Flashing chat-box alert

[endar1077]

Disclaimer:

Okay, so I didn't see this in my very brief search of suggestions, but I could have missed it because I didn't look terribly hard. Hope that's not the case. I don't know how many people this effects (because I'm not sure how many people actually plan strategies with their team mates, lol), but I have thought several times that it would be very useful.

Motivation:

It happens to me fairly consistantly that I am taking a turn (scrolled up, looking at the map) and a teammate comes along and offers mid-turn suggestions. I'd love to hear them, but I have no idea they are being suggested. I've been on the other side of this several time - it is sort of frustrating to see a teammate doing something you don't agree with, but have them ignore your remarks because they simply don't see them.

It would also apply to standard games for the more... pursuasive type. How many times have we all been in an escalating game and somebody starts going after your elimination, but you're thinking... "no way - they can't possibly make that"...? Wouldn't you like to be able to say "Wait! Think about it a minute!"

Concise description:

If it would be possible to create some sort of flashing image/alert to notify you of new chat entries while you are taking a turn, these problems would be solved. It would have to be something in the corner, though, because you'd want to be able to ignore it in the context of... say... a speed game.

What do we think?

[Woodruff]

Disclaimer:

Okay, so I didn't see this in my very brief search of suggestions, but I could have missed it because I didn't look terribly hard. Hope that's not the case. I don't know how many people this effects (because I'm not sure how many people actually plan strategies with their team mates, lol), but I have thought several times that it would be very useful.

Motivation:

It happens to me fairly consistantly that I am taking a turn (scrolled up, looking at the map) and a teammate comes along and offers mid-turn suggestions. I'd love to hear them, but I have no idea they are being suggested. I've been on the other side of this several time - it is sort of frustrating to see a teammate doing something you don't agree with, but have them ignore your remarks because they simply don't see them.

It would also apply to standard games for the more... pursuasive type. How many times have we all been in an escalating game and somebody starts going after your elimination, but you're thinking... "no way - they can't possibly make that"...? Wouldn't you like to be able to say "Wait! Think about it a minute!"

Concise description:

If it would be possible to create some sort of flashing image/alert to notify you of new chat entries while you are taking a turn, these problems would be solved. It would have to be something in the corner, though, because you'd want to be able to ignore it in the context of... say... a speed game.

What do we think?

This seems like it would really only be a speed-thing, right? I don't think this would really apply to casual games.

[ender516]

Maybe some skilled script programmer could just rearrange the Game page to put the Game Chat above the Game Log, making it more likely that you will see it below the map and action buttons.

[pmchugh]

Disclaimer:

Okay, so I didn't see this in my very brief search of suggestions, but I could have missed it because I didn't look terribly hard. Hope that's not the case. I don't know how many people this effects (because I'm not sure how many people actually plan strategies with their team mates, lol), but I have thought several times that it would be very useful.

Motivation:

It happens to me fairly consistantly that I am taking a turn (scrolled up, looking at the map) and a teammate comes along and offers mid-turn suggestions. I'd love to hear them, but I have no idea they are being suggested. I've been on the other side of this several time - it is sort of frustrating to see a teammate doing something you don't agree with, but have them ignore your remarks because they simply don't see them.

It would also apply to standard games for the more... pursuasive type. How many times have we all been in an escalating game and somebody starts going after your elimination, but you're thinking... "no way - they can't possibly make that"...? Wouldn't you like to be able to say "Wait! Think about it a minute!"

Concise description:

If it would be possible to create some sort of flashing image/alert to notify you of new chat entries while you are taking a turn, these problems would be solved. It would have to be something in the corner, though, because you'd want to be able to ignore it in the context of... say... a speed game.

What do we think?

This seems like it would really only be a speed-thing, right? I don't think this would really apply to casual games.

Lol read it again, his example of when it he would turn it off was during speed games. He's suggesting it for team games when someone changes their mind midturn or the situation changes due to dice etc.

Although I'm not sure how many people would really want it considering a lot of people either don't plan this well or don't use game chat due to it's limitations.

[Woodruff]

Disclaimer:

Okay, so I didn't see this in my very brief search of suggestions, but I could have missed it because I didn't look terribly hard. Hope that's not the case. I don't know how many people this effects (because I'm not sure how many people actually plan strategies with their team mates, lol), but I have thought several times that it would be very useful.

Motivation:

It happens to me fairly consistantly that I am taking a turn (scrolled up, looking at the map) and a teammate comes along and offers mid-turn suggestions. I'd love to hear them, but I have no idea they are being suggested. I've been on the other side of this several time - it is sort of frustrating to see a teammate doing something you don't agree with, but have them ignore your remarks because they simply don't see them.

It would also apply to standard games for the more... pursuasive type. How many times have we all been in an escalating game and somebody starts going after your elimination, but you're thinking... "no way - they can't possibly make that"...? Wouldn't you like to be able to say "Wait! Think about it a minute!"

Concise description:

If it would be possible to create some sort of flashing image/alert to notify you of new chat entries while you are taking a turn, these problems would be solved. It would have to be something in the corner, though, because you'd want to be able to ignore it in the context of... say... a speed game.

What do we think?

This seems like it would really only be a speed-thing, right? I don't think this would really apply to casual games.

Lol read it again, his example of when it he would turn it off was during speed games. He's suggesting it for team games when someone changes their mind midturn or the situation changes due to dice etc.

I understand that - but do folks playing team CASUAL games really sit around watching for their teammates' moves? I wouldn't think so...ever. It just doesn't seem to me to be a relevant suggestion EXCEPT FOR speed games.

[hahaha3hahaha]

-deleted-

[endar1077]

...when they see an orange play button next to a game they instantly click in and watch. I've done it myself quite a few times.

This is exactly the sort of situation I'm thinking of: Unplanned encounters in which team communication would be beneficial.

Lol read it again, his example of when it he would turn it off was during speed games.

I'm not sure I'd want to turn it off during speed games, but I'd want it to be small enough that I could ignore it if I wanted to. The reason I mention this in the context of speed games is because I've been in particularly chatty speed games in which you don't necessarily want to be interrupted by a non-relevant comment. I suppose it goes even further than that, though, because an opponent could deliberately use it against you in a speed game if it were something that popped up right in the middle and messed up your rhythm. Anyway, that's why i'm thinking it has to be something in the bottom right corner, or else some sort of stationary indicator on the page that only lights up (flashes) when there is new text.

Now that I'm thinking about it, though, it could be pretty hard to code something that only registers "new" text, because you have to have some way of knowing what is "old". Maybe, then, it would just be a single pattern of flashes for each new entry, which would terminate after the sequence was finished...

[endar1077]

P.S.
I'm open to other ideas for dealing with this same "issue". It doesn't have to be flashing icon, if there can be thought of some better way to do it.

[hahaha3hahaha]

-deleted-

[Woodruff]

Disclaimer:

Okay, so I didn't see this in my very brief search of suggestions, but I could have missed it because I didn't look terribly hard. Hope that's not the case. I don't know how many people this effects (because I'm not sure how many people actually plan strategies with their team mates, lol), but I have thought several times that it would be very useful.

Motivation:

It happens to me fairly consistantly that I am taking a turn (scrolled up, looking at the map) and a teammate comes along and offers mid-turn suggestions. I'd love to hear them, but I have no idea they are being suggested. I've been on the other side of this several time - it is sort of frustrating to see a teammate doing something you don't agree with, but have them ignore your remarks because they simply don't see them.

It would also apply to standard games for the more... pursuasive type. How many times have we all been in an escalating game and somebody starts going after your elimination, but you're thinking... "no way - they can't possibly make that"...? Wouldn't you like to be able to say "Wait! Think about it a minute!"

Concise description:

If it would be possible to create some sort of flashing image/alert to notify you of new chat entries while you are taking a turn, these problems would be solved. It would have to be something in the corner, though, because you'd want to be able to ignore it in the context of... say... a speed game.

What do we think?

This seems like it would really only be a speed-thing, right? I don't think this would really apply to casual games.

Lol read it again, his example of when it he would turn it off was during speed games. He's suggesting it for team games when someone changes their mind midturn or the situation changes due to dice etc.

I understand that - but do folks playing team CASUAL games really sit around watching for their teammates' moves? I wouldn't think so...ever. It just doesn't seem to me to be a relevant suggestion EXCEPT FOR speed games.

this is the only thing you've ever posted that I don't agree with. You would be very surprised.

I am very surprised. And frightened. <laughing> (I know that's not what you were getting at with the second sentence...just thought it was funny.)

People that are premium and really care about their rank spend a lot of their day on CC planning turns, and when they see an orange play button next to a game they instantly click in and watch. I've done it myself quite a few times.

This is kinda frightening to me too. I mean, I've watched for MY turns to show up because I'm bored (and had far too many games going on at one time)...but I don't think I could be that bored.

[Captain_Scarlet]

why dont you use msn ?

[endar1077]

Hmmm... perhaps this should be another BOB thing. I probably came to the wrong place...

[Marino_1]

I think being able to optional move your game chat box directly beneath map is great idea

I totally agree. I am constantly scrolling up and down to say, "Ok, deploy on xxx, then on yyy and hit zzz. At the end, fort me on aaa." Right below the map would be lovely!

[endar1077]

I think being able to optional move your game chat box directly beneath map is great idea

I totally agree. I am constantly scrolling up and down to say, "Ok, deploy on xxx, then on yyy and hit zzz. At the end, fort me on aaa." Right below the map would be lovely!

Or perhaps above the map?
There's already vital information right below the map in the event that you have BOB (and everybody should). But seriously, game chat is something that should be read BEFORE each turn anyway, so shouldn't it be the very first thing on the page? Then you could scroll up to see chat, and scroll down to see statistics. The newest chat entries would even be closest to the map, so you'd definitely see them as they were entered. It's bloody perfect.
Thanks everyone for the ideas!
Now I'm going to give a link to this thread in the BOB suggestions thread.

[Foxglove]

Well I don't know if this will be a new BOB feature or not, but I have just started making a new script to make the chat box floating, draggable, and resizeable. And it's to solve almost the problem you have (kind of) - I want to be able to look at game chat and the map at the same time. If you want to give me some input, shoot me a PM.

[Marino_1]

Or perhaps above the map? ...
There's already vital information right below the map in the event that you have BOB (and everybody should). But seriously, game chat is something that should be read BEFORE each turn anyway, so shouldn't it be the very first thing on the page? Then you could scroll up to see chat, and scroll down to see statistics. The newest chat entries would even be closest to the map, so you'd definitely see them as they were entered. It's bloody perfect.
Thanks everyone for the ideas!
Now I'm going to give a link to this thread in the BOB suggestions thread.

Of course! Genius!

[ender516]

Well I don't know if this will be a new BOB feature or not, but I have just started making a new script to make the chat box floating, draggable, and resizeable. And it's to solve almost the problem you have (kind of) - I want to be able to look at game chat and the map at the same time. If you want to give me some input, shoot me a PM.

You know, I was just thinking of suggesting the chat be set up like the heads-up display, but it sounds like you are already on it. Looking forward to it.

[endar1077]

Well, just to wrap this up, I should say that BOB now has a feature in "view options" that is called "Chat on top" (thanks sherkaner!). When activated, the chat box appears above the map. At the moment, there seems like there is a small conflict between that change and clickable maps, but i'm sure it will fixed in no time (I think it took sherkaner less than an hour to program this change to begin with).

Also, it sounds like Foxglove is going to continue working on her script which will allow dragging and resizing of the chat box, so that's another alternative for the future, perhaps.

Again, thanks for helping me work this into a feasible concept, everyone!

[Marino_1]

Oh my GOD!!!

I love it!

It's beautiful... Sigh... Makes things soooooooo much better!

Great work! I tip my hat to you.