Spectrum - how will it affect DMW?

Started by Obsydian, October 18, 2016, 01:03:36 PM

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Obsydian

Hi guys,

I've been going over the Spectrum presentation (aka Organisations 2.0) from CitizenCon again and it got me thinking as to how it will affect DMW, especially as a large chink of it is du to go live in the next few weeks (possibly with 2.6).

Spectrum, when 'finished', will provide the following features:
  • Real-time, 'rich' modern chat system.
  • Modern forum with real-time systems (e.g. push notifications) including classic, Q&A and live feeds and up/down voting, etc.
  • Private messaging.
  • Online presence (whos online and where they are).
  • Notifications and alerts.
  • Sandboxed to each organisation.
  • Voice system including:
    • Voice lobbies (channels).
    • In-game transmission/inetraction.
    • Out-of-game transmission.
    • Spatialised speech throughout the game.
    • Separate from game client so not affected by game client crashes.

  • Friends and contacts system.
  • Location-aware lobbies.
  • Party Management (plan operations prior to game sessions).
  • Game overlay integration.
  • Mobile application interface for all of the above features (including voice chat with those currently in-game).

From what I've seen, it would appear that to make the most of the game, it would be beneficial to use Spectrum in preference to those we currently use (i.e. this forum and TeamSpeak).  I think that to not use the Spectrum voice comms would put us at a distinct disadvantage, and from a recruitment perspective, use of the Spectrum forum would be best as I think that many potential recruits would be put off by us not using them.

Thoughts?  Concerns?

Spectrum presentation (17 minutes):
[video=youtube;XuDj5v81Nd0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuDj5v81Nd0&t=35m17s[/video]

Whitey

My main concern is that the forum (this one) is the hub of the community and to not use it for SC would fracture the community.

BrotherTobious

"It's hard, but not as hard as Arma!!!" Tutonic
"Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil... prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon.." Terry Pratchett

smilodon

We could use Spectrum for in all in game communications (maybe we need to discuss the merits of keeping voice chat in Team Speak or not) and possibly announcements that players would need to be aware of when they log in. It could also be useful if we could use it to communicate with PACT Members?

However as with other games if there is any overlap with what we have here then we'd defer to the forum rather than Spectrum. I'm amazed at the effort they're putting to it though. For Orgs with no web site or forums of their own it's going to be excellent.
smilodon
Whatever's gone wrong it's not my fault.

OldBloke

We would, I'm sure, get the best of both worlds. I would hate to discuss fixes for yet-to-be-identified problems :)
"War without end. Well, what was history if not that? And how would having the stars change anything?" - James S. A. Corey

TeaLeaf

I'm not too worried that Spectrum will detract at this stage, I see it like WOW in-game tools with some frills - and they definitely did not impact the community.  At this stage I see it as a supplement to our current channels.  I think we would grab and use the bits that work best for us, and ignore the bits that don't.  And keep in mind that via PACT we will have access to the Imperium scripted tools that might also provide more functionality than the standard in-game provision.

Personally I think Chris is missing the point with Spectrum.  If nothing else existed then sure, it's a no-brainer, however all the communities are already set up and communities already exist.  

Their proposed forum software isn't as feature-rich or functional.  I'm sure it will get used anyway, but probably more as a pointer to this forum.
Private messaging - that's not a problem, we'll be using something like that anyway and already do in other games (think Steam, battle.net, Google hangouts etc).
Voice comms - might work, but we need to see how they implement wings and permissions to see if it is usable in-game.  We already have games who use both in-game comms plus dMw Teamspeak for obvious reasons, so might end up with both.
The apps - yep I like them, but then I am already in Hangouts, used other apps (battle.net, EVE etc) and I'll probably be using the PACT app too (when it comes out).

If Spectrum is coded well then where I hope PACT's fire-power (or ours) will kick in for us and deliver some neat coded mods that hook into an API to deliver some really cool stuff that we can use.
TL.
Wisdom doesn\'t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.  (Tom Wilson)
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. (Michael Jordan)

Obsydian

Quote from: Whitey;418677My main concern is that the forum (this one) is the hub of the community and to not use it for SC would fracture the community.

I agree, which is why I thought I'd start the discussion now.  It would be good to see if we can work out the implications of using or not using the Spectrum forum - or if maybe there's a way we can integrate both?

Quote from: smilodon;418679We could use Spectrum for in all in game communications (maybe we need to discuss the merits of keeping voice chat in Team Speak or not) and possibly announcements that players would need to be aware of when they log in. It could also be useful if we could use it to communicate with PACT Members?

However as with other games if there is any overlap with what we have here then we'd defer to the forum rather than Spectrum. I'm amazed at the effort they're putting to it though. For Orgs with no web site or forums of their own it's going to be excellent.

I've posted a question in "Ask A Dev" here: https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/7156921/#Comment_7156921

Regarding the forum, I think if we don't use Spectrum it could have a limiting effect on our ability to recruit and retain members for Star Citizen.  I believe that Spectrum will become a defining feature of Star Citizen and potential recruits will most likely be put off from joining an org that doesn't use it almost exclusively for Star Citizen.

Having come from Eve Online where paranoia was rife regarding spies, infiltration and sabotage, even corporations that were part of multi-gaming communities tended to have a separate Eve Online-specific forum just so that they could ring-fence it and avoid any potential 'bleedover' from other game forums.  In almost all instances that I have been party to, their forums generally consisted of a single public forum (usually also containing the ubiquitous 'recruitment' sub-forum for people to submit their out-of-game applications to be considered) and a completely private members-only forum with all of the usual sub-forums you would expect.

I'm hopeful that we can find a way to maximise the use of the Spectrum forums while providing some sort of Star Citizen presence on these forums.

Perhaps we need to discuss the need/purpose of maintaining a Star Citizen forum here as opposed to in Spectrum?  I undertsand that until now, having a forum out of game has been the de-facto standard (mainly because there hasn't been any other choice), but Spectrum kind of throws a spanner in the works.  So if we are to maintain a Star Citizen forum exclusively, what purpose does this fulfil?  Do members who have no interest in Star Citizen even look at the threads that come up in the 'New Posts' section?  I know I don't read any of the posts for other games, and occasionally dip into the non-gaming posts...

I agree that there should be some sort of presence maintained here, so that non-Star Citizen members are aware that it is one of our supported games and can maybe keep abreast of things if and when they want to know.  But beyond that, what else would a Star Citizen presence here need to fulfil?

Perhaps we can use both and identify clear-cut segregation of duties? e.g.:
DMW Forum
  • Out of character/out of game topics:
    • Meetups
    • News of sales or general Star Citizen news
    • Recruitment?
    • General SC chat
Spectrum Forum
  • In-game/in-character topics:
    • All operational details
    • Alliance operations
    • DMW operations
    • Knowledgebases
      • Ship loadouts
      • Tactics

    • In game discussions
    • Recruitment channel

  • Links to DMW forums

Please note that all of the above are just me throwing ideas around as they come to mind and don't represent and specific agenda.  Feel free to jump in! :)