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You don't have a properly functioning chat system

Discussion in 'Release 29 Feedback Forum' started by SabeSr, May 25, 2016.

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  1. SabeSr

    SabeSr Avatar

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    I want ALL of you at Portalarium to put down your cell phones, your emails, your in house messengers and close your office doors... FROM NOW ON EVERYONE AT PORTALARIUM MUST WALK TO OTHER PEOPLES OFFICE IF YOU WANT TO TALK TO THEM TO DISCUSS GAME ISSUES... ""NO GLOBAL CHAT, ONLY LOCAL CHAT"" until you add one to the game.

    When you give us global chat then you can have your cell phones back (blackberries for all of the old programmers there) and emails and messenger servers, all communication must be via local chat, if you cannot reach over and shake their hand you can't talk to them.

    Where is global chat?

    Wait, you want to force us to congregate to central areas?

    There's barely 100 people online any one time... we have HOW MANY areas' we could each be in? LOCAL is the town you're in... ok I'm alone in this town... glad I have only a local chat or my chat window would be flying by so fast a speed reader couldn't keep up. (sarcasm)

    New players come in game, they type in chat... "Hello can anyone help me get started?" (little do they know they're the only one in that town 'local chat' and no one hears them)

    WE ARE SPREAD OUT
    WE ARE NOT IN SAME TOWNS
    WE ARE PRE RELEASE
    WE ARE FEW
    WE HAVE CHATTED BEFORE IN LARGE GROUPS

    We can handle a global chat channel, seriously... we can, trust us... we'd like to communicate with each other. To discuss issues and stuff... give some of us moderator status.

    Give us a global channel, let US decide if we want to be in it.
    Give us a Trade Channel!

    Give us a fully functional chat system, I don't care if you got a cool voice system coming...

    [Removed statement against devs] Edited by Berek. No need to call out the devs here, thanks.

    Give us color coding for "friends" or a variety of options we want... like if I respond to someone with their name in global chat their name becomes highlighted.

    Color code by what part of the world someone is in.

    And give us point and click options to change channels or who I'm typing to... whisper/local/group/global/trade...

    Give us link-able items into chat... I want to show off the mace++ of sorcery +2 Int +2 Str in chat window that I just made... I should be able to just drag and drop it into chat and show others the stats... why can't I?

    Program a change, something simple... put it in effect see if it works ask us our opinion fix the issues move on to something new with the chat system...
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 25, 2016
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  2. Weins201

    Weins201 Avatar

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    No TY do need to hear everyone thoughts, if I want to talk you, or you me, it is easy enough.
     
  3. Noric

    Noric Avatar

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    Don't want global chat.
     
  4. Phydra

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    Choice and solid user preferences.

    Those who want can turn it on/use it.

    Those who want not, don't have to do a thing differently.

    Seems to me this was very recently a solid outcome for a certain system that starts with a "C", ends with a "T", and means smacking things around or setting them on fire.

    Seems to me this could be just as good at bringing the "religious" wars over choice and preference to a permanent end. (Well, excepting those who simply cannot abide that someone actually gets to have a choice and ***HORRORS*** might even BE ALLOWED to choose differently than themself! But who really cares about them anyway? ~evil grin~)

    Seems to me Portalarium should be consistent in solutioning and implementation so the user can trust that an experience in UI and options in one place DOES validate the consistency of having similar systems with similar issues operate on the same principles of interaction.

    Then again, they haven't yet figured out how NOT to bow to the loudest voice in the room and instead, vest their judgment in data, not opinions. Start with a reality check: Competitive differentiation, intuitive interaction design, and consistency with the ideologies for user supporting systems in gaming ( ) are now considered "expected" - they are the latest and greatest analogy for the three-legged table - only this time, the "win" is solid user-centric design. You can lock one, but if you're locking more than two, you're setting yourself up for failure.

    But if you cannot afford someone with formal HCI education, then at least keep Neilsen's Heuristics in mind and this succinct list of guidelines specifically for gaming that have been around since 2013:

    1. Predict what the user wants to know, and give them that information.
    2. Information must be easy to find.
    3. Your UI should be easy to use and navigate. Use established patterns where you can: Everyone knows that Ctrl-Click adds items to the selection, so don't make it swap items instead.
    4. Make the user's location in the menu system obvious, and make it obvious where the user can go and what they can do from there.
    5. Minimize load times and avoid animations in your menus.
    6. Eliminate or simplify repetitive tasks.
    Actually, it's been around longer, but I don't feel like setting up APA citations, so you'll have to do without.

    I'll leave you with a snippet buried in the larger article in that 2013 link (above); specifically, one very important model of interface and experience design that relies on science to make it's points:

    Human Information Processing Model
    Human Information Processing (HIP) Theory describes the flow of information from the world, into the human mind, and back into the world. When a human pays attention to something, the information first gets encoded based on the sensory system that channeled the information (visual, auditory, haptic, etc.). Next, the information moves into Working Memory, formerly known as Short-Term memory. Working Memory can hold a limited amount of information for up to approximately 30 seconds. Repeating or rehearsing information may increase this duration. After Working Memory, the information may go into Long-Term Memory or simply be forgotten. Long-Term Memory is believed to be unlimited, relatively permanent memory storage. After information has been stored in long-term memory, humans can retrieve that information via recall or recognition. The accuracy of information recall is based on the environmental conditions and the way that information was initially encoded by the senses. If a human is in a similar sensory experience at the time of memory recall as he was during the encoding of a prior experience, his recall of that experience will be more accurate and complete.
    This. Matters. (It will be a significant part of whether or not this game succeeds.)

    Edit: Removed an unnecessary "not".

     
    Last edited: May 25, 2016
  5. Solstar

    Solstar Avatar

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    They added a scene chat. That's the best you're gonna get (I hope).
     
  6. Bluefire

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    I would like to see more chat channels and options. Guild is good. Group is good. Continent would be nice and global would be great as an option.
     
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  7. FrostII

    FrostII Bug Hunter

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    Seriously ?
    When you said:
    I said to myself: "There must be a way to say that - that doesn't make my brain hurt"
    But then you said:
    and by then I'm wondering who your audience is.....

    What specifically are you asking for ?
     
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  8. redfish

    redfish Avatar

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    Scene chat is bad for the exact same reasons global chat is bad. So they might as well now... just sayin'.
     
  9. Katrina Bekers

    Katrina Bekers Localization Team

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    No.

    I didn't even read it all, but by the tone you're always typing your messages with, whatever you ask is always invalidated by HOW you ask it (yes, even if it has merit).
     
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  10. Ristra

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    The more anonymity a chat channel has the more it devovles into condescending and sarcastic comments. The longer the channels runs with those type comments the more people automatically assume everything is spam. Much like this thread is getting hit with people no longer reading the words. (Which is why people started using TL: DR)
    She has a point and it's a microcosm of why global chat is less than desirable.
     
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  11. Selene

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    I think a scene-wide chat is as broad a reach as one needs to have. You can ask for help with a tough monster or assist people in finding an event in a massive POT scene. Global chat only leads to endless wares spam, trolling, and attracts gold sellers because of easy advertising. I would be really disappointed if Portalarium added a global chat because it would diminish the game experience.
     
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  12. Roycestein Kaelstrom

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    Just think about the IRC chat room during telethon or post mortem, that's what we're gonna get for global chat.
     
  13. Duke Gréagóir

    Duke Gréagóir Legend of the Hearth

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    Agree!
     
  14. Duke William of Serenite

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    Let it be know that this is the first time I agree with you on something.

    Don't get used to it. ;)
     
  15. Noric

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    I could see scene chat being nice for PoTs without causing the centralization of global chat.

    That is not to say I'm not a bit wary of scene chat as well.
     
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  16. Mugly Wumple

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    The problem with making global an option is it soon becomes necessary if one wishes to stay engaged. Once people I care about begin using it I'm forced to use it as well if I want to remain in contact. Much like the telephone, a car, TV or the Internet, I don't really have a choice of not using it if I wish to function within society.

    I say NO to global chat.
     
  17. Jynx

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    Zone chat is as much as I'm comfortable with. No global chat, please.
     
  18. Leostorm

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  19. Net

    Net Avatar

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    I would prefer chat channel for residents of the same town (be it POT or PRT) and people might be in other scenes imho. Not quite happy with scene chat.

    With Nobles chat requiring orbs, I think that with the exception of local chat, all other channels could be made of "synchronized" orbs. That would make some sense in the universe and helped players coordinate their actions. I sort of wish someoen made game, where parties or guilds were not a game mechanic, but rather natural groups of people using game mechanics to cooperate.
     
  20. Noric

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    The problem with this is that it excludes visitors to the town. I think stuff like PoT visitors asking directions is one of the best applications of scene chat.
     
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