0 A.D. - IRC and Matrix

[sternstaub]

Hello fellow friends,

let's talk about IRC and [matrix]. For any of you who are not familiar with matrix, you may check the given FAQ link. I am going to assume that we all know IRC, tho.

So, 0 A.D. uses IRC for providing an official channel for instant messaging and quickly contacting the staff people, for example. This is a decent approach, and i would not suggest to change, but rather to maybe extend it - because interoperability rocks!
A heads up: I know that there are enough other projects on the list for this game. Consider this topic as a discussion space on the matter. It is not my intention to force anything upon anyone.

With that being said, let me give a quick overview.

As a matrix user i have searched, found and joined the 0 A.D. Central - Room  , , which is obviously an unofficial, fan-created room on the matrix network. At the time of writing, it has 66 members. I would love to see the IRC room bridged to the matrix network, so that feedback (for example) would be synced and not just scattered into different networks.
Sadly, after now doing about 40 minutes of internet research, i am not very sure about how this can be accomphished by simple means. For that reason, i asked in the matrix-room for Heisenbridge if this can be done without self-hosting the bridge. Maybe someone there will tell me.

However, if anyone here happens to know more about this, feel free to share the information. And, of course, the staff's opinion on the matter is welcome aswell.

By the way, it would technically be possible to integrate matrix even into games (on the long term).

 

Thank you for reading have a nice day

Edited January 29, 2023 by sternstaub

[Stan`]

@sternstaub I am there, so while it's not an official you can still use it to get in touch 

We can't bridge it for GDPR reasons. We can't request consent for people to have their data exfiltrated to a third party. Same reason why the discord matrix irc bridge was discontinued

[sternstaub]

Wait, so there was actually a matrix bridge? That implies that there was a matrix room as well? Or has the 0 A.D. central, which i mentioned before, been the bridged room?

But i see the problem here. Especially for the IRC it is hard to request the consent while keeping the channel open, straightforward and user-friendly.
When it comes to discord tho, there might be a realizable way to do that.
Despite not using DC anymore, i know of some communities there which use bots for terms of service. Like: "click the emoji-reaction to give consent", and only after you do so, you would be moved to the bridged channel. So, maybe the matrix-to-discord-thing would be a possibility.

Another thought: Would it not be possible - and I am talking about the long term here -, to integrate matrix protocol into the game as well as the forums? So, any 0 A.D. multiplayer account could / would be synced with the forum account?

I do not know your server capacities, and therefore i cannot tell whether or not hosting matrix infrastructure is feasible in any way. However, in connection with something like OAuth, it might provide a consistent way of connecting the community throughout both the forum and the game. That is, when it comes to private messaging.

The reason why i am saying this is because the game is still in the alpha, which means that there are still a lot of possibilities for expanding the game. It appears reasonable to suggest a coherent communication protocol for both the game and the forum.

Anyhow, if there should at some point be an ambition to "matrixize" stuff, i would offer myself to partake in this endeavour. Although i do not know much about the integration of matrix into other software (...yet can be learned...), i have run a small matrix server myself in the past. Same goes for the discord bridge idea mentioned above.

As always, thanks for the reading time
 

Cheers

Edited January 30, 2023 by sternstaub

[Stan`]

6 hours ago, sternstaub said:

Wait, so there was actually a matrix bridge? That implies that there was a matrix room as well? Or has the 0 A.D. central, which i mentioned before, been the bridged room?

It was another room

6 hours ago, sternstaub said:

When it comes to discord tho, there might be a realizable way to do that.
Despite not using DC anymore, i know of some communities there which use bots for terms of service. Like: "click the emoji-reaction to give consent", and only after you do so, you would be moved to the bridged channel. So, maybe the matrix-to-discord-thing would be a possibility.

You can't really make a GDPR request with discord so that's annoying. And some people don't want anything to do with it. Which is understandable

6 hours ago, sternstaub said:

to integrate matrix protocol into the game as well as the forums? So, any 0 A.D. multiplayer account could / would be synced with the forum account?

Syncing with forums account would be tough. It requires data processing which means writing more legalese.

Also the game already uses XMPP another open source protocol.

[sternstaub]

1 hour ago, Stan` said:

It requires data processing which means writing more legalese.

Oh, right. The reason why i don't like EU overregulation. On the long term, it empowers BigTech - who can afford pursuing legalese stuff -, and weakens indie software devs. Well played.

/close

[seeh]

On 29/01/2023 at 2:36 AM, sternstaub said:

has 66 members

68 now