[HN Gopher] A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger
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A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger
Author : underanalyzer
Score : 173 points
Date : 2023-11-17 16:30 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (stranger.video)
(TXT) w3m dump (stranger.video)
| jimbooonooo wrote:
| None of the other video appeared to be live, is that intentional?
| eieio wrote:
| this 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 wrote:
| Not 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 wrote:
| I 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
| TheRealHB wrote:
| Looks 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 wrote:
| 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, 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/. Happy to
| answer questions here ofc.
| trompe-le-monde wrote:
| The 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 wrote:
| 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
| work - I put off doing this because I wasn't sure if anyone
| was actually going to enjoy playing!
| cssanchez wrote:
| 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.
| eieio wrote:
| Huh, I (naively, I guess, although this seemed largely
| true of my playtesters) thought that folks would assume
| that this was how it worked. The site does mention that
| it uses WebRTC although it certainly is not a "huge
| disclaimer" right now. I am going to see if I can
| rejigger the site to just always use my TURN server for
| now.
|
| I'm also happy to chat more (here, or you can email
| eieiogames@gmail.com).
| brynbryn wrote:
| It's WebRTC. It's all over the web and well implemented.
| What are you exact concerns? IP isn't GPS
| kylebenzle wrote:
| 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?
| eieio wrote:
| I pushed a change to route everything through my server
| for the time being.
| jacquesm wrote:
| 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.
| eieio wrote:
| I pushed a change to route everything through my server
| for the time being. Thanks for flagging.
| jonchurch_ wrote:
| Very cool stuff! Definitely feels like an intersection of art
| and programming. Not a lot of websites I pull up make me feel
| like I am connecting with an actual person staring back at me,
| however brief. Quite likely because, well, they're not. Written
| words are a kind of connection, one way video is a kind of
| connection, but two way is it's own whole thing obviously and a
| type of feeling that is novel in my web browsing. I know
| chatroulette and omegle did it first, but still the feeling is
| so outside of the norm of using the internet that it feels
| novel.
|
| I think you definitely captured some of the intimidating vibe
| that unbroken direct eye contact with a stranger can create. It
| was very fun though. I enjoyed seeing people's facial
| expressions go from neutral while staring at their own face, to
| lighting up once they are looking directly at another person
| who is also trying to not blink. The eyebrow wiggles or nose
| contortions people pulled in order to emote while not blinking
| was also very fun.
|
| I was beaming a huge smile back at folks, and eventually used a
| sticky note to write !iH and put it on my nose. Definitely got
| some reactions from that haha.
|
| Yes, some folks are using a virtual webcam to just show a
| static stock image of a person's face (cowards!). But I got
| some unique real humans.
|
| The disconnect is really quick, and felt like maybe there's
| some bugs. In terms of, folks would frequently disconnect
| quickly. I don't think I ever SAW anyone blink, so likely the
| stream is cut off immediately and the blinking frames aren't
| sent? I'd love to be able to see someone blink in this before
| they go away. Even a freeze frame of that would be nice.
| Grounding them going away with the human expression of blinking
| would help keep me in the experience, cutting away without
| seeing the action that caused them to "lose" breaks the
| experience for me.
|
| Very cool project though! I'm not sure how often I've written
| code that makes a human _feel something human_ that isn't
| frustration haha.
| eieio wrote:
| A friend last night floated a similar idea re: cutting off
| too fast - it'd be great to get sent a slo-mo of them
| blinking. I think you're totally right that it cuts too
| quickly and would gain a lot there.
|
| In general I am very very quick to cut and I think that
| contributes both to the experience feeling worse _and_ to
| some of the bugs (there are definitely bugs!). The blink
| detection is also super finicky - blinks are just really
| fast, and if I dial down the sensitivity it 's super easy to
| miss obvious blinks entirely.
|
| I'm glad this is resonating with some folks though. I wasn't
| sure before building it if it would, and this gives me a
| reason to iterate on and improve it :)
| jonchurch_ wrote:
| The knowledge that I can end a given session by closing my
| eyes feels very good and natural. It also gives it a bit of
| a "game" type of experience.
|
| But I'd encourage you to think about the experience you're
| trying to create, in terms of how to handle the sensitivity
| of blinking for ending a session. With a single blink being
| the end, then it becomes very easy to accidentally end a
| session (either via a bug in false positives, or of course
| just doing the human thing of blinking).
|
| If you want to maximize time spent staring into a human's
| eyes without looking away, then the session could end after
| say 1-2 seconds of eyes being closed, or looking off
| screen. Then the choice to leave is a bit more intentional,
| and so sessions can last longer for folks who really want
| to see how long they can stare at a stranger without
| tapping out.
| w10-1 wrote:
| 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 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).
| bagels wrote:
| I definitely clicked off for this reason, the vibe and lack
| of explanation. Was wondering if this is some kind of
| biometrics capture ploy.
| blackmesaind wrote:
| Not everybody wants your data, only I do.
| retrochameleon wrote:
| 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.
| eieio wrote:
| 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.
| codetrotter wrote:
| > The vibe of the website is intentional though
|
| I like it. Keep it like this
| 100pctremote wrote:
| 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.
| eieio wrote:
| 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
| theqwxas wrote:
| Talking about physical devices, I see you mention tablets in
| public places. Would you make them eye-catching, so people come
| up to them, or hidden, to be spooked by someone's stare? There
| is an interesting project in Vilnius & Lublin that just shows a
| livestream on what's on the other side (it's still up today)
| https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/30/22460964
| RajT88 wrote:
| Needs Queensryche.
| mtrees_io wrote:
| In 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.
| RajT88 wrote:
| You're an album too late.
| mfragin wrote:
| I've always known that the mirror never lies.
| mtrees_io wrote:
| neckbeards and india, the winning team! good to see you
| guys again
| amelius wrote:
| Chatroulette 2.0?
| graphe wrote:
| Reminds me of this. Tl;dr ask questions, stare into eyes for 4
| minutes, fall in love.
|
| https://web.archive.org/web/20231030202322/https://www.nytim...
|
| It's not loading for me either
| 101008 wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| yeah, 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 wrote:
| This is hilarious. Can't keep a straight face for anything,
| though.
| drakonka wrote:
| Me too, I go into solid stare mode during the countdown but as
| soon as the stranger appears I can't keep it together.
| angryasian wrote:
| site worked fine for me, but Im curious as to why 7 seconds
| without blinking and what significance of that is ?
| esaym wrote:
| The Ritual of Chud
| claudiulodro wrote:
| This 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 wrote:
| Hilarious. Took a few attempts to connect but it was worth it.
| Waterluvian wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| We spend half our lives trying to find that place where the
| demons are few and apart. Enabling the camera? Defies all reason.
| noman-land wrote:
| I love it, even though I find it terrifying.
| brynbryn wrote:
| That 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
| ge96 wrote:
| heh, I had thought of an aversion therapy where if you failed to
| lock eyes with someone you get this shock.
| jiveturkey wrote:
| so 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.
| mbfg wrote:
| First thing i thought of was this
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ5zx__Iavs
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EumnijQBhw
| testmasterflex wrote:
| Didn't work :( wouldn't connect to stranger
| jelicicm wrote:
| 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!
| jelicicm wrote:
| Now got 4x in a row: stranger lost video.
| sterlind wrote:
| It gets stuck forever on "connecting to stranger..." even though
| the "# strangers watching" text keeps updating. Is it down?
|
| Looks really cool btw.
| chankstein38 wrote:
| Insanely uncomfortable for me lol I dig it.
| dmd wrote:
| I stuck with it for 75 people. Zero [presenting as] women.
| coding123 wrote:
| I think I would do it if it guaranteed a gender. It would give
| you that fall in love feeling potentially.
| dmd wrote:
| I was commenting on how this sort of thing is a sausagefest.
| You didn't need to make it creepy.
| potatoman22 wrote:
| Does 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 wrote:
| My eyes are half-closed in their relaxed state, and it's funny
| how my eyes are open and the site thinks I'm blinking.
| motbus3 wrote:
| Better read the privacy policy
| czbond wrote:
| Since you're alluding to there not being a policy - someone can
| now tie a face to an IP address.
| ranting-moth wrote:
| I can't find it?
|
| I can think of quite a few entities that are very, very
| interested in this data.
|
| Nice project though!
| czbond wrote:
| Was this based on the concept from the Big Bang Theory show?
| xwdv wrote:
| A 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.
| ryanblakeley wrote:
| Can I get a version that lets me stare at a dog's face instead?
| isoprophlex wrote:
| I swear I just played against someone who was sitting on the
| toilet, lol
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(page generated 2023-11-17 23:00 UTC)