descentchampions.org

I thought it would be nice to have a chat room similar to kali (without the game launching) or something that runs on the homepage in order to connect with pilots who are looking for matches other than via mumble. Since we spend alot of time on the website submitting matches, etc... it would be nice to chat with pilots also through the website. Something that is in the open and available to any registered members of the ladder. I know Skunk cannot get mumble to function properly on his system, just another good reason for a chat room? Cheers!

Awesome idea!

I really would like to see that!

Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll see what I can pull together.

I've done a fair bit of research on this, and haven't come up with any options I like.

There are some AJAX-based chat programs I could integrate into the main site, but they all involve a lot of polling and hence significant work for the server. The ToS for the shared web host explicitly forbid hosting that sort of program, for precisely that reason. With such a small web group of users, I might be able to sneak such a thing under the radar -- can't know unless I try it -- but I'm not optimistic.

There are other sites where you can get a private chat room, but they all cost twice as much as I pay for web hosting or more. I mean, I could get a DCL mumble server for about as much. Which, I suppose, points right back to the resource-intensiveness of hosting web chat in the first place. There are free offerings, too, but they all come with advertising and some harsh and annoying limits. No thanks.

There's always starting up an IRC channel on one of the free networks. That has plenty of drawbacks, though. The good usernames are long since taken. I can't log you in automatically when you visit the page. It's harder (though not impossible) to put the chat channel right on the web site itself, and will probably will involve the use of some sort of heavy Java-based client.

I don't like any of those options, to be honest. I mean, if I'm going to go the "use third party software to connect to IRC" route, I might as well say, "just get Mumble already and don't ever use your mic/speakers." Keep the community together at least, you know?

I can display on the main page who's currently browsing the site, and maybe put in some sort of IM/notification system so you can have simple conversations to set up matches. Beyond that, I'm kind of stuck. If someone else has done this sort of thing before and has a better suggestion that what I've mentioned . . . I'd appreciate hearing it.

I really enjoy using the Rangers mumble... I guess non-Rangers couldn't use it indefinitely, but I think they're welcome to log on to try things out, right?

I used it last night without a mic (as did Lothar). Typing works just fine :)

Drakona,

I really appreciate how in-depth you looked into the idea of a chat-room for the DCL. I had no idea how difficult it would have been to implement something I had envisioned. Thank you for looking into it, I am still and always will be a happy customer of the DCL! Great work!

I'd still like it to happen, but since I haven't come up with any options I think are good ones . . . I'll put this on the back burner for now.

Though . . . starting an IRC channel really isn't difficult. It's integrating it into the site that's difficult. We could do the first, while giving up on the second. Do you think enough people would be interested in using such a thing to make it worthwhile? Guess there's one way to find out for sure.

[Edit: ROFL. I just joined #300baud on EFNet to see if it still existed . . . and it decided I was the channel op. How awesome. ]

bump

Umm... is this really a good idea?

Having one central location to look for people has its advantages... you have more visibility, you don't have to sign in to five different services, etc. Maybe Mumble isn't the perfect location, but if anything is done about it I'd much prefer a replacement to a supplement.

And I'm not sure how popular non-voice is going to be these days. Voice has intangible advantages... the Descent community seems closer today than it was in the Kali era, even later on when there weren't as many players.

mumble works for me