Re:A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger
by retrochameleon on Friday November 17, 2023 @01:41PM
(#38307994)
I feel like "gazing" is a better choice than "staring" without losing too much of the humanistic sense of it. It is a little uncomfortable. It's supposed to be. That's okay because we are all human.
"Stranger" reminds us that we really don't know these people, yet we do know we share a human experience regardless.
Re:A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger
by bagels on Friday November 17, 2023 @01:32PM
(#38307842)
I definitely clicked off for this reason, the vibe and lack of explanation. Was wondering if this is some kind of biometrics capture ploy.
Re:A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger
by blackmesaind on Friday November 17, 2023 @02:15PM
(#38308533)
Not everybody wants your data, only I do.
Re:A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger
by eieio on Friday November 17, 2023 @02:17PM
(#38308584)
Thanks for the feedback! I'll think about what you said about the buy me a coffee link.
The vibe of the website is intentional though; I wanted the website to feel like a weird little hole in your computer that someone was staring at you through. You're totally right that there's a different version of this website that produces a very different vibe (and I am probably going to experiment with more ideas in this space), but this one is supposed to be disconcerting.
Re:A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger
by codetrotter on Friday November 17, 2023 @03:15PM
(#38309401)
> The vibe of the website is intentional though
I like it. Keep it like this
Re:A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger
by 100pctremote on Friday November 17, 2023 @04:14PM
(#38310451)
I like it, too, but the "What is this?" text should be displayed on the home page, not after clicking. It would assuage most of these types of concerns.
Re:A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger
by eieio on Friday November 17, 2023 @04:40PM
(#38310826)
it is displayed (or at least it's supposed to be displayed) at the same time that the "enable webcam" button was clicked[1] - if it's not that's definitely a bug! Are you on mobile? Would love to fix whatever you're seeing.
[1] they should both fade in as soon as the facial recognition stuff loads
Some marketing to consider...
Both "staring" and "strangers" gives it a disconcerting vibe, amplified by the dark background and the naked request to enable the webcam.
What about "See someone" or "See someone seeing you" or "See someone seeing you for a second", with a blue sky to start?
Then instead of emphasizing staring, just say something like "blink to leave".
Thus: "The webcam will show only your face, and then you will see someone seeing you. Blink to leave."
Also, in the detailed explanation, you might add that it is peer-to-peer, and no images are captured or stored anywhere else.
The "buy me coffee" link makes the site seem... incentivized, I guess. If you instead add that prompt to the information panel about you, I think you would still capture the appreciative few without putting off the many now triggered by pervasive tipping (kind of like early google text ads vs yahoo banner ads).