Gather Town Crash Course
Getting help and troubleshooting
Introduction
Welcome to the virtual venue for the IK 2022! In this online space we will meet throughout for lectures, events, group activities, and more generally to communicate via video chat. The service provider is called Gather Town, which is how the space is often referred to.
In case you encounter technical problems, please contact us at vik-tech@interdisciplinary-college.org .
One-time setup
Technical requirements
- a desktop computer/laptop (or mobile device*) with a microphone and camera
- a web browser* (Chrome is recommended)
- headphones, if your system does not remove audible echo (echo cancellation)
*Please note: While Gather Town also works on mobile devices (smart phones, iPads, etc.), it is highly recommended to use it on a computer/laptop with the Google Chrome browser, as this combination generally works best. If you have a choice, please consider switching to either hardware/software or ideally both.
Signing in to gather.town
You will receive an access link to the virtual IK gather.town space by Wednesday, March 2nd, 2022. When you click this link, you should see the following screen. Click on Sign in (1).
Now, gather.town should ask you for your e-mail address (2). Please provide the same email address that you used during registration! Then, click on ‘Sign in with email’ (3).
Next, open your e-mail program. You should have received a new e-mail by gather.town with a six-digit code. Please type this code into your browser window (4).
Congratulations! You should be signed in now. Whenever you open gather.town (via the link we sent to you), you should now have direct access to the virtual venue. (note: if you want to use another browser or device later on, you need to do this entire procedure again)
Note: On your first access, gather.town might present you with a tutorial. You can either enjoy this tutorial or skip it by clicking ‘Skip tutorial’.
Basic usage
Entering a space
You can enter a space in Gather Town by opening the respective URL of that space in your browser. The URL of the space of the Interdisciplinary College is being sent via email a few days before the start.
When opening a Gather Town space, you are presented with a dialog window to enter a few technical details. Usually, your browser will ask your permission to use your webcam and microphone. If you do not provide it, you can still use the system but others won’t be able to see or hear you.
- A preview of your avatar (representation of you in Gather Town).
- Click “Edit Character” to customize and continue when you are ready.
- Your name will be based on the name you entered during registration.
- Select the webcam, microphone, and speakers that Gather Town should use.
- Most of the time you don’t have to make changes here.
- If you cannot select any device, make sure that your browser has the correct permissions or check the section on getting help below.
- When you are ready, click “Join the Gathering” to enter the Gather Town space!
Viewport and navigation
- In the virtual space you (and other participants) are represented with an avatar.
- You can navigate your avatar through the virtual space with the arrow keys.
- When you move close to another avatar, a video chat is opened automatically.
- Video chats can hold two or more participants, depending on the number of avatars nearby.
- Feel free to use the space to meet with other participants outside the sessions in the schedule, too.
After you enter a Gather Town space, the biggest portion of the window will look like the following, containing a few special elements.
- your avatar (at the center of your screen)
- avatars of other participants
- one or more videos of other participants, if your avatar is close to one or more other avatars
Common features
Action bar
The horizontal bar on the bottom of the viewport provides access to a few features.
- customization of your avatar
- user settings, where you can change e.g. audio/video settings, or your status message (which defaults to “Online”)
- minimap to get an overview of the current map
- share your own screen (“screenshare”)
- send quick feedback to other users, which appears over your avatar
- With the hand-emoji you can signify you want to speak up (“raise your hand”). A small hand-icon will be shown next to your name in the user list.
- Each emoji can be selected by pressing the key on your keyboard with the respective number. E.g. press the 6-key to raise your hand.
Side bar
In the sidebar on the left (see screenshot), you have a couple of icons. Only the relevant ones are explained here, but feel free to explore yourself.
- (house)
- pin (announcements): Important announcements and hints from the organizers may appear here.
- cogwheel (settings): Find user settings, especially audio/video-related settings.
- (hammer)
- calendar (schedule): Upcoming lectures will appear here.
- speech bubbles (text chat): Messages can be sent to single people, to people nearby, or to everyone online.
- people (user list): Apart from seeing who’s online at the moment, you can click on one name to open a new menu.
- “Locate on map” will display a path on the ground showing how to find the participant.
- “Follow” will make your avatar go and find the avatar of the other participant.
Getting help and troubleshooting
- We have compiled a list of typical problems and approaches to solve them. Please have a look in the Troubleshooting guide.
- If you encounter audio or video problems related to Gather Town, please try to restart the part related to it.
- For example: reloading your browser page; mute and unmute audio and video (yours or somebody else’s); or exit and re-enter the current room.
- Have a look at Gather Town’s official general troubleshooting guides. It’s best to check the troubleshooting checklist first. If necessary, you can have a look at the guides for computers/laptops or mobile devices for more specific information.
- If you have audio/video-related problems in the Google Chrome browser, you can find more information on the help pages by Google.
- In case of general problems, feel free to contact the tech support team (recognizable by a hammer and wrench 🛠️ emoji), or the experienced IK members (recognizable by a shamrock 🍀 emoji). If you are unsure where to find people, you can write to them via the text chat or “locate” them to find their avatar, see below.
- If you are unsure where to find people, you can “locate” them, see below.
- The audio and video quality of Gather Town is generally good, but in individual cases problems might occur. If really necessary, then an alternative service you can try is the free service Jitsi (https://meet.jit.si/), but please try Gather Town first to stay accessible. A brief intro to Jitsi is on the very bottom of this document.
Tips and tricks
- In certain maps/rooms there are specific locations where you can interact with others in special ways.
- Spotlighting: When someone steps onto a spotlight tile (e.g. the stage in a lecture hall), everybody in the same room will be able to hear and see the “spotlighted” person. That person will also be able to see a few of the people in the room, but not hear them (unless they are nearby as usual).
- Private areas: Many places are marked as a “private area”, for example groups of chairs, the tiles directly surrounding a table, or the small tables in the library. Only people within the same private area are able to talk to each other and they are isolated from people outside the private area.
- You can press the G-key on your keyboard to enter “ghost mode”. You will be able to pass through other avatars, but you won’t be able to talk to them.
- You can mute and unmute your own audio and video by clicking on the respective symbols in the video preview of yourself on the bottom right.
- You can mute other people’s audio or video by clicking on the respective symbols in their video.
- To increase the size of the video of another person(s) you can click on the double-arrow on the top right of the video(s) on top of the screen. You can make the video fullscreen by clicking on it.
Overview of the space
The whole virtual space is divided into a couple of connected maps. A few maps and what landmarks they contain are listed below, but this list is not exhaustive. Feel free to explore the space. It is not dangerous to go alone, but it might be more fun to do it in company!
Map: Outside
- the starting point
- access to the main building
- access to the forum
Map: Inside
- cafeteria, to mingle between breaks (sign up here for active breaks and IK Hacks)
- fireplace, to hang out (sign up here to contribute to the Bunter Abend)
- access to the lecture halls
- access to the library
- and other places to be explored!
Multiple maps: Lecture halls
- for listening to speakers
Map: Library
- access to additional course materials and the Book of Faces
- for sharing academic resources, from papers to announcements
- for focused work on your own, but staying accessible to others
Map: Basement
- bar, for atmospheric chatting
- game hall, for entertainment
- and other places to be explored!
Map: Forum
- poster session