203 votes
Add an MMO component to allow babies to smash together
Everybody knows that babies are social creatures who enjoy interacting with other babies. But who can be bothered to get out of the house these days to bring babies together? This feature would allow babies of all shapes and sizes from around the world to smash together. A core feature of this us... more
Status:
declined
I need more understanding about what this work look like. Are we talking about remote babies (cousins?) who can see each other?
I think people are voting for this because it's silly. But is it PRACTICAL?
mpowell
I have to agree with "a dad". Implementing this will be far from trivial, and I just don't think it will see that much use.
a dad
I'm probably one of the few to say this, but I think this is a bad idea. Really, how many babies (it is called BabySmash, remember?) have a long enough attention span to make this worth the effort, let alone coordinating getting two babies online at the same time?
briankel
Good question... most of the Webcam samples use DirectShow which, from what I've read, is hard to use with WPF. See http://jmorrill.hjtcentral.com/Home/tabid/428/EntryID/15/Default.aspx. Then there's the question of the networking/conferencing piece - there are a lot of samples on CodeProject.com, you'd just have to find one that suits your needs and adapt it to suit.
shanselman
Hm...I don't want to write a video conferencing tool. Are there controls to just "do this"?
briankel
Glad you like it, Scott - I was actually joking when I first logged the suggestion, but I really like where hometoast is taking it. I think having a webcam is a great idea! You could even pipe audio back and forth. But instead of having two smash areas I'm thinking you just have one, and differentiate the shapes smashed by different babies by using different colors for each baby.
hometoast
You could split screen the two smash areas w/ webcam feed of baby. Not MMO, but it might actually be interesting to see what interaction they might have via video (as opposed to in-person). Plus you could take that data, sell it to marketing firms, and make millions.. millions I tell you!
shanselman
Holy crap, that's a good suggestion. Seriously. Talk more about what this would look like? BabySmash MMO PlayDate?