IRC is dead where is new chat :/

[Kedhrin]

IRC room is pretty much dead. I haven't been in there in years.... i know some of you still go in there... but maybe we could start using something more 'cutting edge' and 'hip' to chat casually throughout the day.  

 

i'm sure someone has tried to do this before. but maybe we can have an official stance on it (like X place is the official room of Mapcore).

 

personally - i fucking love Skype's chat rooms. It's the closest thing you can get to IRC and pretty much everyone has a skype account.... but i know some companies put blockers on Skype.

 

thoughts? or am i just dumb?

[Pampers]

maybe integrate some client on this site? that way noone have to download or sign up a new account for anything

[Kedhrin]

a client side on a website generally sucks you can even get a web-site built in IRC but its not the same. the ability to share images etc. is just so much better on an actual client.  if someone is messaging me on a website based messaging system, i'll more than likely miss it. but thats just me.

[AlexM]

there's web clients that use IRC so you could use mirc or the web client

[Sprony]

The software Thrik uses for this site has a build in chat module. The downside is that it isn't free and you have the pay an amount depending on how many people use it. I'll discuss it with him.

[Pericolos0]

should just do a skype mapcore group

[Kedhrin]

i'm down for a mapcore skype group.  

 

add me on skype - Kedhrin - or if you're on there, let's start and invite our friends for all the lulz

[Thrik]

I just implemented a live chat module on the forums, feel free to go ahead and talk bullshit.

 

To give some background, MapCore's 'home' was for some time an IRC channel. That same channel continues to exist and has about 20 people in it at any given time, but the majority of them are from pre-forums MapCore (i.e. don't post here) and just sit idle with IRC open in the background. There's been very little interest expressed by new members in joining IRC for years, which reflects IRC's general decline as a popular medium.

 

I appreciate Kedhrin's comments above about web-based chats rarely being as complete as a dedicated piece of software, however I believe that integration with the forums is a good way of encouraging people to dip in — they can be chatting with one click, whereas with other systems they have to deal with adding contacts, invites, and even downloading software if they don't already have it. Additionally, not everyone is able use things like Skype or Steam at work.

 

So, at least for now there'll be a permanent chat channel open which you can access via the top menu. A small icon will indicate when people are in there, and if you click it you'll immediately be signed into the channel with your forum login. It's a basic chat set-up for sure, but it allows for private messaging and you can break it out into a separate window rather than having to leave the browser tab open all the time. Just don't abuse it or a ban will be the reward.

 

There isn't a great deal I can do to customise it, but if it does prove popular we can always look into integration with third-party stuff as a later step. This is a basic provision to see how it goes, which I hope can eventually replace the status updates for 'random crap' conversation because there are more useful things we hope to implement there. 

 

Of course, you're all welcome to use things like Skype and Steam to chat. I'm just providing this as an option.

[Vilham]

May just be me, but I have been conditioned on this site to click red icons, normally that means someone has sent me mail or replied to me. Having the number of users visible is good, but red makes me want to click it, even if I don't really want to go on the chat.

 

Basically, what have you done to me Thrik.

[Thrik]

lmao

I might change it to blue or something because I am suffering the same ailment.

[Thrik]

Ta-da.

[Zezeri]

Is there a Skype Group?

Chat seems quite empty.

Kudos for taking the time to implement it tho, Thirk.