Chat location phone fix

Instead of having the chat come up on the tablet, it would be more frequently used and visible if it was on the main page of the game on the RIGHT SIDE of the phone. This would allow people to actually utilize the chat more and know that it’s actually in use. Keep the 10 bxp for chatting but just put it to the main page.

LOL - That’s where it was before the reset! I didn’t mind it in the game and I don’t mind it in the popup window.

Yeah, it used to be an “app” in the smartphone display. But, navigating from screen to screen would have us lose the window … and it felt too small, so the new tablet made sense. I want to make the tablet window always-on-top, which would help with the chat. We are also going to add a chat sound so that you can hear when someone has posted a new message. And, likely an icon somewhere to make it one click to get to the chat window, instead of 2 clicks the way it is now.

Is anyone using the 3D meeting space I wonder?

I don’t know. I know I haven’t been. Not really sure what it is. I think a lot of players don’t really know what that is so a good spiel on it would be nice to try and get player interest in using it :slight_smile:

Yeah, as interesting as the 3D meeting space is, I don’t really understand its purpose. When negotiations can be made over email/chat it seems like an extra step to organize a meeting in the 3D space and load it up for, what seems like, no added benefit.

Perhaps I’m missing the point of it?

Thanks for this discussion guys. There are a few benefits with the 3D Meeting Space:

(1) It provides semi-private real time chat so you can have a one-to-one or one-to-small-group chat. That’s not really possible with our in-game text chat.

(2) You can have a more in-depth meeting. For example, if you are an investment bank, you can have a player pitch to you in real time about their business and ambitions. If you are a retailer or mfg, you can get to know each other better before establishing a close business relationship.

(3) There is a significant emotional connection created between players using 3D avatars to interact. We think this can help bring players together and make the relationships in the game more compelling.

Once we get the game to where we want it to be and we have more time to devote to the overall game experience, we will promote the use of the 3D Meeting space more. We have been thinking about having some AMA events (Ask Me Anything) for us developers and our players. Not sure how many players we would be interested in participating in that. We can also host presentations about the world economy and such.

In the meantime, we would encourage players to give it a try. It seems that some players have already become “game friends” in some ways and the 3D Meeting space might be a good way to get to know each other better.

I really think the idea of the meeting space is interesting, and I would love to see it utilized more as well. I think the reason it’s not though is those types of meetings aren’t currently necessary.

For instance, an investment bank is a less viable way to make money than a manufacturer or a retailer. Only new players really need to borrow money, and they usually only borrow small amounts. They either pay it back or they quit playing and you lose your investment. With no legal system to enforce payments and an fluctuating demand for loans, they simply can’t compete with the consistency of a manufacturer or a retailer as is. I would love to see investment banks become more viable, and then perhaps the 3D space would naturally become more utilized.

As for establishing business relationship in the 3D space, the game doesn’t currently require those types of meetings.currently. A trial order from a manufacturer or retailer is usually all that is needed. If they pay you or ship on time, then you keep doing business, if they don’t then you stop. Also, what eventually happens is that the players that continue playing all end up doing business with each other, and so naturally develop relationships. I personally can say I do business with many of the top level players. It is inevitable, if you keep playing, as they will be the only ones who can afford/provide the amount of product you supply/purchase.

Again, I would love to see the game become a place where investment meetings and 3D space relationship building is a vital part of doing business, but currently I don’t think the game is structured in a way to necessitate that.

There is one problem I found that should be fixed with it. As with most 3D environments, there is usually a mouse lock to the center screen and you can move your mouse left, right, up, and down as much as you want and it doesn’t go off the screen. The 3D meet space does not allow this, thus making it hard to see what room is where, where all the doors are, who is all in the room, etc.

LIFELINE: The meeting room works the same way … you can use the mouse to look around, unless you are typing … click ENTER to toggle between the view and walk mode and the text mode.

AEGIS: You are right that currently the meeting space is not required in any way, so we will have to think of ways to motivate players to want to use it or require use in some way.

I guess I should’ve clarified more. When I looked around while walking, my mouse wasn’t locked to the center so when I looked around, I would go off the screen and couldn’t turn a complete 360 like most 3D environments. I hide my start bar so there would be a point where my start bar would come out because my mouse wasn’t locked.

Right, we wanted to make it possible to move around just using the mouse. Most 3D spaces require you to use keyboard and mouse to navigate, and we wanted to try a different approach since many of our users will not have ever been in a 3D space.

Simplest way to get people to use - give them BXP once a day (maybe you already do and I’m missing it)

Theoretically it should be a useful space for doing a private negotiation currently done with swapped mails. I’ll try it next time!

Agree … offering bxp is a good first step. We don’t do this yet. It’s a bit tricky with the meeting space because it is a separate app and I think we will want players to be in the space for a certain period of time before the bxp is triggered. But, we will post this for upgrade.

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