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A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger

stranger.video

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Re: A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger

#41

Post by eieio »

jacquesm wrote: post #34
eieio wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is likely an issue with the way that I am (trying to) set up the (ideally) peer to peer video connection. One thing you could try is to switch to a mobile device using data if you're having trouble matching with folks from your wifi; it's possible that firewalls are causing problems. but i also definitely have more work to do to pair people in a more intelligent way so that video is likely to actually wo…

If you don't want to potentially cause people to get into serious trouble I would caution you to do anything that reveals the IP address or any other information about the participants. I've run a cam site (ww.com/camarades.com) for close to two decades and the privacy of your participants should be your very first and top concern.

I pushed a change to route everything through my server for the time being. Thanks for flagging.

Re: A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger

#42

Post by eieio »

cssanchez wrote: post #18
eieio wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is likely an issue with the way that I am (trying to) set up the (ideally) peer to peer video connection. One thing you could try is to switch to a mobile device using data if you're having trouble matching with folks from your wifi; it's possible that firewalls are causing problems. but i also definitely have more work to do to pair people in a more intelligent way so that video is likely to actually wo…

Whoa Peer to Peer connections with strangers is scary stuff that almost no one would volunteer for. I get the bandwidth reasons to do it but everyone should know this is peer to peer before connecting and know the risks of being hacked/stalked as they expose their IP to strangers. I would put a huge disclaimer about it, which I didn't see on your site.

I pushed a change to route everything through my server for the time being.

Re: A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger

#43

Post by retrochameleon »

w10-1 wrote: post #37
eieio wrote: post #4

Ha, I went to submit a 'Show HN' about this and someone had beat me to posting it :) I've been hacking on stranger.video for the last couple of weeks. One big design goal was to build something omegle-like that I'd be a little more comfortable using (thus there's no audio, no text chat, video is limited to faces, video cuts if it can't find a face, if you don't like what's on screen close your eyes and it disappears,…

It's a great idea. It pretty directly re-humanizes the web. 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…

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

#46

Post by kylebenzle »

brynbryn wrote: post #35
cssanchez wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoa Peer to Peer connections with strangers is scary stuff that almost no one would volunteer for. I get the bandwidth reasons to do it but everyone should know this is peer to peer before connecting and know the risks of being hacked/stalked as they expose their IP to strangers. I would put a huge disclaimer about it, which I didn't see on your site.

It's WebRTC. It's all over the web and well implemented. What are you exact concerns? IP isn't GPS

I agree. No issues in exposing your IP. What exactly would be the "fear"? You connect with someone, then they use your IP to file a request with law enforcement to go get your address then use that info to "stalk" you?

Re: A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger

#47

Post by blackmesaind »

bagels wrote: post #39
w10-1 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a great idea. It pretty directly re-humanizes the web. 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…

I definitely clicked off for this reason, the vibe and lack of explanation. Was wondering if this is some kind of biometrics capture ploy.

Not everybody wants your data, only I do.

Re: A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger

#48

Post by eieio »

w10-1 wrote: post #37
eieio wrote: post #4

Ha, I went to submit a 'Show HN' about this and someone had beat me to posting it :) I've been hacking on stranger.video for the last couple of weeks. One big design goal was to build something omegle-like that I'd be a little more comfortable using (thus there's no audio, no text chat, video is limited to faces, video cuts if it can't find a face, if you don't like what's on screen close your eyes and it disappears,…

It's a great idea. It pretty directly re-humanizes the web. 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…

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

#49

Post by jelicicm »

Would've loved to have tried it, but sadly am stuck at "connecting to stranger". I guess the problem could be that I'm in Europe, so if all 3-9 strangers (that's the range of people staring during my waiting period) are in USA the ping is high so the system won't connect us.

Sounds interesting!

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