this game needs an observation option

I'm all for a spectator mode.  Thing is, it would have to be designed so that spectators could not possibly cause lag or end up ruining games with text spamming.  Another problem would be that specs could pass along intelligence info to people in the game.  Would you want a spectator spying on you and /w'ing the location and size of your fleet to his friend?

That's the problem with spectator modes in general - either they tie the observer to one side, or they let them do godmode.

Watching recordings technically solves this, but it'd be nice to watch actual multi games, absolutely.

i think your being a bit melodrammatic here... i wouldnt say a lack of a specator mode is a MAJOR thing holding back the game... but a spectator mode would be good... especially if people want to make movies in real time, the spectator could record while the player 'directs' as it was

but to avert text spamming and spying, why dont the devs just disable comments from spectators, or at least prohibit them from whispering, that way anything they say can be seen by the other player, so, 'oh, his fleet is full of carriers' can be seen by everyone, including the person who's fleet is full or carriers, so he can then alter his tactics, or, bob, your planet 'X' is under-defended, go fix it, so everyone knows and can go attack it. that way, people are discouraged from talking about tactics, but can still cheer for their friends.

on the other hand, there's always the possibility that 2 people are sitting on mobile phones or another computer with IM, or even 2 computers in one room, and sharing intel outside of the game, in which case there isnt much that can be done...

But if they stopped them whispering, they would not be able to friend whisper while observing. That prevents them from finding out a game is starting via a friend broadcast, asking about it and deciding to stop observing and go and play...

I've played a few Sins games with Whip on my team using TeamSpeak. It didn't do THAT much for us, but it didn't hurt. The main issue was we didn't communicate with the other team members as much as we were talking to each other while playing....

is that kind of communication limited to whispering? why not broadcast to everyone? sure, its interrupting, but how often will it come up? and even if it is the only way, fine, enable whispering to people outside the game, but not within the game....

It is the same mechanism as whispering - whispering is to one person, vs broadcasting.... You also would need to block friend whispering in case the friend was in the game

That and an option to turn off all of the user interface (a true cinimatic mode) would be awesome. But only if all of the players in a multi game agree.

I don't understand : you already can turn off all the user interface, can't you ?

good idea..

and this cant be done?

im not advocating one side or another, i just think if Stardock wanted to do it, it could be done, some lines of code and presto, instant pizza. no seriously, i realise the difference between whispering and broadcasting. there is a line of code somewhere that tells the game to send your message to one person only rather than everyone. disable that code and you're in business.

you said you would need to turn off friend whispering, well, if your friend is in the game then he cant get info from outside about a game starting anyway. if you are worried about disabling friend whispering stops all communication with friends both inside and outside of the game, then simply add a line of code to say disable friend comms IF said friend is in the same game as you

it MAY not be possible, in which case fine, it may be too complicated, also fine, but i think it is doable, especially since Stardock will probably be writing a bunch of code for it anyway... there is no reason why comms cant be limited

I don't think you understand how that chat system works fully... Anyway:

1) Splitting hairs but it is Ironclad, not Stardock that would need to make the changes. Stardock just publish the game and update it via Impulse (using exe etc... provided by Ironclad).

2) I have a lot of friends in ICO - I have had to delete some stale ones as I have reached the maximum limit. So I know when my friends log in and out, and I get messages when they do a friend broascast. So I WOULD know a game was starting as I often get an invite from one of them asking if I want to join/am close to finishing the game I am in etc...

3) The ONLY way therefore this could work is if the observers were completely sandboxed and unable to do anything but watch. Then they could not send/receive friend whispers or friend broadcasts (which is a friend whisper to every logged in friend in your friend list). This is needed to stop them whispering to someone not in the game, who in turn passes this info on to someone who is in the game (which since the 3rd party is in the general lobby, would not be subject to this filtering you are talking about).
Further, even if this chat inside ICO was blocked, it will NOT stop the issue of team-speak and other similar programs. The observer can watch and tell the players outside of Sins about what is going on. To get around this, there would have to be a delay so that the game wasn't being watched live. The issue then is how much of a delay. After all, it is still valuable to know what someone on the other side of the map did 5 minutes ago, rather then not knowing at all....
The other option is what we have now - recorded replays.....

im fine with recorded replays

splitting hairs, fine, point conceeded, thanks,

yes, i dont know how the current system works, but that is irrelevant as a new system would have to be developed to counter the issues we are talking about.

im not saying my way is the only way, it just sounded to me like you were arguing from the point of view thats its just to complicated to secure communications during live games, and that was my issue, cause i dont think it is. perhaps limit the number of times a an observer can communicate with a player per minute, and limit the length of each communique. there is another option... less real-time, but players who pass on info and try to subvert information security systems could be subjected to punishment. banning from online lobbies for watching or even just playing.

perhaps we simply stop the observers communicating with players fullstop. i mean, other than cheering maybe (though that can be done with some pre-defined cheer options (somewhat like emoticons?) what is the point of an observer being able to communicate with the player? other than to ask to join a game... but then hes already playing a game so wait your turn?

long story short, im fine with replays or real-time, but if there is to be real-time observing, there needs to be some sort of security measure to prevent tactical information being leaked, dont you agree?

Before anyone says wtf?, I was bored and looked 200 pages back and found this.  Funny how priorities change...