video window placement—top-of-screen, please

I tried a bit of a test with two players in Newcastle (300 km away). The video was sharp and smooth and the synch between sound and video was better than we have had with any other solution. You get props. The player who is not a fellow beta-tester commented that account creation/signup was the simplest and went smoothest of anything he has ever had to deal with. One fellow (running Chrome on a Mac) zoomed the map to 10% and then back to 60% and lost video: to get the video windows back he had to zoom to 10% again. But I couldn't replicate the bug (I use FireFox) and neither could the other guy (who also uses Chrome on a Mac). Go figure. The players wanted anyone to be able to move the sprites representing chairs, murder weapons, etc. We all wanted the video windows moved from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen to be near our cameras. This is so that when we look at someone's video feed and speak to them we want to seem to be looking at our interlocutor, not averting our gaze.

We all wanted the video windows moved from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen to be near out cameras. This is so that when we look at someone's video feed and speak to them we want to seem to be looking at our interlocutor, not averting our gaze. That's a pretty good idea!

It seems unlikely.. He reported that map shrank towards the top left corner of the viewer window and that the video windows remained the same size and stayed at the bottom of the window. That isn't what I'd expect of a browser-level zoom. But I will ask.

It would be great to be able to do CTRL + Mouse Wheel zooming

More about video window placement. ( I mentioned this before, but in an incidental comment on a thread with a rather different main topic, where it will be lost. I am repeating the point here for convenience.) I would like the video feeds to be arranged left to right on each players' window in order consistent with listing them in order clockwise around an imaginary table. For instance, if I were playing with Will, Nic, and Ed, and the video windows on my screen were ordered from left to right Agemegos, Will, Nic, Ed, then: • Will ought to see Will, Nic, Ed, Agemegos • Nic ought to see Nic, Ed, Agemegos, Will • Ed ought to see Ed, Agemegos, Will, Nic. Not only does this add consistency and verisimilitude, but in some RPGs (as in most card games) position at the table affects games play, with rules referencing "the player on your left", "the player on your right", and "nearest to the GM's left". The GM ought to have control of different players' positions at the virtual table.

Specifically to Age's latest reply - if we can't get to place the video windows anywhere we wish, could this be done with just sliding the order of the cameras along the bottom (similar to the way we can slide initiative order on the turn tracker)? Or failing even that mechanic (or, for in the meantime), use the turn tracker vertically and add a token representing the GM at the top or in the middle? Then you still have somewhat of an analogue for 'player to the left (or on top or below in the turn tracker version)'. If this went ahead and Riley and Co. could find a way for us to reposition video windows, would/could the GM assign the positions and then the respective displays on he player's end move around on their screens? Or would the GM have to say "right this is where you're putting your windows" and the players would then have to move them themselves? I'm not sure if the GM "ought" to have ultimate camera control at leats without player concent... some of us might like our vid windows in certain places.

Well, I didn't want position at the table to be dictated by something arbitrary like the order in which people joined, because a group might have a game-related reason for wanting a particular order. So it has to be under user control, and the GM was just the one who sprang to mind when I was thinking in terms of an intrinsic model of position at a table. But you're quite right: if everyone could simply drag each video window where he or she wanted it, then the groups that need consistent places at the table could set that up manually, and the flexibility would open up further possibilities for others. Eventually a related issue will arise concerning the place in which each players' face-up cards are displayed.

Bumping. Also, adding a point. Not only is the order of players around the table significant to some games, but when groups use Mumble for superior VOIP performance they are likely to give each player a different acoustic position to help with distinguishing voices. It would really help to be able to sort players' video windows into positions consistent with the players' acoustic positions. It would be ideal to be able to drag video windows to where-ever we want them. If that's too difficult, they should at least be placed in a row at top centre (near to most people's webcams), and the users ought to be able to control what order they appear in.