Global Chat Beta on Live Official Thread
By
Acemace,
Posted on: 2005-02-09 11:04 in Developers' Corner
After playing with the Global with my supergroup (people hopping onto other servers, people using alts and such and keeping on the same channel)
One bug I'd like to point out that I've not seen anyone post. When you transistion to another zone and your currently in Channel chat mode, it will return to local chat.
If someone already said this, sorry I didn't see it.
Otherwise as an alt-aholic, I see this as a very useful tool. Love the Global friends list.
I realize my bind is borked I forgot the /send part of it
/bind \ beginchat "/send CHANNELNAME,"
the above Will work.
Another thing that I saw was I was zoning when a friend logged out to switch toons. My Global List still showed her on the old toon logged in. The moment she did the /chatbeta 1 it updated but I would think i would have seen her offline until she did that. So a refresh button (like someone else suggested) would be nice.
A number of posters have mentioned that you need to be an SG leader to invite the whole group. I'd like to request that this be changed, at least so that Captains can invite the whole group. It justs seems like a strange rule, and I'd either like to see the reasoning behind it, or have it changed. Or both. 
Personally I wish you could be invisible period...
That whole add someone to your ignore list adding your global chat name to their list *to find out who you are on an alt* is plain [censored] BS...
personally I think GC should be an optional feature and you should be able to disappear...
Sometimes I like to hide on my alts and this feature defeats the purpose...
-Me
[ QUOTE ]
-Please oh please put a "Close window" button on the Channel Members/Admin window.
[/ QUOTE ]
And a confirmation dialog when leaving a channel. Right now I know a lot of people are making the mistake of clicking the "Leave" button to try to close the "Channel Members" window. This will leave the channel, but not close the window, and you then have to re-invite them.
For the time being though, if people haven't remapped their \ key you can use \ followed by W to open and again to close the "Channel Members" window.
From the testing I've done, it seems that:
1. /ghide is persistent across sessions. When I log out and log back in, I'm still hidden. That's just fine with me.
2. /ghide applies to ALL characters. If I log out and log in to a different character, that character is hidden as well. This is NOT fine with me.
Why don't I like this? Well, I have a character that when I play them, I don't want my other Friends from knowing I'm online. Call it my 'escape' character. I always want to be hidden from GC whenever I play this character. ALWAYS. Right now this is easy, because we can turn the Global Chat system on and off entirely, but that won't be the case when the system is no longer in beta.
With /ghide working the way it does now, I will have to remember to toggle myself to and from hidden every time I switch character. I can see this becoming a severe irritation, especially when I forget. What I would prefer is for /ghide to be a per-character setting, like the normal /hide command. Is there any chance this might change before the full launch?
You'll probably want to make a logout macro that does /ghide then logs you out. Otherwise you are liable to show up on global with your anonymous character for a second or two before you appear.
Hiding a particular character does sound like a good idea.
I congratulate you devs! You have made a great system that has a lot of promise. Overall, I'd give this system a B-. The concept is there, and the basic functionality is there, but there are a few user friendly issues and numerous bugs left to work out.
I know this has been stated already, but I also get numerous errors when inviting the entire SG. When I did this, I even received an error from the people that were online and had the chatbeta active. Those online joined the channel even with the errors though.
The minimum size of the Global friends column needs to be reduced. They can be expanded, but the default size is too large. For some columns, I don't need to see the full name and would prefer making those columns smaller so I don't have to expand the width.
The symbols allowed in the Add Members pop-up box for global friends/new channel needs to be fixed. Currently names with spaces and underscores cannot be used. They can only be invited by not using the pop-up box and typing out the invite command.
Finally, even without the chatbeta 1 stuff (yes I know this is beta), this chat system seems difficult to use - not very user friendly.
Too many typed in commands required,
Too few easy-to-find buttons for those same commands,
No listing of existing channels (public channels should be listed at the minimum)
Switching between user-made channels is difficult due to just having the 'Active Tab'. In addition to the 'A' button above the chat bar, I'd like to see buttons with '1','2','3', and '4' to match the tab numbers we have at the top.
We need different colors for chat channels.
Atleast change the silly pale green color to something easier on the eyes. That is by far the worst chat color in the game.
[ QUOTE ]
I realize my bind is borked I forgot the /send part of it
/bind \ beginchat "/send CHANNELNAME,"
the above Will work.
[/ QUOTE ]
For channels with a space in the you need to change that to:
/bind <key> beginchat /send "channel name"
Looks like the issue where people weren't showing what Shard/Server they are on in the Global Friends list was fixed in this mornings server maintenance! 
This space is intentionally left blank.
One feature request I have that hasn't been mentioned yet, is the ability to make channels that other people can read, but can't join and write to. This would be useful for large organized raids (Hami Raids, maybe an organized raid to clear monster isle or a hazard zone). The leaders would post on this channel and everyone else could read without having to wade through a lot of other spam on the channel.
It would help with the size limitations too, since everyone wouldn't need to be a member of the channel. You could have something like a TF channel where you'd normally monitor it and get into any TFs you see posted and would like to do. If you wanted to start one you could join the channel, post your proposed TF, get the team together, then leave and go back to monitoring.
It may help to cut down on some of the blind invite spams that people get as well.
[ QUOTE ]
*Can't add people with _ in their names via the add friend box. You must use the /gfriend command.
[/ QUOTE ]
I found I could use the add friend box by using a space in place of the underscore. For example, I could add
@Bill Brasky
Using the add friend dialog box.
It's creepy how underlines typed there-in appear briefly and then erase themselves. Brrrr!
For what it's worth, I took the time to rip the PDF into text and then go through and re-format it for UBB; I've posted it in the Guides board, here.
Enjoy.
[ QUOTE ]
From the testing I've done, it seems that:
1. /ghide is persistent across sessions. When I log out and log back in, I'm still hidden. That's just fine with me.
2. /ghide applies to ALL characters. If I log out and log in to a different character, that character is hidden as well. This is NOT fine with me.
Why don't I like this? Well, I have a character that when I play them, I don't want my other Friends from knowing I'm online. Call it my 'escape' character. I always want to be hidden from GC whenever I play this character. ALWAYS. Right now this is easy, because we can turn the Global Chat system on and off entirely, but that won't be the case when the system is no longer in beta.
With /ghide working the way it does now, I will have to remember to toggle myself to and from hidden every time I switch character. I can see this becoming a severe irritation, especially when I forget. What I would prefer is for /ghide to be a per-character setting, like the normal /hide command. Is there any chance this might change before the full launch?
[/ QUOTE ]
I've been thinking about this myself. I would like to suggest that at the login screen, there is a radio button option to allow us to login in the hidden state. Either put it at the login prompt if that is the easiest thing to do, or better yet, put it on the character selection screen so we can decide when we decide what character we are going to login as. That radio button can also show us what the current ghide/gunhide state currently is, if we forgot what we set it to when we logged out.
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Before global chat goes from beta and into its final format, I'd like to see the CoH community agree on a format by consensus for naming global channels, in a similar way that netnews has a naming schema.
Do any other mmorpgs have a naming format convention that we should adhere to? Should we come up with our own or should we steal/copy the netnews format?
This is what I'm thinking about at the moment.
1) Channel names are limited to 16 characters.
2) The backslash and slash characters are not permitted to be used in channel names.
3) Some abbreviations are ubiquitous, and should be used, rather than spelled out. For example, RP for role-play, OOC for out of character, PP for Perez Park, FF for Founder's Fall, PI for Peregrine Island. No one uses SC because it could mean Steel Canyon or Skyway City, everyone either says Steel or Skyway. Same thing with Talos Island where no one says TI, but rather Talos.
4) Channel names should follow a logical format, where if you want to know about how Defenders use Radiation or if you're looking to recruit for a Hamidon raid on Pinnacle or where to find Lost in KR, anyone should be able to join the correct channel if they use common sense or read an unofficial guide to channel naming or something along those lines.
My initial proposition in having a coherent channel naming paradigm is to not use spaces, dashes or periods to separate words, but rather capitalization to start words, for example, VirtueRP or FreedomTrialTV or InfinityRaidHami or TestEpicATs or JusticeHunt.
Secondly, I think abbreviations that are common should be used whenever possible due to the channel name length restrictions.
Third, I think the root of most channels should be the server name. I think the 'common' channels should be public and should consist of each server's name capitalized. We should have therefore have the following channels: Freedom, Justice, Liberty, Pinnacle, Virtue, Infinity, Victory, Guardian, Protector, Champion, Triumph, Union, Defiant, Vigilance, Zukunft and Test.
Fourth, I think there should be other 'root' channels that don't start with the server name that are meant to reach an audience beyond a single server. Here are some examples I am thinking about for other root channels: AT [Archetype], Badge, Chat, Help, Hunt, Level, Mission, OOC, Origin, Power, PvP, RP, SG, TF, Trial, Zone. For example, if you want to pick the brains of Storm Summoning Defenders/Controllers or listen into discussions of Storm Summoning, you might join the channel PowerStormSummon or ATDefender or ATController or HelpStormSummon or ATDefenderStormS. Examples of other possible channels might be: ATEpic, TrialEden, PowerClaws, ATDefenderRadiation, RPOOC, and TFSynapse.
Fifth, I think that among the root channels there should be a hierarchy of dominance so that we don't have 5 channels for the same thing. For example, I wouldn't want to see VictoryRP, RPVictory, RPVictoryOOC, VictoryRPOOC, VictoryOOCChat, TestRPOOCATEpic, TestRPATEpicOOC. I propose, as I said above, that whenever possible the server name be used first. If a channel were to be created that didn't address just one server, it should follow this order:
[Server]
[Level][Origin][AT][Power][Chat][Help]
[SG][RP][OOC][Chat][Help]
[TF][Trial][Mission][Badge][PvP][Chat][Help]
[Zone][Hunt][Chat][Help]
So someone looking for information about defeating the Mold Wall in the Eden Trial might join EdenDefeatMoldHelp (Trial,Mission,Help). Another person looking for insights into high level Kheldian ATs might join 50PeacebringerChat and 50WarbringerChat (Level, AT, Chat). A third person looking to role-play in a multiverse that included all servers could join RP and RPOOC and RPOOCChat to participate in role-play, role-play asides and chat among the role-players (RP)(RP, OOC)(RP, OOC, Chat).
Ideas? Thoughts?
@Cannonfodder
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The term "not" comes to mind.
Seriously, I don't see the reason for all that structure at all. No slashes. Why? Must use abbreviations??
Taking structure from other games is a bad plan. This game isn't like the other games. I think you're better off with no plan at all. In a month or so we'll figure out what works best for us.
I checked the manual and skimmed the posts here but don't see one piece of info I need:
Is there a limit to the amount of people who can be in one chat room?
We're doing a Hami raid on Protector Friday night and having a chat channel just for ill controllers, just for defenders, etc. would be really helpful.
Anyone hear of any limits?
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Mistakes I have made experimenting with Global Chat:
1. How do you delete a Global Channel? (Example: Channel name misspelled or all lower case and want first letter capped)
<Likely answer is to have all invited members leave, but what if you invite "All Members" of a supergroup and one of the members is inactive sitting on the invite?>
2. How do you rename a Global Channel?
<Seems to be no way to rename without deleting which goes to question #1. Some would say just make the new channel but what if you want to name it the same name but with the first letter capitalized?>
3. If the last (OP) is deleted from a Global Channel (For example, in an attempt to empty it out to have it delete itself) how can you reinstate an (OP) in the Global Channel?
<Of course it is a private 'invite only' channel>
4. How do you add another Supergroup?
<Seems to be that you add a single member from that other Supergroup and make them an (OP) and let them add their whole Supergroup. Is there a cleaner way?>
5. Will all Global Beta Channels be kept or whiped when the feature goes live?
<Will we be able to start over again after all these experiments?>
These are questions looking for solutions now or to improve Global Chat before going final.
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Has anybody else noticed the Global Friends list not noticing when people log off? I have a friend being shown as logged on right now when I know for a fact (by talking to him in another chat venue) that he's not been logged on since last night.
Yes, I did /bug it.
If you do a global ignore on someone in your server friends list, you can see their global handle in the global ignore list. This way you can find out the global handle of anyone, which is bad for people who want to be anonymous on alts.
[ QUOTE ]
Okay. Anyone figured out how to chat in a channel via a bind?
My standard bind does not work:
/bind rctrl+s "beginchat send "Silver Moon" "
See the problem?
[/ QUOTE ]
/bind rctrl+s "beginchat send SilverMoon "
This will work for channels with no space in the name. I dont think it is possible for channels with a space in the name.