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A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger
- jimbooonooo 3y agoNone of the other video appeared to be live, is that intentional?
- eieio 3y agothis is definitely not intentional and is probably some combination of me doing a bad job of setting up webrtc, people having spotty internet, and people messing with the site.
- TheRealHB 3y agoNot working for when I tried. I wonder if I print a set of open eyes and test your game.... Will it detect the trick? Would I win or get banned? Jokes aside, eager to test ; )
- eieio 3y agoI definitely don't want to make you do any work, but if you keep having problems i'm happy to debug your setup with you (just email eieiogames@gmail.com) for as long as you have patience! in my experience the face detection is relatively good but the eye detection is still a little spotty / could be tweaked[1]. Although within reason that's just part of the fun. [1] https://twitter.com/thecpe/status/1725553399981044165 https://twitter.com/thecpe/status/1725553399981044165
- TheRealHB 3y agoLooks fun, thanks for the X ref. Will try again later when back at desktop and send over a debugger if still same issue! Nice idea!
- eieio 3y agoHa, 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, etc). But I started before omegle shut down - the timing was surprisingly (and of course the shut down is sad). The site is also intentionally set up to not feel too gamey; I think some folks experience this as "staring contest" and others as "weird art about missed connections" and I'd like it to be open to both (so, no leaderboards). I think it'd be really cool to set up some physical devices that are all hooked up to an instance of this site. Anyway, I blogged a little bit more about the site at https://eieio.games/nonsense/game-12-stranger-video/ https://eieio.games/nonsense/game-12-stranger-video/. Happy to answer questions here ofc.
- trompe-le-monde 3y agoThe video feed showing the stranger's face doesn't seem to be working, but the inputs taken from my own camera (blinks) do. Is there a way to fix that issue on my end?
- eieio 3y agoI 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 work - I put off doing this because I wasn't sure if anyone was actually going to enjoy playing!
- cssanchez 3y agoWhoa 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.
- RajT88 3y agoNeeds Queensrÿche.
- mtrees_io 3y agoIn silent lucidity, dreams take flight, A canvas of stars, a tranquil night. Whispers of moonbeams, soft and wide, Guiding the soul on a cosmic tide.
- amelius 3y agoChatroulette 2.0?
- graphe 3y agoReminds me of this. Tl;dr ask questions, stare into eyes for 4 minutes, fall in love. https://web.archive.org/web/20231030202322/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/style/modern-love-to-fall-in-love-with-anyone-do-this.html https://web.archive.org/web/20231030202322/https://www.nytim... It's not loading for me either
- 101008 3y agoI tried it 4 times. 3 times, I got "the stranged hid their face", which I understood as they weren't showing a face at all? Anyway, I met with someone for a few seconds and it was a strange experience. No audio, no text, only communicating through face gestures, it was fun :)
- eieio 3y agoyeah, that message plays if the face detection can't find a face. It's a little wonky because on their end the face detection gets their whole webcam (and then crops to just the face) - but the cropped version is all that's transmitted to you (I thought it'd be deceptive to transmit more). SOmetimes the face detection struggles to find a face in the cropped face. But I thought cutting the video there was safer than letting it through. Glad you had a fun and weird experience with your other play session. That's certainly the intended experience.
- twodave 3y agoThis is hilarious. Can’t keep a straight face for anything, though.
- drakonka 3y agoMe too, I go into solid stare mode during the countdown but as soon as the stranger appears I can't keep it together.
- angryasian 3y agosite worked fine for me, but Im curious as to why 7 seconds without blinking and what significance of that is ?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- esaym 3y agoThe Ritual of Chüd
- claudiulodro 3y agoThis is a really interesting experiment/art-project! Fascinating idea and solid implementation. There is definitely a sense of connection with the person on the other side of the screen! Side note: the Hacker News crowd definitely looks like what I'd expect the Hacker News crowd to look like :)
- petargyurov 3y agoHilarious. Took a few attempts to connect but it was worth it.
- Waterluvian 3y agoI feel anxious and excited just thinking of clicking this link. But it’s a unique kind of anxious I haven’t felt in many years… I think I trace it most recently to when I met my wife in-person for the first time. That bus ride… Without even participating you sent me on a journey. Thank you and Well done.
- javier_e06 3y agoWe spend half our lives trying to find that place where the demons are few and apart. Enabling the camera? Defies all reason.
- noman-land 3y agoI love it, even though I find it terrifying.
- brynbryn 3y agoThat was really fun! would be cool to freeze frame on the blink before disconnect. I couldn't shake the feeling I was just looking at videos until a girl with a nose ring seemed to echo my attempts at not smiling
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ge96 3y agoheh, I had thought of an aversion therapy where if you failed to lock eyes with someone you get this shock.
- jiveturkey 3y agoso it's literally a staring contest. which is great. it would be better, though, as an eye contact contest. first to look away "loses" and then disconnected. also needs to be gamified. when you connect you first see the stats of the other party. so you know what you're up against and try to beat them.
- internetter 3y agoOr it could just be.
- mbfg 3y agoFirst thing i thought of was this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ5zx__Iavs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ5zx__Iavs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EumnijQBhw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EumnijQBhw
- testmasterflex 3y agoDidn’t work :( wouldn’t connect to stranger
- jelicicm 3y agoWould'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!
- jelicicm 3y agoNow got 4x in a row: stranger lost video.
- sterlind 3y agoIt gets stuck forever on "connecting to stranger..." even though the "# strangers watching" text keeps updating. Is it down? Looks really cool btw.
- chankstein38 3y agoInsanely uncomfortable for me lol I dig it.
- dmd 3y agoI stuck with it for 75 people. Zero [presenting as] women.
- coding123 3y agoI think I would do it if it guaranteed a gender. It would give you that fall in love feeling potentially.
- dmd 3y agoI was commenting on how this sort of thing is a sausagefest. You didn't need to make it creepy.
- kelseyfrog 3y agoWhat do you think the baseline gender ratio is on HN? Presumably we made up nearly all the users for the site today.
- itstwam 3y ago[flagged]
- chupapimunyenyo 3y agoReal women are rare on the internet, especially on the tech sites
- valianteffort 3y agoThat's not true. Women have their own corners of the internet, largely social media or content hubs like youtube.
- qingcharles 3y agoWhat about dogs? Any presenting as dogs? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_you%27re_a_dog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_...
- potatoman22 3y agoDoes the connection close if you blink even once? Or if the algorithm can't find your face once? I was barely able to see anyone b/c of stuff that seems like this.
- bigyihsuan 3y agoMy eyes are half-closed in their relaxed state, and it's funny how my eyes are open and the site thinks I'm blinking.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- motbus3 3y agoBetter read the privacy policy
- czbond 3y agoSince you're alluding to there not being a policy - someone can now tie a face to an IP address.
- ranting-moth 3y agoI can't find it? I can think of quite a few entities that are very, very interested in this data. Nice project though!
- czbond 3y agoWas this based on the concept from the Big Bang Theory show?
- xwdv 3y agoA human blink is 100ms, it would be amazing if in half that time a blink could be detected and the feed immediately switch to someone new once you open your eyes again.
- wildpeaks 3y agoYou may like the game "Before Your Eyes" then, it's controlled by blinking: https://www.gog.com/en/game/before_your_eyes https://www.gog.com/en/game/before_your_eyes
- ryanblakeley 3y agoCan I get a version that lets me stare at a dog's face instead?
- isoprophlex 3y agoI swear I just played against someone who was sitting on the toilet, lol
- Mizza 3y agoI made a game in a similar style: https://internetfight.club/ https://internetfight.club/ State your hot take, then yell back and forth with a stranger until one of you rage quits.
- Minor49er 3y agoI got paired with an opponent who didn't respond at all, but I had a blast
- givemeethekeys 3y agoNice thing about going to a bar is, you can stare into the eyes of a stranger, and even get to know them if you both like what the other sees.
- simonblack 3y agoDepends on how long you are allowed to do the staring. Its very commonly said that if you stare into another person's eyes for thirty seconds, you'll either fight or fuck.
- pupperino 3y agoI can only see my own video :(
- calamari4065 3y agoAs an autistic person, I cannot imagine a worse form of torture. Well done!
- RagnarD 3y agoFrom what I've gathered from reading over the years, this is actually potent and a dangerous game for the participants. Specifically, it can lead to personal bonds that aren't actually warranted by any good reason. Some may assume that this is some unconditionally good thing. It isn't.
- Willox 3y agoIs there a name for this kind of thing?
- Alifatisk 3y agoI am curious, what is this phenomenon called? EDIT: I believe this is called "Eye Gazing". https://www.scienceofpeople.com/making-eye-contact https://www.scienceofpeople.com/making-eye-contact Look for the section "How Eye Gaze Deepens Emotional Connection"
- 2Gkashmiri 3y agotried the app for like half an hour staring at my own eyes. 2 strangers staring ready? stranger lost connection repeat don't know if it can be improved in any way, i guess there should be a way
- kelseyfrog 3y agoI was able to win consistently by alternate winking. It's extremely uncomfortable to continuously wink at a stranger for five minutes, but it's an unbeatable meta.