NS2 Gathers

swalkswalk Say hello to my little friend. Join Date: 2011-01-20 Member: 78384Members, Squad Five Blue
edited April 2012 in Competitive Play
<div class="IPBDescription">You interested? Make a reply</div><a href="http://www.ensl.org" target="_blank">ENSL</a> have opened up for <a href="http://www.ensl.org/gathers/latest/45" target="_blank">NS2 gathers</a>.
This gather system is aimed at people who want to play 6v6 games in a more competetive setting, you play to win.

<div align='center'><b>What is this for?</b></div>
<!--quoteo(post=1894664:date=Jan 15 2012, 03:05 PM:name=Karko)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Karko @ Jan 15 2012, 03:05 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1894664"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Gather's are a very good way to meet new friends from the NS2 community and learning new tactics and generally, to play better. Personally I find gathers a fun way of spending the evenings playing NS2 and meeting new players. I recommend everyone, even the newbie's to come and try out. Microphone is very useful and recommended, but not a must-have to be able to play. However we would expect everyone to join the TeamSpeak and to come listen atleast what the others are planning and guiding you to do.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<div align='center'><b>How do you join these gathers?</b></div>
<ul><li>Create an account on <a href="http://www.ensl.org" target="_blank">ENSL</a>, you will need your steam id for this - <a href="http://steamidfinder.com/" target="_blank">http://steamidfinder.com/</a></li><li>Then you log in.</li><li>Go to "NS2 Gather" in the top of the ensl site. Or follow this link: <a href="http://www.ensl.org/gathers/latest/45" target="_blank">http://www.ensl.org/gathers/latest/45</a></li><li>Now you press "Click to join Gather", and can vote for map and server to be played on.</li><li>Now you need to wait until 12 people in total have signed up for the gather</li><li>When 12 people have signed up, some music starts playing to notify people that the gather is starting, so leave your browser open.</li><li>Then people vote for captains, voting captains stops the music.</li><li>Captains pick teams</li><li>People join teamspeak and the game server. And the games begin</li></ul>
If you have to leave your computer, or you see that you don't have time to play anyway:
<ul><li>Press the red X next to your name to leave the gather so people won't be waiting for you when it starts.</li></ul>

<div align='center'><b>Gameservers:</b></div>

We have Koruyo's(hosted in Austria) listen server available when he is online.

And then BJHBnade_spammer have provided the gather system with a stable server located in Chicago!
That means that it will now be possible to have gathers any time!

We also now have Scrajms Lair in Uppsala (Sweden) available for these gathers!

Only thing you have to keep in mind, when not playing with an admin:
You need to stay in the readyroom until all 12 players are on the game server.

<div align='center'><b>Videos from gathers:</b></div>
<div align='center'><b>NS2HD</b></div>
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<center><object width="450" height="356"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9Gwc_QN42eI"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9Gwc_QN42eI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="356"></embed></object></center>
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<div align='center'><b>Zeikko</b></div>
<center><object width="450" height="356"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ffGPrCgcZcs"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ffGPrCgcZcs" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="356"></embed></object></center>
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<center><object width="450" height="356"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZIQAAmpVAh8"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZIQAAmpVAh8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="356"></embed></object></center>

<div align='center'><b>Arkanti</b></div>
<center><object width="450" height="356"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eNjayY_xkrg"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eNjayY_xkrg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="356"></embed></object></center>
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<div align='center'><b>ScardyBob</b></div>
<center><object width="450" height="356"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kG7fKZcyRC8"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kG7fKZcyRC8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="356"></embed></object></center>
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Comments

  • ZeikkoZeikko Join Date: 2007-12-16 Member: 63179Members, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester
    I'd be up for gathering almost every day! I'm also up for helping in development and organizing of such service. There's already an existing IRC-based ns2 gather system: <a href="http://vanillans2.miumau.net/2011/07/gather-bot/" target="_blank">http://vanillans2.miumau.net/2011/07/gather-bot/</a>
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  • swalkswalk Say hello to my little friend. Join Date: 2011-01-20 Member: 78384Members, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=1890506:date=Dec 16 2011, 06:06 PM:name=Zeikko)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zeikko @ Dec 16 2011, 06:06 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890506"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'd be up for gathering almost every day! I'm also up for helping in development and organizing of such service. There's already an existing IRC-based ns2 gather system: <a href="http://vanillans2.miumau.net/2011/07/gather-bot/" target="_blank">http://vanillans2.miumau.net/2011/07/gather-bot/</a><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Sounds great!
    Although I think that it will be harder attracting people to IRC, compared to a homepage :P
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  • ZeikkoZeikko Join Date: 2007-12-16 Member: 63179Members, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester
    <!--quoteo(post=1890508:date=Dec 16 2011, 07:16 PM:name=swalk)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (swalk @ Dec 16 2011, 07:16 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890508"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Sounds great!
    Although I think that it will be harder attracting people to IRC, compared to a homepage :P<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Yeah definately. I feel that most of the gamers have changed IRC to Steam and other similar networks. I guess there are lot of gamers around who don't even know what IRC is. Thumbs up for creating a web based gather system. I have also thought this already and sketched some technical designs how to implement it. It shouldn't take too long to create a working prototype of it.
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  • konatakonata Join Date: 2011-08-24 Member: 118296Members
    edited December 2011
    The ENSL gather system is rubbish.

    Sorry to say it but people really don't want to sign up for a site and use a portal to then play.

    What happened to the old fashioned IRC bots and you just typed !join on an irc channel? So simple.

    And it's easy to attract people to IRC, you put a web IRC on your site. Most gamers that actually partake in competitive multiplayer gaming online and pickups already use IRC, so you're not disadvantaging anyone with a simple chat client and an IRC based bot.
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  • swalkswalk Say hello to my little friend. Join Date: 2011-01-20 Member: 78384Members, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=1890511:date=Dec 16 2011, 06:25 PM:name=konata)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (konata @ Dec 16 2011, 06:25 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890511"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The ENSL gather system is rubbish.

    Sorry to say it but people really don't want to sign up for a site and use a portal to then play.

    What happened to the old fashioned IRC bots and you just typed !join on an irc channel? So simple.

    And it's easy to attract people to IRC, you put a web IRC on your site. Most gamers that actually partake in competitive multiplayer gaming online and pickups already use IRC, so you're not disadvantaging anyone with a simple chat client and an IRC based bot.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    The ENSL gather system is still being used daily, and works pretty well, with a few flaws though.
    The activity on IRC(Qnet at least) has fallen drasticly in the recent years. I see less and less people using it.
    Everybody has a web browser, not everybody have an IRC client installed.
    Then why implement an IRC webclient on the website, when we could just have the sytem on the website to begin with?
    Makes no sense to me.
    I still think it would be better to have it web based, compared with IRC based.
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  • konatakonata Join Date: 2011-08-24 Member: 118296Members
    edited December 2011
    <!--quoteo(post=1890514:date=Dec 16 2011, 07:44 PM:name=swalk)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (swalk @ Dec 16 2011, 07:44 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890514"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I still think it would be better to have it web based, compared with IRC based.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    <!--quoteo(post=1890511:date=Dec 16 2011, 07:25 PM:name=konata)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (konata @ Dec 16 2011, 07:25 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890511"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->you put a web IRC on your site.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    It's just my opinion. Although a bot is more cost-effective, takes a lot less time to create, merges two parts of a community and is simpler to do and maintain than a web-based client. Oh and if it ever breaks, compared to the fancy pants websites, it can be easily organised in the chat. The beauty of standalone and web-irc clients, the chat syncs perfectly and people can organise themselves.

    Both systems can work, they do work, I'm just suggesting IRC based more strongly as it's typically easier to run and harder to break; or rather it fails less and is easier to access.

    EDIT: The ENSL one also likes to break quite a bit. I've seen it not allow captains to pick members, wipe teams mid-pick a fair few times. If it were to be used quite heavily, this would be extremely frustrating and would require so much time to fix.
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  • swalkswalk Say hello to my little friend. Join Date: 2011-01-20 Member: 78384Members, Squad Five Blue
    edited December 2011
    <!--quoteo(post=1890517:date=Dec 16 2011, 06:53 PM:name=konata)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (konata @ Dec 16 2011, 06:53 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890517"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->It's just my opinion. Although a bot is more cost-effective, takes a lot less time to create, merges two parts of a community and is simpler to do and maintain than a web-based client. Oh and if it ever breaks, compared to the fancy pants websites, it can be easily organised in the chat. The beauty of standalone and web-irc clients, the chat syncs perfectly and people can organise themselves.

    Both systems can work, they do work, I'm just suggesting IRC based more strongly as it's typically easier to run and harder to break; or rather it fails less and is easier to access.

    EDIT: The ENSL one also likes to break quite a bit. I've seen it not allow captains to pick members, wipe teams mid-pick a fair few times. If it were to be used quite heavily, this would be extremely frustrating and would require so much time to fix.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Well, we are not copying the ENSL code, so you hopefully wont experience the same problems that system has.
    We are building a similar system from scratch. Hopefully we can make it alot better than the one ENSL uses. Can you feel the pressure Arga?
    However, I still disagree with your point about IRC being more accessable than a webbrowser.
    And having an IRC webclient on the homepage is the same outcome as having the system on the homepage.
    What we would really like some replies on, is whether or not people think they are going to use this.
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  • BamBam!BamBam! Join Date: 2011-06-15 Member: 104527Members
    <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->What we would really like some replies on, is whether or not people think they are going to use this.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    YES!
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  • ale'ale' Join Date: 2011-08-06 Member: 114689Members
    It's a good idea. The biggest problem at the moment is the server situation. There is only one decent server in Europe running 24/7 and it's usually populated when we would be playing. It's not really possible to organize any games when getting another server up is up to one guy. We can't expect Koruyo to be ready to put a server up whenever people would like to play!

    But when the server situation improves (it has to improve eventually), it's a great idea to have something like this.
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  • YuukiYuuki Join Date: 2010-11-20 Member: 75079Members
    In theory the ready room is this gather place, and it's linked to the server.

    I like the idea to have everything in game.
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  • BiglinesBiglines Join Date: 2003-12-07 Member: 24094Members, Constellation
    I used to run a succesful gather bot for a big servergroup in cs. The hardest will be to keep the momentum going. Using that knowledge compared to nowadays, I would advice to use a steam group for announcements, with the group chat as a chat group. With Chewiebot you should be able to make a gather bot (just port one of the existing ones over), which would solve all the issues except the server issue. <a href="https://github.com/Hadlock/ChewieBot" target="_blank">https://github.com/Hadlock/ChewieBot</a>
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  • FloodinatorFloodinator [HBZ] Member Join Date: 2005-02-22 Member: 42087Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    I would use this feature. Also I sometimes don't hear the chat message (busy gaming at x3AP) just spam the chat. The steam chat ping sounds similar to some ingame sounds.

    I don't see a problem with servers in EU I'am sure duplex/HBZ could run a gather server on a seperate core. So registred users could request a gather. If it is accepted by the system the server gets started by a script with a random password that gets sent to the people that accepted/started the gather. That's how our clan did it in AA2 for trainings and wars.

    Also i think duplex should team up with US and AUS clans to provide this.
    Also IRC wouldn't be a bad Idea (#NS2gather @ quakenet?) like 1on1 - 5on5 for CS.

    And mIRC with NNscript or gIRC can be powerful tools to get a gather network up. Or even data sharing (maps, mods) can be provided by IRC and whatever you wan't.
    Could be worth a try!
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  • BiglinesBiglines Join Date: 2003-12-07 Member: 24094Members, Constellation
    The problem with irc is that while it used to be that everyone used it, now almost noone I know even uses it anymore.
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  • FloodinatorFloodinator [HBZ] Member Join Date: 2005-02-22 Member: 42087Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    IRC depends really on the community. Ogame f.e. almost relyies on IRC and also CS for a long time (also today). Steam changed alot and Xfire but both don't have as many functions as IRC has. I know it is "old" but it is the best chat you can have.

    To bad IRC didn't take a step for a new surface.

    So steamgroups are the best thing for getting gathers (I hate those groups). The biggest problem will be that there will be only a handful of players atm so 1 half will be EU/Switzerland and 1 half US/AUS resulting in high (>100 ms) ping difference casuing extremly different performances. Ok it is for fun so who cares the ping?
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  • playerplayer Join Date: 2010-09-12 Member: 73982Members
    IRC is indeed very old, but in terms of features and complexity it still surpasses any alternative brought to the table here (SteamChat; Steam-friends; Xfire; or indeed any web-based system you may concoct). It's only weakness (if you can call it that), is that it may be too complicated initially for new users (although web-based clients have done a lot to mitigate that issue).

    Aditionally, IRC doesn't require an explicit login, which is something many value a lot. Creating yet another login\password is something that will withhold players from engaging in such a web-based gather.
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  • swalkswalk Say hello to my little friend. Join Date: 2011-01-20 Member: 78384Members, Squad Five Blue
    edited December 2011
    <!--quoteo(post=1890554:date=Dec 16 2011, 10:26 PM:name=Floodinator)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Floodinator @ Dec 16 2011, 10:26 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890554"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I don't see a problem with servers in EU I'am sure duplex/HBZ could run a gather server on a seperate core. So registred users could request a gather. If it is accepted by the system the server gets started by a script with a random password that gets sent to the people that accepted/started the gather. That's how our clan did it in AA2 for trainings and wars.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I already talked with dePara.
    He told me the tickrate would drop with 5, if he ran two gameservers with the current performance of the game.
    It's not possible, yet.

    <!--quoteo(post=1890554:date=Dec 16 2011, 10:26 PM:name=Floodinator)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Floodinator @ Dec 16 2011, 10:26 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890554"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Also i think duplex should team up with US and AUS clans to provide this.
    Also IRC wouldn't be a bad Idea (#NS2gather @ quakenet?) like 1on1 - 5on5 for CS.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    This has been tried earlier, resulting in a few idlers and no gathers.

    <!--quoteo(post=1890573:date=Dec 17 2011, 01:12 AM:name=Floodinator)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Floodinator @ Dec 17 2011, 01:12 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890573"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The biggest problem will be that there will be only a handful of players atm so 1 half will be EU/Switzerland and 1 half US/AUS resulting in high (>100 ms) ping difference casuing extremly different performances. Ok it is for fun so who cares the ping?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I hope we could get enough european players to play in the evenings in europe. Others are welcome too of course.
    It's not impossible, the "Lets Turtle" event had around 20 players coming and going.
    It's just a matter of people knowing where to go if they want to play.
    And that's what we are trying to provide.
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  • nUfl0wnUfl0w Join Date: 2005-02-25 Member: 42412Members
    Hey Swalk,

    how about this:
    For the beginning just use the Match Box NS2 group on steam. Set up a new event. Everybody will receive and can decide on participating. I did this through the summer and it worked quite good. Matches every other day. I guess today the playerbase is bigger, but I dont know it. This would be a good way to estimate the demand for such a website right now.
    Might saves you a lot of work.

    But as always +1 for this ideas and the great community participation!
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  • ArgathorArgathor Join Date: 2011-07-18 Member: 110942Members, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=1890506:date=Dec 16 2011, 05:06 PM:name=Zeikko)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zeikko @ Dec 16 2011, 05:06 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890506"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'd be up for gathering almost every day! I'm also up for helping in development and organizing of such service. There's already an existing IRC-based ns2 gather system: <a href="http://vanillans2.miumau.net/2011/07/gather-bot/" target="_blank">http://vanillans2.miumau.net/2011/07/gather-bot/</a><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I have been a bit cautious regarding this, at it involves things I have yet to have any experience of. With your help (I am sure this would be EASY for you) I think it would be possible. I had a think through and the biggest problem with my knowledge is that I am reliant on pageloads (and PHP), yet a gather system would need more realtime 'like' performance, it seems to me.

    I hadn't realised how much interest there would be in this, I have never tried it myself. I should have realised after the Lets Turtle event was so popular!
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  • ArgathorArgathor Join Date: 2011-07-18 Member: 110942Members, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=1890576:date=Dec 17 2011, 12:49 AM:name=player)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (player @ Dec 17 2011, 12:49 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890576"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Aditionally, IRC doesn't require an explicit login, which is something many value a lot. Creating yet another login\password is something that will withhold players from engaging in such a web-based gather.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    This is quite important, I thought about this a lot when making the downloads database. As I guess a lot of map/mod makers wouldn't want to register on the site to control their map/mod. The same issue would be here. I couldn't see a way round it with the database, but perhaps it wouldnt be required for the gather system? What do people with experience of it think? Is there a requirement for a website login to use it? What for?
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  • Fluid CoreFluid Core Join Date: 2007-12-26 Member: 63260Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    To stop people from fake nicking signing up? :P

    I had a blast on the Let's Turtle! event, would love to participate on more gatherings :)

    I try to be on steam when I can play, so can be reached there should you want a spare hand.
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  • playerplayer Join Date: 2010-09-12 Member: 73982Members
    It might be just a bit too easy to just sign-up and leave or otherwise cause mischief. Now the same could be said for IRC, but I think it's the slight amount of effort that goes into using it (and the fact that Ident\IP is broadcast to everyone) that has kept such gathers relatively clean (at least in my experience).
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  • ArgathorArgathor Join Date: 2011-07-18 Member: 110942Members, Squad Five Blue
    Both good points, I see some of the trouble that could be caused without signups now. I guess people would need to put up with a one off signup system then, in exchange for the benefits (increased quality of gathers), perhaps more benefits could be added eventually (stats, etc).
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  • swalkswalk Say hello to my little friend. Join Date: 2011-01-20 Member: 78384Members, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=1890599:date=Dec 17 2011, 05:09 AM:name=Argathor)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Argathor @ Dec 17 2011, 05:09 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890599"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Both good points, I see some of the trouble that could be caused without signups now. I guess people would need to put up with a one off signup system then, in exchange for the benefits (increased quality of gathers), perhaps more benefits could be added eventually (stats, etc).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Maybe just make it super easy to signup, so when you "Login", you can also "Create profile and Login".
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  • BiglinesBiglines Join Date: 2003-12-07 Member: 24094Members, Constellation
    Might start to sound like I'm repeating myself, but the good thing about using a steam group/chat bot is that people don't need to authenticate or register, it's simply the steamgroup keeping track of members and making it possible for both nickchanges to be made, but to be able to identify them through the steamid. Plus everyone with ns2 has steam installed :p I know I'm not gonna be spending all day in irc just to find out if there is gonna be a gather nowadays when I have no other reason to be on IRC. (The reason it used to work is because people were on irc anyway for chatting and communities...)
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  • konatakonata Join Date: 2011-08-24 Member: 118296Members
    edited December 2011
    Steam is a terrible way to do it. You need to organise live.

    The web portal with a real time chat or IRC is the way forward. Not people constantly opening steam group chats.

    Steam chat is also the most unreliable service of the 3.

    EDIT: Trust me if you try and use steam you will fail hard. There's a reason no community uses Steam to organise gathers, especially as it's been down for the past hour for me.
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  • HarimauHarimau Join Date: 2007-12-24 Member: 63250Members
    edited December 2011
    <!--quoteo(post=1890520:date=Dec 17 2011, 02:27 AM:name=swalk)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (swalk @ Dec 17 2011, 02:27 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890520"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->However, I still disagree with your point about IRC being more accessable than a webbrowser.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Web-IRC is more accessible than IRC. Web-IRC may be more accessible than a web-browser because...

    <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->And having an IRC webclient on the homepage is the same outcome as having the system on the homepage.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    ...the major difference is that your system will require a sign up and a log-in, while a Web-IRC would require only putting in a name and connecting.


    Edit: Obsolete response, this is what I get for not reading the second page.
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  • BiglinesBiglines Join Date: 2003-12-07 Member: 24094Members, Constellation
    edited December 2011
    <!--quoteo(post=1890634:date=Dec 17 2011, 01:49 PM:name=konata)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (konata @ Dec 17 2011, 01:49 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890634"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Steam is a terrible way to do it. You need to organise live.

    The web portal with a real time chat or IRC is the way forward. Not people constantly opening steam group chats.

    Steam chat is also the most unreliable service of the 3.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    how is a steamchat not live? aside from the fact that people in it can actually invite people to join, use the system itself to join games, and set up everything that can be done in irc without requiring you to either go to some random website that noone would get to without knowing what was happening before... Steam is running on most of the people who would be interested, and those people could be informed of an impending gather opportunity through the steam system (a bot with group moderation can probably post events, but an admin can always do it), which would allow them to join the group chat in which they can subscribe, without having to continuously monitor an irc chatroom.

    While I agree that recently steam chat has been spotty at best, it would still reach FAR more people than a website/irc channel could ever reach. IRC and website need ACTIVE participation while a steam group/chat can be used to invite people who are not currently in that channel.
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  • ArgathorArgathor Join Date: 2011-07-18 Member: 110942Members, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=1890642:date=Dec 17 2011, 02:23 PM:name=Biglines)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Biglines @ Dec 17 2011, 02:23 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890642"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->While I agree that recently steam chat has been spotty at best, it would still reach FAR more people than a website/irc channel could ever reach. IRC and website need ACTIVE participation while a steam group/chat can be used to invite people who are not currently in that channel.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    While the overall discussion seems interesting, I fail to see how steam can serve the same service as a website. For example picking leaders/commanders, servers, etc? However it probably would be useful (no matter which method is used in the end, to have a steam gather group, if it would be possible (once a small number of people signup, to let everyone in the group know a gather is being formed).
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  • BacillusBacillus Join Date: 2006-11-02 Member: 58241Members
    I think in the long run something like the ENSL gather system works quite alright. It's kind of similar how Steam handles DRM - it offers enough of benefits that people don't get awfully disgruntled about the nuisances like logging in and so on. ENSL offered a lot of good things for a competetive gamer in general and gathers were added there only later on while almost everyone playing gathers had an account anyway.

    One of the useful thingys about the ENSL method is how much potential room for developing it has. The ENSL plugin can for example force players to use their ENSL account handles as ingame nicks, see account information ingame and in general manage the players easily. In community bigger than the everybody-knows-everyone NS1 community I could definitely see a lot of use for such smooth management.

    As for NS2 I don't know. Right now this site is probably the only link between smaller clusters of players. I guess right now IRC bot should do just fine, but I don't know if it's the best solution for a longer establishment.
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  • BiglinesBiglines Join Date: 2003-12-07 Member: 24094Members, Constellation
    <!--quoteo(post=1890654:date=Dec 17 2011, 06:41 PM:name=Argathor)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Argathor @ Dec 17 2011, 06:41 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890654"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->While the overall discussion seems interesting, I fail to see how steam can serve the same service as a website. For example picking leaders/commanders, servers, etc? However it probably would be useful (no matter which method is used in the end, to have a steam gather group, if it would be possible (once a small number of people signup, to let everyone in the group know a gather is being formed).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    You can have a bot running the gather, just like it used to be run in irc.
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