Lux Community Chat

[Jellicent]

Cheers ^.^

I've been lurking the forums for a bit now, and one thing I haven't been able to find is just a general community chat. I know there's live chat in game rooms, but those don't usually hit very large numbers and it's tougher to hold casual conversations when you're all focused on playing a game. Plus, you won't idle in a game, so if you don't see anyone playing at the moment, you'll probably just do something else. General chats are great for organizing games and getting to know the rest of the community outside of playing Lux.

If there already is one and I just haven't been able to find it... Hey, I'm Jellicent; I'm dumb. Please direct me to where I can embarrass myself in real time. If not, I quick set one up on SynIRC, #lux

IRC's easy to use but has a ton of possibilities for coders (the competitive Pokemon community used to run bots that could import teams for text-based RBY and GSC battles.) Making a new room takes seconds, so it's simple to set up additional chats for the community (and intuitive to be in multiple chats or PMs at once). It's also very light, so it shouldn't be slowing down older computers much to have it running in the background.

There are several IRC clients to choose from. I'm a fan of mIRC myself. That said, Mibbit's free and browser-based, so you can just keep it running in a tab and see when peeps are talking / highlighting you. It's not the prettiest or best client, but it's a good one to try out before thinking about switching to a nicer one.

If you're already familiar with IRC, the room's #lux on the SynIRC network. If not, here's a direct Mibbit link to the chat.

Even if the chat's dead at the moment, just leave it going as you do other stuff. Feel free to shoot me a PM, too; if I'm not afk, I'll respond.

[Added by GFips: I personally like the idea of a global chat, but please note, that this mentioned IRC room is not an official Sillysoft chat room. It is not moderated/supported by Sillysoft or the mods. So use it at your own risk. For "official" chat please use the chat-window of the Lux Deluxe games, although they are limited to one host/room.]

[Symbiosis]

I don't know much about IRC, but I think a global chat would be a fantastic feature.

[Naraku]

I also think that a lux global chatroom would be good for the game. I don't know the specifics of the Phpbb forum coding that sillysoft uses for the forums; but I have seen other gaming sites with global game chats. Not just one channel but many. Global, Games, Help, Clan. I would picture it running passively in the background like a Instant messenger or icq program that anyone and everyone could be included in. You could then go to private channels with friends or other players to arrange team games, tournaments or whatever fun happy imaginative chat would spring forth from the addition of a Lux Global chat room to the forums or the game.

Any chance you could comment on this thread dustin?

[The Silken Knot]

I thought Lux was a chatroom. Obviously, I was misinformed...

Other: I'm in a chatroom with my friends and there is some strange game going on in the background taking me away from the chat...

Never trust a grown man on a pink pony.

[n00less cluebie]

What's not to trust?!

[dustin]

We have the forums. They aren't a chat-room, but serve as a global discussion area.

It sees like the most populated room also serves as a de facto chat area, when it gets hopping. I know some people just pop in there to chat.

I feel like these things serve our communication needs pretty well. I saw there's now an IRC channel op setup, although it was empty when I looked in.

[imapickle]

I dont think we need a new chatroom. We have more than enough means of communicating as it is.

[Jellicent]

Saw two of you in there a few minutes ago as my laptop was restarting, but you were gone by the time I got back

Having a way to communicate in real-time as a community is pretty fantastic. If you're unsure about it, why not just give a shot for a week or so? Keep it running in the background, and you'll find it's a lot easier to get to know each other (casual live discussion as a larger group rather than just with other players during a game) and to get games started ("Anyone up for some Classic?")

I'm usually on IRC when I'm online, so feel free to hit me up if you opt to chill there. Especially if you want to chat music ^.^