In-game chat to be disabled

[Rias]

In-game chat channels will be disabled a little later today. Attempting to use the chat commands in-game will encourage the user to join one of the bridged third-party chat platforms (Discord, Slack, IRC, Matrix), whose links can also be found on the wiki.

I've been planning this for quite a while. The reason for this change is that I'm trying to move forward with getting the game into a more official release state, and as part of that I want to make the in-game experience less jarring with all the OOC stuff that was more acceptable during early testing. In my MUDding experience, my favorite has always been the one where there weren't in-game OOC channels. I think having the official third-party OOC chat channels, and all of them synced up so people can choose whichever platform they prefer, will serve as the ideal middle ground. So while you're in-game, you're in the atmosphere, and you're not getting jarring OOC messages and commentary all the time. And hopefully, people will be more likely to respond to in-game happenings in an IC manner rather than OOCly.

Game announcements will still show up in-game on the #OOC channel.

The TELL command will remain active.

If anyone has recommendations for additional chat platforms to be added, let me know. I don't intend to labor over connecting every single obscure protocol anyone brings up, but if there are a considerable number of people who request a particular one that isn't already on the list, I'll look into it.

[ironcross]

[Irylia]

As someone who generally has OOC off, I agree that keeping this kind of dialogue separate is really beneficial. I have my discord app open and check it frequently enough that I don't feel like I'm ever missing anything by not having it come to me in-game. I could see an argument for - why change it if people can already turn it off, but I think it's about preserving the same environment for everyone and I'm good with that.

Besides which, I've had so many encounters in the past where I'm eagerly RPing with someone and they go silent, only to turn on OOC and see they're busy discussing something completely unrelated outside the game. Not that people aren't allowed to have side conversations or that those particularly determined to have them won't still do it even with this change, but this might help by separating the immersive vs outside mentalities a bit further and I approve.

Just as an aside - if you're RPing with someone, please be involved and attentive. If you have to step away, use a tell or give an IC explanation or something. You never know what OOC channels are watched or not and it can really make a difference with communication and expectations for the player so they don't do something rash IC while waiting for a response. Please don't let your absence or silence be misinterpreted.

Also - I'm not sure what the previous post means exactly, but it's probably best to use words when leaving feedback so that the Dev can gain something constructive from it and understand what you're trying to say. What you agree or disagree with. What your concerns are. We aren't all hip to interpreting the emoji-speak hieroglyphics.

[Rias]

If you have to step away, use a tell or give an IC explanation or something.

Just so people are aware, you can provide a reason when you use the AFK command. So if I typed:

afk Be right back, pizza guy is here

Everyone in the same room would see:

[OOC-AFK: Rias has gone AFK: "Be right back, pizza guy is here"]

[ironcross]

Oo... never knew that

[TheCacklackian]

Not a huge fan of this change. While I understand the desire to keep the Jarring OOC to a minimum, I'd much rather have chat be optional to disable instead of something that is just not an option entirely. While I agree that during roleplay you should be attentive and involved, I do not think this is a positive way in encouraging that. One of the things I enjoy a lot about cogg/clok is interacting with the community both icly and oocly, and I feel like this makes that more difficult. I don't want to have to open discord any time I have a syntax question, I feel that having to tab out of the game is a lot more likely to interrupt my play be it roleplay or otherwise than simply having ooc show up on it's own lines.

[nobody]

I don't mind the change, I suspect it has spurred some additional ESP noise. I don't like that I feel less connected to other players, but that's on me - I'm not willing to set my discord settings to give me an alert for every message. However, I did notice that I wasn't as available for OOC questions because of this - I'd like to recommend the addition of a help or question channel as I'd be willing to leave alerts for that turned on assuming that it generally has less traffic.

[Rias]

That's pretty much why we have the separated #ooc and #chat channels, the former meant for discussion about the game itself and the latter for general chatter about whatever. I get where you're coming from as I have less patience for OOC small talk and idle banter, which is why I usually ignore the chat channels and why ideas or questions that need to be seen by staff should be posted on the BBS.

We could possibly get a little stricter about what's accepted in #ooc and relegate everything else to #chat, like the above-mentioned small talk and banter. Policing that isn't something I'm particularly interested in so it'd be up to the community to do so. I've considered having some kind of ability for users to trigger the bot sending a reminder of the rules, because I know some people get defensive or even offended if told by a fellow player that they're being off-topic and to take things to #chat instead.

I don't want to add another channel, because then we lose the ability to neatly keep all game-related stuff to one channel and synced with all the different chat platforms.

P.S. I do feel like there's been a good deal more ESP and in-game interaction since the change, which is awesome! People are commenting on things and asking questions in an IC manner which is encouraging more IC interaction.

[nobody]

Time for a combo feature request / bug report!

I've noticed that OOC messages (the full range of them) show up at the account screen, which is maaaaybe a bug, but I'd love for it to be a feature. Would you be willing to have chat/ooc enabled in OOC spaces (the account screen and the mentor's lounge are the ones I know of)? Currently in-bound ooc/chat is received on the account screen, but outbound chat/ooc does not function there. The mentor's lounge is a deadzone for ooc/chat.

[nobody]

Just read the recent feedback post (it's a great post!), and wanted to suggest adding a line like "If you need to get help in-game you can also use mentor assist to let any mentors know you would like assistance." to the blurb that comes up when using the chat or ooc commands.