SNFF Feedback

One thing that confused me was, sometimes I'd see the text scrolling saying someone was doing something , but I wouldn't be able to see them when I did 'look tv'. Were they hidden and moving with the camera just tracking them… but then why wouldnt they be on the screen? It seems like an inconsistency.

The choice of location was pretty good. Maybe future events could take place in different places? Even say, the Badlands? That'd be something.

Firstly: Hoorah for SNFF!!
Great idea, well executed, and got a whole bunch of people online. Can't ask for more than that. Congratulations to the admin for doing a great job, and thank you to whoever it was who had the initial idea.

Anyway. Feedback.

Overall, I don't think the technical issues were really anything more than is expected of live outside broadcast television, typically.

Perhaps next time, stress to the competitors beforehand that addressing the camera/s is important - alternatively, is there any way around that, so if they don't explicitly address the camera, then it's still recorded? If there is, then the cameras would also pick up more of the, ambient population (NPC and PC alike) in the area too, right? I don't see that as being a bad thing. Perhaps it could be edited later for replays (streamlined, somewhat), but when it seems like the dome has stopped in order to watch the match, long frequent messages aren't necessarily a bad thing.

While on the topic of ambient population, is there any way for the tv to …volunteer the information about the space it's showing? Typing 'look tv' as people were speaking got frustrating and didn't always report the right location (people moved as commands were entered, etc). I'm thinking something along the lines of each time the camera moves to a new location, the tv reports the look description of the location. Also it would be nice if that was shown when returning from camera transition messages (the ones with the static and the NLM logo).

Speaking of camera transition messages - why not stick an ad in the middle? Hell, the citizens of Withmore love ads, can't get enough of them. And with an event such as SNFF, they're a captive audience, glued to the box. Could even have new ads perhaps, made specifically for the show they're in the middle of.

I was going to say something about seeing OOC messages (about addressing the camera, specifically) mid-broadcast, but I'm not sure that's specifically a bad thing. Again, it can be edited for replays, but in the live show it explains why we weren't seeing anything.

Specifically SNFF-related:
Could you announce the 'score' at the end of the match, please? Yes I know it doesn't relate to the game as such, but ...just in case stuff happened off-screen that the audience didn't see...
"The winner is Bob, with x kills. Jane put up a good fight, claiming y scalps; Fred disposed of z; and Penelope was finished off before she could defend herself properly."

(Also I think that potentially, someone - a business - may want to sponsor someone and award a prize (I'm thinking goods, rather than money) for the most kills… (on televised sport over here, there are often prizes for the person who kicks the first goal or hits a cricket ball into a particular sign or other things that are fairly unrelated to the final outcome of the match). It'd also be something that could be bet on, if a business won't go for it.)

Also, introducing the contestants would be nice. Some people won't automatically recognise characters onscreen (if they haven't met or seen them before etc), so may not recognise who they're betting on or cheering for etc. "Go Bob!" "uh, that's Fred. Bob died ten minutes ago."

I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to have all four characters in the same place to begin with. Maybe a way around this is to show a still image of the contestant (that way it also won't show where the contestant is - in a venue such as the Park that could be important). The picture might be a photograph, taken beforehand (when the character signs up for the fight?), or just something that's written out with a basic description.

This part could be scripted beforehand (I'm seeing ways that live feed / scripts may not work so well simultaneously), so then the telecast is: scripted introductions, pause (with ads), cut to live feed.

On the small tv you see:
Announcer smiles and loudly states, "Ladeez and gentlemen, tonight we have a very special show for you all. Introducing our first contestant - Bob, the factory worker!"
On the small tv you see:
A still image of a man maybe 5'2 in height, of Chinese heritage. He is wearing some clothes and grimacing at the camera. Various statistics scroll across the bottom of the screen.

…could of course get a bit more complex and have the full voiceover announcement about Bob while the image is showing.
"He stands at five feet, two inches tall and weighs a ready-to-go one-hundred-and-thirty-seven poundzzzz. He specialises in brawling and beating people up with tyre wrenches… All the way from the sewers on RED... Bob, the Factory Workerrrrrrrr!"
(Yes, I watch too much no-holds-barred fighting. Knew it'd come in useful.)

I also think that an announcer a bit more… um... charismatic would be nice. Someone with a bit of character, who can do the full boxing announcer thing. Even if that meant having someone else attempt the after-fight interviews, I'd really like to see someone with a bit of style announcing who's fighting - and maybe even mid-bout updates.

I do want to stress, however, that a lot of this is cosmetic, and really - it was very very good - better than I expected. Well worth the waking up early.
Thank you.

#2 - that being said, I did give the Eyepod hover cams some upgrades that allow the people controlling the program to do the same thing, only when they deem it so, not everytime.

#3 - we're working on getting the crap filtered down when it switches from one camera to another. The system just wasn't designed for multiple cameras powering the same program.

#4 - some of the ground work has been laid for letting you look at things on TV, not just at the entire picture on TV. All the 'look' related functions support the right parameter, they just aren't using it quite yet. The gotcha here is getting those recorded TV programs to support it too (like in a photo).

#5 - I'll look into the issue with hiding and hover cams. I'm of the opinion that you can't hide when a hover cam is following your ass. Baring logical opposition, I'll simply not allow you to go stealthy when you've got one pointed at you.