A Completely Skype Based Season?

[Satori]

Satori here and I'd like to introduce to you guys something that could change the way we conduct seasons.

Tired of constantly posting and deleting movement posts and having to go back and forth between the forum and Skype? What if its possible to host a season completely on a single platform?

Yes that's right! I have found a way how to host a season using a single platform and that it can be conducted purely on Skype thanks to my good friend Hitomi~

How does it work?

The Skype based system works much like the standard system except that everything including movement and exploring the map is conducted completely on Skype and the game map will also be based on Skype in the form of group chats that are moderated by the mastermind. When your in one of these group chats, You are able to see or talk to anyone in the same room as you. Also if you want to get a description of the room, just type in "/get guidelines" on the chat then it will show you a message about the description of the room, what items can be found and links to other rooms/group chats which would appear like this:

guideline=Sample Room



A large, boring, rectangular room, filled with tables and chairs. A large window on the far end of the room looks out into the courtyard. A gray carpet is sprawled on the floor, and the walls have plain white wallpaper. A TV is perched in the corner.



Chair X

Table Y



To Hallway:

skype:?chat&blob=JD_7J7rHQuXjj9MfrgkgnRUV_tYIDJkfXiLQ0GhJt1MYoqnaHMF4GcjaKRP15XRLHX1hpueX

To move to other rooms, Click on one of the links on the description and it will automatically add you to the appropriate group chat of that room (Be sure to leave the previous group chat you were in by typing "/leave" on the chat). Masterminds can edit these descriptions on the fly for any changes in the room.

Pros
-No more pesky movement posts.
-Players can focus on a single platform instead of having to go back and forth between the forum and Skype which consumes a lot of time in a game where every second counts.
-Players can freely RP with other players without having to send their conversations to the mastermind or requesting a group chat with the mm in it.
-Makes scouting impossible since the mastermind will always be notified whoever enters a group chat
-For masterminds, they can easily monitor every player movement and will have a log on who entered what rooms and conversations between players.
-Easy to set up as a mastermind.

Cons
-May cause Skype lag depending on ones internet connection and may give a slight advantage to those with faster internet connections. For masterminds, it may cause their Skype to crash due to all the load from constant movement between group chats from other players.
-Can be very chaotic from a mastermind's point of view.
-Could make the game too fast paced depending on the amount of activity at a given time.
-May not be good for large games with more than 10 players.

How to set up?
1. First, as a mastermind, create a room/group chat.
2. Use the command /createmoderatedgroup to make one appear in your sidebar.
3. Change the room name and icon to your preference.
4. Enter the chat's settings, select "Make a link for anyone to join".
5. In your new chat, type: /get uri to receive a link to your new room.

To set up the guidelines, use the command: /set guidelines <text>
To clarify, texts can contain line breaks (shift + return).
The text is not required to have the <> around it, just have a space after guidelines and type from there.

So there you have it. Any feedback or suggestions regarding this system is much appreciated. Also I plan to test out this system for my first season if I ever get around to actually work on it.

[King V]

This has the same problem as Air's idea about using a separate chat site. It doesn't work for big maps. Most of the games we currently have are relatively large, around 80-100 rooms, and having to create 100 different chat groups on Skype and monitor them sounds like a horrible idea. I think this idea is good for rp-centric seasons with a small map and lots of character interactions. Not so much for large maps with maze-like aspects that can only be done on the forums.

Also, how are murders and trials done with this setup? Or are they just going to be removed altogether?

[Ravan]

I think the issues in the cons with the lag depend more on the person's PC actually being capable of handling all those chats. Somebody playing on a mobile device would be having extreme difficulty with entering and leaving rooms as well. If you want to test something, try going to somebody you've spoken with for years on Skype, then load up the entire chat log. Your entire computer will slow down a bit if it's not super fast.

The pros getting folks to interact with each other more are great, and I can see tons of shenanigans happening, but then we kinda reach the point where murder becomes even more difficult to commit. The most annoying factor for a murderer is people moving around constantly, and in something like this, predicting movement would be next to impossible. It also puts pressure on the mastermind to have to constantly monitor the room links to make sure people are following the map correctly.

If it were changed to the mastermind moving folks around, that could work too, but then it becomes even more stressful on the mastermind. Imagine people that make hundreds of movement posts a game. It'd be veeeery bothersome to handle that. It also means that the game effectively comes to a standstill and nobody is capable of moving outside of hosting hours.

I'd go on, but slaaaave laboooour.

[Funny Valentine [Silentgod]]

I think a murder and trial is still possible although I would only see the smarter players pulling it off without getting caught. Otherwise, yeah I agree this pretty much impossible to do with large maps, but I would like to try it out for real on a small map.

[Falin Touden [Ven]]

On my laptop, when I load it up, if I have loads of misses messages on Skype my laptop freezes for a good 10 minutes or so. What will it do with a 100 different chats? XD

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

For the most part, the others have expressed the same worries I expressed when this was first shown to me.

Personally I think that to alleviate the mastermind its probably best to have a second skype account. So lets say we have a generic Forum Skype Account called: "The Map Manager" or TMM for short. A player would log into that account and create the necessary rooms. Now this account NEVER has to speak with the actual players as its purely for the host to use in monitoring and editing the skype chats, that way player pms never move the rooms around in the most recent chats column making them hard to find.

Now that does mean the MM needs two skypes open, one on TMM and the other on their account to receive pms and respond. For the mastermind its still having two programs open, one for the map and the other for players, but its still tough. Players only need one, but their logs will fill up quite fast as well.

As to the loading problem, I think that specifically will have to be tested, as I don't think it will be opening skype that is the problem, but the constant entering of new chats and leaving of old ones.

I think this has promise, but I can't say anything for certain until tests are performed. So, no comment for now.