Suggestion: PC Cam Chatroom

I know for me especially, it is difficult to really connect with people through written posts and chat rooms. If there was a way to make an account on Tinychat or some other service that would require a password and moderation, according to PC rules, would that be a viable way to assist communication among members, especially new ones? Chatting face to face with 8-12 other members would really be a fun feature even if it had to be an unofficial one.

Is there something wrong with using Skype?

Can you multi-chat on skype?

Is there a PC room on skype? Or would one just add people from PC and chat?
For me that would seem sort of awkward going up to a PC veteran and requesting to chat one-on-one.

Disclaimer - I am not am not the most tech-savvy guy XD

You could just get someone's Skype after you've talked to them a bit. There's no PC skype, and group chats only go for IMs and talking and not video cam. But I imagine if you're close to someone on PC, they would cam chat with you on Skype. But a group thing and PC Skype, or cam chat, seems a bit odd to me. Not everyone wants to show their face, especially to people they haven't spoken to very often.

There are some PC events, like during get togethers, that involve mass Skype chats. You could always watch out for those.

Haha, I didn't mean to make it sound like I would just go up to someone that I had completely not chit-chatted with and ask to "Skype".

I see what you mean about people not wanting to show their face to a bunch of other users, but for others it might actually be beneficial. I would see this multi-cam chat as a way for people to more easily become acquainted with others. Irl, we speak to each other face-to-face, it's difficult for myself to really feel comfortable chatting 1-on-1 with someone irl, I would rather meet new people in a group. There is just less pressure I guess, if that makes sense?

Skype can do multiple cameras, but that costs, unless you're lucky enough to use it during the trial runs they have of it (and I haven't seen that up since 2010). You can get to know people in groups during the Skype events we have, though the only thing is that they're far and few in between. I'm sure that maybe you could arrange one for people that want to join though.

....I truly don't think it would be appropriate.

Could I basically do the same thing on tinychat?

I am just not sure if that would appear to be spamming or soliciting. Basically, I am wondering if I can setup an account and not attach PC's name to it, but only give the password for the room to PC members. That way, people could come and go as they'd please and cut-down on needing to "add" people or make accounts.

Eh, but when you think about it, it is just too difficult to maintain a group like that without moderators on watch. It would probably become chaotic.

Harlequin said:

....I truly don't think it would be appropriate.

Click to expand...

I'm echoing this, honestly. PC has many places available for group activities but I really don't much like the idea of a group video chat being one of them. First off, I don't think enough of the memberbase is comfortable with that for it to really get off the ground, second off I think it's far too personal for us to consider making a 'thing' around here, and thirdly I just don't feel like we need it when we have so much else already.

If you do know a group of people who'd be interested in this then by all means, set it up with them and have fun with it. But I really don't want this tied to or advertised on PC.

Harlequin said:

....I truly don't think it would be appropriate.

Click to expand...

I second this... If you have PC friends, there's Skype anyway.

I can't imagine this upping activity in the chat anyhow. From what I've been told, people are too shy to go in in the first place; a cam room would definitely be more of a ghost town, except to a select few... Who, again, can use Skype.

Just throwing out that I really hate Skype for chatting with large groups of PC people. It's awkward because you have to ask someone in the group to add you, which is intimidating if you don't know them well and the whole point is to get to know people better. And doesn't really address his idea of a chat + a webcam as you can't do that with Skype without paying.

I think this would be cool. Some of the other forums that I go on have this going on, and use Tinychat to do it.

I dont see a huge problem with this as long as people are comfortable. Its completely optional to participate, if you dont want to show your face, simply dont participate in the group video chat.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

Well, this is just an example:
http://tinychat.com/fenneking

On this website, participants have the ability to communicate through text, voice, webcam, or a combination thereof. So each user has options depending on what they are most comfortable with.

It is password enabled. Users would only need the link to the room and the password to enter the chatroom, no signups or downloads required. The site has no tags and is not searchable in the tinychat room directory. To ensure privacy.

Further, the password to the room can be PM'd to any members who are interested to avoid getting unwanted spectators, and can be changed as often as needed. Though, an age restriction might need to be enforced. ie. 16+, or whatever is deemed appropriate. There may also need to be a post count requirement in order to receive the password; i.e. 25 or 50 posts.

Lastly, is the issue of issuing the password via PM. Which would be facilitated through a thread, most likely in the Off-Topic Discussion Sections. The thread would also be used for establishing conduct guidelines.

Let me know what'cha think.

We cannot guarantee that everything will be PG-13, and we have no way of moderating it. Thus, we cannot affiliate with such an addition.

Feel free to make your own group and advertise it in your signature, but because we cannot moderate live streaming, allocate enough staff to it to monitor 24/7, have any sort of functional report system (our servers aren't going to handle hundreds of hours of saved video to reference any such reports), we would not be able to do it, nor would it even be worth our while.

As I say, feel free to make your own with your pals, and so forth. But we couldn't possibly strongly affiliate with something like this really.