Whispering

[Senoj]

Aso the gm, is there an easy way to whisper a person?

In one of my games today a player whispered to me . Unfortunately he had 5 syllables worth of first and last name and I could not figure an easy way to respond. I could only acknowledge the whisper in voice and keep on going.

Is there any easier way to do this?

[damned]

/w Sen<tab> will complete the name...
/w Senoj the Magnificent
and then you can type your message.

[Senoj]

Awesome. Thank you.

[JohnD]

You used to be able as a player to drag your text to the Tower and the DM would get it. Pretty sure that worked. Would be nice to get that back.

[Andraax]

The GM can also drag text to the portrait to whisper to that player. This is more useful for story entries or table rolls results, however.

[Zacchaeus]

Also /r will reply to the whisper. No need for a name, but it will only reply to the last whisper received, which is fine if you are just having one conversation.

[damned]

Also /r will reply to the whisper. No need for a name, but it will only reply to the last whisper received, which is fine if you are just having one conversation.

Thank you!

[jajen2003]

So we are confirming 4 ways to whisper to players as a GM:


/whisper [character name] [message]
/whisper [start of character name+TAB] [message]
Drag and drop message onto character portrait
/reply [message]

Where "/whisper" and "/reply" are shortened to "/w" and "/r", respectively.

Are there any other ways?

EDIT: Does this work both ways as well (Player <--> GM) as well?

[Zacchaeus]

Players can't drag and drop to the GM (because there's no GM portrait), although if the GM is handling an NPC as a PC they could do so. The other methods all work between players and GM both ways.

[Hector Trelane]

So we are confirming 4 ways to whisper to players as a GM:


/whisper [character name] [message]
/whisper [start of character name+TAB] [message]
Drag and drop message onto character portrait
/reply [message]

Where "/whisper" and "/reply" are shortened to "/w" and "/r", respectively.

Are there any other ways?

EDIT: Does this work both ways as well (Player <--> GM) as well?

You know I didn't know half of these. Just goes to show. This and similar things would make for good content for a "Handy Tips for FG Players/GMs" one pager...

[jajen2003]

So it should read like this?

Whispering 101


/whisper [character name] [message]
/whisper [start of character name+TAB] [message]
Drag and drop message onto character portrait (GM to Player only; conditional if GM is controlling a PC)
/reply [message]

Where "/whisper" and "/reply" are shortened to "/w" and "/r", respectively.

[Zacchaeus]

It's all here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Chat_Window) in a handy one page guide :)

[Blahness98]

Aso the gm, is there an easy way to whisper a person?

In one of my games today a player whispered to me . Unfortunately he had 5 syllables worth of first and last name and I could not figure an easy way to respond. I could only acknowledge the whisper in voice and keep on going.

Is there any easier way to do this?

Personally, I try to persuade (or bribe) my players to have names with different starting letters and short names. That way I can follow damned's example and /w (the starting letter) <tab> [message]. Makes my life as a GM that much easier as I normally run text only. And it also cleans up chat as there isn't a name that takes up half the chat box being posted every time.

[kylania]

This is all too much work. :p Just setup a 10d6 bludgeoning damage hotkey. Then tell everyone all information but preface each game with "If your character uses knowledge they don't know a boulder will fall on your head". Then just spam that button as people forget. :)

One single button, no need to type anything, no pausing the game while you talk to a single player. Brilliant!

[Mad Nomad]

I would love to see a right click action on the PC portrait to autofill a /w pcname in the text area.
Is that something that could be done in an extension. I might have to look into how hard that'd be to do.

[Andraax]

I would love to see a right click action on the PC portrait to autofill a /w pcname in the text area.

Ugh. If I'm typing in the chat area, typing the first few characters of a character's name then pressing tab is a whole lot easier than taking my hand away from the keyboard to use the mouse, then go back to the keyboard to finish typing. And if typing '/w xyz[tab]' is too much, you can type the message (just the message without a '/w player name' in front of it), then instead of hitting enter, just drag the message from the text entry onto the portrait to send it as a whisper. If you want to whisper the same thing to several people, you can drag and drop it again from the chat window onto the next player's portrait.

[Mad Nomad]

Who says you are typing in the window to begin with?

You may be using voice on teamspeak and you are not typing anything as a GM a lot of time. You are however clicking on tokens and such. I'd say in a voice game you are most likely using a mouse more than a keyboard.

And if such a right click command existed, it might help others, but would not negatively impact you in any way if you don't prefer it.

Plus I am a professional UI designer and I can tell you that modern interfaces don't rely on text based commands, and for good reason.

[Andraax]

Who says you are typing in the window to begin with?

You may be using voice on teamspeak and you are not typing anything as a GM a lot of time. You are however clicking on tokens and such. I'd say in a voice game you are most likely using a mouse more than a keyboard.

Then what would be the point of putting a "/w player name" into the text entry box? Gonna type the rest of the message with the mouse? Like I said, if typing the extra 5 or 6 characters is too much, you can just type the message itself (without the "/w player name") and drag and drop it on the portrait. That is even easier than navigating a right-click menu would be.


And if such a right click command existed, it might help others, but would not negatively impact you in any way if you don't prefer it.

Code bloat. FG is currently limited in the amount of memory that it can address, adding this feature requires more memory for code and associated data storage, therefore reducing the amount of tokens / maps / masks / etc that I can use.

[Varsuuk]

Zacchaeus, that's a great link of Chatascious info.

Did notice something cause some text to be truncated:
"Copying Chat Message Text

To copy a chat message, right-click on the chat message and select the Copy Text To Clipboard menu option. This option is not available if the"

[Zacchaeus]

Zacchaeus, that's a great link of Chatascious info.

Did notice something cause some text to be truncated:
"Copying Chat Message Text

To copy a chat message, right-click on the chat message and select the Copy Text To Clipboard menu option. This option is not available if the"

So it is. I wonder what it's supposed to say?

[damned]

Who says you are typing in the window to begin with?

You may be using voice on teamspeak and you are not typing anything as a GM a lot of time. You are however clicking on tokens and such. I'd say in a voice game you are most likely using a mouse more than a keyboard.

And if such a right click command existed, it might help others, but would not negatively impact you in any way if you don't prefer it.

Plus I am a professional UI designer and I can tell you that modern interfaces don't rely on text based commands, and for good reason.

Hi dereks I think that an extension to do that would be handy. You will still end up having to type stuff as well though as otherwise your whisper will be very quiet!
Does the dragging of story entries or chat bubbles (or other things) to player portraits cover what you are trying to achieve?

[Mad Nomad]

Now that I know about the /w xxx tab feature (and the drag and drop one), it does make it viable as a GM to whisper people. However I just played in a game last night with 6 people and none of us knew about it. So the GM literally had to resort to whispering us in teamspeak. So I think the biggest obstacle is discover-ability. This is an issue with text based commands.

But even if you do know it, I still feel like there is a viable use of it in voice based game. The scenario I was referring to is when its a voice game, where most stuff is spoken out loud, but the GM wants to message someone with some info (like telepathy or observations that others don't make). They obviously can't do that via voice. Yes I will obviously need to type the actual message, but a right click and left click on portrait still may be a little simpler than a /w xxx tab msg. Not much, I grant you that, but it is certainly more discover-able because its intuitive to just click on stuff in a ui, and i would bet 75% of FG users don't know the /w xxx tab trick. And even better, once I left click right click, it should ideally autofocus the UI to the text box with the command pre-filled so I don't even have to go click there too, I just immediately start typing after clicking. My hand was already on the mouse before I felt the need to whisper, so there is no extra action required, it just boils down to what you can do quicker; right click and left click on portrait, or click on the text line, and type, without error the /w xxx tab command. You tell me how many times people have messed up /a or /w in your games. I bet you it is more than once.

If you know the /w xxx tab command (or the drag and drop command) then I would agree this is by no means an essential feature. However if you don't know it, a GM realistically can not use whispers in many cases, so seems useful to me. I really don't buy the code bloat argument. There's no way this should take more than a couple KB of code. (Though I will admit I am no expert there) So since a lot of people don't know about the command and because it is possible that it might be preferable and useful to some users, I feel like it would be a useful UI improvement.

Honestly, I would absolutely love to apply my professional skill of UX design to the entire UI, so if anyone listening is interested and has some authority, please let me know.

[LordEntrails]

The console commands can be listed with /?
Just in case SmiteWorks misses the last part of your post, I suggest you email [email protected] and make the offer direct to them :)

[Zacchaeus]

Honestly, I would absolutely love to apply my professional skill of UX design to the entire UI, so if anyone listening is interested and has some authority, please let me know.

I'm pretty sure the UI will be entirely updated in the new Unity build. I doubt that anyone wants to spend the time at this stage completely reworking the current one.

It depends, of course, on your level of preparation but if I require a whisper I have it already written up as a chat bubble in a story entry and just drag it to the character's portrait. Not something for everyone of course and especially if, for some reason, you don't use voice.

[damned]

I'm pretty sure the UI will be entirely updated in the new Unity build. I doubt that anyone wants to spend the time at this stage completely reworking the current one.

All the early shots that we have seen have suggested the opposite?
Although you might know stuff we dont.... :)

[Zacchaeus]

All the early shots that we have seen have suggested the opposite?
Although you might know stuff we dont.... :)

You naughty Aussie; you know perfectly well I don't know anything more than you do. :)

What I meant by this was that whilst the layout might be the same the underlying functionality might be totally different which would allow for more intuitive stuff like what the OP is asking for. I'm pretty sure Moon Wizard has broadly hinted that such an architectural overhaul is on the cards.

[damned]

Im no UI expert but I often think about how I would change the UI of FG as its UI is quite different to other applications...
Having a sprawl of windows open is typically most peoples challenge/objection.
On the other hand - people have so many open because they are accessing and using and referencing so many pieces of info.

One possible "improvement" that I have come up with is to have two or more window docks and you can add up to X items to each one and switch between them via tabs.
A straight tabbing system would not work as you wouldnt want the CT and the Combat Map on the same dock, but you could have story entries or equipment lists or spell descriptions for example on the same window as the CT....
Another option might again be to have two or more windows and each has a "favourites" frame left or right and you can drag all your links into these. Again having two or more because of the same example as above.

Windows opened from elsewhere would probably default to opening in a new window but like in modern browsers you could drag the new window into an existing one and it would become a tab or a bookmark.

I think the right click menu is still appropriate.
I think you should be able to click Story/Image/Encounters/etc tabs and name them - dragging names is easy enough but not at all intuitive.
Along with the improved dice mechanics a dice cup might be good - its similar to dragging them to the hot key bar but not permanent.

[jajen2003]

There is a lot to be desired for the FG UI, but as it is, it's not the worst. I love the right-click radials, but it is dated and not as effective as it could be in certain areas.

I come from the "Don't Make Me Think" approach to UI and UX. Designers have a responsibility to users to make the least cumbersome experience possible.

But in this instance, I think the "/w" command is about as common as a shutter release on the top-right of the camera. As is "/help", so... c'mon.

I've also heard rumors that a Unity build of FG is on the horizon. Maybe we'll get a new UI.

[Andraax]

But in this instance, I think the "/w" command is about as common as a shutter release on the top-right of the camera. As is "/help", so... c'mon.

And the "drag and drop" is so ubiquitous in this current interface, that I don't see where it's a big reach, either.

[ffujita]

How about a UI improvement that wouldn't be too difficult, like putting the source info of a box in the title bar, which is currently empty.

I'm a player and I have a map cause the DM just shared it with me, I don't know the name of the map. If I dismiss the map, then I'll never be able to find it in the set of images in the "Maps" box that mostly contains pictures of NPCs.
But if the map had a name, like "Neverlight Grove -- Player" then I'd be able to close the window, and open up the one I want if I need to in the future.

It can't be that hard to do this, right?

[Andraax]

It can't be that hard to do this, right?

No, it's not. Ask your GM to use better names for the maps before he shares them. The GM can name the maps whatever he wants...

[ffujita]

Indeed, she can. But as a player, I won't know what the name of the map is unless I ask the GM, because when it is shared, there is no information on the map window that indicates what the map name is.

[ffujita]

And now I'm realizing that my request/whine is off topic in a thread about whispering -- sorry. I won't ask people to ignore it, because ... reasons.

[damned]

And now I'm realizing that my request/whine is off topic in a thread about whispering -- sorry. I won't ask people to ignore it, because ... reasons.

Huzzah!
I think under the current db model that this is probably unlikely (although Trenloe might jump in and show otherwise...) as the image is Owned by the GM and only the Owner can edit or record info on a record... Although its possible that someone could write an extension to allow players to attach their own notes and name to an image... I think Im just making this up as I go along... I think it probably is somewhat challenging or harder...
Image in particular can get very hard to find over time.

[ffujita]

Apparently, I've been unclear. I don't want to be able to name it myself. When the DM shares the image, I wish that the top of the image would have the name of the image (that the DM chose) displayed. Knowing the name, I could find it in the images box.
13795

[Andraax]

Huzzah!
I think under the current db model that this is probably unlikely (although Trenloe might jump in and show otherwise...) as the image is Owned by the GM and only the Owner can edit or record info on a record... Although its possible that someone could write an extension to allow players to attach their own notes and name to an image... I think Im just making this up as I go along... I think it probably is somewhat challenging or harder...
Image in particular can get very hard to find over time.

The player can create a note (or multiple notes), then drag and drop the links from the maps window into the note. The GM can tell the players the name of the map when it's first shown, then after that the player can do whatever they want. The player can rename / add description / whatever with the note. The player can even share it with other players. That's what the player notebook is for...

[damned]

Apparently, I've been unclear. I don't want to be able to name it myself. When the DM shares the image, I wish that the top of the image would have the name of the image (that the DM chose) displayed. Knowing the name, I could find it in the images box.
13795

That *should* be doable... I wonder if its doable by extension though or if its part of the core engine... Ill have a poke around tonight. In the meantime you should add it to teh wishlist.

[Andraax]

That *should* be doable... I wonder if its doable by extension though or if its part of the core engine... Ill have a poke around tonight. In the meantime you should add it to teh wishlist.

If you are going to poke around with the title bar for images, see if you can also include a link anchor so that it can be more easily dragged into a note by the players...

[ffujita]

Okay, I added it to the wishlist -- I only mentioned it cause I thought it would be real easy to do, possibly easier than it was for me to describe what I wanted :)

[PopinFRESH]

Hey Guys & Gals,
Back on the topic of Whispers, I'm currently in the stage of a campaign where I have certain outside influences talking to different PCs in confidence which I'm using whispers to communicate individually with them. In doing this my group found that PCs can whisper to each other, and it doesn't appear to be visible at all by the DM and I was curious if this was by design? Not really an issue for me, but I just somewhat expected that all chat would get logged to the DMs chat window.

-PopinFRESH

[damned]

Have a look in Options - you can choose to show All Whispers to GM.
Dont tell your players you are doing this :)

[PopinFRESH]

Have a look in Options - you can choose to show All Whispers to GM.
Dont tell your players you are doing this :)

Thanks for the quick reply Damned. I glanced through the options when we were discussing it during our last session and don't remember seeing that as an option, however, I didn't really spend much time on it and definitely could have missed it. I'll check again when I get home.

-PopinFRESH

[ffujita]

The design is to allow you to decide whether or not to read player2player whispers -- check *all* your campaign options, you may find others there that you'll want to activate or deactivate.

[jab112]

PopinFRESH Just go into options and turn on chat show all whispers to gm

[Andraax]

Most rulesets have an option for the GM to see whispers between players; just turn that option on.

[Trenloe]

Second option down in the "Game" section of the options page in the Wiki user guide: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Options#Game