Tab lock down (Patch 3.5)

[Wundsalz]

I like the "click to gain mouse focus"-method best as well.
A separate mute menu sounds reasonable to me too.

[The Djinn]

I like the "click to gain mouse focus"-method best as well.
A separate mute menu sounds reasonable to me too.

What if we switched it from the TAB menu to the ESCAPE menu? That allows us to keep our current tab functionality, but also puts an easily accessible "Mute Players" Button on a menu players are already aware of and already use for in-game functions (like disconnecting, going AFK, and so forth). Just have it open up a Tab screen look-a-like, only this time with full mute functionality.

Thoughts? I'd find this rather intuitive.

[Urz]

I like the "click to gain mouse focus"-method best as well.
A separate mute menu sounds reasonable to me too.

What if we switched it from the TAB menu to the ESCAPE menu? That allows us to keep our current tab functionality, but also puts an easily accessible "Mute Players" Button on a menu players are already aware of and already use for in-game functions (like disconnecting, going AFK, and so forth). Just have it open up a Tab screen look-a-like, only this time with full mute functionality.

Thoughts? I'd find this rather intuitive.

That is what I suggested on the previous page (and in the previous thread).

[Watchmaker]

Serious question, because understanding the use case is important: why do you guys feel the need to bring the scoreboard up so often in the middle of gameplay?  Just what are you checking?

[GeoRmr]

If people join mid game which ship they are on and what class they are. To find out the type of ship that is spotted behind a cloud when all I can see is it's player chosen name. To check surrendered status, and if allied/enemy captains or crew have dc'd incase I'd missed it in the chat feed.

On my last point I'd like to make an unrelated request to have the option to make the chat window persistent, and the option to set a solid or translucent background. (it's hard to read white text when the background is a white cloud).

Edit: It'd be really great to see a message in game when captains surrender.

[Urz]

Off the top of my head:
1) Seeing someone join in chat and checking what ship they're on.
2) Seeing someone disconnect in chat and checking what ship they were on.
3) Seeing who is on what ships in general.
4) Noticing a missing ship in a combat engagement and checking if their captain disconnected.
5) Having a ship spotted (with it's name revealed) and checking what kind of ship it is.
6) Correlating part destruct logs with specific ships.
7) Checking is a ship has surrendered or not.

I'm also against click to focus on tab screen, since it would only reduce the frequency of unintentionally triggering and not actually solve it.

[The Djinn]

Serious question, because understanding the use case is important: why do you guys feel the need to bring the scoreboard up so often in the middle of gameplay?  Just what are you checking?

It's sort of a habit I use to remind myself who I'm flying against and, more importantly, what I'm flying against. I remember the information well, but it's very helpful to me to have that constant reminder available without breaking my game flow.

As the people above me have mentioned, checking destruction logs and ship names at a great distance is always important. I also like to be able to check if an ally says "Target the Pyramidion" before I'm in visual range so I can head towards the right spotted ship even if I can't see the ship itself.

[Sammy B. T.]

This may portray me as oblivious, but sometimes I need it to know what team I am on or more specifically what team the color is the enemy. When a ship just won't spot, throwing up the tab and seeing what ships are on what side is nice.

I'd also like to mention that I have not yet been in a scenario where I strongly felt a need to mute someone in game that I hadn't already done in lobby. While I can understand it is easily conceivable to be in a scenario where it will happen, its not terribly common. Therefore this doesn't need to be the most streamlined action if it comes at the cost of another streamlined action

[GeoRmr]

Your team colour is shown as a rectangle in the bottom right of your screen. I always forget it's there though =P

[The Djinn]

This may portray me as oblivious, but sometimes I need it to know what team I am on or more specifically what team the color is the enemy. When a ship just won't spot, throwing up the tab and seeing what ships are on what side is nice.

This is something I suspect we all do. I know if *I* ever forget I always hit Tab instead of checking the bottom corner: it lets me keep my attention focused on the center of the screen, which is where the majority of the important information is. I don't like having to drag my eyes away from the fight or the damage text area to check team color on the rare instance when I space out.

[Sammy B. T.]

The colors on enemy ships can be hard to tell sometimes when looking at an enemy ship, half shrouded by clouds in canyon. Throwing up a reminder that enemy has what ships is often the quickest way for me to recognize danger.

[Urz]

I'd also like to mention that I have not yet been in a scenario where I strongly felt a need to mute someone in game that I hadn't already done in lobby. While I can understand it is easily conceivable to be in a scenario where it will happen, its not terribly common. Therefore this doesn't need to be the most streamlined action if it comes at the cost of another streamlined action

I would like to corroborate this statement with some of my own insight...

Out of 2811 played matches, there are only 27 people on my blocked list. That is less than one mute for every one hundred games. In addition, almost every one of these players was on a ship other than my own, as if there is somebody mute-worthy in my crew, I will generally go to another ship or lobby. Muting doesn't solve trolls.

[The Djinn]

Out of 2811 played matches, there are only 27 people on my blocked list. That is less than one mute for every one hundred games. In addition, almost every one of these players was on a ship other than my own, as if there is somebody mute-worthy in my crew, I will generally go to another ship or lobby. Muting doesn't solve trolls.

^^This. I probably have about seven people muted, out of 700+ games. That's about the same percentage rate.

Part of me feels like this encourages the use of the mute feature, when I'd rather encourage thoughtful communication & reconciliation, which I've seen work many times. Trolls will troll, and having a Mute feature accessible in-game is important...but not THIS important.

[HamsterIV]

I don't use tab mid combat, so loosing game control while it is active is not an issue to me.

I use the block list as an indicator of people I don't want to fly with again. So I don't just block people who trash talk but also uncooperative crewmen, mid game leavers, and people who don't listen to their captain. I usually use the Social->Recent tab to put people on the blocked list but having the ability to do it mid game appeals to me.

[redria]

My biggest problem with the block/mute feature is that, unless I didn't notice a sudden change, muting and blocking are one and the same. There are plenty of people that I block just because I don't want to have to deal with listening to them. It is bad, but sometimes you just can't listen to the squeaky voices, or the over-amped microphones, or the music/echo/etc. I don't necessarily want to block said people. Just not audibly hear them. It would be sort of nice to have distinct options.