Power Up is a new game, and the community is still growing. Part of building a community is getting its members to communicate with each other. With Power Up, there are some limitations on getting players talking to each other, because we don’t have a chat-box at the tables.
The reasons for not having a chat-box are varied and fantastically numerous. The most obvious is that historically, the chat-box in online poker has been filled with some of the worst examples of human interaction. Ever. Some of the interactions I’ve had in my many years of playing online poker are far too vulgar to publish, so I’m really not surprised that Power Up did away with a chat-box entirely.
The problem that this leaves behind is, how do players interact with each other? Building a community requires communication, and how can we do that when we can’t message each other? We do have the Hearthstone style pre-made message options in the client. These do allow us basic communication with other players, but it’s so limited it’s barely used.
As I was playing some Power Up games today, I actually got into a “conversation” with another player. We were using these pre-made messages to commiserate over bad beats, and to wish each other good luck during run outs. For me, it was a throw back to playing online in 2003, when friendly banter was still a thing at the online poker tables, and it was a good feeling.
This interaction ran over two games, and it put me in a good mood. I was playing and running horribly, probably something to do with the freezing cold weather we’re currently experiencing in my part of the UK. I tried to continue the banter in other games, with rather limited success. The elation I felt after interacting with another human being over the internet was squashed, leaving the freezing cold from Siberia to creep back in.
That’s the difference between 2003 and now. Back in the “good old days” recreational players were open to talking to each other. It was a hold over from playing live, where table talk was part of the experience. You made new friends at the tables, both live and online. I used to meet up with a collection of online players from around the world to play a casual game before my grinding started, and the chat-box was a lot more active than the chips were.
Today, even at the live tables, players are silent, headphones in, listening to music, podcasts or whatever, not interacting with the other players. No wonder it’s a difficult sell to get new players engaged with the game.
Power Up has a real chance to re-start this player interaction. Maybe a promotion to use these built in messages, or maybe a player forum to allow players to engage with each other? I’d also love to see Power up games added to Home Games sooner rather than later. The option to play your friends is a throwback to the old-fashioned home game scenario that got so many of us into the game to start with. We at PlayPowerUp.com want to offer Power Up players a space to build that community, and our Discord channel is where we will be looking to do that.
We want your thoughts and views on the game, and we’re looking to start the discussion. Follow us on Twitter and throw us a question. I’ll get you a response as soon as I can, but let’s start this community growing.
