We have an IRC, and here is why you should use it.

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Fruity Snacks

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Sep 5, 2010
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This is old news kind of, but we Ravidge has finished setting up a nice shiney IRC for us to use. After todays ridiculous Steam outage, I figured now might be a good time to post about the IRC, and what it has over Steam chat. I'll admit, I was skeptical at first, but after a little while with in the chat, I was convinced this would be better to us.

Things steam has, that IRC doesn't
* Shows ingame activity, though this can be easily altered by just using the /nick command, which allows you to change your nickname in the chat. So, for me, before going into skyrim, I just type /nick Fr0z3n_skyrim and now it changes my name to that, and everyone knows i'm in skyrim.

* Avatars

Features of IRC
* notification/highlighting on typed words
- Get a sound cue when your name is mentioned, and highlight the line. Don't let anyone say bad things about you behind your back.
- Get a sound cue when a word of your choice is mentioned, like "Gameday".
- Don't get a sound cue, but highlight the lines with the word "crash".
* send files
- Reliable, tested by thousands of pirates before P2P programs and bittorrent existed.
* Depending on client: Customizable everything.
- For example customizable timestamps; I can have the year, second and timezone in the timestamps if I would like to!
- color scheme, fonts, a lot of things can be edited.
* Chatlog
- It remembers everything, if you want it to.
* Easier to reach other communities
- Not just tf2.
* Webchat, accessibility
- Anywhere with internet access and a browser.
* Reliable protocol, been in use and improved upon since 1988.
- When a server goes down on IRC, only the users on that particular server will split, the entire network will never crash (I say never because it has yet to ever happen).
- Users split will be automatically merged once the netsplit is over.
* Bots
- not just silly games, but definitely some of that too.
- Tons of available scripts to pick and choose from.
* Lightweight. Does not use a lot of memory
- Doesn't become unstable and buggy if you leave it on for extended periods of time.
- Fast startup
* Channel topics
- relay important information easily.
* Lots of good moderating options.
- kick
- ban
- kickban
- timed kickban
- permaban
- (honestly though, it has great moderating features, how else would channels with thousands of users even be reasonable, with internet people)
* Personal messages to anyone
* Create or join new channels as much as you like!
- great for temporary stuff that just happen like a channel for a tf2 highlander team.
- Or a TF2Maps admin channel, where we say bad things about you behind your back.
* Flood protection
- Limit the amount of garbage you can paste into the chat.
* Ability to see for how long a user has been idle (and total online time for that session).
* Tons of small features like timelimit ignore (Ignore a user for X minutes/hours), or ignore user in a specific channel only.
* Color, underlined, bold, italics in your messages.
- However, this is pretty frowned upon except for special situations. But it's definitely a feature.

Specific to #TF2Maps
* Hammerbot
- Will print title of youtube links.
- Will respond with helpful mapping tips to any question posed to it.
- Will print search results on google, tf2wiki and the VDC when the appropriate commands are used.
- Will print Steam and TF2 related news from the valve RSS feed.


Specific to #TF2Maps-server
* TF2M-US[server]
- Allows 2-way communication between the gameserver and IRC.
- Allows commands to be run from IRC (mapchange, time extention, nextmap, ban, anything)
- Easy to detect if server went down or restarts (the bot disconnects).

Yup. If hammerbot isn't enough just to get you to at least TRY out the IRC... Then you are hopeless. (examples of hammerbot in the following posts)

 
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Freyja

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Jul 31, 2009
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[10:25] <+Hammerbot> Aly, , Yes, i want to eat you.


[10:27] <Aly> Hammerbot, what is a dick
[10:27] <+Hammerbot> Aly: You're a dick .
 
Mar 23, 2010
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steam: people use it
 

Vincent

&#128296 Grandmaster Lizard Wizard Jedi &#128296
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Sep 5, 2009
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18:51 @Fr0z3n • Hammerbot, slap my butt.
18:51 +Hammerbot • Fr0z3n: Is a butt.
18:51 DetectiveMoose • rofl
18:51 Aly • yay
18:51 Myself • lol
18:51 Muffin • Hammerbot, smell my butt
18:51 +Hammerbot • Muffin: , Smack frozen on the butt
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
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Mar 4, 2008
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We've had IRC for well over 3 years now and the only reason to enter it is for Hammer bot quotes, the best of which get quoted in the steam chat thread anyway. I was unsold when i had IRC installed and i'm still unsold now.
 

Ravidge

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May 14, 2008
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steam: people use it

From my perspective it's the complete opposite. I'm in multiple channels on IRC with I don't know how many hundreds of people if counted together, while steam is the odd one out with it's own window and limited functionality.

I rely so much on sound notifications (my own settings) in IRC that I often forget about the steamchat entirely. It's so small and "special".

So "people use it" to me is: Yes, but it's only a tiny fraction of the total number of people I interact with online. The vast majority does not use steam to groupchat.

We've had IRC for well over 3 years now and the only reason to enter it is for Hammer bot quotes, the best of which get quoted in the steam chat thread anyway. I was unsold when i had IRC installed and i'm still unsold now.

Not really 3 years, we tried it once last year, and now.
Either way, my point (and the list in the OP) is that IRC offers more than steam does. No one can honestly claim that steam is a better platform for chatting.
At best you could argue it's equal, but I would still strongly disagree.
 
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Vincent

&#128296 Grandmaster Lizard Wizard Jedi &#128296
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Sep 5, 2009
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21:11 Fapping • Hammerbot, lend me my beard
21:11 +Hammerbot • Fapping: Ad. Additional detail, such as signs and ground-level props can be used to raise a section of displacements.
21:11 Fapping • Hammerbot, detailing is not my beard
21:11 +Hammerbot • Fapping: Part v: other ways to optimize your maps, but to demonstrate, i’m going to call this the density of detailing, i want you to slap my ass.
21:11 Fapping • Hammerbot, I will not slap your ass. Now lend me my beard.
21:12 +Hammerbot • Fapping: , Lend me my beard.
21:12 Fapping • no, hammerbot, lend me MY beard
21:12 +Hammerbot • Fapping, Yes, that is completely up to you, but it may look rubbish.
21:12 Fapping • HAMMERBOT MY BEARD IS NOT RUBBISH
21:12 +Hammerbot • Fapping: Click and drag your mouse in that window to freely rotate the model if you want me to slap your ass. Now lend me my beard.
21:13 Fapping • Hammerbot, I will not partake in such trivial ass slapping. Your beard is shit and I have been disgraced. I'm gonn go cry now.
21:13 +Hammerbot • Fapping: My beard is not rubbish.


I'm not having fun anymore.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
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Mar 4, 2008
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Not really 3 years, we tried it once last year, and now.
Either way, my point (and the list in the OP) is that IRC offers more than steam does. No one can honestly claim that steam is a better platform for chatting.
At best you could argue it's equal, but I would still strongly disagree.

I'm not really trying to argue against it, I'm just wondering why i should bother running another (third party) program for the sake of networking when we already have a network provided in a software we already run by default (even if it's not perfect). If people are to contact TF2maps for help or testing, the obvious way is through the forums or steam chat, i'm pretty sure the average internet user under the age of 20 has never heard of IRC so whether we're making ourselves a more accessable community is questionable. What can we do for other people with IRC that we don't already do/can't do with steam?

Many of the "pro's" listed seem largely superfluous and those that aren't are replicated in steam (if only in a less refined manner). I would have said the only real pro(s) are being able to reach other communities better (and only because our steam chat is uniquely active), being able to 2-way-talk to the server and perhaps chat highlighting for moderators.

The question i ask is "Is anything gained from running IRC" and the answer i tell myself is "not really". But that's just me (sorry if it sounds ranty). Can i better serve TF2maps by idling in IRC? These aren't skeptical complaints, these are the questions i ask.
 
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Fruity Snacks

Creator of blackholes & memes. Destroyer of forums
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Sep 5, 2010
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The question i ask is "Is anything gained from running IRC" and the answer i tell myself is "not really". But that's just me (sorry if it sounds ranty). Can i better serve TF2maps by idling in IRC? These aren't skeptical complaints, these are the questions i ask.

You can manage our servers better... which, if it was more active, would more appealing, but since its empty 24/7 you can take that option as you wish.
 

Ravidge

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May 14, 2008
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Can I use IRC Chat in-game without alt-tabbing?

Steam overlay supports a browser, so, yes you can.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1281220/2011-11/Screenshot-2011-11-15_20.05.44.png

The question i ask is "Is anything gained from running IRC" and the answer i tell myself is "not really". But that's just me (sorry if it sounds ranty). Can i better serve TF2maps by idling in IRC? These aren't skeptical complaints, these are the questions i ask.

To the first question I answer: A fast, reliable, tested and proved platform. Accessible easily from any computer with internet. With good moderator tools, 24/7 logging and a notification system.
To me, these are not novelty features, but important necessities.

The second question is harder to answer, but I'd say yes, since as you're there you make yourself available to people who aren't able to install steam on their current computer. Most likely people would be able to reach you faster due to the notifications (if you choose to use them). And you'd be able to monitor and run the server remotely as a server staff.
 
Sep 1, 2009
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It is sooo quiet D: Overall seems like a solid and sound idea!
 

lana

Currently On: ?????
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Sep 28, 2009
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Many of the "pro's" listed seem largely superfluous and those that aren't are replicated in steam (if only in a less refined manner). I would have said the only real pro(s) are being able to reach other communities better (and only because our steam chat is uniquely active), being able to 2-way-talk to the server and perhaps chat highlighting for moderators.

Okay, so long as the list of things steam has that irc doesn't is removed, because avatars and game notifications are even more superfluous than bots and scripting.
 

Ravidge

Grand Vizier
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May 14, 2008
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Is it just me or is steam getting worse every day?
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
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Mar 4, 2008
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We're too sexy for steam, it appears. It just can't handle 30+ people in chat for long periods of time. Maybe if more communities actually used group chats Valve would care to resolve the ghosting issue.
 

Okrag

Wall Staples
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Jun 10, 2009
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We didn't even have that many people, it was ghosting with like 12 people in chat.
 
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