Global general chat channel

[Asperai]

One of the things that made me the happiest when coming back to CoH, (and I owe you folks big for that one, you are my heroes) was all of the positivity I saw in chat. People gushing over how much they love the game, how much they love the community, and all of the shared experiences and ideas. I will admit, I have had several very enjoyable and uplifting conversations on the help channel that were not exactly help-related. I'm sorry. But I think the clutter on the help channel is mainly due to a lack of a similar social outlet while in-game.

 

I know that, when I'm doing missions and leveling, I love idly watching people chat about a variety of topics, and join in myself. There are SG chats, and other outlets like just hanging around Pocket D, of course. But the fact that they are not a global sampling of the community leaves a lot to be desired. As far as I can tell, the best way to fill this need, help promote the general positivity it's been prone to, and clean up help chat for better service to new and returning players, would be to try and implement a global general chat channel.

 

I have no idea how easy this would be. It sounds like a simple solution, but, obviously with a game like this there could be any number of strange quirks that cause it to be more difficult than it appears. But that is my suggestion for something that I know would make the game ten times better for me, and I suspect many others. I will continue to greatly appreciate what you do regardless.

[Nykodemos]

I heartily agree with this idea.

 

 

[Finkelmistcomics]

I wrote a good blog about how people are not using the chat channels correctly. It seems to be an issue caused by both new and returning players. New players are not aware of the old ways but they already started using channels in a certain way that the returning players have joined in on. You can create your own channels. I have two channels for Excelsior "Red Side" and "Blue Side" but people would have to be aware of them to join. Creating a channel is super easy. Right click your chat window, select new tab, select create channel or join channel. The issue is getting people to use them correctly. They don't feel the need to.

[Asperai]

3 hours ago, Finkelmistcomics said:

I wrote a good blog about how people are not using the chat channels correctly. It seems to be an issue caused by both new and returning players. New players are not aware of the old ways but they already started using channels in a certain way that the returning players have joined in on. You can create your own channels. I have two channels for Excelsior "Red Side" and "Blue Side" but people would have to be aware of them to join. Creating a channel is super easy. Right click your chat window, select new tab, select create channel or join channel. The issue is getting people to use them correctly. They don't feel the need to.

You are certainly not wrong. I love the fact that you can create your own custom channels in CoX, but due to the facts that you need to know about a channel before you can seek it out, or have an up-to-date list available from which to search for one that appeals to you, I believe it is a system that works very well for private group discussions or ones pertaining more to individual topics. As a public channel, I think the system leaves much to be desired. I have played many games, and while there have been others where help chat was occasionally abused, that tends to not be the case when there is an equally accessible general chat right next door.

Regardless, these insights are things I neglected to touch upon in my original post, and I appreciate that you brought them up. Were I playing on Excelsior, I would certainly join one of your channels to discuss it further.

[GM Sijin]

This is a common request. Something is in the works, more I can't say. This is why we're generally pretty lax about chatter in the help chat as long as it stays (mostly) game relevant/avoids disruptive behaviors and topics and doesn't prevent Q&A. 

 

As an aside, you can search public global channels. Right click the chat pane and select Channel search. Also, I believe the channels have something like 2000 max users. 

[Asperai]

9 hours ago, GM Sijin said:

This is a common request. Something is in the works, more I can't say. This is why we're generally pretty lax about chatter in the help chat as long as it stays (mostly) game relevant/avoids disruptive behaviors and topics and doesn't prevent Q&A. 

 

As an aside, you can search public global channels. Right click the chat pane and select Channel search. Also, I believe the channels have something like 2000 max users. 

Ah. You know, embarassingly, I didn't even realize the chat search function existed. That certainly helps a lot, thank you. I Wonder how it never came up before.

 

Still, I am glad to hear that the problem is being addressed. I realize you are under no obligation to do so, and appreciate it. Thank you for your patience.

[RikOz]

This reminds me - what the heck is the chat channel labeled "Global"? The name implies that it's the Global chat channel, i.e. server-wide "general" chat channel.

 

But any time I type into "Global", when I hit Enter it gets converted to "Local".

 

Is the "Global" channel actually meant for chatting with people on your Global Friends list? If not, what exactly is this channel for?

[justicebeliever]

Global is a global (cross shard) open chat channel, for exactly what this request is for.  The only difference is that you are not automatically enrolled in it, and it’s not by default, on your chat tabs.

 

i haven’t seen the issue you are describing.  I haven’t posted there in a while, but I have never seen it convert to local

[ed_anger]

On 8/1/2019 at 7:47 PM, Finkelmistcomics said:

The issue is getting people to use them correctly. They don't feel the need to.

There were people arguing for half an hour this morning in the LFG channel about what the defense soft and hard cap really are 🙄

[GM Sijin]

2 hours ago, RikOz said:

This reminds me - what the heck is the chat channel labeled "Global"? The name implies that it's the Global chat channel, i.e. server-wide "general" chat channel.

 

But any time I type into "Global", when I hit Enter it gets converted to "Local".

 

Is the "Global" channel actually meant for chatting with people on your Global Friends list? If not, what exactly is this channel for?

The "Global" chat tab is just one of the default created tabs, it isn't specific to any channel. If you right click on it and select Edit Tab you can actually see which channels are on that tab, and which one is set as default. The default channel is the one that will send when your chat is set to "Active Tab" - which causes the 'channel' you're sending to to show the tab name, not what actual channel you're outputting to.

[justicebeliever]

26 minutes ago, GM Sijin said:

The "Global" chat tab is just one of the default created tabs, it isn't specific to any channel. If you right click on it and select Edit Tab you can actually see which channels are on that tab, and which one is set as default. The default channel is the one that will send when your chat is set to "Active Tab" - which causes the 'channel' you're sending to to show the tab name, not what actual channel you're outputting to.

There is also a Global Chat Channel as well...But this explanation makes more sense given the behavior described...Thanks for the save Sijin