Interactivity

Recently we blasted the Creators for their failure to deliver on an authentic interactive experience as promised. Last night they delivered on a multi-character IRC chat. How did it go? You be the judge.

We want to know how well the chat fit into the overall Lonelygirl15 experience. Did it make sense within the context of the other interactive components of the show. How well did the continuity of the chat experience fit with prior interacitivity on the show. Did you have fun talking to the characters. How well did the IRC platform hold up? What would you like to see different in terms of interactivity on the show?

See also the discussion of the chat and Amanda's post: "Your Thoughts".

Here is some of the feedback so far from " insideLG15":

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voyboy Says:
I understand why you want everyone to be able to join in.
However, I think that fewer fans are able to enjoy these events than those who are not enjoying them. It gets so chaotic and frustrating when so many people are logged in and trying to all chat at the same time. There really seems be no way to overcome that confusion unless you have the Character Chats private, inviting a certain number of fans to participate.
After the chat is complete then provide LGpedia a non-edited transcript.
Lets try this once and see how it works?

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milowent Says:
well, you could de-voice everyone and only allow fans to post via PM’s to the ops, who will then post questions or comments from fans. like so:

We don’t know what to do.
kelseygirl15 says “you should go to find Sarah immediately!”
thanks kelsey. we’re not sure.

that way everyone who wants to listen live and try to participate can do so. not ever question is gonna be posed by the ops. no duplication, no “show your tits” posts. if the chats were made private with only a few fans, too many people would howl like crazy.

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milowent Says:
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
ugh the comment machine deletes my greater than/less than signals.

[Daniel] We don’t know what to do.
[Broken_Kid] kelseygirl15 says “you should go to find Sarah immediately!”
[Jonas_tko]thanks kelsey. we’re not sure.

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voyboy Says:
I like that idea. Is it practical though for the ops?

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modelmotion Says:
It can be done, but it does not go over well.

A well “trained” audience knows how to behave in these situations and the use of catalysts is much preferred unless the “ops” loose total control of the room as tends to happen in LG15 chats.

Its really more a question of fans understanding the format than turning it into a dictatorship. A room that is silenced is controlled but it is no longer free.
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Comments from the blogspot:
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modelmotion said...
The Messynessy89 chat in the #HymnOfOne chat room in the hour before the official LG15 chat went very very very well and I think everyone really enjoyed it. It reminded me of the old Maddison Atkin's chats which are probably the best we have had so far.

However, the problem, like others have pointed out, is "scalability". We saw that issue with the NikkiB chat and also with the LG15 chat last night.

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hopefulsemblance said...
I agree...
We all saw alot of people get offended and hurt feelings when they weren't chosen to be in on the Jonas phone chat...
then everyone is invited to join in on the text chat and people complain about chaos...
I really don't think there is a middle ground here that will succeed.
I think when you have a massive fan base such as LG15 this stuff is harder to pull of either way... I think the Nessy chat succeeded because 1. there were only about a dozen of us who are fans; and 2. it was done impromptu (so alot of n00bs didn't know for days to come in at that exact moment in time).
I would hate to see the interactivity leave lg15, but you either get hurt feelings (such as with Jonas' phone call), or utter chaos (such as yesterday)... pick your poison.

NOTE: I would like to say that the Jonas phone call went smoothly, but I think I'm biased. I do know that alot of people were offended that they weren't chosen. But I partially blame that on the couple fans that blabbed that secret early on.

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qthec said...
I posted this on Inside LG15 comments:

I posted something along these lines on the thread on the lg15.com forums as well…

An alternative/variation on the in-character chat might be to try something with a format like NowLive radio broadcasts or BreeFM radio shows - combining audio of the main characters (plus a few callers perhaps) with a side chat with everyone else in it. This way, everyone can clearly hear what the characters are saying to each other and react freely in the chat, and the characters can still interact with the audience by responding to some of what they see from the audience.

I think this format would be much easier to follow.

Limitations are that the actual actors would have to play the characters (as with the Jonas phone call), and transcripts would be less perfect (but a recording could be provided).

Just as with the in-character chat, I would still want characters (and one or two moderators) to have highlighted text when they did react in chat, and for the characters to mention fans by name (as Danielbeast did last night) when responding to specific things said.

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qthec said...
On LG15.com comments, bornofstardust posted this:

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bornofstardustsend note January 2nd, 2008 at 9:22 pm Jeebus, chat was EXHAUSTING!

They really should have had just particular people speak…or SOMEthing.

It was pretty cool when Sarah unexpectedly came in, though. But JEEZ–the way she was talking was very un-Sarah! At least in her latest videos she has been simultaneously discrediting the HoO while still finding her song…but now she seems to be buying hook line and sinker into the whole thing, special “evolutions” or whatever ceremony-esque crap included.

…wow, it’s a refreshing change to be back on the comment boards, where I at least have a chance of being read, can expand on my ideas, and don’t have to make my fingers sore!

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We want to know what you think about interactivity and or chat and how it should fit within the show. Leave a comment below with your thoughts.