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

  • Random.
    Posted 15 months ago by Piratice Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'd go for regional. If it was, it becomes a "radio station" of sorts for that  area. Useful for quests or races requiring other players. I'm usually more inclined to visit events/parties in areas that are nearby (in the same region).
    Posted 15 months ago by roderick ordonez Subscriber! | Permalink
  • hmm my first thought was Regional, but considering how Global tends to work now, it's more random and therefore Random would seem the more obvious choice...
    I do like the idea of having a chat associated for Quests (Innie's idea) where we can go for Quest related questions without them getting lost the way they sometimes can in global now.
    Posted 15 months ago by BumbleBeez Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I sorta want both, if I want to talk to people in my area (say during a rook attack) I would want a regional chat. However, if I wanted to meet people a random chat could be fun.

    Nevermind, I want regional
    Posted 15 months ago by Ani Laurel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • How about both? Like it would be optional. You would have one at a time and you could sort of "switch" between them whenever needed/wanted.
    But if I would have to choose only one, the I guess I would choose Regional.

    I hope chats won't disappear, like some people think it might happen. To be able to play and have an actual "live stream chat" is different from posting in a forum/group. But that is just my personal opinion.
    Posted 15 months ago by Cocomoes Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Random seems like it could be a lot of fun
    Posted 15 months ago by Karma Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Actually, Vonnegut thought a lot about groupings of people.  In one book, the government issued everyone random middle names to everyone, to force people to connect with each other.

    Google hath saved me from looking up the quote myself.  Let's let Kurt splain it:

    "If you get elected, and I get issued all these new artificial relatives--" said the man. He paused. "How many did you say?"
    "Ten thousand brothers and sisters," I told him. "One-hundred and ninety-thousand cousins."
    "Isn't that an awful lot?" he said.
    "Didn't we just agree we need all the relatives we can get in a country as big and clumsy as ours?" I said. "If you ever go to Wyoming, say, won't it be a comfort to you to know you have many relatives there?"
    He thought that over. "Well, yes--I expect," he said at last.
    "As I said in my speech:" I told him, "your new middle name would consist of a noun, the name of a flower or fruit or nut or vegetable or legume, or a bird or a reptile or a fish, or a mollusk, or a gem or a mineral or chemical element--connected by a hypen to a number between one and twenty." I asked him what his name was at the present time.
    "Elmer Glenville Grasso," he said.
    "Well," I said, "you might become Elmer Uranium-3 Grasso, say. Everybody with Uranium as a part of their middle name would be your cousin."


    The appropriate response to a request for help to anyone outside your family would be “Why don't you take a flying f--- at a rolling doughnut? Why don't you take a flying f--- at the mooooooooooooon?”

    Because, you know, your family has got its own problems.

    I guess we could leave that part out.
    Posted 15 months ago by Biff Beefbat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't really love either option, so I'll agree with those who say both.
    Posted 15 months ago by katlazam Subscriber! | Permalink
  • both makes the most sense
    Posted 15 months ago by mogley Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Tough call.  Leaning towards random as it seems more in line (for want of better words) with Glitch's adventurous spirit. 
    Posted 15 months ago by Christine Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Both would obviously be nice, but I'm guessing they aren't prepared to do both, hence asking which we prefer!  But yeah, I think if I could make my own option it would be both :)
    Posted 15 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I say just do away with chat altogether.

    *looks around*

    Just kidding! Sheesh! Some people can't take a joke!
    Posted 15 months ago by Quirk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Today, neither are all that needed.  A couple of simple exterior alterations could make both options unnecessary.  As for the distant future, I'd have to look deep into a meditation orb.

    Random seems to be the obvious way to go if you have to.  Put the first 200 in room 1, the next 200 in room 2,... Merge 2 rooms after enough people leave them and fill the vacated room with the next 100 to join.  Consider average time played per day when grouping, so you'd have 30mins#1, 30mins#2,...; 180mins#5,... whatdoyoumean"logout"#122,... Let players change to any specific room as long as it isn't full, even open a new room.  Grouping by the skill they're learning or by open quests may help, at least for quests that require groups.
    Posted 15 months ago by Tingly Claus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Nooooo, not random! Everything has to be organized and put into nice little boxes. :-(
    Posted 15 months ago by Waffle Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Not really sure regional chat would work - random chat would seem a bit better. 

    As a slightly alternative idea, couldn't you have a number of chat rooms (say 10 for example) and every player gets assigned a room when they login...but also have the choice to change to another room if they want to meet friends there? There could be limits on the amount of people per room, therefore limiting the chance of once particular room getting too huge.

    This would give pretty much the same benefits as global chat, would keep numbers down and would give everyone a chance to talk to everyone else, as they have now?
    Posted 15 months ago by Morticia Addams Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Random is a better way to meet new people, and for that I really do like it.  But I can imagine it becoming more of a cold feeling to it.  I'm imagining logging in and not knowing anyone in chat, not a lot of people talking.  I'm worried spamming would get worse this way.  It would be easier to meet people but much harder to keep a friendship going.  One of the things that I think helps keep a community feeling in Glitch (even though there have been thousands of players) is the closeness of the community members.

    I still think having Regional Chat would keep the community feeling more close-knit.  I think regional could work better like this though.  Regional is for people in a certain zone (ex: Groddle Meadows, anyone in Groddle Meadows would be in the regional chat) but on top of that players who own a home in that region never leave the regional chat (ex: All those living in Marrakesh Meadows, etc, would always have the option of keeping Groddle Meadows regional chat open, as well as whatever region they are currently in)

    That would allow for regional chat to meet new players in the region, as well as a way to keep chatting with your friends
    Posted 15 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 Morticia
    Posted 15 months ago by Cerulean Subscriber! | Permalink
  • random chat? no thank you. maybe you'd meet new people sometimes but you'd never develop a community with the population fluctuating all over the place. you might as well just say hi to random people you encounter on the street, which you can already do if you want to meet random new people. also, what determines session length? browser session? what if you switch browsers or log on from a different computer?

    i like the region chat tied to house location idea. as new people move in, you meet new people. you can bring them gift baskets. the common regional interest gives you something to talk about, and a steadier community population. the "con" of people frequently switching location wouldn't exist. also, it would provide an extra incentive to live in particular regions other than game mechanical things like number of garden plots.
    Posted 15 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Is there a way to make a few "flavours" of chat and just auto start people in one, then maybe prompt them with the option to change chats or to open a new one? 

    For example, could people start in a n00b chat (or "game help" chat or "questions") chat where we could all go periodically to answer questions and help them out (I know a lot of glitches who would love to do that)?  And then maybe at level 3 or so, or based on number of things they have said, or whatever, prompt them to open as many or as few as they want of various themed social chats (party/gathering announcements, trades and sales, etc)?  Or even just let each player choose regional or random, actually?

    I guess in general the idea that we can't have both some minimal level of intentional self-sorting and that kind of "everyone's there" vibe seems a little pessimistic to me.  Seems like we can prompt some basic choice the way we currently prompt opening global in the first place.  Is that crazy from the point of view of writing the code for it, or does it just seem unrealistic in terms of playability (I am SO not a programmer and cannot even begin to imagine what the constraints are of the code writing)?
    Posted 15 months ago by caromalinia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Nostalgia chat: Chat for beta testers to talk about the good ole days of planning EOTW parties, Prisencolinensinainciusol, and other general craziness.
    Posted 15 months ago by anacronismo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh, wait, just saw stri's post.  And to...well, to just about everything he said I say "like" and "+1." 

    I think random and regional both have problems for at least certain subsections of the glitch population, but regional by house could be really great.  I am always looking to build community in my neighbourhood (and someone from Mein Evoke tried last test, I think, which was really charming but did not pan out much because it was mechanically difficult).

    Also, we should think about non-house-owners.  Some thoughts: you could start the newer folks either in a chat of their own (again, I think the kind of people who love to patiently answer questions from new folks could thrive there if they were permitted to listen in), or you could put them in the region of their start street until they buy a house.
    Posted 15 months ago by caromalinia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @anacronismo

    I had forgotten about Prisencolinensinainciusol!  Oh man, the nostalgia hits you like a wave, don't it?
    Posted 15 months ago by caromalinia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the idea of regional chat, but it'll only scale if the number of regions grows with the size of the game.  If the Global can't cope with 1000 players, then 5 Regional channels will fail with 5000 players.

    At first I was unsure about the Random Chat idea, but actually I think it could be quite fun, if it is clear enough what is going on.  I also like gimmegame's idea of global channels.  One possible way it could work, which might be reasonably intuitive, is that you could have a "CB Radio" tab, with a "frequency" selector.  When you start the game you are put on a random frequency, but you can switch if you want.  The system could cap a channel if it gets too full.
    Posted 15 months ago by Nonsense Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Wow, I understand why you're torn can't we have both? pllllease? ;-)
    I think that with scale, random chat would serve pretty much the same purpose as global chat today. If we have 25,000 people in the game, advertising a party to "only", say, 1000 or 500 people is more than enough. And you could always invite your friends specifically (would there be an easy way to IM or mail all your friends as a group?). This just means that if you talk to someone in random chat and would like to keep in touch you have to add them as contacts. I don't think this is a big deal.
    Regional chat based on your current location doesn't make a lot of sense to me - with TP skills I never stay in the same region for too long anyway. But I understand why people with different game strategies would find it useful.
    Posted 15 months ago by Nevet Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Caromalinia:  Regional chat tied in with housing as I imagined it would be there is a set regional, and everyone in that region would join that chat (that way noobs and non homeowners would still be able to chat) but those who own houses in that region would also be able to stay in that regional chat at all times, no matter where they go.  

    @Nonsense:  The game has grown considerably just within the past few tests, as population increases so do regions in which players can live.  I think that overcrowding wouldn't be a hue problem, especially as they are reusing a lot of the same housing styles in different regions
    Posted 15 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Stoot, thanks for sharing these ideas with us, I really appreciate that. Seeing work in progress is almost always fascinating.:)

    I would like to have both options - Random chat for random glitchy conversations, regional chats for party planning, peat bog quests, mining parties, killing/planting tree missions, etc.

    And I would like to be able to chat with let's say Groddle while being in Ix and vice versa (i.e. there will not be one "regional" chat room, but each region would have its own chat and we will be able to choose)

    Maybe we will later find out that certain people or certain types of people tend to chat in certain regions, thus making those chatrooms specific - and that could be interesting (e.g. warm-hearted Groddle, workoholic mines, kinky Ix, almost mute savannah regions..)
    Posted 15 months ago by nekomaki Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Most MMOs have both regional and global chat. I think region-you're-in chat has merit for the reasons people have mentioned above, and I love the idea of neighborhood- or housing-based regional chat in addition. As for global--I'm in favor of gimmegames' idea that we instead have a number of "random" rooms with a player limit, and the one you're put in, you stay in, unless you change to another on purpose.
    Posted 15 months ago by MX Ghostie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +Morticia/etc, mainly because I like the idea of session control and the ability to switch around, and/or define my own playtime. Partially because if my session is slow and my browser is uncooperative, it can take me up to five minutes or sometimes more to log back in proper. Random assignment is probably what I'd go with for most of the time, honestly, except I can see situations in which I'd want the control.

    If, and only if, there are the resources to develop regional as well, having regional would be fabulous, but I understand that you're trying to make the best choices to enhance development with what you've got, and random would great.
    Posted 15 months ago by Caesura Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Regional. You can control it. Someone can prevent their leaving of an area; with random, there's nothing you can do.
    Posted 15 months ago by The Crepeist Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Regional. You can control it. Someone can prevent their leaving of an area; with random, there's nothing you can do.

    You can control it by leaving chat. Just like you can close global now. It's not mandatory.
    Posted 15 months ago by Eureka Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the idea of a Glitch radio, so you could tune into different chatrooms
    Posted 15 months ago by shhexy corin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Regional is too weird.  I like the idea of it - perhaps some sort of auto-join homeowners association would make a lot of sense (though still number into the thousands for groddle buyers wouldn't it) - but I want to be able to relax and teleport wherever I feel like.  The Random chatroulette sounds interesting, which is all I really need, since I no longer use global chat much already.  All I need is some way to give the people I usually blather to a rest! ;)
    Posted 15 months ago by FlirtyvonSexenhaven Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the idea of Regional Chat, but pinned to the region in which you open the chat window.
    Plus Housing Community Chat, in which you talk to your neighbors (of your housing estate).
    Posted 15 months ago by Otterlicious Subscriber! | Permalink
  • If you are talking to someone and they leave via a signpost, they are probably still in the same area and you can still talk to them, that could be very useful. For example they gave you something and you want to say thanks but they already left. Or you just want to keep talking but need to move to another place.
    Posted 15 months ago by Emu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I really like the idea of regional chats, perhaps there could be a little tick box to anchor you to a particular chat (or maybe an anchor button!), so if you're having a great conversation in groddle meadow, but you need to pop over to ix, you click the box and you can keep chatting.

    I also like the idea of a global quest chat, there would probably be some moderation required to keep it on topic (can you kick people from a chat as it stands?), but if I needed help with a quest, to be able to just pop in and recruit from anywhere in Ur would be useful.
    Posted 15 months ago by Cole Frehlen Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Is there any reason in terms of server load, etc., why you can't implement BOTH?  I'd hate to chose if I don't have to.  I didn't read the whole thread, but it's obvious that there are reasons and preferences regarding both types.

    If you make me pick, I'd say Random is much better.  Neither option can reproduce exactly what Global does, but Random is a smaller slice of Global, while Region is just a bigger form of Local.  Many of the things that folks would want Region for can be done with Group chats based on functions (Parties, Projects, etc), but Random really can't be done that way.

    I'm assuming that implementing Random means there will in fact be several Random channels open, but each player is only seeing one.  Make it even better by giving us a once-a-day, please-Giants-get-me-away-from-these-bozos random-channel-switch option.
    Posted 15 months ago by KhaKhonsu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The idea of neighbourhood chat is fab, I think, but that sort of already exists - there are 'homeowner' groups for some places, (e.g. http://beta.glitch.com/groups/RM1182ORU3U1DST/), so group chat fulfills that function. Gnomes are useful for sending messages to neighbours about the existence of such groups, but a more formal mechanism to alert new residents might be nice.

    To the original question I say Random - no great reason, I just can't see Regional chat being of any more use to me than Local chat.
    Posted 15 months ago by Bobby Chuckles Subscriber! | Permalink
  • not to be greedy but could we have both?  as both sound fun, but have different uses, for example to region one could be used if someone finds the last egg in a region or something
    Posted 15 months ago by Marcm Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Mereret  - probably not in terms of server load,  more development priorities and people resources. They to do something with Global Chat and want to help keep the community that has developed but they'd probably rather only spend the time building one thing, so they can carry on building other stuff too.   Like pet unicorns.
    Posted 15 months ago by shhexy corin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I vote for server segmentation, so that people I will actually be seeing in-world are there in global chat.  I really want to see people on a regular basis, and I want to be able to meet up with them in the game somewhere as well.  In addition I want to see any global chats with people in my friends list.  :)
    Posted 15 months ago by Wondre Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm all for random chat.
    Posted 15 months ago by Victoria Subscriber! | Permalink
  • me too
    Posted 15 months ago by Treesa Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Region.
    Posted 15 months ago by shipwreck Subscriber! | Permalink
  • We have local chat for any "nearby" inquiries we need to make so I'm definitely going with random. Sounds very interesting to me. Thanks for askin'!
    Posted 15 months ago by Gertie Mack Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the idea of Regional Chat.
    Posted 15 months ago by Kaessa Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the idea of random chat. I just enjoy having an idea of what is going on all over Ur. The local chat already allows one to talk with others on their street. And the private chat allows you to talk individually with your friends. I know I move around too much to want to stay in regional chats - besides, if you are in any of the badlands, you are too busy watching out for ju-jus and trying to cover ground before your time runs out to chat in a regional group there!
    Posted 15 months ago by Miss Tara Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm not sure that people are understanding how different Regional Chat would be from Local Chat.  Local Chat is only the members on the street you are on, its extremely inefficient way to get a group together as people are often juts passing through streets and don't stay there long.  Regional is everyone in that entire area, and would be really different than Local Chat.  When I played WoW you had to stay in a certain place to access Global Chat and I never had any problems with that, if I had a conversation going I would just chill in that spot and talk.

    I think having Regional Chat + The Housing/Neighborhood Chat would be close to having both random and regional.  Imagine how many people enter and leave a certain zone during the day, with a chat that spans across all of Groddle Meadows you would get a ton of random people coming through, very similar to a random chat but not tied down to a particular group.

    Then the Housing/Neighborhood Chat would work like Regional, cause you are grouped up with people who know the area, who spend a lot of time there, and you can be able to create a community in a way that HOA groups never could
    Posted 15 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • haha, regional chat in the badlands would just be:

    Glitch 1: waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh
    Glitch 2: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
    etc
    Posted 15 months ago by shhexy corin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • How about a random chat where your chat room assignment stays fixed every time you log in?

    It would be like global chat today, in that you would be likely to run into the same folks over and over, mixed with some new folks, which might make it easier for friendships to form.

    The downside (and it's a big one) is that the population would be splintered in a semi-permanent way. If player A and player B get assigned different chat rooms, they will have to find a different way to meet each other.
    Posted 15 months ago by magic panda Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Glitch radio!!! (cf. shexycorin above)
    Posted 15 months ago by dr_loplop Subscriber! | Permalink