Hey everyone!
After attending the recent Vegas Clocktower Convention and reading through /u/fismo’s excellent discussion on Reddit, I was inspired to create a web app called G.A.S. (Give Anonymous Sentiment). This is a free community tool to help facilitate feedback and provide a safer space for players to speak up about their needs during or after a game.
What’s G.A.S.?
G.A.S. is a lightweight tool that lets groups quickly gather anonymous feedback during or after a session. You can create or join a room using a simple 6-character code, and then post messages that others in the room can read. It’s like an anonymous digital suggestion box where everyone can share their thoughts openly.
Why Could This Be Useful?
We all know how important feedback is to improve our games, G.A.S aims to help accommodate those who might hold back their true thoughts to avoid awkwardness or confrontation. G.A.S. provides a safe space to be honest without any pressure, which was a significant point in the recent discussions about enhancing player experiences in our community.
Key Features:
- Easy Room Access:
- Enter a 6-character alphanumeric room code (A-Z, 2-9) to join a room.
- Perfect for quickly setting up feedback channels before, during, or after a game.
- Anonymous Messaging:
- Post messages anonymously.
- Great for sharing honest feedback without feeling self-conscious.
- No data about the message poster is tracked, so truly anonymous.
- Toxicity Warnings:
- Messages are analyzed for potential toxicity levels.
- Messages that are very likely to be considered by most people as toxic are hidden by default but can be revealed.
- Helps keep the conversation respectful without censorship or blocking feedback.
- Supports multiple languages (but UI is currently English only).
- Automatic Refreshing & Mobile support:
- Messages refresh automatically based on activity.
- Stay updated without constant manual refreshing. Easy for the whole group to keep an eye on the message feed.
- Works on both computers and mobile to be used either online or in-person.
- Group Associations:
- Rooms can be linked to a group using a referral code.
- The group name appears below the room code for easy identification.
- Groups are ideal for events or communities that wish to have oversight of feedback across multiple rooms. Group Managers can manually delete linked rooms if necessary.
- Room Creation and Management:
- Easily create new rooms for different sessions. No accounts, signups etc. required.
- Group managers can generate new referral codes and manage associated rooms.
A Few Things to Note:
- Temporary Rooms: Rooms are deleted after a few days. So, if there’s feedback you’d like to keep, make sure to save it elsewhere.
- Respectful Communication: While anonymity encourages honesty, let’s remember to keep our feedback constructive and respectful.
- AI Analysis: The toxicity warnings are provided by Perspective API. You can see a full list of languages it supports and how it works here.
How to Get Started:
- To Join a Room:
- Go to the G.A.S. website: https://chillclocktower.com/feedback/
- Enter the room code provided by your game host.
- Start reading and posting messages.
- To Create a Room:
- Click on the “Create a New Room” link on the site.
- Share the generated room code with your group.
For Group Managers:
- You can manage multiple rooms associated with your group.
- Generate new referral codes and oversee room activity.
- Delete rooms and messages if necessary.
Wrapping Up
I created G.A.S. to address some of the concerns raised about communication dynamics in our games, as highlighted in recent community discussions. I hope it can be a valuable tool for us to share feedback and improve our Blood on the Clocktower experiences. It’s straightforward to use and could really help in making our sessions even better. I’m now starting to use this tool myself in the games I organized and it has already helped players with blindspots get feedback they were not getting before.
If you end up using the tool within your group and you want to share your own experiences please reach out to me via Discord (@Nashable).
Happy gaming!