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REMEMBER WHEN IRC WAS THE BEES KNEES?
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Feldschlacht IV
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Closeauthor=Link
For me, chatting cuts into my game making time. Browsing the forums is starting to become a time waster even. After you've been around for years, you've already seen most of the useful discussions. It's not often that I learn something new these days. It's time I started applying all that knowledge.
So I guess it might be useful for the newcomers and those who can't get enough game chat. I'll be working on my games. Good luck, but don't aim too high heh
This logic fails for me because I don't spend 100% of my time on a computer making games (I don't think anyone should really, it's a quick way to burn out, but that's just me.) I do uh, lots of things on the computer (work, talk to friends, fuck around on reddit, bullshit, college courses, etc) and browse lots of sites. It's easy for me to leave IRC running in the background with the ability to pop in and out of a conversation.
TheNecromancer
3160
It's very easy to start chatting and -oh shit, an hour or two passed by. Depending on what you were talking about, it might have been a waste of time that you could/should have spent working on your game. It's easy to make excuses not to work, and having too many people to start convos with isn't going to help. That's how it is for me, I start chatting and it never ends. And if you work full time, or have kids, or go to school, or you're in the navy, you're free time is precious and limited. If you're a legit game dev you should spend more time making games for all to enjoy.
I guess I probably take it more seriously since my plan is to start making money off it.
I guess I probably take it more seriously since my plan is to start making money off it.
The thing about IRC is that it inherently appeals more to the technical crowd because of its command-line nature and old age, while alienating the modern average guy as a direct result. Even most RM users are, admittedly, far from "technical" since most scream at the mere mention of coding something with Ruby.
In this day and age where everything is dumbed down Apple-style (or getting dumbed down, screw those of us with working brains aye?) and most people are fine talking <150 characters and looking at cat pictures, IRC is a hard sell.
/server? /join? #wait_this_isnt_a_hashtag? IRC server addresses? Port numbers? Nickserv? Most people are just going to screw that and just hop on Skype or Twitter since they're literally just one button away.
Of course, the fact remains that IRC is still one of the most effective means of communicating on the internet to this day. It's a shame not more people realize that and make use of this great communications tool.
EDIT: Damnit, and now I'm being cynic. (ノ゜Д゜)ノ ⌒┻━┻
In this day and age where everything is dumbed down Apple-style (or getting dumbed down, screw those of us with working brains aye?) and most people are fine talking <150 characters and looking at cat pictures, IRC is a hard sell.
/server? /join? #wait_this_isnt_a_hashtag? IRC server addresses? Port numbers? Nickserv? Most people are just going to screw that and just hop on Skype or Twitter since they're literally just one button away.
Of course, the fact remains that IRC is still one of the most effective means of communicating on the internet to this day. It's a shame not more people realize that and make use of this great communications tool.
EDIT: Damnit, and now I'm being cynic. (ノ゜Д゜)ノ ⌒┻━┻
oh come on. I refuse to believe your average RMer's so stupid they can't type a few one-line commands every so often. They play RPGs for crying out loud.
When it comes to computers, I've learned first-hand that the slightest of inconveniences can push even the smartest of people away. Command-lines are, really, more forbidding than it would seem to many average people.
In addition, a lot of people new to IRC don't understand concepts unique to IRC like bots, idling, and discussions over extended periods of time. They are also biased by the misconception that IRC is a "dead" communications medium because of its age if they've heard of it at all, and if they haven't heard of IRC the misconception of it being an obscure communications medium also reinforces their initial impression that IRC is "dead".
Oftentimes, I see people new to IRC join a channel, say hi or ask a question, see that it's quiet at the moment, and then summarily leave because the quiet channel inadvertantly reinforced their assumption that IRC is dead, never to return.
People new to IRC try to treat it like they do Skype where people who aren't around actually show as offline; they try to treat it like they do Twitter or Facebook where talk is always happening or just around the corner; they try to treat it like a short conversation in an IM service when its not, when it's actually a cross between a forum/message board and real-time discussions.
Essentially, IRC's command-line history, its culture, and its age all play against earning the appeal of younger people, and while it is a shame I honestly can't fault them. IRC comparatively is inconvenient, and its culture and paradigms are markedly different from the trending mediums of communication today.
In addition, a lot of people new to IRC don't understand concepts unique to IRC like bots, idling, and discussions over extended periods of time. They are also biased by the misconception that IRC is a "dead" communications medium because of its age if they've heard of it at all, and if they haven't heard of IRC the misconception of it being an obscure communications medium also reinforces their initial impression that IRC is "dead".
Oftentimes, I see people new to IRC join a channel, say hi or ask a question, see that it's quiet at the moment, and then summarily leave because the quiet channel inadvertantly reinforced their assumption that IRC is dead, never to return.
People new to IRC try to treat it like they do Skype where people who aren't around actually show as offline; they try to treat it like they do Twitter or Facebook where talk is always happening or just around the corner; they try to treat it like a short conversation in an IM service when its not, when it's actually a cross between a forum/message board and real-time discussions.
Essentially, IRC's command-line history, its culture, and its age all play against earning the appeal of younger people, and while it is a shame I honestly can't fault them. IRC comparatively is inconvenient, and its culture and paradigms are markedly different from the trending mediums of communication today.
Shinan
4314
If we're going irc vs today's media the one thing I miss in more "modern" forms of communication is the kind of discoverability of new people that you find in IRC. twitter sort of has this I guess but personally Twitter is rarely about discussion and more about shouting your own opinion into the nothingness.
IRC is sort of intimate where you can talk to a number of people who may or may not be strangers. Facebook and Skype and whatnots always have the barrier of it being about people you already know. You don't go "hey man what's up" to a complete stranger on Facebook or Twitter, or if you do it's pretty weird.
Basically what I'm saying is that internet communication used to be about finding new people to interact with and nowadays it's all about interacting with people you already know through it. Which is why there's all these people making videos about "hey, talk your friends in real life instead of through your screen once in a while."
I guess this was my pro-IRC rant. :) I guess all us old IRC fogies come out of the woodwork whenever it comes up. Only to then retreat back to our idling after a while.
IRC is sort of intimate where you can talk to a number of people who may or may not be strangers. Facebook and Skype and whatnots always have the barrier of it being about people you already know. You don't go "hey man what's up" to a complete stranger on Facebook or Twitter, or if you do it's pretty weird.
Basically what I'm saying is that internet communication used to be about finding new people to interact with and nowadays it's all about interacting with people you already know through it. Which is why there's all these people making videos about "hey, talk your friends in real life instead of through your screen once in a while."
I guess this was my pro-IRC rant. :) I guess all us old IRC fogies come out of the woodwork whenever it comes up. Only to then retreat back to our idling after a while.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for getting our IRC channel (and IRC in general) flourishing again as well. I personally believe that IRC is one of those communication mediums that will always be around in some fashion, it's already one of the few protocols predating the WWW that still remains relevant and alive to this day after all.
But practically speaking, I wanted to point out the real issues that IRC faces in trying to reobtain mass market appeal today. Times change, especially over the course of 26 years since IRC's introduction, and as things go the people of today have demands that IRC simply wasn't designed to cater to.
IRC still is very relevent today, but to make it appeal to the younger generations of today I've seen that it takes a lot of makeup and sugar-coating to mask the fact it's IRC. Warframe comes to mind as a prime example: Its in-game chat system is in fact driven by IRC (even uses port 6667!), but most of the players never realize that and use it without skeptisism because all of IRC's framework and command-line functions are covered up and hidden away, only the core chatting functionality is presented to the players.
Obviously we don't need to go to that extent, but the fact of the matter is that simply encouraging the use of IRC and calling it a day isn't going to earn any new users. IRC as a communications tool is working fine, but it simply isn't appealing to the average person of today and therein lies the crux of the issue.
But practically speaking, I wanted to point out the real issues that IRC faces in trying to reobtain mass market appeal today. Times change, especially over the course of 26 years since IRC's introduction, and as things go the people of today have demands that IRC simply wasn't designed to cater to.
IRC still is very relevent today, but to make it appeal to the younger generations of today I've seen that it takes a lot of makeup and sugar-coating to mask the fact it's IRC. Warframe comes to mind as a prime example: Its in-game chat system is in fact driven by IRC (even uses port 6667!), but most of the players never realize that and use it without skeptisism because all of IRC's framework and command-line functions are covered up and hidden away, only the core chatting functionality is presented to the players.
Obviously we don't need to go to that extent, but the fact of the matter is that simply encouraging the use of IRC and calling it a day isn't going to earn any new users. IRC as a communications tool is working fine, but it simply isn't appealing to the average person of today and therein lies the crux of the issue.
Darken
3626
author=Link_2112
Everybody in the whole province(NS) was on the same channel, cause they could fit. IRC is the 2k3 of chat methods.
no haligonians allowed of coarse
author=KingArthur
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for getting our IRC channel (and IRC in general) flourishing again as well. I personally believe that IRC is one of those communication mediums that will always be around in some fashion, it's already one of the few protocols predating the WWW that still remains relevant and alive to this day after all.
But practically speaking, I wanted to point out the real issues that IRC faces in trying to reobtain mass market appeal today. Times change, especially over the course of 26 years since IRC's introduction, and as things go the people of today have demands that IRC simply wasn't designed to cater to.
IRC still is very relevent today, but to make it appeal to the younger generations of today I've seen that it takes a lot of makeup and sugar-coating to mask the fact it's IRC. Warframe comes to mind as a prime example: Its in-game chat system is in fact driven by IRC (even uses port 6667!), but most of the players never realize that and use it without skeptisism because all of IRC's framework and command-line functions are covered up and hidden away, only the core chatting functionality is presented to the players.
Obviously we don't need to go to that extent, but the fact of the matter is that simply encouraging the use of IRC and calling it a day isn't going to earn any new users. IRC as a communications tool is working fine, but it simply isn't appealing to the average person of today and therein lies the crux of the issue.
I think this is a very insightful and relevant post. The main thing I got from this is that relatively younger users wouldn't necessarily be averse to IRC, they just need to be re/introduced back into it as an alternative to existing forms of communication. I think we have that to our advantage considering the potential for a monopoly in that regard; it's not like we're sharing space with Facebook and Twitter in any significant way with respect to gamedev discussion and time.
If it isn't appealing naturally but it still has intrinsic value, this is why I suggested doing things like talking points and scheduled events to draw people in for a reason, and then residual use will trickle down after that. A main reason why IRC has fallen off in this community is just because people sort of forgot about it. The idea to have a 'whos on IRC' tab on the main site is an interesting one, and it goes to show that I think IRC has tons of potential to aid in gamedev discussion and interaction, it just needs some investment.
I don't really see an alternative to IRC in terms of mass real-time communication. As far as I know, Skype doesn't usually have 20-25 people in a group, and I have no idea what Google+'s real-time capabilities are. Facebook is out of the question because the UX is awful for that type of thing.
I'm not sure how I feel of people basically being afraid of even the more shallow intricacies of IRC, but as a former mobile app developer I can't deny the trend: People are getting lazier and lazier with regards to tech, so yeah, abstraction is key, I guess.
I'm not sure how I feel of people basically being afraid of even the more shallow intricacies of IRC, but as a former mobile app developer I can't deny the trend: People are getting lazier and lazier with regards to tech, so yeah, abstraction is key, I guess.
How about implementing Mibbit in an iframe on site? This would increase people on chat as from my experience people rarely want to download IRC client or even click link pointing to webirc. Implementing Mibbit or other HTML5 irc client would be cool way to get more people and it could even be made so it will log you automatically with name RMN(randomnumbers) if you aren't logged in or with currently logged name and tip about /nick command. It could be made so it would resemble chat/shoutbox found on popular forum systems like IPB.
author=Rave
How about implementing Mibbit in an iframe on site? This would increase people on chat as from my experience people rarely want to download IRC client or even click link pointing to webirc. Implementing Mibbit or other HTML5 irc client would be cool way to get more people and it could even be made so it will log you automatically with name RMN(randomnumbers) if you aren't logged in or with currently logged name and tip about /nick command. It could be made so it would resemble chat/shoutbox found on popular forum systems like IPB.
I'd honestly go there more too if this was added
Easy to do but ultimately pointless as you're still going to a different window, it just happens to have RM Net's border around it taking up room.
TheNecromancer
3160
author=Darkenauthor=Link_2112no haligonians allowed of coarse
Everybody in the whole province(NS) was on the same channel, cause they could fit. IRC is the 2k3 of chat methods.
haha! Naturally. It seemed to be mainly Cape Bretoners, from what I remember.
I agree with most of what has been said about the benefits of IRC, but as a social tool it's very limited. It lacks the innovations of the day. It's stuck in the past.
