Changing Supporter Chat | Thoughts!

Discussion in 'Community Discussion' started by Aikar, Jul 21, 2014.

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Replace Supporter Chat Channel with Global Town Chat?

Poll closed Jul 26, 2014.
Yes 100 vote(s) 71.4%
No 32 vote(s) 22.9%
Not a supporter/ever going to be 8 vote(s) 5.7%
  1. Hey Supporters/Previous Supporters/Possible Supporters!

    Very important poll for you all.

    We've been thinking about how to make supporter chat even more useful, so that supporters can chat with more people. This idea came to us from quite a few members' private messages stating that the community isn't as social as it was when they joined and the want for the community to interact more and foster an idea of acceptance of all players.

    The basic idea we have at this time is to get rid of Supporter Chat channel, and instead give Supporters the perk that Moderators have: Global Town Chat (on the same SMP, not all servers)! In other words, make Town chat Behave just the same way Supporter Chat does now.

    The main benefit of this would be that Supporters will have a chat with even more people to talk to (everyone in town), and it will get rid of the issue of chat fragmentation we have where people talk in 1 channel and others respond in Town chat, that causes mass confusion.

    This would also help to increase chat activity in town, keeping chat even more alive.

    In Supporter Chats place, we would love to open Shop Chat, a channel for all economy related posts!

    Supporter Chat will NOT be seen in the Wild, and we will be adding a feature to leave channels before this change would even go out, so you can optionally leave Shop in town, and leave Town while in the Wild if you do not wish to see it.

    While many love supporter to get away from Town chat, this does cause some fragmentation in chat, and even if we do leave Supporter channel in place, it would then become even less useful since it makes more sense to just talk in Town.

    So do you agree with plan? Please give us your thoughts!
  2. What I honestly think, is that a global all 10-server chat should not be a perk, it should be available to everyone.
    I can of course see that supporters like myself will feel that they have more "right" for this perk, but I never thought of this cross server chat channel. Now you put it on the desk Aikar, and I really like the idea.

    Sometimes servers like SMP3 and SMP6 can feel a bit more silent and un-wanted than servers like SMP1 and SMP9, but there are dedicated players out there, who has given their time, there precious precious time to a server like SMP3. This potential update could revive servers as SMP3, so it does not feel as dark and lonely there, at least during European peak time zones :)!
    Gadget_AD, nezew, xxRennaxx and 7 others like this.
  3. I'd just give supporters global Town, rename current supporter to Donator chat (giving all paid ranks access, and changing prefix to D, and making it cross-server in the process), freeing up S to be used for Shop chat.
  4. This isn't for cross-server chat, just for same SMP. We will evaluate a multi server channel later, but focus on the topic at hand for now.
    Equinox_Boss and PenguinDJ like this.
  5. A main goal is to get rid of the separate channel to unite the community a bit more. It's bad if Town chat looks dead but there is active communication in Supporter Chat.
    Equinox_Boss and Wanderton like this.
  6. I am really confused... You don't mean giving the supporters to ability to chat on all 10 town chats?
    What do you mean then... Am I really confused right now :S?
    Equinox_Boss, Wanderton and 607 like this.
  7. Chat in town while in the wild. So same as supporter chat is currently, but on Town channel.
  8. Ahh, I don't see why not. That'll give the town chat a bit more activity, which only is positive.
  9. I think this is a good idea, because when I am in the wild I usually become bored of just adventuring by myself and maybe a handful of friends, and I end up heading back to town. I think if I could talk to everyone back at town, I would be more content with adventuring solo. The social aspect is really the biggest reason I think people play on EMC, and this will make communication easier and improve the wild experience for supporters/donators. At the same time, I think it should also be toggleable; some people definitely prefer just talking to their small group of friends rather than the whole mob.
    Equinox_Boss and AlexChance like this.
  10. It's possible, but with this the sole reason most people use S chat is gone (talking to people when in the wild) so it would just split the chat more, unnecessarily
    Equinox_Boss, _RedSpectre_ and 607 like this.
  11. I like supporter chat. I do not think this is a great idea. I personally go to the wild so I do not hear townchat. If you can block that channel it would be okay, but I see no need. I personally really enjoy supporter chat. I think both should exist. The channel ignoring should be implemented before or at the same time this would go out.

    I think for a huge amount of people, they want supporter so they can have some interaction with people while in the wild, but they also want to get away from new players and terrible townchat.

    For example:
    Olaf_C: Hey, guys!
    Supporter_Person: Hey
    Nice discussion goes on

    I do not want to hear "DOES ANYONE WANT A PONNNNIIEEEEEEE FOR 1 TRILLION R?!?!
  12. Remember ability to toggle chats will be coming very soon. Actually ill go work on that now.
  13. I like this :) It's true, that supporter chat often is on a higher level. There are also free members that want something different than "could you please come check out my lottery" though, so this would give more chance to free members on a good conversation, because the supporters will be having their conversations in town chat too.
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  14. So much this.
  15. Ignoring certain channels, if it ever comes, will it be available for all or a perk?
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  16. This would be awesome! I remember when EMC had global chat a long time ago.. that was before I joined..
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  17. That is precisely why there would be a shop channel...

    We are not particularly worried about the /ch s shortcut. We could use something else entirely (like /ch economy) and be fine. We are asking for the community's thoughts on making supporters have access to town chat no matter their location on the server (not cross-server just yet) and getting rid of supporter chat in order to involve the community with itself more.

    I understand that some people are hesitant because they do not want to hear new player chat and that is why we would make it toggle on/off. The community has recently expressed grievances that there is not enough chat interaction as there was in the past. After some stealthy spying, we found that supporter chat is actually a big part of this. I log in and say hello. Instead of getting 'hello' back in town chat, i get it in supporter chat. True, this may be because the player is in the wild, but look at it from the viewpoint of a newer member on the Empire. They see a hello from a staff member with no response. They then are hesitant to respond themselves and thus the community of the future (built by these new members) do not interact in chat and it becomes a quiet ghost town in chat, regardless of the amount of players online.

    I know that a big aversion to this chat change is that supporters do not WANT to interact with the newer players because their chat is often filled with questions and (yes, sometimes) caps, etc. I am asking the community to instead embrace the new players and include them in your chat. How are they to learn how chat is SUPPOSED to be used, if no one takes the time and gives them a chance?

    I have said this many times today, but I will repeat it once more. It takes the community to change the community.

    TLDR: Get out of Supporter Chat and communicate with your fellow new players because a year from now, they WILL be the veteran members and if they learned to be quiet because they were shunned from the start, then they will stay quiet and the Empire will lose it's ability to communicate well and will become a ghost town in chat.

    /end runonsentence
    Pab10S, Equinox_Boss, mba2012 and 6 others like this.
  18. Been supporter short, but supporter channel where for my feeling not used so much. dont think it makes much difference when you blend both channels into one.
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  19. As someone who spends 90% of his time int the wild, I think is an awesome idea! I also love the idea of being able to turn it off when I start to get a headache. :) I think this would be much more useful than the chat we have now.
  20. I would love this, I rarely use Supporter chat, but I would love to have Global Town Chat when I'm in the Wilderness.
    Equinox_Boss and spartan0405 like this.