City of IF

[Key]

Storychat has been an interesting and fun activity in the City from time to time, but one of the things that's made it hard is that it's kind of slow. I've always wanted to try storychat with web video software so instead of typing out the story, you could tell it by voice in real time.

So I finally got my act together and found a web conferencing software that we can use for this. I'm going to try it out this Sunday. Anyone want to join in the first ever video storychat?

:cheers:

If you're up for it, go to www.anymeeting.com/cityofif1 this Sunday at 6:00 PM GMT / 7:00 PM UK / 2:00 PM Eastern / 11:00 AM Pacific. I'll tell one or more storygames by voice, and you can tell your own too if you've got a microphone.

Hope to see you there!

:-)

[Amichan]

This is an Awesome Idea Key :D Who knows if this works out as planned we can use this idea and expand it to other aspects of IF

[Key]

Do we have any more for this? We need at least a few to have a decent storygame...

[LordoftheNight]

I plan on coming along for this.

[Lebrenth]

I'll be there. Always interested in experimentation, and though I don't have a webcam, I definitely have a microphone. Is there any installation stuff needed to run the program? How about registration?

[Key]

Great! I'm looking forward to it. No installs or pre-registration should be necessary, just go to the link at the right time.

:-)

[Ingrothechundyer]

Something was odd with the way the app was displaying for me.

[Key]

Ingrothechundyer wrote: Something was odd with the way the app was displaying for me.

What's odd about it? That looks similar to what I saw.

[Ingrothechundyer]

What's odd is that it isn't using the full width of the browser screen but instead is chopping off and then providing a scrollbar to see the rest of the screen. There is clearly room to show everything but it chooses not to.

It's not a huge deal but it stuck me as an odd way to go about it.

[Amichan]

Ingrothechundyer wrote: Something was odd with the way the app was displaying for me.

well we have a good shot at what Key looks like now Muahh ..


I think if this worked out as well as it hoped we can maybe expand it to the IFQ in maybe I dont know doing a Monthly news report wile still doing a typed hard copy for the IFQ forum

[Key]

Hi everyone,

Thanks to everyone who came, that was a lot of fun! We had 6 players and told 2 storygames in the 2 hours, plus we did a warmup exercise at the beginning. I have video for those who are interested in taking a look at how it went (unfortunately, I started the video a little late, so I missed the first exercise):

http://www.anymeeting.com/WebConference/RecordingDefault.aspx?c_psrid=E951D689874D

We are going to do this again at the same time next Sunday, and I'd be interested to have someone else take a turn.

For those who were there, I have lots of questions about how it went from your perspective:

1. What was the best part?
2. What was the worst part?
3. How did the software work for you? Did you have any technical problems?
4. Did the sharing of pictures help with the experience?
5. Did having video help with the experience? Would it have been better if the video were larger?
6. Is there anything you felt was missing or you wanted more of?
7. Of the three things we did (warmup speech to the troops, The Scourging of Ra storygame, the Island storygame), which did you like best? Why?
8. How was the pacing on the storygames? Too fast? Too slow? About right?

Please let me know if you have any other comments, too...

:-)

[Key]

Ingrothechundyer wrote: What's odd is that it isn't using the full width of the browser screen but instead is chopping off and then providing a scrollbar to see the rest of the screen. There is clearly room to show everything but it chooses not to.

It's not a huge deal but it stuck me as an odd way to go about it.

Oh, I see what you're saying. I think there are supposed to be ads in that space. I'm not sure why you weren't getting ads, but that's probably why that space was reserved.

[Ingrothechundyer]

Fist off a huge thanks to Key for running the video story chat today. I personally had a lot of fun :D

Key wrote: Ingrothechundyer wrote: What's odd is that it isn't using the full width of the browser screen but instead is chopping off and then providing a scrollbar to see the rest of the screen. There is clearly room to show everything but it chooses not to.

It's not a huge deal but it stuck me as an odd way to go about it.

Oh, I see what you're saying. I think there are supposed to be ads in that space. I'm not sure why you weren't getting ads, but that's probably why that space was reserved.

Ah that explains the empty space then. I have both Add Block Plus and No Script installed so a lot of third party and flash adds do end up getting removed.

Quote: 1. What was the best part?
I think the best part was the verbal story telling. It set a much faster pace then the text version of the Story Chat does and I think Key was able to convey a lot more in the telling then comes through in the text.

Quote: 2. What was the worst part?
I felt that in the discussion phase that the pacing was off. With Key being the only one using voice chat and everyone else typing there wasn't a lot of discussion and it felt off to me.

Quote: 3. How did the software work for you? Did you have any technical problems?
I didn't have any major problems. As noted I had to choose how much of the screen I wanted to see which was less then ideal. There was only one comment that I missed a word due to it being chopped off and not having enough context to figure out what it was though.

Also the logon page was slightly confusing as to what information it was asking for to be provided.

Quote: 4. Did the sharing of pictures help with the experience?
For me it was a wash. They were nice images but they didn't really help me get a better mental image of what was going on then I would have had without them. The were also distracting from the story when they were presented (another thing to look at and they were not full screen so there was even more that could be taken in).

Quote: 5. Did having video help with the experience? Would it have been better if the video were larger?
I think the video was GREAT! I think the size was good. It wasn't too small and it wasn't too large.

Quote: 6. Is there anything you felt was missing or you wanted more of?
Aside from the screen forcing you to decide what you preferred to cut short no.

Quote: 7. Of the three things we did (warmup speech to the troops, The Scourging of Ra storygame, the Island storygame), which did you like best? Why?
I liked the The Scourging of Ra storygame the best. The warmup did an excellent job of setting the mood and I was laughing through half of it. The Scourging Ra storygame was an excellent followup. I felt it continued the spirit of the warmup well. I don't think it would have been nearly as fun without the warmup though.

Probably the reason I liked The Scourging of Ra storygame is because I was more engaged with the actual story then the warmup. Both of the were excellent and I really enjoyed them.

Quote: 8. How was the pacing on the storygames? Too fast? Too slow? About right?
The storygame pacing was great. To me it felt like the discussions felt like the pacing was off but I think that it is due to the storygame being verbal and the discussions text (except for Key).

Quote: Please let me know if you have any other comments, too...
Thank you very much for running this. It was a blast!

[LordoftheNight]

1. What was the best part?

I felt the warm-up part was the best, it had me grinning through-out, especially how it was completely made up as you went along. I also really liked the fact we could change out votes, to balance it out in response to other peoples.

2. What was the worst part?

I'd probably agree with Ingro that the discussion felt a bit lacking at times. We were more suggesting things to do at random, rather than suggesting reasons for them really.

3. How did the software work for you? Did you have any technical problems?

Software worked fine, though maybe an explaination beforehand of just what the signing on bit was for, and what would show to other people through it would be good for next time.

4. Did the sharing of pictures help with the experience?

I wasn't getting that much from the pictures really - and if it works out how other storychats have worked out later, it'd be hard to collect the pictures in advance. I've seen some storychats go in all sorts of bizarre directions.

5. Did having video help with the experience? Would it have been better if the video were larger?

I'm not sure how much the video helped any, but I didn't feel it was too small. Could see everything that was there. If you had done one of the other warm-ups, like the puppet show, then it probably would've made more of a difference.

6. Is there anything you felt was missing or you wanted more of?

DP discussion I guess. At times it felt a little random, and us typing in response was a lot slower than you reading it, which might be why we didn't discuss much, as it felt too slow.

7. Of the three things we did (warmup speech to the troops, The Scourging of Ra storygame, the Island storygame), which did you like best? Why?

The warm-up speech - it was funny, and completely off the cuff. The...how are you feeling about it part was new for me, and I think it worked pretty well.

8. How was the pacing on the storygames? Too fast? Too slow? About right?

The pacing was good, but sometimes (in the Island) I found myself getting distracted by something, and then losing the plot. Because there's nothing written down, it can be quite hard to get back into it, so I felt like I had to wait until the next DP to return.

[Lilith]

1. What was the best part?

I think the warm-up exercise and The Scourge of Ra were the better parts of this test.

2. What was the worst part?

I think the worst part was how when we were trying to throw DP options out for you, some of it would get lost in the jumble of random text chat.

3. How did the software work for you? Did you have any technical problems?

Software worked fine for me, except later on, with the second and third to last DPs I was having some issues with the voting and the options turning up for me, but eventually I bullied it into working right.

4. Did the sharing of pictures help with the experience?

I'm not quite sure how they would have helped or not having them would have hindered and having a stock of photos the farther along the players drew the SG from the main focus of the story, that would be very, very difficult.

5. Did having video help with the experience? Would it have been better if the video were larger?

I think the video size was fine, but to be honest, we weren't really focusing on the video portion, just listening to you tell the story, which is perfect for me personally as I am an auditory responsive person.

6. Is there anything you felt was missing or you wanted more of?

Well, maybe others would prefer the ability to talk about the DPs instead of just typing them. The only thing is, I think Key should have the ability to silence us from each other when it's time to get back to the telling of the StoryGame, because I personally think we'd get wrapped up in our discussion.

7. Of the three things we did (warmup speech to the troops, The Scourging of Ra storygame, the Island storygame), which did you like best? Why?

The Scourging of Ra was the best, while the warm-up speech had me laughing as well, the first storygame had be laughing hardest.

8. How was the pacing on the storygames? Too fast? Too slow? About right?

I think the first StoryGame was perfect in it's pacing, and the second one was more for an 'epic' sort of story game, that would go on many more nights, instead of for an hour and a half or so.

Overall, I think this was a great idea and a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it. I was disappointed at the lack of turn out for it despite the prior excitement, but I think it was great nonetheless. Thanks, Key, hope you run again. :)

[Lebrenth]

I like Lilith's format for answering the questions best, so I think I'll borrow it! :)

1. What was the best part?

I really like the video, the ability to share pictures, and the polling that allows you to change your vote. I think the user feedback status (on the left by the names, you could set your status "I'm fine" "Please slow down" "Please speed up" etc.) is interesting and probably useful but I didn't actually try it. I liked "the Scourging of Ra" SG best.

2. What was the worst part?

Players didn't have audio and the text box was tiny. The prompt to enter "Your full name and location" before entering was misleading. The pacing for "The Island" was too slow for me (should have used the "Please speed up" feedback option, but I didn't try it).

3. How did the software work for you? Did you have any technical problems?

Near the end of the session, it was briefly unresponsive and slow. It resolved itself without crashing though. Otherwise it all went very smooth.

4. Did the sharing of pictures help with the experience?

Yes, for some of the uses. I think the verbal descriptions were certainly adequate, but I think a little visual aid is nice and it could be very useful in situations such as displaying maps. I did feel like I was being led by the reins a bit, though. Knowing you had prepared pictures for specific situations made me wonder if we really had any free will, or if we were being corralled into the desired story so none of the pictures would be missed. But then I found a bunch more of the pictures that weren't shown, which eased my concerns (obviously only the pictures that were relevant to our path would be shown and we weren't being forced onto a very specific path)

5. Did having video help with the experience? Would it have been better if the video were larger?

The video was great. It was faster and it would allow you to convey more emotional emphasis through voice and gestures. It seems like it will tend to be less articulate because there's no backspace or time for carefully constructing the words, but it's an acceptable loss. Also, since there is nothing written down, new players (or players who were distracted momentarily) can't just read what they missed.

6. Is there anything you felt was missing or you wanted more of?

As far as the tools are concerned... well, I would like more voice chat for the players. It might also be cool to have a whiteboard, but I think you could improvise that with

7. Of the three things we did (warmup speech to the troops, The Scourging of Ra storygame, the Island storygame), which did you like best? Why?

The Scourging of Ra. I liked the strategizing and the unpredictability. The warmup was confusing, but it is a great idea (if I knew what was going on).

8. How was the pacing on the storygames? Too fast? Too slow? About right?

The first two events had surprisingly good pacing. The third went too slow for me.

Thanks for stories! It was a fun experience that I hope to join again (and maybe try hosting).

[Key]

I'm glad that everyone had a good time! I did too, so let's try it again this Sunday at the same time: 7:00 GMT. We'll go for 2 hours: I'll lead for the first hour, then open it up to anyone else who wants to in the second.

Hope to see you there.

Also, let me know if you're interested but this time isn't good for you.

:-)

[Key]

OK, just a reminder we'll be videochatting tomorrow at 7 PM GMT / 11 AM Pacific / 2 PM Eastern.

[Lebrenth]

So it was just me and Key for this week's video storychat. It's too bad we forgot to record, because we did a few hilarious warm-up exercises. With a few more people we could have a few good storychat's too, but it didn't make much sense for just two people.

[Key]

I'll see if I can get a few more people for next week's. Try to make it next week if you can - this has been really fun so far and I think it has a lot of potential, but we need a minimum number of people to make it work.

Post here if you can make it, that way we have some idea how many people are coming.

:-)

[Amichan]

Definatley will need to try this out for the IFQ once ( Key could be our Anchorman ) I wouldnt try it with Augusts issue .. Maybe Septembers once School gets gets back into session and we are out of our Summer slump

[Vikas Muralidharan]

Ah.. the timing aint good for me... 6 PM GMT goes to 11:30 PM in India. And, I'll need to go to **coughs** school the next day. I might make it to a few if it happened earlier in the day..

[Key]

Vikas Muralidharan wrote: Ah.. the timing aint good for me... 6 PM GMT goes to 11:30 PM in India. And, I'll need to go to **coughs** school the next day. I might make it to a few if it happened earlier in the day..
Would Saturday be better?

[Thunderbird]

I'd love to take part in this but finding the time is always a challenge... I can't prepromise anything but if I'm around when its going on I'll surely be jumping in. Sounds like y'all have been having fun with this at least and that's cool :)

[LordoftheNight]

If every can do Saturdays, that would actually work out better for me. My Sunday evenings are going to be pretty busy from now on, so I'm not sure I'll be able to make it anymore.

[Kalyssa Summers]

Oh man I missed this!!! Granted Sundays are usually difficult for me, but hopefully I can make another one. That was a brilliant stroke, Key!

[Vishal Muralidharan]

Key wrote: Vikas Muralidharan wrote: Ah.. the timing aint good for me... 6 PM GMT goes to 11:30 PM in India. And, I'll need to go to **coughs** school the next day. I might make it to a few if it happened earlier in the day..
Would Saturday be better?

I can safely answer for him that saturday would be just perfect. Only one of us will be on, but the other will be looking over the shoulder. The responses to the first vid storychat are great, and this should be fun. ;)

[Guest]

I was sunday there but nothing was happening in the inn-- zero people... :shock:

[Lebrenth]

It wasn't in the Inn, BBS. It's held here: www.anymeeting.com/cityofif1

[Key]

Ok, it sounds like Saturdays may be better, so next week we'll try that. But let's stick with Sunday (tomorrow) this week. Hope to see you there.

:-)

[Key]

OK, I was on but unfortunately there was only one other person again this time. :(

I still think this has a lot of potential, but it's not really possible to explore it unless we get at least four or five people. So I think next time I'm going to try to make sure we have commitments from a few people before officially scheduling a time.

So suppose we did it this Saturday at the same time (11am Pacific, 2pm Eastern, 7pm British, 11:30pm India). Please post here if you can commit to making it at that time, and we'll see how many we get.

:-)

[Ingrothechundyer]

I will plan on being there from 2PM - 3PM Eastern Saturday

[Key]

OK, thanks Ingro!

Can we get two more IFians who can commit to making it at that time? Or if not, can you say when you could make it?

:-)

[Amichan]

I can see what i can do i am off this Saturday thankfully

[Vikas Muralidharan]

Holy...

I cant promise but I'll try... Is 9 am pacific to early for you guys?! o.O

[LordoftheNight]

I won't be there at 7, I'll still be out and don't know when I'll get back - but I'll come on when I do, and see if it's still going.

[Key]

All right, not the firm commitments I was hoping for, but let's try it. We'll keep the time I announced this week, but if we get enough to do something, maybe we can change next week.

I'll see if I can find some other players as well.

:-)

[Ingrothechundyer]

FYI I wasn't able to get on for the video chat today. Was I doing something wrong?

[LordoftheNight]

When I tried it said the meeting wasn't on - so I assumed it ended before I got back.

[Key]

I'm not sure what the problem was. I was on but after 40 minutes when no one came, I ended the session.

:?