My time as a Chat Host - part 2

Ever been in chat at an online bingo chat room and the Chat Host / Monitor has sprinkled you with some bingo lucky dust? Ever thought "Blimey, that must have taken ages to type" well let me tell you how it is done for those of you who don't know.

Available across the internet are Macro programmes, some are free and some you have to purchase. The one most sites use is Keyboard Express but my personal tool of choice was Perfect Keyboard.

For someone who isnt really internet conversant opening this new program could be a real shock - but luckily for me I've worked with computers all my working life. The program works on the principal that you use a "keystroke" that will set off a series of words, letters or numbers that have been pre-programmed into the software.

Let me talk you through an example I used to use when working at an online bingo site. Obviously all chat hosts / monitors are individuals and these "macros" vary from site to site but the principal is the same even if the program used is different.

All the images shown for this example are taken from Perfect Keyboard Pro. You will notice that you have 5 different tabs in which to work.

Tab 1: General

 

This is where you would name your Macro, in this example I used Good Luck 4

Tab 2: Trigger

 

In this tab this is where you set your "Text Shortcut" (the keystrokes used to set off the macro) or your "HotKey" (the key you press to start the macro).
The difference between a text shortcut and a hotkey is simple - the text shortcut is a sequence of keys, i.e more than one key - hotkey - just one key to press. Obviously when working at an online bingo site you would need numerous Macro's, some for chat games, congratulatory macros and lucky dust etc so you are restricted as to how many hotkeys are available. When setting a hotkey or a text shortcut you really do need to be sure that you dont use keys you use alot.

For example: As you can see for the Good Luck 4 macro I have used the text shortcut "gl4" this means that I have to press g l then 4 before the macro would run, but if I had chosen simply "g" as a hotkey then everytime I typed the letter g the macro would run. So in the following sentence

"WTG GINGERGIRL - CHAT GAME WINNER"

The sentence would have appeared like this in chat

I can only speak from my own experience, and each Chat Host / Monitor and each program varies but I always used the settings "Expand automtically" - this means that when g l and 4 are hit then the macro runs automatically - and "case insensitive" - although alot of Chat Hosts / Monitors will type in Caps sometimes we don't so you want the macro to work on G L 4 or g l 4

Tab 3: Macro

 

In this tab you will actually input everything you wish to show in the chat box. As chat boxes on all different bingo software platforms vary, the spacing is important. Chat Hosts worth their weight in gold will spend the time in a test room ensuring that their macros show well to the players. Some online bingo sites have different screens for their chat hosts - they may not see the tickets or the chat screen may be wider than that of players - so time has to be spent making sure it looks right on a PLAYERS chat screen not a CM's chat screen.

Tab 4: Settings

 

This tab I only used for two different settings. The first one being "Run Macro in separate process" This means for each line of text it would be like hitting the enter button, so you CM name appears at the beginning of each line of text. This is an example:-

 

If you dont use that setting then all lines of text appear in one set.

I have no idea what the "Paste macro (pass text through clipboard) means - but my macros wouldnt work without it! LOL

As for Tab 5 - I never changed any settings in this section.

After all those settings have been done, when I was in the chat room and I wanted to "sprinkle lucky dust" on the players, I simply hit gl4 and this would appear

 

So you see, as Chat Hosts / Monitors we don't sit and type everything but we do spend a lot of things trying to get things just right to improve your online bingo experience.