Aren't there like 50 of these "being made" right now?
Also, IRC sucks for this type of thing. It's pretty limited in functionality and isn't very enjoyable to use. Just because it's easy to type commands doesn't mean it's the best way; I will never understand the people who think it's the best thing in the world. It's these people who say "IRC isn't hard, why should we change" that are restricting new players from entering the scene. It's kind of silly to want new players to join the game, but then basically call them dumb when they don't want to use a chatroom as their primary interface for playing.
Lange's solution is a decent compromise, though.
Aren't there like 50 of these "being made" right now?
Also, IRC sucks for this type of thing. It's pretty limited in functionality and isn't very enjoyable to use. Just because it's easy to type commands doesn't mean it's the best way; I will never understand the people who think it's the best thing in the world. It's these people who say "IRC isn't hard, why should we change" that are restricting new players from entering the scene. It's kind of silly to want new players to join the game, but then basically call them dumb when they don't want to use a chatroom as their primary interface for playing.
Lange's solution is a decent compromise, though.
User friendly GUI = people like it because it looks pretty and it's easy to click on things.
IRC unfortunately isn't that user friendly, even though if you take your time to read how to use it it's a piece of cake. The problem is: people don't have time to read, they want things and they want it now. If they have a nice system that's pretty much graphic, there you go.
Just think why Windows was so successful back in the day when it was launch.
User friendly GUI = people like it because it looks pretty and it's easy to click on things.
IRC unfortunately isn't that user friendly, even though if you take your time to read how to use it it's a piece of cake. The problem is: people don't have time to read, they want things and they want it now. If they have a nice system that's pretty much graphic, there you go.
Just think why Windows was so successful back in the day when it was launch.
I have some extra time right now that I'd like to put towards working on a project like this, but I don't have the technical expertise to do it by myself. If there are existing projects in development, does anyone know who I could contact about getting involved? If not, is there anyone else here that would be interested in working on this?
I have some extra time right now that I'd like to put towards working on a project like this, but I don't have the technical expertise to do it by myself. If there are existing projects in development, does anyone know who I could contact about getting involved? If not, is there anyone else here that would be interested in working on this?
I would say the ideal PUG system would be one that's a combination of TF2Lobby and the current PUG channels.
You would have official "channels" that are for PUGs/mixes meant for certain skill levels, and then the user PUGs/mixes/lobbies. PUGs would be the standard captain system, mix would be like normal (non-captain) tf2mix, and lobbies would just be like TF2Lobby.
In addition, it would be best to make an in-browser VoIP program of some sort. This is what EA did with Battlefield (while it is EA, it makes sense for our purposes). This would (hopefully) allow for the benefits of Mumble without the hassle of having new players set it up, at most you'd need a plugin. However, even this has problems as the players will still need to have a recent browser (at least IE8 at this point); we can't be supporting IE6 and 7 as IE8 is available on XP SP2 and greater. IE8 support is necessary, as IE9 and greater are not available for XP. We definitely should not use the in-game voice chat though, it's horrible.
I have no web coding experience besides a little HTML, so it would be nice to have web developers weigh in on this.
I would say the ideal PUG system would be one that's a combination of TF2Lobby and the current PUG channels.
You would have official "channels" that are for PUGs/mixes meant for certain skill levels, and then the user PUGs/mixes/lobbies. PUGs would be the standard captain system, mix would be like normal (non-captain) tf2mix, and lobbies would just be like TF2Lobby.
In addition, it would be best to make an in-browser VoIP program of some sort. This is what EA did with Battlefield (while it is EA, it makes sense for our purposes). This would (hopefully) allow for the benefits of Mumble without the hassle of having new players set it up, at most you'd need a plugin. However, even this has problems as the players will still need to have a recent browser (at least IE8 at this point); we can't be supporting IE6 and 7 as IE8 is available on XP SP2 and greater. IE8 support is necessary, as IE9 and greater are not available for XP. We definitely should not use the in-game voice chat though, it's horrible.
I have no web coding experience besides a little HTML, so it would be nice to have web developers weigh in on this.
I wrote this back in October: https://github.com/dy-dx/newbiemix
I didn't go further with it because during the weekend events, Newbie Mixes run really smoothly and people probably prefer having human admins manage it.
This site could be nice for during the week but we need a server sponsor to provide 3-4 servers for 24/7 use.
I wrote this back in October: https://github.com/dy-dx/newbiemix
I didn't go further with it because during the weekend events, Newbie Mixes run really smoothly and people probably prefer having human admins manage it.
This site could be nice for during the week but we need a server sponsor to provide 3-4 servers for 24/7 use.
What happened to tf2center.com?
What happened to tf2center.com?
hookyIn addition, it would be best to make an in-browser VoIP program of some sort. This is what EA did with Battlefield (while it is EA, it makes sense for our purposes). This would (hopefully) allow for the benefits of Mumble without the hassle of having new players set it up, at most you'd need a plugin.
At this point, in-game voice chat makes more sense. It's really not that bad for newer players to use.
[quote=hooky]In addition, it would be best to make an in-browser VoIP program of some sort. This is what EA did with Battlefield (while it is EA, it makes sense for our purposes). This would (hopefully) allow for the benefits of Mumble without the hassle of having new players set it up, at most you'd need a plugin.[/quote]
At this point, in-game voice chat makes more sense. It's really not that bad for newer players to use.
Saberthere's sort of a reason why newbie mixes exist: an easy way to get people into the comp format at a low level
and honestly irc is so ridiculously easy to learn, though i do admit it takes a little bit to adjust to
The problem with Newbie Mixes being the "beginning" for people getting into competitive is that there are many people who come in to play that are WAY above the skill level of the Newbie Mixes, because they didn't get picked in pug.na or tf2mix and they just want to play.
So maybe a new way to get PUGs going would benefit the newer comp. players because they wouldn't be getting destroyed by higher skilled players.
[quote=Saber]there's sort of a reason why newbie mixes exist: an easy way to get people into the comp format at a low level
and honestly irc is so ridiculously easy to learn, though i do admit it takes a little bit to adjust to[/quote]
The problem with Newbie Mixes being the "beginning" for people getting into competitive is that there are many people who come in to play that are WAY above the skill level of the Newbie Mixes, because they didn't get picked in pug.na or tf2mix and they just want to play.
So maybe a new way to get PUGs going would benefit the newer comp. players because they wouldn't be getting destroyed by higher skilled players.
Lange's idea has been a project of mine since a very long time now. I don't remember if I ever publicly spoke about it but my web based IRC client is being coded towards that goal. Unfortunately there's many reasons why it's not ready yet but I am working very hard on my spare time to complete that thing.
If anybody is a serious coder / UI designer and is interested to help out on that project then let me know because you would be more than welcome on that project. It's still pretty alpha but the whole thing is hosted here: http://atf2.org/ And the repository is available here: https://github.com/550/brouhaha
Lange's idea has been a project of mine since a very long time now. I don't remember if I ever publicly spoke about it but my web based IRC client is being coded towards that goal. Unfortunately there's many reasons why it's not ready yet but I am working very hard on my spare time to complete that thing.
If anybody is a serious coder / UI designer and is interested to help out on that project then let me know because you would be more than welcome on that project. It's still pretty alpha but the whole thing is hosted here: http://atf2.org/ And the repository is available here: https://github.com/550/brouhaha
synchroAt this point, in-game voice chat makes more sense. It's really not that bad for newer players to use.
Mumble has overlay, I love overlay especially in pugs since I could tell who is talking. Going into a pug for the first time I obviously don't know everyones voice, so that helps. It also helps if you're trying out for teams and you want to know if either your med is making a call or your whoever.
Mumble/teamspeak/vent are all used because they have better voice quality and have more options compared to the in-game voice chat. At least, I think that way.
[quote=synchro]At this point, in-game voice chat makes more sense. It's really not that bad for newer players to use.[/quote]
Mumble has overlay, I love overlay especially in pugs since I could tell who is talking. Going into a pug for the first time I obviously don't know everyones voice, so that helps. It also helps if you're trying out for teams and you want to know if either your med is making a call or your whoever.
Mumble/teamspeak/vent are all used because they have better voice quality and have more options compared to the in-game voice chat. At least, I think that way.