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

  • If it's important for Player A & B to talk to each other, why don't they send each other  a message? 

    Some sort of friend-finder feature in random chat might be nice, whether automatic, opt-in (or out) 
    Posted 15 months ago by shhexy corin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This might be my pickle controlling my mind but: Chat needs to be a game too.

    Maybe it starts out as a random bubble full of people, but certain factors can affect its size...allow it to get somewhat (but not uncontrollably) bigger.  Maybe at certain points all or a portion of the current participants could invite and add one friend to the mix.  Maybe at other points the chat gets to a certain size and divides itself like a cell, with the more frequent commenters making up the core of the new chat instance (since they seem to be enjoying talking to each other)...but with some kind of warning system to lurkers to allow them to get on board the soon-to-depart chat bubble.

    Maybe this is crazy and I should just vote for random chat instead.
    Posted 15 months ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Regional chat sounds much more useful.  Couldn't there be both, with a drop-down selector for which you want to use?
    Posted 15 months ago by djbeema Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Regional chat.  Don't like the unpredictableness of random chat.  Regional chat could also have the side-benefit of forging an identity for regions -- the glitches with houses in a particular region will be in that chat more often, as will glitches who, for whatever other reason, tend to be in one region predominantly (e.g. miners).
    Posted 15 months ago by Perigia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I say random chat I don't want to lose the people I'm talking to everytime I switch regions.
    Posted 15 months ago by koolaroo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Regional chat...
    Posted 15 months ago by MeherMan Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My vote is for regional chat. 

    I think the people that really miss global chat will be in the global chat 2.0 group. We can make new non-beta friends via regional.
    Posted 15 months ago by erik Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I didn't have time to read this whole thread, so excuse me if I repeat some points, but I vote for Regional.  I think random would be too, well, random, too difficult to maintain a conversation.  Regional would promote the kind of things we all love about Glitch - someone saying "omg I broke my tinkertool and don't have tinkering III" and having someone come to your rescue.  Or for barnacle, peat, digging, mining parties, or projects.  Also I think it would be cool to have a good chance of actually running into the person you were chatting to.
    Posted 15 months ago by Tradescantia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Regional chat will not do anything to form an identity for different regions if they implement it the way it sounds.  The description seems like it is merely "who is within the boundaries right now."  Given resource distribution, most people are constantly moving among the regions.  If a regional identity was was wanted, it would have to be based on owning real estate.  Then you have to figure out what to do with the transients:  a default "Homeless" region, random assignment based on where you first appear after the tutorial, a Citizenship that can be changed at the Bureaucrocs? 

    Region will still be a rather random group of people, but based on who chose to go where at any particular time in the game.  One rook attack or similar event, and the sudden clustering of glitches will crash the chat.
    Posted 15 months ago by KhaKhonsu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yes... and if being with your friends is important, it wouldn't suit a group of friends who choose  to have houses in different regions for the variety of resources available.
    Posted 15 months ago by mungo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Mereret:  Like I said above, if we have regional as well as housing exceptions, people who are homeless will still be able to use the regular regional chat, they just won't be able to stay in one chat as they move around the world.

    Plus with rook attacks would be kept to a certain zone for the most part.  They are already overcrowded, toning down the number of players at a rook attack will help with the lag we experience when they happen.  It also makes it more of a team effort, because if an individual zone is getting attacked players from that zone will work together to fix it, creating more of a team spirit

    ETA: Mungo:  You can directly IM your friends if they don't live by you, or hang out in the region they live in!
    Posted 15 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I know, I was just addressing someone's earlier point that they wanted to hang out with their friends. (I thought as you did when that point was originally raised)
    Posted 15 months ago by mungo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "If it's important for Player A & B to talk to each other, why don't they send each other  a message?"

    why do people use currently use global chat to talk with people they know when they could just as easily IM them? IM and chat are different beasts.

    there are groups, also, but it is already difficult to manage multiple chats with high update rates in multiple tabs. which is a problem with having "both", the other being that you're further fragmenting thing, perhaps unnecessarily.

    a problem with "homeowners" groups a opposed to regional groups based on home ownership is that you don't end up with player admin trouble, and the "gnomes and notes" thing don't work.
    Posted 15 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I played eve-online alot. They have a similar issue, there system worked like this

    System (Local) - Street Chat
    Region - Regions.. Groddle Heights, Groddle Forest..

    and then the usual Team based (Groups) chat. 
    they also have the street swap issues (changing systems could easily be every 30 seconds)

    Worked well there, Really well. I suggest that
    Posted 15 months ago by Fusspawn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • a slightly different take on regional chat might be to give each region an "open" chat that anyone could join no matter where there currently were. these chats could be opened and re-opened via the map interface [chat link in the bottom right corner or something], although you'd have a region chat tab in the chat pane linked to the region you are currently in.

    if you travel a lot and find the region chat tab flipping between regions a lot , which would not *totally* be a bad thing, then just open up a locked region tab from the map.

    no restrictions, and see if that's enough to scale well. if not, it should be easy to get more restrictive from that point on.
    Posted 15 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Now that I'm thinking of it, why does Region Chat need to move with you? What if Region Chat was locked in based on where you entered for the session? This might be a nice way of balancing location/community (e.g. people who enter the mining areas or their homes) with a bit of randomness (people who happen to be passing through the area). People could then choose to change to the region of their choice by simply entering it and reloading. This addresses the disadvantage of lack of continuity; as for the benefit of meeting new people, which seems to be the biggest attraction of Random Chat, just go to a different region - that happens all the time.
    Posted 15 months ago by Melody Pond Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think that local chat would be more practical in terms of searching for groups to complete quests, collect items, etc., but random chat would definitely be interesting for those who just wanted to go out on a limb and have a chat with anyone about anything.

    I would like to see both implemented because they both serve their purposes. A players could choose to enter the area's chat, or they could chose to join a random chat room. However, if you cannot implement them both, I would have to choose a local chat option.
    Posted 15 months ago by Vexia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Both (if that is a valid choice)

    Random (if I can choose only one)
    Posted 15 months ago by IxÆoN Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the Region chat idea.
    Posted 15 months ago by Sayuri Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Here are my thoughts:
    Regional as described in the OP makes it seem too much like Local chat only on a larger scale. Is Local chat (street level) remaining? If so then I don't see the need for a regional (all of Shimla Mirch for example).
    Global was obviously too big though and there is a need to control that and downsize. Random seems well, too random. How about if you think about a Regional chat per time zone. Many groups have already been started to encompass these such as (Glitchers in Florida or UK or whatever). It would eliminate the need for so many individual groups, yet give players the option to chat with those around them (locale related). Friends could be made and you would have the boost of knowing they would probably be playing when you were adding to the camaraderie.
    Posted 15 months ago by Holly Waterfall Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Regional Chat +1
    Posted 15 months ago by c0mad0r Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I really like the idea of Regional Chat tied to the location of your home.
    Posted 15 months ago by Cherry Galaxy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Melody: that's why I think Regional Chat tied to the location of your home would work really well, as opposed to being tied in to regional where you log in (which is often at your house, at least how I play lol).  Also, this is controllable by the devs.  If one region is getting overcrowded, then the developers can stop adding housing there and take the same style houses to a different region. 

    @Striatic brought up some great points, and I like the idea of regional tabs as well, the only thing I would worry about is that we would all eventually begin hanging out in one region's chat creating the same problem, but I'm not sure if that would really happen or not
    Posted 15 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Both - toggle through options
    Posted 15 months ago by Sonneratti Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I've only just really looked at global chat today. Meh. Too Much Noise.

    But it fills a niche for some players... 

    I'd say go with random. It's like global chat now; totally and utterly random. 
    Posted 15 months ago by Suzi Nothomemaker Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Region
    Posted 15 months ago by Momo McGlitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • still like global more, just me I guess
    Posted 15 months ago by scrappy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the region..makes more sense to scream for help from a group of people near at hand LOL!! ..Well to me it does anyway haha!  :D x
    Posted 15 months ago by Cryztal Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My vote is for both, they'll come in handy at different times. (Can I vote for both? Pretty please??)
    Posted 15 months ago by ss Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the idea of Random Chat more than regional.

    I think regional will still have the potential to have a LOT of people in it and could still bog down machines. Plus it's hard to tell when you are leaving a region if you are just wandering from street to street.... you may not realize you are about to cross to another region and then you'd lose the conversation you were having with that group.
    Posted 15 months ago by Emlinel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My vote is for - Region Chat.
    Posted 15 months ago by Sadie the Goat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hi Stoot

    Would it be possible to opt for either random or regional, but not both at the same time? They both sound good for different things!
    Posted 15 months ago by Violet Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The region chat would be useful to complete certain quests, I love the idea.
    Posted 15 months ago by Natalia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Both would be nice, but since you have to choose one to go for first, I'd vote for random, mostly for nerdy implementation reasons.

    Randomizing chat channels is likely to give you guys (TS) the kind of flexibility you need to figure out how to scale numerous Global Chat-esque-type rooms. Once you get the performance and experience dialed in the way you like it, you can expand that knowledge to a more elastic regional chat concept, which is by far the harder of the two problems to solve in a user-friendly way.
    Posted 15 months ago by Little Poundcake Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Random sounds awesome, but there should be an option to re-roll your chat room. Say you want to chat and make friends, and you open up the random chat and there's just crickets. There should be a way without starting a new session to get a new chat.

    I'm all for having both though. :)
    Posted 15 months ago by Arya Underfoot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I would say both, but if I have to choose then I pick random. Preferably with the option to change my random chat room.
    Posted 15 months ago by Fussycat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Regional would do much, much more to build community—people who like to spend their time mining in Ilmenske can always find each other there, people who like the Savannah can chat about it, etc. Random chat sounds irregular and obnoxious. A re-randomize option could be nice, but could be a great invitation for trollers to make some divisive comment and then re-roll.

    In the end, I'm hoping there will be a "We miss global chat" group with all the betas in it at the least.
    Posted 15 months ago by Capablanca Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Regional +1
    Posted 15 months ago by MrMatt Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The idea of specialized chat rooms not limited to region is a good suggestion. 
    I DO tend to stay in a region for a while so Regional chat is a good second preference.
    Random chat is an interesting concept though. As @Mocha suggested having multiple choices is better than a single choice. The specialized rooms should be mechanically no different than the Live Help and Regional Chats to implement. I'd go that route first (less bugs at the start), then try to add the Random Chat as things are stable. 
    Posted 15 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • i like regional - it makes more sense to me - random is just "ramdon"
    Posted 15 months ago by little peep Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Is it possible to make chats for different groups? I think that might be a suitable replacement. 
    Posted 15 months ago by JanaDear Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Unless they are being taken away, groups do have chats, Jana.
    Posted 15 months ago by GreyGoose Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Regional for me
    Posted 15 months ago by Ygramul Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the idea of both but if I had to pick just one, I'd vote for RANDOM.
     
    Related, the chat interface is kinda not good for multi channels which I think is why group channels pretty much fail across the board.  If the interface were better people might not be so sad about Global going away.  Local chat for example is spammed with all my action messages so I rarely even notice people talking in local chat!
    Posted 15 months ago by Fleep Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the idea of random better. Because, well, it's random.

    Also, it scales better. At some point, it's possible that a region has a spigganload of glitchkins at the same time. And the number of random chats could keep expanding as need be.
    Posted 15 months ago by clare Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Random. Both if possible.:)
    Posted 15 months ago by Grizelda Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I vote for regional.  But I also like the choice idea...
    Posted 15 months ago by Reba Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like regional small groupings like mazza'la, miscellaneous, groddle and grumbla.

    otherwise random is better.

    ok, I give up: the both ideas are great and I can't decide anything at all... follow your heart stoot, I trust you :)
    Posted 15 months ago by acreditando Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I gotta say I like what a few people have said about maybe trying to have both and a choice of which you use.  Since they both have their own pros and cons, it would be nice to be able to switch depending on what kind of chatting you want to do.  I've used this kind of feature in other MMOs and it's handy.  If you need just one choice (for now at least), then I would vote for the regional option.  
    Posted 15 months ago by Maethoriel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think both would be just an annoying assemblance of chats.  I can't imagine random by itself, constantly getting shuffled up with different people and I think it's a breeding ground for trolls and griefers, but adding that and regional would just make things SO much more complicated and confusing than it has to be.
    Posted 15 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink