Mute Pace Partners

Why not try messages in Watopia and no messages in Makuri. ( or vice versa ) People can choose which they want without anyone really losing out ?

2 Likes

Maybe you guys could have an intern write some more unique dialogue for the bots? I liked how the original Pace Partners each had a bit (even if it was a very small bit) of their own personality.

2 Likes

Please tread carefully with this, partial location, proximity based chat can mess up the social flow and leadership of large group rides.

This really never got satisfactorily addressed, most just learned to live with it…

4 Likes

We haven’t changed anything to do with chat and it’s always (or at least for as long as I can remember, that you would only see chat within a certain radius.

Going to turn off chat in Makuri (for Pace Partners) next week.

9 Likes

Thank you James!

My apologies If I misunderstood, but I thought your post mentioned that you would be looking at changing the way chat functions later in the year. My response is about being careful if/when you do that. The chat radius definitely was changed in January 2021. It was broken in a number of other ways as well by an update, some of those things were fixed. But chat visibility was never restored to the way it worked previously. It’s detailed in the thread, which is crazy long. So I don’t expect to go through it, I just ask that when Zwift makes changes to this moving forward that it check and test with clubs that have large public group rides and their ride beacons and sweeps to make sure that changes function in well in a way that works for larger group rides. Thanks.

3 Likes

Just want to mention that Eric confirmed that group events should allow you to view all chat. At least that’s how I interpreted it.

I’m not sure if this happened, but I’ll try to find out.

ChatGPT, huh?

Write a series of one sentence messages that an automated bot could use to help motivate people during a bike ride–don’t be repetitive.

  1. “You got this!”
  2. “Every pedal stroke brings you closer to your goal.”
  3. “Don’t give up now, the best is yet to come.”
  4. “Remember why you started this ride in the first place.”
  5. “The hills may be tough, but the view from the top is worth it.”
  6. “Embrace the challenge, it will make you stronger.”
  7. “Think about how great you’ll feel when you cross the finish line.”
  8. “Every mile is a milestone. Keep pushing forward.”
  9. “You are capable of achieving great things, don’t forget that.”
  10. “Don’t let a little sweat stop you from reaching your potential.”

Do the same thing, but now make them funny.

  1. “Don’t stop now, you’re almost to the top of this hill… or maybe it’s just a really big ant hill.”
  2. “If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right.”
  3. “Pedal faster, the ice cream truck is playing that song because they’re mocking you.”
  4. “Don’t worry about your speed, just look at it as a really leisurely jog with really fancy shoes.”
  5. “Remember, every time you pedal, you’re burning off another slice of pizza from last night’s cheat meal.”
  6. “If this ride was easy, it would be called ‘sitting on the couch’.”
  7. “You’re not lost, you’re just on a really long scenic detour.”
  8. “Just think, when you’re finished you can finally sit down and not use your legs for a change.”
  9. “If you’re feeling tired, just remember that you’re training to become a superhero.”
  10. “Come on, you didn’t pay all that money for a fancy bike just to let it collect dust in the garage.”

Do the same thing, but like a Marine drill sergeant (without all the swearing)

  1. “Drop and give me 20 pedal strokes, maggot!”
  2. “Quit your complaining and put some effort into it, recruit!”
  3. “I said ride, not take a leisurely stroll!”
  4. “Do you want to be the last one to cross the finish line, private?”
  5. “Get that gear up, soldier! Do you want to be left behind?”
  6. “Do you think this is a vacation? I said pedal, now move!”
  7. “I don’t want to hear any excuses, just get it done!”
  8. “You’re not tired, you’re just weak and need to push harder!”
  9. “Get your head in the game, marine! No slacking allowed!”
  10. “I said ride, not stop and smell the roses! Keep moving, now!”

(It actually threw an error when I asked for ‘the same thing, but like the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket’)

6 Likes

that actually isn’t too far off what you’d expect them to say

I hate to say it but ANY repeating message is going to be a beat down after you hear it a few hundred times. The best solution remains, mute them or silence them.

1 Like

At one point I worked with the person who used to own the Tay Chat Bot. They would tell you that using an AI for conversation on a public platform can definitely go wrong sometimes :slight_smile:

2 Likes

For sure. They’re programmed by humans, so they aren’t immune to things like racism, sexism, etc. I’ve been using Dall-E quite a bit lately, and it sometimes offers up some cringey images of women when I’m just asking for something innocuous. Definitely needs to be curated.

The other day I tried the no HUD mode on a pace partner ride. Soooo much better (and it wasn’t even about the pace partner messages, the UI just gets awfully busy in general, and people can write inane messages just as well if not even more so).

Damn, that’s impressive. The first 10 are pretty generic but the more specific ones are great. “Pedal faster, the ice cream truck is playing that song because they’re mocking you,” actually made me lol :joy:.

2 Likes

Chat bots are something I manage IRL, but mine are for helping people use a system outside of hours.

It takes a lot of constant work to look at the stats and keep updating the phrases and the keywords to make everything remain relevant.

Behind these are systems like genesys DX.

For Zwift use if you could marry something like that with some AI (with a lot of careful watching it to start with), this would be ideal.

The bots are still repeating the same annoying messages on Makuri.

Several hundred messages later I can confirm they are still going strong.

1 Like

Yeah - Our creative team want to be able to re-write the messages we set up in the first place, hopefully with each one telling a bit of a story so hopefully they’re less annoying to you.