Jump to content

0 A.D. in-game interface w/social media


Jeru
 Share

Recommended Posts

I had this idea last night that we should perhaps set up a direct link between 0 A.D. and some social media platforms.

That way a player could easily share game scores at the end of a game on Facebook/Twitter/G+, or take screenshots of in-game events and easily share them online.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMO such things would be better done server-side on a future dedicated server, in order to avoid having to hardcode the latest social media fads (sorry, no fan :D) into the client. If a given social network API breaks (which remote APIs tend to do), it's much easier to update a few server installations than it is to update thousands of consumer-level client installations.

Honestly, it's a bit like getting a tattoo: it may be all the rage today, but will it still look cool 10 or 15 years down the line? (0 A.D. has the potential to be an evergreen which Twitter and Facebook IMO does not.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with zoot. I would prefer to keep social media out of this game. Or at the very least make it an option at compile time to disable. I am not enamoured with the current social media trend. It could keep on going so it might be worthwhile to add to the game, but an option to disable the social media would be appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

People are sharing info from lots of proprietary games on social media, I don't understand why FOSS games like 0 A.D. need to be kept hidden from the public in forums for insiders only.

They are afraid of Facebook and Twitter services becoming obsolete and eventually deactivated, that would give players many errors if they try to send info to the deactivated services, and would cause only more headaches.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But 0 A.D. is an open source project and we can always change it later.

I also suggested to move the social media buttons into an HTML file generated each time with the exported data, to make the buttons less conspicuous than, say, if they were in the game UI.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't see why we can't do a full-featured social media in-game UI, then give the player the ability to turn it off in Options if they desire.

And people have been predicting the "death" of social media since Myspace imploded. It's not going to happen any time soon. Jeru is right, 0 A.D. is open source and easily fixed if one social media site or another goes under. Though, others are right that we shouldn't hard code the options presented and instead pull from our server. I also like the idea of presenting stats and such on a WFG profile or on the 0 A.D. page.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't see why we can't do a full-featured social media in-game UI, then give the player the ability to turn it off in Options if they desire.

And people have been predicting the "death" of social media since Myspace imploded. It's not going to happen any time soon. Jeru is right, 0 A.D. is open source and easily fixed if one social media site or another goes under. Though, others are right that we shouldn't hard code the options presented and instead pull from our server. I also like the idea of presenting stats and such on a WFG profile or on the 0 A.D. page.

It's not a question of whether social media dies (it won't, it has been around in various forms since the 1970s), but of whether the specific APIs into Facebook and Twitter break, which they routinely do. See for instance this article about how it has affected Zynga.

Also, you should be aware, though you may not disagree with it, that what is being suggested is essentially an ad: every time someone shares their scores this way, it's additional exposure for Facebook and their advertisers. By extension, when people are working on 0 A.D., they would also be working on boosting Facebook's revenue. I firmly believe that a lot of potential contributors would be turned off by the suggestion of them basically working for free for a corporation as crassly commercial as Facebook.

Overall, I think everyone would be much better served by this going over some kind of intermediary server.

Edited by zoot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't like social media integration.

So if anyone implements it: please add an option (or better a build-switch) to completely disable it or remove it from the build.

I'm sorry if it sounds harsh, but I don't like how social media is present everywhere.

I strongly agree!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With some other games I have found a few negative things about social media integration. These are implementation issues to some extent.

  • Adds clutter to the GUI. Many of our GUI pages already contain lots of useful elements.
  • Loss of visual consistency. A standard facebook/twitter logo will not fix the visual style of 0 A.D.
  • Slows loading times waiting for a website or elements end up popping into place later if it is asynchronous.

If it was optional then these would go away, although there is still the issue of what default to choose.

I also dislike the idea of having social media present everywhere, but I can see how some people might like it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't like social media integration.

So if anyone implements it: please add an option (or better a build-switch) to completely disable it or remove it from the build.

I'm sorry if it sounds harsh, but I don't like how social media is present everywhere.

An option to *completely remove* the feature from the build, even if an option to turn it off is included? Your dislike sounds like irrational hatred. No offense. Like it or not, social media is how are game is going to get exposure. In my opinion, including social media into the game is just simple prudence.

I also dislike the idea of having social media present everywhere, but I can see how some people might like it.

It's not about liking it or not. It's about making 0 A.D. as visible as possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...