25 replies to this topic

[Cloora]

Ok so I am an avid MMO player and started with Matrix: Online and then DDO and have been playing EVE since 2006. I know MWO isn't exactly an MMO in that sense but I think it should take some ideas with how most MMOs run their social system.

I recently got back into MWO and i have been here since Beta and took a long break. I have been having a lot of fun and convinced my friend from EVE to come try MWO.

He downlaods the game, we call each other and tell each other what our Screen names are and add each other on our friends lists. My friend can't see where to do this. I tell him how. Well we have to click this tiny button on the bottom middle of the screen which my friend couldn't find at first until I described it's exact look and location. It barely looks like a button. Fine we get that out of the way.

How do we know each other is online? We could look in the social panel that greys EVERYTHING else out until you close it again. So unless i am in that screen constantly checking in between drops i won't know. Maybe he could send a message? NOPE. I also can't see those until i open the Social panel. He had to CALL ME ON THE PHONE to tell me he was online. LOL Really?!

EVE has a tiny notification button on the bottom right of the screen. When someone comes online it pings gently and a small message appears near it. If you miss it you click that button and it shoes you the history of your notifications. You also can interact with that and add people to a group (or fleet in EVE) or message them directly from there. That however would be an added bonus. Just having a notification would be great. Option to turn them off would be fine. Option to turn them off only in battle would be fine too.

Having a persistent chat channel up would be nice. It is up all the time or you can close it or move it around or resize it. It doesn't get in the way of my mechlab. It can go away during a drop. This chat channel could be ones in between friends or player made groups.

Right now it is difficult for me and my friends to meet up together and play this game. This game, while not a MMORPG, is still multiplayer and we need the tools to find our friends and play with them.

[MoonUnitBeta]

The social button flashes blue when you receive a message or notification.. if you sent him a friend request, and he couldn't see that it was flashing, i feel sorry for your friend.

Edited by MoonUnitBeta, 12 April 2015 - 11:55 AM.

[Alistair Winter]

Oh boy. You done messed up now, boy.

Brace for impact! Here they come! God help us! The White Knights!

Spoiler

Just kidding.

[Wintersdark]

Hmmm? I'm a white knight, if anyone is. He's right, the social interface definitely needs improvement. I don't think anyone argued this, certainly not PGI.

It HAS been improving however. Not as fast as one would like, but it has been.

Its a question of priorities really, UI engineers working on the social interface aren't working on something else. Still, a more constructive approach may be for the OP to concisely suggest improvements in a more... Agreeable form, I suppose. Ranty posts get less consideration.

Particularly if he can think of minor things that would improve the social experience a lot for little effort:

PGI must consider everything in a cost:benefit light. Suggest ways to gain substantial improvement at low cost, and you'll be !much more likely to see them happen.

Russ has been right on top of listening to good ideas that are presented well. We've seen much positive change as a result lately. Just have to be concise, well thought out and polite. We Canadians value good manners.

[Cloora]

i did suggest subtle improvements. I was constructive. But I'm also not going to sugar coat things.

[Cloora]

MoonUnitBeta, on 12 April 2015 - 11:55 AM, said:

The social button flashes blue when you receive a message or notification.. if you sent him a friend request, and he couldn't see that it was flashing, i feel sorry for your friend.

This TINY LITTLE button flashes blue? WOW that fixes EVERYTHING!

[orcrist86]

Social does need to be better represented. The icon should be bigger and should probably do the following:
When friends are online the silhouette lights up gold. When you receive a message the frame blinks blue
When you get a friend request the person blinks red
When you get a group invite it the frame blinks red and sets off a short ripple.
Each notification has a corresponding sound. Player related items chime, group invites should make ping like metal on metal (anvil I'm a forge?)

[Jacobei]

Cloora, on 12 April 2015 - 11:52 AM, said:

Ok so I am an avid MMO player and started with Matrix: Online and then DDO and have been playing EVE since 2006. I know MWO isn't exactly an MMO in that sense but I think it should take some ideas with how most MMOs run their social system.

I recently got back into MWO and i have been here since Beta and took a long break. I have been having a lot of fun and convinced my friend from EVE to come try MWO.

He downlaods the game, we call each other and tell each other what our Screen names are and add each other on our friends lists. My friend can't see where to do this. I tell him how. Well we have to click this tiny button on the bottom middle of the screen which my friend couldn't find at first until I described it's exact look and location. It barely looks like a button. Fine we get that out of the way.

How do we know each other is online? We could look in the social panel that greys EVERYTHING else out until you close it again. So unless i am in that screen constantly checking in between drops i won't know. Maybe he could send a message? NOPE. I also can't see those until i open the Social panel. He had to CALL ME ON THE PHONE to tell me he was online. LOL Really?!

EVE has a tiny notification button on the bottom right of the screen. When someone comes online it pings gently and a small message appears near it. If you miss it you click that button and it shoes you the history of your notifications. You also can interact with that and add people to a group (or fleet in EVE) or message them directly from there. That however would be an added bonus. Just having a notification would be great. Option to turn them off would be fine. Option to turn them off only in battle would be fine too.

Having a persistent chat channel up would be nice. It is up all the time or you can close it or move it around or resize it. It doesn't get in the way of my mechlab. It can go away during a drop. This chat channel could be ones in between friends or player made groups.

Right now it is difficult for me and my friends to meet up together and play this game. This game, while not a MMORPG, is still multiplayer and we need the tools to find our friends and play with them.

I also play EVE.. But I find myself playing MWO because EVE lacks some player connection. But the sand box is amazing.

Do you know of or have info about Mortal Online? Sounds like EVE on the ground.

[Alistair Winter]

Wintersdark, on 12 April 2015 - 12:45 PM, said:

Russ has been right on top of listening to good ideas that are presented well.

Hmmm?


EDIT: For the sake of clarity - far be it from me to suggest that PGI has not done great work on many fronts. But "listening to good ideas that are presented welll" is not very high up on my list of their accomplishments. The archives are filled to the brim with simple, concise, constructive feedback that has been ignored. So while I'm sure the two of us can agree on many of PGI's merits, we seem to be frequenting two completely different forums if you think he's "right on top of listening to good ideas". Or maybe that's one of the things happening on Twitter that I'm not aware of.

Edited by Alistair Winter, 12 April 2015 - 02:17 PM.

[MoonUnitBeta]

Cloora, on 12 April 2015 - 01:01 PM, said:

This TINY LITTLE button flashes blue? WOW that fixes EVERYTHING!

So... How many pixels did you have to tell him it was from the bottom right corner before he saw it? If he didn't see the social button, did he see the settings button? They're just as small, except it's spelt out for him.

Ok ok, I'll get to my point - your making it sound like a bigger deal than it is. No you don't have to sugar coat it. But reading this: "Right now it is difficult for me and my friends to meet up together and play this game" raises all two of my eyebrows, maybe even a third one that's hidden in my hair line somewhere.

All your friend has to do is press the social button, click the blue flashy notification button, and click your group invite and accept it. Boomya, you're in a group with a chat window.
He presses the "select mech" button at the top of the screen, chooses a mech, and clicks ready. And away you go.

It's pretty painless and I've never had a bad experience actually connecting with friends and getting into a match. They have a harder time customizing a mech than they do actually accepting an invite, and looking at the friends list to see my name, right there, at the top, listed as online. Just like every other game.

Lots of things can be improved like you said, I don't disagree, and I can list more changes than you did, but your story has me lolling. Carry on though.

[Wintersdark]

Alistair Winter, on 12 April 2015 - 02:14 PM, said:

Hmmm?


EDIT: For the sake of clarity - far be it from me to suggest that PGI has not done great work on many fronts. But "listening to good ideas that are presented welll" is not very high up on my list of their accomplishments. The archives are filled to the brim with simple, concise, constructive feedback that has been ignored. So while I'm sure the two of us can agree on many of PGI's merits, we seem to be frequenting two completely different forums if you think he's "right on top of listening to good ideas". Or maybe that's one of the things happening on Twitter that I'm not aware of.

More on twitter than the forums. And this is more a recent thing than "the archives" - the last 6-9 months has seen Russ being right up on paying a lot of close attention to the player base, and responding to good ideas (that are presented well, politely, and concisely) pretty quickly.

The problem is people write these huge Walls Of Text usually detailing complex designs for changes, and then act surprised when they don't all get addressed. The reality is, they've got limited time to read these things, and very busy developers. It's a matter of picking the correct venue and presenting your idea correctly.

A forum post referenced in a tweet works well, if that post works with the above - that is, it's polite, concise, and well thought out.

Random ideas posted on the forums will very often simply not be seen otherwise. God knows, you could call me a forumwarrior, and I don't see the lions share of ideas posted here... and I spend a lot of my down time here. I can garauntee Russ/PGI don't. This is their job, when not at work, they don't want to be working.

[Rebas Kradd]

A great deal of the game right now (friends list and now LFG which is basically our in-game lobby) is hidden behind that tiny social button at the bottom of the screen.

[nitra]

These are pretty terrible ideas,

and you should be ashamed of yourself. you have been here since beta, How could you not know these were terrible ?

these ideas have been posted time and time again . throughout the start of MWO .

the inaction on any of these, is proof that they were considered and determined to be terrible ideas.

but if you really need to chat to a player inside of game. here is a novel way of doing so .

join community warfare be sure to join the same faction and you can chat in faction chat, erm no ? well maybe player assault/ defend chat??, erm no ?? ok how about wait the 30 minutes to an hour for an actual drop and then you can cha... ehhh screw it you could have emailed him by now.

as for that whole postionable ui thing , please this is a modern 2012 game we are dealing with here .


postionable ui elements are to difficult to implement in todays GoTTa MasH tEh BuTTOnz interfaces... you say this eve online thing has these ui elements must be some kind of futuristic game engine please keep your ideas much more realistic and achievable.

one way of doing so is posting your ideas in 140 characters or less this ensures that your ideas are well thought out and may actually be considered.


PS.. here is swecet soopa tip. if you dont freind teh pepole freind requesting you .... the social buttons is always blue and flashy !!!! so you can always find it !!

Edited by nitra, 12 April 2015 - 03:27 PM.

[AEgg]

It would be a LOT of work, but steam and even orign already have a fully functional system for this which can be integrated into games on those platforms (well, steam's system can be integrated. I don't know if Origin's can).

One has to wonder if PGI is delaying an update to the social menus because they will be replacing it with Steam once the game moves to it. It's likely they could re-use all or most of the functionality and simply have the steam platform replace the current menus.

[Deathlike]

MoonUnitBeta, on 12 April 2015 - 11:55 AM, said:

The social button flashes blue when you receive a message or notification.. if you sent him a friend request, and he couldn't see that it was flashing, i feel sorry for your friend.

TBH, it flashes immediately if you're in a unit with a MOTD set... even if it hasn't changed recently.

It's not exactly well designed by any stretch of the imagination. It took a while to get PGI to stop with the massive flashing when people log in or log off.

UI design clearly isn't PGI's forte...

[Side Step]

Flashing is great and all, but when it flashes from the moment you log in due to MOTD, it loses much of it's value, as I've been desensitized from it almost completely.

Here's a simple, low cost change that would add a lot to the awareness of whether you have friends logged in or not:

Next to the social button, add a number indicating how many friends you have online at the moment. To check for any friends online, it's just a glance away.

[Deathlike]

Side Step, on 12 April 2015 - 05:05 PM, said:

Next to the social button, add a number indicating how many friends you have online at the moment. To check for any friends online, it's just a glance away.

This sounds like Lostech. Let's hope it is rediscovered soon™.

[Naduk]

social window needs lots of improvements
but for all its oddities it does the job
there are bigger fish to fry
i would say to that its certainly on the "fix before steam" plate

[Davers]

Maybe the new mechlab will come with more UI polishing?

[Ragtag soldier]

Naduk, on 12 April 2015 - 06:46 PM, said:

social window needs lots of improvements
but for all its oddities it does the job-

have you used the thing? the only time you can get it to work is in spite of it's best efforts! it's not working, you are.