Introducing the after-game chat phase

[super_dipsy]

There have been many requests over the last couple of years to allow players to have time to chat about the game after it is over. Although those who use the forum can always create an AAR, many people do not use the forum and even if you DO you would only find the AAR if you go looking for it. I have been working on a new mechanism called the After-Game Chat phase. I plan to release this soon, but I wanted to let people know what was going to happen first.

The idea is that when a game finishes, it then enters an 'After-Game Chat' phase. This phase lasts for 7 days, after which the game just reverts to a normal finished game status. While in the After-Game Chat phase, anyone who played in the game will still have access to the Shoutbox, and can post there as desired. Players may want to congratulate the winner, discuss parts of the game or whatever they wish. Once the After-Game Chat phase finishes, the Shoutbox will become read-only in the normal way for a Finished game. Note that access to the Shoutbox and the identity of the players in the game will all be available regardless of the variant played - even if the game was a Gunboat or anonymous game. Also, the map will be the normal finished map so in a FoW game it will be the unfogged map.

As far as the user interface is concerned, a game in After-Game Chat will go on the Finished Games list just as other finished games do. However, it will have a status of 'After-Game Chat' and the button that normally says 'View game History' will actually say 'Ignore Chat Phase'. The screenshot below shows these differences.

Capture.JPG

Notice that the After-Game Chat is in RED. If After-Game Chat is in Red as it is here, that means there is an unread message in the Shoutbox from one of the other players. Once you go in to the game and look at the new Shoutbox messages, it will go back to the normal colour until another message is posted. This is to help you see someone else has commented in the chat. The colour always starts off as Red when you finish your game just to let you know the after-chat is now open.

The 'Ignore Chat Phase' button is for you to signal that you no longer want to be part of the After-Game Chat. Click this, and the display will go back to that of a normal finished game. From now on when you look at your Finished Games list, this game will now look just like any other finished game.

I hope I explained that properly The intention is that people who do not care do not have to do anything, and other than seeing games in the Finished list lit up for 7 days everything is the same. But for people who DO want to chat after the game, there is a way to now do this.

As usual, I will wait a bit before I put the changes up to give people time to get used to the idea.

[Freddafred]

Thanks dipsy you rock.

[BigBert]

Nice change, thanks!

[SidneyKidney]

I notice that in a game with several dummy accounts the best you could manage was a 4-way tie

Great new feature. Thank you

[bindlestiff]

Way cool.

[diplomat42]

Much awesomeness!

[pelagius]

i like it. I really hope that the players use this chance to discuss the game.

by chance is there any possiblity of making the private messages available for the players in the game after the game is over? i would find it interesting to read the messages and it would perhaps allow the players to identify any mistakes they made and where/ when they were about to be stabbed. Could add a bit. Perhaps it could be a choice in game creation. That way if players did not want their messages to be read they would not have to allow it.

just a thought.

[shadowlink]

Can't see any downside to this.

It's annoying finalising the last turn of the game and then not be able to talk about it with players afterwards.

Great idea.

[coggas]

Great idea.

[jkid]

I love it! Amazing as usual Dipsy!