Dear Uber, is there any chance of a rethink on global chat?

Hi Uber, I don't want to be 'that guy' who starts banging on and on about his pet issue, but I'm afraid I'm going to be.

This thread (https://forums.uberent.com/threads/global-chat-system-poll.54196/) shows 80% of respondents in favour of a global chat system as in SupCom/FAF. More importantly it highlights how much a global chat system adds to the feeling of community and inclusivity, both vital things in retaining players.

Uber said a while back that there was no intention of having a global chat function as in SupCom/FAF. If we could be absolutely clear about the reasons for this, I think it would help to find a solution. In my opinion it is an exceptionally bad idea not to allow players the ability to chat to each other outside of games. But that's not the point here. The point is that if Uber can tell us the precise reasons against global chat, I hope that as a community we can find workable solutions to all of those concerns.

100% agree on this. A global chat is a vital part of building up a community and probably the one big issue that prevents PA ever growing any sort of community feeling. People start the game and feel alone. That's bad. Super bad. Fatal bad.

With a chat people start the game just to talk with the usual people there and then maybe end up playing the game. It's a super powerful way to get people to play. All this "but spam and trolls" nonsense really is annoying me. That's just ignoring the reality of why GPGnet and FAF worked and FAF is still gaining players. GAINING PLAYERS. A 7 year old game.
Stop comparing PA with some free to play browsergame that has an average player age of 12.
The more I think about this stupid discussion of "a chat is bad" the more angry I get. Like seriously &§/%"&%§"&%!!!!
The only reason why I don't directly start to insult people over not wanting a chat is my green badge really.

I'm conditionally okay with the concept of a global chat, so long as there is a way to turn it off. I can see why other people would want it I'm just not one of them.

why wouldn't there be a way to turn it off?

what are they going to do send agents smiths to your house hold your eyes open and make you stare at the screen?

You know what I mean tatsu. I don't want to have to shut it off every time I open the game, just a nice button toggle in settings for "disable menu chat" or something like that so it can just not show up and I don't have to manually close it each time.

If it's not there I am personally gonna mod it in, I promise :>

I don't know why that's so important but if there isn't a setting for that it'll be easy as all hell to mod it in.

You're just going about this the wrong way.

the whole point of global chat is to ease in on peoples porcupininess. which harbours the in-fine result of more people coming to the game.

which is what we all want.


I don't know the exact science behind it. But it never crossed me as illogical.

More people interacting and chatting means more happenings. more happenings mean more people from the outside being made more curious and also previously non-PA friends being pulled in by the community members participating.

it also fills many of the holes that the game can and will have. No tutorial? well this random dude will tell you he's sorry about that but what he can do, though, is show you the ropes. First day you turn him down but when he asks you again the next day you're feeling too awkward about turning him down.

you let him show you around and get a 500% boost to your playing capabilities.

you're then set to climb the ladder on your own and you become a prominent member.

I'd love to get more examples but I think you already get the idea.

so if everybody is to adopt the same attitude as you towards this, the "complete opt-out", then we've not gained anything compared to now, just saying.

the global chat comes with and "all in" philosophy, on which it is entirely dependent to work it's magic.

that being said.

on FAF you can use FAF forever and NEVER come across global chat.

it's a tab. not the default one.

so you can go from the welcome tab to the games tab without ever crossing global chat.

that being said

with such configuration. few people do skip Global Chat. (it's the only place you have your friend list anyways (which is combined with the online people list))

when I'm not feeling in the mood I don't go there at all but otherwise I always leave it open on my second screen, and it just kinda sits there brightening my day.

various reasons for that. I'll go into them if you're curious.

I'm not sure if this is a good argument for this feature

I can really relate with him though.

It's like me watching Americans complain about not wanting obamacare. or like watching the noob in BFF complain about too much graphics.

or a dying person in a ditch complain about you trying to mend him and save his life.

It's a bit disarming honestly.

it's understandable. It happens every second of everyday. People that don't know that good things are good for them will often disregard and shun them in complete and utter bliss.

But it's witnessing that these same people can actually be prolific and successful in their ...errr ...."efforts" that's the most .....err ...."flabbergasting".

lets just settle every problem with M O D I N G ... sometimes i seriously wonder why UBER is working on this game ...

I know, but at some point, after long arguing, all that remains is anger at not being understood
It feels like arguing against people who constantly state that 1+1 is 3. It's just that obviously wrong, just like it is wrong to be afraid of a chat.
But when you get angry at people for being wrong they start using that as argument against you to prove that they are right. It's like no matter what you say they won't change their mind.

I am just trying to make clear I am at my wits end here. People really might as well try to tell me that 1 and 1 is 3.

thank you finally you join the light side of the force!!

yes! global chat is not to be a mod! it's uber's job!

either not being understood or lack of ability to accept a disagreement thus not trying to work torwards a propper compromise ...

We can disagree on 1+1 being 3, but one of us is going to be wrong about it.
Same with the chat really.
"Is a chat helpful for the community" is not a subjective question. It has an objective answer. We disagree on what that answer is, one of us has to be wrong..

Personally I think the "we need a chat omgwtfbbq" people do offer a compromise: Make an easy to reach option to disable all chat functionality. It's as easy as unchecking a checkbox.

I think it would help, even if people aren't using it to chat, it does give a quick way to see how many people are playing the game. Often times I'll sit in a lobby waiting for people to join my game, and I have no idea if there is anyone even looking at the games list. If there was a global chat I could see that X number of people are at least logged in.

son i never said anything against a global chat in the first place ... do you even follow?
all i ever friggin said was that my last FAF experience was a mess ...
does that have to do anything with a general function? no
can there not be a possibility of people being idiots? TOTALY


... and i still hate those stupid HQ's

If you're afraid of coming into contacts with idiots I recommend you turn of your computer or at least unplug the internet right now

you don't need a global chat for that but just a nummerical imput of players being onlind and a option of weither or not you want to be visible in the generanl lobby ... another option to communicate with others are pm's or private chat ...
... give or wait for a pchat invite await or accept/decline the invite and go on ...
if people decline then just suck it up and go on ... or as usual set up your game and just wait etc. etc. ...

@MrTBSC only if there are no moderators. if there are moderators the chat will not have this problem

you realise i am not on FAF at the moment?