How about a chat for this neat little forum?

Buttercheese

What the title says.
Many forums like this have a chatroom thingie attached to it, where people can talk about what ever.

The different chatrooms could be named after the important places in the games.
Heck, they could even be themed depending on their names.
Candlekeep Library - For talking lore and stuff.
Friendly Arm Inn - Asking for game help.
Copper Coronet - Random and off-topic.
Etc. pp.

Kamigoroshi

Damnit, I thought you're asking about a cat for this neat little forum. I was all up for suggesting an official spider pet/mascot for Beamdog's office too. But now, I notice that I merely didn't notice a certain "h" in the title... now I feel sad. ;_;

Troodon80

There's a shoutbox plugin. Unfortunately, just like most feature requests to do with the forum software, it is unlikely that anything will come of it due to Beamdog not hosting the package themselves. They would most likely be given a list of possible plugins available for their given package. If it's not on the list then it cannot be installed.

Buttercheese

@Kamigoroshi‌: We already have a forum cat (though no one has seen it in a while) :P

@Troodon80‌:
So, if I understand correctly, I can look up somewhere what the forum host offers, finding out if there would be a potential chat function?

Troodon80

@Buttercheese, a list can be found here based on what package Beamdog currently has, and that assumes they're not using some sort of custom package. There is no mention of a shoutbox. Adding new plugins is probably also based on Beamdog's current CSS layout, as adding certain things will require someone's time to adjust or create new rules.

Dee

Chat rooms are also a nightmare to moderate; it's a can of worms we've decided to leave unopened.

Buttercheese

Bummer

Drugar

I was admin on a similar forum for a few years, way back. We had a chat feature for a while but this had the nigh-immediate result of
A) Practicly halving the posting rate on the forum
People getting pissed at each other in chat and taking it to the forum
C) Closed threads in the forum being continued (and exacerbating) in the chat

Meanwhile it added hardly anything of worth. So yes, agreed with Dee, no chat is the way to go.

jcompton

There is a long, albeit slumbering, tradition of Infinity-related chat. Once upon a time most of the Infinity modding sites ran IRC channels, and there was even one associated with the Interplay forum. I don't see any reason someone here can't just stake out a spot on an IRC server and set up an unofficial IRC channel for users of this forum, much as people did with the old BIS/Interplay channel.

These days, the SHS IRC channel looks abandoned and G3 doesn't seem to mention theirs on their website anymore, but PPG's is still operational if you're really desperate. irc://irc.slashnet.org/ppgmod (server irc.slashnet.org, channel #ppgmod .)

FinneousPJ

IRC chan would be great.

LiamEsler

I'd be happy to pop into an unofficial IRC chat!

Edit: Or we could all just hang out at PPG's, which might be simpler.

Troodon80

Last time I was in an IRC channel... must be back around 1997? Wouldn't mind joining in. :-)

Nokkenbuer

I suspect the chatroom would quickly devolve into roleplaying campaigns.

For what it's worth, you can always go to the Steam chatrooms for each game. There are rarely people there, but if enough of you join you all could effectively take it over:

steam://friends/joinchat/103582791433838365
steam://friends/joinchat/103582791434699685

Buttercheese

Maybe a Skype-group?
My PC doesn't seem to get along with IRC very well ...

Troodon80

@Buttercheese, Skype has groups?

Buttercheese

Yeah, you can make them with one click.
The problem is just that people have to be added manually, not everyone can simply join.

PS: Against all odds, I managed to get the third IRC program I tried running UvU

FinneousPJ

IRC would be great because you could have different rooms for RP and discussions. You could even program bots to help with RP campaigns.

CrevsDaak

Buttercheese said:

My PC doesn't seem to get along with IRC very well ...

Well, IRCs don't even work on mac osx :P
I tried using internet explorer over an emulator to enter the PPG irc channel, but it crashed, which it was the thing most likely to happen anyway.

LiamEsler

@CrevsDaak‌ There are plenty of OSX IRC clients - try Colloquy, for example.

Troodon80

@CrevsDaak‌, you can also get to the ppgmod channel through just about any web browser. If you do a quick Google search for "ppgmod" the channel should be the first result.

CrevsDaak

Thanks guys, @LiamEsler‌ and @Troodon80‌, I used Troodon's way but later I might download Colloquy too
(Sorry for the late reply, I had saved this as a draft instead of posting it).

FinneousPJ

@CrevsDaak IRC is just a protocol, not a program. Hence it is not tied to any OS. Not entirely unlike HTTP for example.