Floating Text/Chat Bubble addon?

reagen_lionel

Haltus_Kain wrote: »

Harva wrote: »

So maybe, instead of doing /feedback "please add chat bubbles" maybe we should actually suggest usable ideas for them based on what tons of other mmos are doing and twisting it up with things we see in ESO?

Could you elaborate on that a bit?

Chat bubbles are so... standard... that it seems to me that there's not much to say other than "add chat bubbles". I mean, I'd expect they already know what chat bubbles are - no sense in describing what a chat bubble is to them and effectively reinventing the wheel... right?

Or are you saying we should come up with a system different than the chat bubble system used in most MMO's?


In my /feedback report, I basically gave them a mini version of my previous post, explaining how disruptive it is to have to stare at a chat box instead of watching the actual game world; and that chat bubbles would be a good solution.

Curious what you have in mind, though.

Thats pretty much what I said in my feedback, with addition to its difficult to even know when a random person is talking to you, even when they're right in your face, and makes socialization with a group of people in one place unbearable.

Harva

I've been collecting some screenshots to put an idea together to either suggest or see if by some miracle a mod could probably take ideas from. They would still need to fix the API issue that prevents geographic locating so bubbles attach to the right characters.

I'll throw them all together when I have time after work this week.

I'm not sure how else to elaborate, he just said he was looking forward to hearing our ideas in /feedback.

Maybe he was mocking me and I'm being a blonde about it.

Harva

reagen_lionel wrote: »

soalrism wrote: »

why this senseless petition? this forum is enough. click "agree " on the op's post and they will see it!

Not everyone does that, or even notices this system. Most just post thier opinion or reply to others posts.

Eh, more ways are better than none. Besides, there could be players out there that don't have an account on this forum and probably don't want to make one just to do /sign. Got to try to accommodate all that wish to help.

nalimoleb14_ESO

I'll definitely attach the image below to my next /feeback message so they have the general idea, and can also see that having chat bubbles with an effective design won't take away any immersion from the game. I'll also suggest adding a toggle feature for each type of chat (/say, /zone, /guild, /party, etc.) so that each player can customize their chat bubbles however they want. Even if Zenimax is against chat bubbles, at least give the RP community the option to have them.

If they care as much as they claim to about the RP aspect of the game, and preserving an RP community for ESO long term, then they can't just brush this aside. I agree, I don't care if I have to wait a month for this feature, but we need to know that it's going to be implemented at some point.

That will be such a slap in the face if Zenimax just chooses to ignore us, or hope that we'll just go away.

vizionblind_ESO

either go here: https://www.change.org/petitions/zenimax-online-studios-create-a-socially-immersive-user-interface-in-elder-scrolls-online

or use /feedback

peechwurmnub18_ESO

Just thought I'd add on the topic of "Floating text ruins the game image!" that some people and perhaps ZOS are concerned about. If anything it is the current system that distracts from my own enjoyment of the beauty this game brings in its environments and the characters people take their time crafting. Right now, I'm either looking at a chat box or my surroundings/people. I can not do both. Either my entire attention at any given moment needs to be on text or on image. This causes a large disconnect for me when playing. I don't associate the 'voices' in the chat box with anything going on in game. How can I? There is NO connection between the two. This problem really show itself even more when any amount of action or movement starts to happen. At that point it turns into feeling like I'm trying to talk to a friend who's more interested in checking their smartphone every 10 seconds (I still don't know what people are constantly looking for on those things...), and having to say "HEY, THIS WAY". So when I'm playing ESO, I am in a constant battle of remaining "transported to another world" and "transported to a social chat room".

ZOS, there's something you should know about most RPers. We may not be many, but boy are we loyal. Well...maybe loyal is the wrong word. Obsessive? When we find a system/game/environment that we can play in, we tend to put everything we have into it and stick with it until it dies or mutates into something we no longer care for. Why? Because unlike the rest of your customers, most of the RPers can still enjoy themselves if you don't pump out a constant flow of new content. (Not to say we don't like new content!!!). But give most of us a chair to sit in, a drink, some food, and a way to communicate and create together... and we'll lose track of years.

TreacleNips

I get that they want immersion in the game .. but having to triple check all my chat tabs to see if I've missed anything near me is annoying. Just annoying. When I'm in town I like seeing who is participating in /z or /s; see who needs general assistance at a crafting table or the bank. This is a visual issue. In a group of people or a dungeon party, I want to place the text immediately with the right person. Be it healer/friend/tank/stranger.

Running through town seems dead and lonely; half the time I can't tell NPC from Player until I scroll over with my cursor. Immersion is lovely, and I enjoy what they have done so far. Well, maybe not the part of having to open up my party window every time I need to put a name to a player just to see what class they are. "Did the Healer say that? DPS? Can't tell just from UI - now to stop for five seconds to find out in a fight."

LarsS

I support an option, as it is it is difficult to communicate. I have noted o many occations that people dont note my messages.

Harva

I got an idea but I'm not sure how to go about it. It would involve recording some game play of groups and in a very populated area. I can overlay some bubbles and how they would act using flash or photo shop to give an example of how the right bubble look and function they would have may look. Envisioning it doesn't seem to help a lot of people.

So maybe If I made a video of a group of four role playing and then light roleplay mixed with non roleplay chatter and a busier version of those. Just to further help. If we can show them what it would look like then maybe that may help?

If any of you want to record something I can do the editing stuff to put in bubbles.

Worth a shot anyway. May be better than the stationary screen shot we are using?

nalimoleb14_ESO

I'd definitely be up for that!

mcatchlovb16_ESO

I don't understand why anyone would want chat bubbles. Completely ruins the look of the game having these ungodly stupid looking chat bubbles. I would support it for you guys as long as I can turn the feature off.

Haltus_Kain

mcatchlovb16_ESO wrote: »

I don't understand why anyone would want chat bubbles. Completely ruins the look of the game having these ungodly stupid looking chat bubbles.

This has already been addressed.

Alright, to those of you saying that chat bubbles would stop you from enjoying the game's environmental detail: Please take a moment to watch this video (it's only 1 minute and 41 seconds long)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY

When you have finished watching, please highlight the area below, which will reveal more text, and continue reading.

So... what did you see? Or more specifically, what didn't you?

The ball you were tracking was a fast moving target that required your constant attention, which likely caused you to miss other important goings on.

Well, throw 20 RP'ers in a tavern, and track the conversation happening between the three individuals sitting at the table in the center of the establishment. That chat box will be moving at light-speed; if you look away for even a second, you will probably miss something. The chat box happens to be tucked away in the corner of the screen... if your attention is spent scouring it for bits of the conversation you're participating in, what are you going to miss that's happening in the other 80% of your screen? Molag Bal himself could take a seat at the table next to you, and you'd have no freaking clue.

The conclusion is that focusing on a chat box is actually far more disruptive to the game environment than chat bubbles are.

Chat bubbles pop up right next to the person speaking; if you're invested in that person's speech in any way (i.e., engaged in conversation with them) then you know that when a chat bubble pops up in that specific location, it's something you'll want to take half-a-second to read. What about the 6 people at the table on the other side of the room? Are you following their conversation? No? Then don't bother reading it! The visual noise coming from their table IS the audible noise that you experience at a real restaurant; you can tell that people are talking, but all you hear is "blah da blah blah da blah" because your mind doesn't care about their conversations.

With a chat box, you are FORCED to pay attention to their conversation enough to accurately gauge whether or not the text is something that pertains to you.

Back to the RL restaurant scenario - imagine trying to have a conversation with the few people next to you if...

• Every voice in the room was identical.

• Every voice came to your ears at the exact same volume.

• There were on visual indications (mouths moving, etc) to reveal who was speaking at any given time.

^That's a chat box.

But I don't RP! Why should I support something that doesn't effect me?

Whether or not you would have chat bubbles toggled on or off, the inclusion of that feature WOULD effect you indirectly. Whether or not you RP with RPers, I can guarantee that you do other things with them. And something about the RP community: they're awesome people to be around. RPers account for the most mature, welcoming, friendly group of gamers out there. YOU WANT RP'ERS IN ESO. You want MORE RPers in ESO. Community is hands-down the most important thing in an MMO - to improve the community is to improve the game itself. When a suggestion pops up that would improve the community, you should be drooling at the tantalizing though of its implementation, whether or not the feature in question is something you specifically will utilize.

So, you think chat bubbles will ruin ESO's beautiful scenery for you? Fine - turn them off. None of us will judge you on whether or not you use chat bubbles. But fighting against the implementation of a feature that would strengthen the ESO community? That is destructive to everyone invested in ESO - the RP'ers, the non-RP'ers, the developers, your guild, YOURSELF.

This isn't an "us vs them" thing. If optional chat bubbles are implemented, everyone wins; if they're not, everyone loses.

Please, whether or not you intend to use chat bubbles, help make ESO a better game by supporting their implementation. If you've already spoken against it, edit your post, and /sign this thread.


I apologize for the wall of text, but I hope that was insightful.

/salute

- Hal

Morana

mcatchlovb16_ESO wrote: »

I don't understand why anyone would want chat bubbles. Completely ruins the look of the game having these ungodly stupid looking chat bubbles. I would support it for you guys as long as I can turn the feature off.

Optional and off by default is what many of us are asking for. Everyone wins that way.

reagen_lionel

Indeed. There is no viable argument against this rather than
"I dont like chat bubbles, so If I dont like them and/or dont use them, you all shouldn't either"

Just no. Thats such a closed minded argument and isnt viable in anyway when we're asking for is the OPTION to have this feature, as for a grand lot of people find this nessecary as you can clearly see from the amount of pages and posts in this thread.

Haltus_Kain

@reagen_lionel‌
You should edit the OP to include all of the logic submitted to counter the whole "I won't use them, therefore no one should have them" sentiment (which, for the record, @mcatchlovb16_ESO‌ did say he supports the idea if optional, so I don't want my post or any of the following to come off as a harsh retort against him specifically**)

Anywho, make a list in the OP of all the reasons provided in favor of chat bubbles, and all the reasons... well, the reason that folks folks are against it.

If all of that is outlined in the OP, folks will hopefully realize how silly it is to oppose this suggestion - can't really expect people to read the entire thread.

My two cents anyway.

reagen_lionel

Haltus_Kain wrote: »

@reagen_lionel‌
You should edit the OP to include all of the logic submitted to counter the whole "I won't use them, therefore no one should have them" sentiment (which, for the record, @mcatchlovb16_ESO‌ did say he supports the idea if optional, so I don't want my post or any of the following to come off as a harsh retort against him specifically**)

Anywho, make a list in the OP of all the reasons provided in favor of chat bubbles, and all the reasons... well, the reason that folks folks are against it.

If all of that is outlined in the OP, folks will hopefully realize how silly it is to oppose this suggestion - can't really expect people to read the entire thread.

My two cents anyway.

yes Im doing that passively, adding in these things as they come. However I may miss a few things.

Haltus_Kain

OP looks great! Hopefully that will put a stop to, or at least significantly reduce the frequency of the self destructive stance of "I won't use it, therefore the entire community should suffer!"

/tiphat

murklor007neb18_ESO

Harva wrote: »

I got an idea but I'm not sure how to go about it. It would involve recording some game play of groups and in a very populated area. I can overlay some bubbles and how they would act using flash or photo shop to give an example of how the right bubble look and function they would have may look. Envisioning it doesn't seem to help a lot of people.

So maybe If I made a video of a group of four role playing and then light roleplay mixed with non roleplay chatter and a busier version of those. Just to further help. If we can show them what it would look like then maybe that may help?

If any of you want to record something I can do the editing stuff to put in bubbles.

Worth a shot anyway. May be better than the stationary screen shot we are using?

You barely even need to do anything complicated.

Take a tavern in ESO, any tavern.
Bring guild people, maybe 10
Have some of them stand against each other, as to discuss, while some are looking at the player.
Record a video as the player walks from entrance to the barkeep, while they chat furiously in /say about various things to each other. The ones looking at the player will greet him and start chatting as he walk by. The player can respond when walking by.
Upload that video as is.
Then use the youtube captioning to make a "bubbles" versions.

It will be a MASSIVE difference just in such a crude example.

Then if you want, you can do some advanced photoshopping on the same to make "eso bubbles" version

I'd record it but since ESO doesnt support true fullscreen I cant use shadowplay -_-

Haltus_Kain

@murklor007neb18_ESO‌

Xfire seems to work fine in ESO, if you're looking for a good way to record.

https://www.xfire.com/

...if you're not familiar with it, Xfire is kind of a gaming swiss-army-knife. Social functions like chat and VOIP, and a collection of gaming-oriented tools, among which, video recording.

GL!

Tueland

Would love chat bubbles and nameplates, been to many times i haved asked the guy right next to me for help, just to get a whisper 30min - an hour later with "Sorry didnt see chat till now"

Tueland

murklor007neb18_ESO wrote: »

*snip*

If i remember right the new beta update lets you record and stream your desktop

Haltus_Kain

Oh btw,
My movie making skills are garbage, but if you need some volunteers to create the scene you're making, I'll happily serve as an actor. Just tell me when and where.

(@Haltus_Kain to hit me up in game)

ceb

I have been wanting this from the moment I saw they didn't have it in beta and I have tried to push for it. But it should of course be optional for those that do not want to see it. That way I can't see why or how anyone could have a problem.

Signed, a thousand times signed.

Selique

Just wanted to say that I am a HUGE lover of Chat Bubbles, and they were one of the reasons I couldn't enjoy SWTOR as much as I would have liked. I submitted feedback asking the Devs to reconsider their "no chat bubbles" stance and put them in as an OPTION

Harva

Keep it up guys. Don't let this thread die! If you have friends on other ESO sites or roleplayers in general have them join in our battle cry!

It's been a whole week now that I have been playing ESO and I find myself loosing interest in it because I can't roleplay very easily with others. I stay in character when I help none roleplayers and they really don't seem to care much. They just respond in text speak. Won't stop me from trying at least.

I still find myself accidentally swinging at players too because I can't tell if they are an npc in the heat of a battle. Isn't that considered rude in mmo etiquette? I mean trolls generally harass a player standing around and I don't want to accidentally be associated with that just because I can't tell if someone is a player or not.

Name tags would fix that. Or at least make a tag that fades in and out of view that's more visible than the option that's currently in the game.

Speaking of that I need to submit the screens I found that would support name tags at leasy. I'll do that later today if I remember... Been busy in the non ESO world, sadly.

adamwigan

Signed.

nalimoleb14_ESO

Exactly; a week later and I find myself losing interest as well. For someone who had been looking forward to roleplaying ESO more than anything else, it's been a disaster.

Look, I get that they feel speech bubbles don't fit in with the Elder Scrolls World, but that's because up until now, Elder Scrolls was a single-player game, of course we didn't need speech bubbles then. But now, Elder Scrolls Online is a multi-player game, we're supposed to be embracing the social aspect of it. Otherwise, what was the point of making it an MMO? And unfortunately technology, isn't advanced enough to have a better alternative to speech bubbles.

Furthermore, it's upsetting that apparently it's Zenimax' way or the highway. "No chat bubbles because we don't think they belong in the Elder Scrolls World." Well, the players are the ones supporting their games and paying for their services, can't they at least appreciate us enough to give us the option to have speech bubbles and turn them on and off?

The speech bubbles would have to be designed by Zenimax. There is only so much that we can accomplish with add-ons, and even with add-on speech bubbles, there is no way to attach them to the top of the players' heads, so it isn't ideal. I wish it were that simple for all of us to solve this problem and install an add-on but unfortunately, we need Zenimax to hear us out, and please make speech bubbles happen.

reagen_lionel

I've been leaving /feedback regularly about this. And will continue to keep doing this, everyday, once a day. Until they finally actually comment about this issue in a post or an announcement.

nalimoleb14_ESO

Great idea, I'll definitely do the same!

nalimoleb14_ESO

Great idea, I'll definitely do the same! I also came across a very insightful quote recently:

You'll never know how much you shall miss speech bubbles in RP untill you don't have them.

It's what sank the RP in SWOTOR, it sounds like a small thing but when you are trying to interact in a group and find yourself having to watch the chatbox more then the actual scene it can quickly feel weird and disjointed.

No speech bubbles, no RP community. Heed my words.