Fantasy Grounds 5E db.xml character cycler OBS widget

[shadzar]

ok, i was trying to not bring this up, but streamers are a target of trolls or worse, if you saw the recent events about Dr Disrepect, etc.

The character sheets a DM can control a bit by not bringing them up or haing them off screen in case a rogue player puts something on it that shouldn't be on streams. this prevents the streamer from getting banned because someone else. sure they can post things in chat, and it doesn't happen often in D&D stream as others, and probably less in Fantasy Grounds streams since there are so few of them, and less that accept random players they havent met before or spent too much time with.

[twitter]N-word[/twitter] could easily be put in by a player via "notes" section or an FG extension, and that is something that could be seen by a DM going over a character sheet before it appears on stream, but being an OBS overlay, this thing wouldnt give much time to review the contents with how much work it already takes to make a stream, especially for D&D>

you have to get everyone there, the mics, cameras all adjusted, etc. you might not have tie t look for that troll.

Now this wont affect people that much that only play with people that they know, but not all streamers stream games only that way. some have impromptu game. again someone you dont know too well, even if they have for example tourettes and just blurt out [racial slur] can get a stream on most streaming site instantly banned for no fault of the streamer.

having something like that showing in the overlay, would not be any different.

This is why i thought of a place only the DM can edit for this, otherwise it would require the image cards most people use on slideshow for the streamer to add those other social media sites t their own overlay and then if they add something not appropriate it is their own fault.

Yes this problem exists in the very nature of FG where the DM has no control over the players name they sign into a table with.

But i would prefer if there is a more secure way, or to just leave it out of this app and those social media things be added manually to an overlay. it is bad enouh with the donation and tipping systems used to show as alerts on streams people do this and you cannot screen these things before they appear on streams, but adding an extra level that isn't normally checked by a DM or streamer that already has the most work being a multiperson stream that must be coordinated, and FG only having 1 DM per game access so another person cannot monitor or check these things via another computer while the DM is setting up the stream just adds more work over those people that just load up video game A and start streaming desktop capture of the game, or let their console use the built in streaming feature, etc.

again this is why the "DM only can write to and save to the db.xml" was mentioned above in regards to being able to add social media handles. give the trolls and inch, and they will take Normandy Beach... or whatever the saying is.

does FG have any sort of word filters built in to blacklist words from being added to character sheets in FGC? will FGU have these things for future-proofing it towards the streaming environment? is there an extension that blocks words in character sheets, or can be set to the correct language to appear on screen?

I sure as heck wouldn't want to write it for a simple XML reader like this for every offensive word variation and end up being laughed at like EA for banning the term "white man" as a racist term. I suspect FG isnt built well enough for streaming an such isnt even planned for FGU for the same reason, it jut takes a LONG time to accommodate for such things, and FG is intended really to play with people you know well, and not intended to be streamed since it was built prior to streaming, and probably doesnt have any of that thought about for FGU either.

If you have a place that has every word, leet-speak, etc for each language that i can drop in to prevent any sort of racial or other slurs showing in this XML reader widget, then i will grab it and d my best to add it and hope it doesnt grind the widget to a halt due to OBS scripting limitations.

sad, but that is the world we live in that this sort of thing has to be considered where "streaming" is concerned. another reason i backed away from this for a while to see whih way the wind was blowing in disruptive elements in streams, and they seem to be growing or going through a cycle of getting removed, making new accounts, and coming back with a new account, repeat... but haven't shown much sign of slowing since the streaming sites don't do anything to help protect streamers, but will gladly ban for any sort of racial slight, or other, even unintended hate speech. which hat speech already can be a part of D&D depending on how one's world and citizenships within are set up, vis a vis Legolas/Gimli initial hate scenario.

i could add something that scans a charsheet field, find the typo, fixes it for broken tags, and then removes any "blacklisted" terms, but would need that list of ALL the terms since i am not up on my PC culture to know what words offend everyone all the time or even some people some of the time across all languages.

[shadzar]

There is maybe another way to do it, but does FG forums here or the website have an API that allows people to get data from a user like their twitter handle directly from FG forums like Youtube and Twitch, etc allow access to non-private data? i would think not, since to even search the forums it requires signing into them unless you use a normal google external search. that way the widget could just ask for "Player A", get "social media sites" and have Smiteworks itself as a layer of protection against such mischief. though that also would be a pain to write for for this old vBulletin setup i doubt it would offer anything like that just to get a twitter handle from a signed in user, it would probably have to come via signing in with FG like FG itself checks everything to let someone connect to each others tables...

so it would again have to be built into FG.. and that idea wouldnt work then...


now i see why most people just add social media to streams as pictures the streamer can control since they rarely update like character stats.

[Bidmaron]

I hope Smiteworks doesn’t waste time with any of this.

For those that feel like they have to stream because of some kind of narcissistic impulse, they deserve what they get if they don’t password protect their game or give their password out to someone who attempts to sign in with an offensive screen name.

Where there is a marketing advantage to sponsoring a stream or two — well, you should only do that for people who run games suitable for public consumption and that are run professionally enough to attract sales.

Heck, this is role playing for God’s sake. Some of my evil NPCs if I were to run a World War II game (not my thing) might very well use a term that would get a streamer banned. For that matter, some of the good guys might (e.g. we had a very common short name for enemy Japanes troops that is highly uncomplementary today) as well.

I shudder to think of the complexity of the interface that would try to define what should be screeened in English, let alone the myriad of other languages.

The thing I just totally don’t get about this streaming insanity is why does it have to be real time? Most of the problems wouldn’t exist if you recorded the session and then went back and edited it into something people might want to actually watch for more than a couple microseconds.

[shadzar]

The thing I just totally don’t get about this streaming insanity is why does it have to be real time?

because that is what LIVE broadcast means... DansGame

otherwise just upload a video to YT. Ask Dave Middleton (thedigitalDM) why he does it and why a Smiteworks employee is currently streaming B&W movies in the D&D category on Twitch which may be in copyright violation for their country of origin, or the EU Copyright Directive that passed today?

but i think you answered the question to that

those that feel like they have to stream because of some kind of narcissistic impulse

others just want to be able to share their game, or have to play online with things like FG anyway due to not living close enough to people that thy want to play with so might as well stream it and try to make a few bucks.

Not every streamer is a wannabe Critical Role some just want to share their games.

as for Smiteworks wasting time adding streaming built in options to FG... well that will only give people more incentive to use roll20 if it doesn't since the future is here and streaming isnt going away. either FG can, what was the saying people used for D&D 5e and 4e promotion... "evolve or die"?

BF5 banned the term Nazi in chat though half the players will be playing them, so yeah D&D hate speech can get as bad or worse than real since people want to compare stange parables to fantasy and real life, but there is a bit of leadway given at least on Twitch for that when it is IN CHARACTER and clearly contained that way. but you have many valid points there still.

[shadzar]

ok, i dont like setup files because nobody reads instructions, but giving thought so that a DM/streamer can control the text and add it to stream with this, what about something like a simple CSV that is read in addition to the db.xml like this...

player name, player login, social media
Bidmaron, bidmaron(FGCon), Twitter: Bidmaron
LordEntrails, Big E, Facebook: LordEntrails

Where player login is the name used to log into the FG table for the game.

this would require the DM setting up the player names to match the login names and knowing exactly what social media and handle they are adding? and in place of the Twitter: it would show the twitter icon, if EUCD allows such things after the recent and future votes?


is that too much work for the DM?

[celestian]

For those that feel like they have to stream because of some kind of narcissistic impulse, they deserve what they get if they don’t password protect their game or give their password out to someone who attempts to sign in with an offensive screen name.

I enjoy watching people that stream. It is a good way to learn some tips/tricks and for people who don't know how to play the game a way to watch it. I don't think it's ALL narcissistic impulses. There are certainly those types but I don't watch them I am glad some people can put together a stream and that they let us watch, live or not. I don't watch a lot of them and 90% of them are AD&D because I like the game more.

I'd like to try it someday if only to get suggestions/ideas from other folks that watched for my games. It also would allow me to have a copy of the sessions so if I want to go back or a player missed a session it can reviewed.

As to assholes online, that is a problem everywhere, not just streamers. kick/ban and done.

[LordEntrails]

is that too much work for the DM?

Not if they want the overlay Seems pretty simply to me. Though I may suggest tying to the character name not player name, since that is stable and can be verified by the GM.

[Bidmaron]

I hear you, celestian. I am just not sure what value is added by it being live and with all the dead time (chip breaks, head breaks, etc) that goes into a real game. I don't see the need for real time. An edited video is just so much more efficient for the viewer (and a decent edit makes the video more efficient). Of course, it is more work for whoever makes the video....

With FG, there isn't much excuse if your reason to stream is so an out-of-area player can jump in on the action because if he can watch a stream, as long as he has access to a computer, he can simply join the game as a spectator. (for that matter, he could play an NPC for a little while and get even more bang for his buck!)

I feel like I'm just missing the point. Obviously, a lot of folks do it, but why?

[damned]

Editing a video often takes much longer than the initial recording time.
Better streamers get their act together and run tight games without the silences/awkward stuff by way of lots of practice and by setting strict parameters for those involved.
Streaming can be interactive with the cast taking some cues from their audience.

There are plenty of reasons to stream.
This thread is not about reasons not to stream.

[shadzar]

I feel like I'm just missing the point. Obviously, a lot of folks do it, but why?

Since administration feels this would deserve its own thread, i am sure many people will be happy to discuss it if one is made. i will even chime in there as well with some things i was going to put here but will save for a thread dedicated to it.

also I will suggest to @rob2e and FGC about a video "why to live stream FG" for "All Thing Fantasy Grounds" talk show in the future.

Not if they want the overlay Seems pretty simply to me. Though I may suggest tying to the character name not player name, since that is stable and can be verified by the GM.

i thought the player name was on mlesnews little examples, but character name works also. could limit it that way to "present" characters in case of absentee players also. Jeff couldnt make it to the meeting in the tavern because Susie wasnt able to make it to the game tonight to play him, so he jsut slept late in the inn and missed the meeting and the cards just dont have Jeff showing that night.

(names not related to any person(s) past, present, future, or imaginary.)

character name, social

would be the setup template if no player name needed and only the social name will be on the output tables.

Editing a video often takes much longer than the initial recording time.

Think some of the popular youtubers say for a simple polished video it is 8 hours of recording and editing for a 30 minute video... i dont even want to know how much time the 9 slices video took you with that many scene transitions. mine are so bad because it is just a simple OBS record, crop and upload.