to create a chat ingame, lets say /channel Overload would make a new channel named Overload. The chat "dies" if the last one in it leaves.


    Bolded the things I liked most.
    Posted 15 months ago by Miriamele Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I prefer regional chat to random. I certainly don't want any more lag due to a crush of chatters.
    Posted 15 months ago by Mollie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 for Regional - that way people can hang out in certain areas, and a subset of communities can grow - as long as the region is clearly defined (perhaps even regional styling on the chat window?). Random chat would just be, well, random.
    Posted 15 months ago by Dante Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I never use global, too many people, too hard to keep up but I could imagine regional being worth keeping an eye on to see what was happening nearby.  At least until the game is so full regional chat has too many people in it too lol
    Posted 15 months ago by Reni's Mum Subscriber! | Permalink
  • For my $.02, region chat is the way to go. Do it something like WoW. Have a General channel which is connected to whatever region you're currently in. Also allow people to explicitly join a region's chat (if for instance, I wanted to listen to Alakol chat because I lived there). For the people that like the idea of random chat...certainly. You could just make a whole bunch of "virtual channels" with say, a 100 person cap...and when you join Random, you get tossed into a randomly selected Random channel that isn't yet full. Maybe provide a button to push to request a different Random channel if nobody in your current one is talking. And as people logout or leave and push the channel below "full", just add it to the "Not Yet Full" pool.
    Posted 15 months ago by TrentSkunk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think Home Owners Association groups don't work for a lot of reasons.  1)  Noobs don't really know how to work groups well 2) it's hard to find different groups 3) unless it's changed, there is a limit to how many groups you can join 4) Group chats can be confusing/overwhelming when there are a lot of different ones.
    Posted 15 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • maybe we could split global chat into 3 or 4 pieces?
    other then that i vote for the regional chat :)
    Posted 15 months ago by GiaTori Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Regional chat - but when you just have to teleport home or the savanna you lose all the conversations?
    Why not have options like - dare I mention Twitter? - view open stream, view those you are friends with?

    Definately would like the option to follow group chats - would not like to lose the collaborative atmosphere of projects. 

    Would a hashtag principle be feasible? 
    Posted 15 months ago by Sonneratti Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Of the two options initially given, I'll throw my vote in for "regional", defined however you devs see fit.
    Posted 15 months ago by DJ Plaid Subscriber! | Permalink
  • if i HAVE to choose, i would say regional, and base it on house or world location. ie placement in game such as lx, or groddle.....you know.

    ( i have to say i agree with TrentSkunk)

      "Have a General channel which is connected to whatever region you're currently in. Also allow people to explicitly join a region's chat (if for instance, I wanted to listen to Alakol chat because I lived there). For the people that like the idea of random chat...certainly. You could just make a whole bunch of "virtual channels" with say, a 100 person cap...and when you join Random, you get tossed into a randomly selected Random channel that isn't yet full. Maybe provide a button to push to request a different Random channel if nobody in your current one is talking. And as people logout or leave and push the channel below "full", just add it to the "Not Yet Full" pool."
    Posted 15 months ago by TealPony Subscriber! | Permalink
  • btw regional is PERFECT for parties!
    Posted 15 months ago by GiaTori Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm not really sure why we need either, since we get chat rooms with each of the groups, and to me, those replace the global chat function (heck, there is a global chat group for those that want a global chat feel).

    However, since that wasn't the original question, regional chat makes some good sense...though there is that pesky changing regions issue. But it would be good if you are looking for someone close by but not necessarily on the same street as you. 

    As someone said, though, random chat might be a bit glitchier...forcing you to chat with folks that you wouldn't normally...however, since I doubt I'd ever use it, it seems less viable than a benefit of at least a regional chat.
    Posted 15 months ago by b3achy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the idea of a choice.  Why can't you have a choice of a regional chat or a random chat?  If you're roaming around Ur, you might not want to be in regional chat because you know you'll be going from one area to another.  Or what if there aren't that many people in your area?  You might want to meet new people, so you could select random chat.  Give us both, nobody's unhappy.  :D
    Posted 15 months ago by Kross, the Empress Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Random feels good to me.
    Posted 15 months ago by Sweetness Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I vote  for random.
    for any other subjects, quests, partys, whateverthebeautywewant and etc we can always create groups, can we? I lean on many of your ideas for groups:)
    and I have a question: will local chat end? (i don't think so, but i want to be sure) ty!
    Posted 15 months ago by mira gaia maia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Mollie, I'm not sure I understand you when you say this: "I prefer regional chat to random. I certainly don't want any more lag due to a crush of chatters."

    The whole point of random chat is that it provides a random slice of the glitch world with defined numbers of people able to chat.  Regional would not do this - it would contain every glitchling within the region, regardless of number.  So if your main focus is lag, then you should prefer random, not regional.  Unless you spend all of your time in the badlands.
    Posted 15 months ago by Cindy Electronium Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I vote regional. It would be nice to be able to socialize with those you may be passing by randomly in game.. though I understand teleporting and subways can quickly move you to new areas. I still think that's fine.  

    Ideally both would be present. A sort of random consistent talk group for people to have a random chats, and a regional (maybe more help/party/interaction) oriented channel.
    Posted 15 months ago by Pima Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'd prefer random.
    Posted 15 months ago by Ooloi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think random sounds like loads of fun. Good for mixing it up a bit and meeting new people. Sure that's been said before. Sorry, don't have the attention span to read all the replies. I'd obv be crap at Global chat when it gets big.
    Posted 15 months ago by Pomponella Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I wonder what method is best for creating the new chat "rooms".

    That is, what's the best way to fire up a new room when it becomes necessary?  Being the first person in a new room is lame.

    Is the plan to only have a finite number of rooms that people are channeled into?  That'd result in unnecessarily thin conversation at low-use times.

    I suppose you'd have to wait until a player specifically clicked to join a chat, otherwise you'd be hitting room quotas with a lot of silent people.
    Posted 15 months ago by Biff Beefbat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I would personally like to see "Random Chat" as a system that dynamically creates a number of "Chat Rooms" based on how many people are on. So lets say there are 1000 people on, it would create 10 chat rooms and assign people to them. But, if you were wanting to join someone else for chat, you could switch which room you were in. By nature this would cause all the talkative people to congregate in one room, leaving the rest of the rooms fairly quiet. 

    Each "Chat Room" wouldn't necessarily have to have a cap on it, or have a large cap (lets say 1000+ people), but the system would automatically create a new room for every 100 people, to keep random chatter to a minimum. But from earlier, the people that do want to chat all the time can move to the most populated rooms. Also, if for some reason the chat room becomes noisy, you can switch to a less populated one or just close it all together.

    When things slow down at night, It would then start removing the lowest populated chat rooms and moving those people to another room. So lets say two rooms had 45 people, the system would then group both of those into one room with 90 people in it. I would also like to see if it would do that to warn people ahead of time that the room would be merging in X amount of time.
    Posted 15 months ago by Naomix Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the idea of regional channels that aren't tied to your current location.

    Maybe everyone could start off with the Groddle Island channel (or Meadow/Forest/Heights if it gets overloaded), then unlock the rest by exploring? And once you have them unlocked, you can flip between them at will?
    Posted 15 months ago by Nae Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Definitely regional for me. Random doesn't make any sense and regional would be useful for some of the quests where you need to team up to complete things. Global is of course great but I appreciate is a non starter when Glitch opens its doors to all.
    Posted 15 months ago by Malupin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • How about both? let people choose which they want to participate in. Regional chat would be useful for people looking for people or resources nearby, random for more general chat and silliness.
    Posted 15 months ago by Angel Slocombe Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I vote for Regional Chat.
    Posted 15 months ago by Bashere Subscriber! | Permalink
  • If this is a vote for one or tuther then I'm voting Regional :)

    I'm pretty sure just like Chinese whispers if there is anything important going on, like a party or rook attack then the news will soon filter through to all the other regions, so no one will miss out on anything BIG happening.
    Posted 15 months ago by Misha Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Regional Chat, as random chat will be eventually abused for spam.
    Posted 15 months ago by Yeoman Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yeoman, how will Regional Chat not be abused for spam?  Any chat channel can be spammed. 
    Posted 15 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Mmmm. Personally, I think I would vote for Random Chat... especially if there was an option of easily refreshing and moving to another "group." Randomly, of course.

    Regional would also be fine. I just don't like the idea that if I where doing a lot of jumping around and the what not, that I might lose an interesting conversation. And I like the idea of being hearing about things happening in a more global fashion, instead of where I already am. And the idea of being introduced to peoples from all over.
    Posted 15 months ago by Lord Bacon-o Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm in the "why not both?" camp.
    Posted 15 months ago by jasbo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Random chat serves no purpose. Region chat cow
    D have all sorts of helpful applications
    Posted 15 months ago by ArtOfHands RoboGirl Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't see much use for either. Random chat makes no sense and Regional chat... well that's too much like local chat. I don't really care what someone is doing two streets away.

    Why not have multiple global chats, in the same way AOL (old school AOL) had multiple chat rooms. You default to one of the global chats when you logo on, and set a limit on the maximum number attached to that chat group. Allow people to switch to a different global chat if there is room. Then you will get communities in different global chats, "Hey Mel, meet me in Global Chat 23 at 10pm". It's a little like CB radio channels... global chat on steroids.
    Posted 15 months ago by GavinLeigh Subscriber! | Permalink
  • What I'd like to see: name a channel for each region.  Let people speak in whichever channel they please for as long as they'd like, regardless of where they are physically or where they live, but don't let a player join more than one of these channels at a time.  If there are aren't enough channels to accommodate all of the players, add channels named for giants.
    Posted 15 months ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the idea of Random Chat. It's a good way to be aware of everywhere, not just your Region...
    Posted 15 months ago by balatik Subscriber! | Permalink
  • DO BOTH!
    Posted 15 months ago by Messy Monster Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Random Chat sounds like a lot of fun, but region chat is a must have. At least do region. 
    Posted 15 months ago by BenAlex Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm with Bacon-o...I like the idea of a Random Chat, with an option to refresh and join a new group of random chatters...so yeah, maybe there are a bunch of mini-global-chats behind the scenes for random switching. I think that would keep any one chat group from bloating up too much. Besides, I expect that any change in the global chat will cause Group Chats to evolve and diversify...

    Glum's channel idea is interesting, too. Maybe channel chats could have capacity limits? First come, first served?

    I don't see much point in a region chat. If you want or need to talk to certain Glitches, you'll have to track them down regardless, whether it's on IM or in a group chat. But, if you're looking for a wood tree for example, it would be better to have a global chat option, random or otherwise, to be able to reach players all over Ur.

    There's always Global Chat 2.0!  :)
    Posted 15 months ago by Zanzahar Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Way up in the first response, Sheepy suggested that one of the advantages of Random Chat was that it would "force people to socialize with different people on different days." To me, that's not a plus -- that's a huge honking minus. I hated that rationale when it was the reason school teachers or camp counselors gave for dividing us up into random groups for lunch or recreation or whatever -- "well, you need to make new friends, which you will clearly not do if left to your own devices!" -- and now that I'm "all grown up" I despise such things imposed on me even more. It's paternalistic and infantilizing in a way that has no place in a freely chosen passtime, no matter what the age of the player.

    My basic objection to being asked to choose either Random or Regional is that it forces all players into a single play-style, to some extent, when it's clear from this thread that different people have very different play-styles. (And, yes, I've seen some people in the Forums declare their own play-style superior and any other play-style stupid... and that's just ugly, really.) Regional suits some more than others, and Random suits others more than some. Having only one be the ONLY replacement for global would privilege one play-style over another in manner contrary to the spirit of the game, which I understood to be "You choose how to grow and shape the world," i.e. you are free to play Glitch in the way that makes Glitch the most fun for you.

    I, personally, would probably use Regional more, given my personal play-style. I've mostly used Global Chat as an information resource. Regional chat rooms would always be relevant to that sort of use. I'm in Shimla Mirch, I'd like to find a party to work on the peat-digging quest together, so I ask in Regional chat which is full of other people who are -- wow! coincidence! -- also in Shimla Mirch. Or maybe I just want to hang out in Shimla Mirch chat just in case I can be helpful to someone needing to gather a peat party.

    But what I'd like even better than regional as described here would be something a couple of folks have already suggested: a set of default channels which you can join or leave at will, no matter where you are, which are all based on Areas (Shimla Mirch, Chakra Phool), or, even better, on Regions (Miscellaneous, Groddle, Mazza'la).

    A few people have said "We already have that -- just join the Group!" But 1) you have to know the group exists and be able to find it AND have the space in your allowed group subscriptions to join it, 2) since Groups are player-created, it's impossible to get all Mazza'la enthusiasts in the same chat via Groups; someone might create "Swampland" and another "Shimla Mirch" and another "Mazza'la regional" and yet another "Peat diggers", and, what, now you have to join all three and monitor all three when really what you want is one unified HAY EVERYONE IN SHIMLA CHAKRA JETHIMADH AND KALAVANA AND OH THAT NEW LOCATION THAT JUST OPENED UP IN THE SWAMPS WHAT'S IT CALLED?!?! Heh. Annnnnd 3) it's sort of contrary to the way such a thing would function. If you want a chat to be available as an option to every logged in Glitch, you don't create a Group and tell everyone with a Glitch login to join it. That's inefficient and also requires unnecessary hoop-jumping. Imagine if you had to join a Group in order to participate in Global Chat!

    So, yeah, my vote would be for the Regional Chats, one for each distinct multi-area region (swamplands, Groddle Isle, savannah... ok, well, dividing up Grumbla would be tricky; maybe Alakol/Salatu/Kajuu over here and Bortola/Muufo/Tamila over there...), to be options available to all via chat links without need to join a special Group to make them available. Just like Global Chat is now.

    (Mmmmaybe have a checkbox page on your profile where you could "subscribe" to them, to reduce server load, if such a thing did reduce server load?)

    I would have absolutely no objection to Random Chat existing. But it's not to my play style. And if that's the case, I'm sure there are players who would find Regionals not to their play style and prefer Random. So I really hope that the Devs can find a way to make both work, and then we the players can opt into whichever helps us experience Glitch in the most fun way possible.
    Posted 15 months ago by Vortexae Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the idea of Regional Chat. If someone wants to speak with you and you're not in the same region, there will still be the option to invite to a Party Chat right?
    Posted 15 months ago by CoffeeSnob Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'd have to go with the Random chat.  I tend to move around a lot and it would be a pain to have to wait to finish a conversation.  Of course, we could always IM, but if more than one person were joining in, then that would leave that out.  What if we had a chat for our friends list?  I don't even know if that's doable, but then it would include Glitchen we know and play with?  Either way, I'm good though, because I don't use Global that much.. just to chime in to help, but I do use the IM feature a lot more.  Can't wait to get in the game today.. hint, hint!  lol
    Posted 15 months ago by kat65 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't think having players choose which chat they will go into is gonna work.  Players will swarm to one chat, and then it will be a competition to get in and out of that chat, and if you accidentally crash or need to refresh you will lose your spot.
    Posted 15 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yeah that's what I was afraid of too Laurali, getting shut out somehow and not being able to finish a conversation or figure out who you'd been talking to before.
    Posted 15 months ago by Fleep Subscriber! | Permalink
  • For all the people saying that Global is like Random, I have to disagree.  I know nearly every name I see in Global Chat.  When I come on I know I will have Aero saying "I love you", Don advertising his drug sales and womanizing, Innie trying and failing to not be dirty, Nutmeg always being sweet, Striatic popping in randomly with his science and math studies, etc.  I know the people in Global and seeing these people over and over is what gives a community feeling.

    Random chat will make me feel lost amongst the crowd, it will make the world feel huge and overpopulated, it doesn't give enough of a chance for us to get to know each others personalities.  Regional + Regional tied in by housing will allow us more time to get to know other people and make friends who spend their time in the same areas.

    Would you rather walk down the street and say "Hi" to a bunch of strangers or would you rather go to a block party and spend time with all your neighbors and friends?
    Posted 15 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • i say have a region chat, and have channels that the user can set up to invite people to
    Posted 15 months ago by AtOddz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't know if anyone has mentioned this because there are so many replies here but I think region chat is best and then perhaps random chat in the areas that have subway stations or in the subways themselves.
    Posted 15 months ago by Demaria Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It might have already been said, but why not have an option for both?
    Posted 15 months ago by PandaMan Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Have both!!!

    Or if that is impossible for some bizarre reason then I vote random.
    Posted 15 months ago by Shauny Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I am way too lazy to read all of the above posts, which I am sure are well written and articulated. Here is my assessment of the issues, as well as a proposed solution:

    From a technological and user experience standpoint, global chat is way too active to work. as chatrooms get more and more users, it becomes impossible to keep track of various conversations going on. Messages start flying by in huge streams of posts. And all of these need to be sent out to every player in real time in order to keep chat moving at all. Once you get over 20 active active users, chatrooms completely fall apart.

    For glitch, this means getting people to go into different chatrooms You can have chats for groups, but people don't seem to take advantage of those chats nearly as often. Area based chats, as proposed in the topic, are a decent idea, but I don't want to worry about walking around glitch and suddenly switching chatrooms. Random chats are, well, random, and while I wouldn't leave the chat while walking around, I will probably get moved to somewhere else random if I have to close the game for a minute.

    So my proposal is this: neighborhood chats. If you have a house in groddle forest, your in the groddle forest chat. That stays the same, until you move to a house elsewhere. This will provide a sensible way to divide up the chat, while keeping which chat I am on stable & help foster relationships between neighbors. I might even move to a different house because I want to be in general chat with certain people.

    The only issue with this is what to do with people who don't have a house. So, I propose a hybrid group/general chat: Noob chat. This will be your default chat when you join the game. it can be limited to only new players, but I think it would be better to make a way for more experienced players to join in, so they can provide guidance. It would become a sort of community help channel, like global chat was during the alpha.

    So, now that I've written nearly a page of discourse on the subject, what does everyone think of my "neighborhood chat" idea.
    Posted 15 months ago by MrGlass Subscriber! | Permalink
  • MrGlass!  I suggested the same idea above, and stand whole heartedly behind it.  Especially post-launch, when Global chat REALLY has a random feeling to it, I am much much more convinced Regional Chat + A Neighborhood/Housing chat is the way to go.

    My idea is that we could have a regional chat so that anyone without a house would just be in the regional chat where they currently are (and perhaps even have a "Are you sure you want to leave chat?" function that players could turn off or on) and then those with houses could have regional chat and neighborhood chat.

    I am wondering if any of the "random" voters above have changed their mind post launch, since we are getting a really good taste of how random would work since there are new players constantly entering and leaving global and I see less and less familiar names
    Posted 15 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 MrGlass
    Posted 15 months ago by Arii Subscriber! | Permalink