Comment Response from Team Dodgeball (Score 1) 227
Hey all -
Just wanted to take a second to respond to some of the comments here...
Q: How does dodgeball know where I am?
A: Dodgeball is all about the opt-in. You tell us where you are and *then* we'll tell your friends where you are, look for nearby friends-of-friends, etc. This is obviously not the slickest way to gather people's locations, but it's the only way that works with the phones that people carry in their pockets today (and hence the only way to get a critical mass of users).
Q: Why didn't you make it work with GPS?
A: To my knowledge, there is only one phone in the US with an embedded GPS chipset (Motorola i730). While we could build a Java app to work on this one phone, it's much more important to us to focus on platform (text messaging) that is more ubiquitous so that everyone can play.
Q: Why didn't you make it work w/ E-911 / AGPS?
A: Sure, every phone has E-911 built into it these days, but good luck trying to get that location data from the carriers. At best, the carriers will allow J2ME / BREW applications to access that data in the near future (for a per-lookup transaction cost for sure), but even if the carriers do release that data, you still need (a) people to carry Java / BREW phones (we're getting closer), and (b) people who know how to download apps onto those next-gen phones (still a ways off).
Q: Why didn't you use bluetooth?
A: Bluetooth may be really good at finding things that are happening with 35 feet of you, but in most cases the interesting things are happening a few blocks away.
Q: This would still be so much cooler if I didn't have to tell you my location every time.
A: Agreed. Though even when passive location-tracking is available on phones, no one is going to want to carry Big Brother in their pocket. Location tracking is going to have to be as easy to turn on/off as the ringer on your phone - but until that happens, the focus has to be entirely on the opt-in.
Q: Things like this will only work in places like NYC.
A: Not true. Dodgeball works really well in two ways: (1) as an invite tool (tell your friends where you are and they'll come meet you) and (2) as a form of presence (even if I am in for the night, it's nice to know what everyone is up to - in the same way it's nice to look at my AIM Buddy List and see who's online / awake).
In NYC, if I am downtown and get a message that someone is on the Upper West Side, I am certainly not going to hop in a cab and chase them down. But, if I get a message that a friend is two blocks away, chances are I'll call them /send them a text and tell them to come on over. It's not that dodgeball requires a huge city to work, it just requires pockets of social density within a given area.
Q: What about the "dodgeball becoming annoying" argument?
A: On the web side, Dodgeball works just like every other social network: You request me as a friend, I approve the friend request, we're now considered "friends". When you broadcast your location, you're only pinging people in your 1 degree network of friends. Once we know where you are, we'll attempt to find nearby friends-of-friends (not more than 2 degrees away).
Since we started building the site, we're run up against a number of "social bugs". For example, the "ex-girlfriend bug": Your ex-girlfriend sends you a friend request. You can't say "No" because then you hurt their feelings. You can't say "Yes" because then they'll know where you are all the time. So we built in tools that allow you to "manage friends" - to block people from sending / receiving messages to you without making it obvious that you've blocked that person. On the web site, even if a user has been "managed", the two still appear connected as friends.
We've built dodgeball so that you're only get pinged with messages that are relevant to either your social (e.g. friends) or geographic (e.g. 10 blocks) context. When certain people becoming annoying you can always "manage" them. When you decide to turn in early for the evening you can also send us an "off" message that opts you out of getting messages for the rest of the night.
Anyway, I hope that clears up any confusion - drop me an email if you have any other questions / suggestions.
Dennis Crowley
Founder, dodgeball.com
Just wanted to take a second to respond to some of the comments here...
Q: How does dodgeball know where I am?
A: Dodgeball is all about the opt-in. You tell us where you are and *then* we'll tell your friends where you are, look for nearby friends-of-friends, etc. This is obviously not the slickest way to gather people's locations, but it's the only way that works with the phones that people carry in their pockets today (and hence the only way to get a critical mass of users).
Q: Why didn't you make it work with GPS?
A: To my knowledge, there is only one phone in the US with an embedded GPS chipset (Motorola i730). While we could build a Java app to work on this one phone, it's much more important to us to focus on platform (text messaging) that is more ubiquitous so that everyone can play.
Q: Why didn't you make it work w/ E-911 / AGPS?
A: Sure, every phone has E-911 built into it these days, but good luck trying to get that location data from the carriers. At best, the carriers will allow J2ME / BREW applications to access that data in the near future (for a per-lookup transaction cost for sure), but even if the carriers do release that data, you still need (a) people to carry Java / BREW phones (we're getting closer), and (b) people who know how to download apps onto those next-gen phones (still a ways off).
Q: Why didn't you use bluetooth?
A: Bluetooth may be really good at finding things that are happening with 35 feet of you, but in most cases the interesting things are happening a few blocks away.
Q: This would still be so much cooler if I didn't have to tell you my location every time.
A: Agreed. Though even when passive location-tracking is available on phones, no one is going to want to carry Big Brother in their pocket. Location tracking is going to have to be as easy to turn on/off as the ringer on your phone - but until that happens, the focus has to be entirely on the opt-in.
Q: Things like this will only work in places like NYC.
A: Not true. Dodgeball works really well in two ways: (1) as an invite tool (tell your friends where you are and they'll come meet you) and (2) as a form of presence (even if I am in for the night, it's nice to know what everyone is up to - in the same way it's nice to look at my AIM Buddy List and see who's online / awake).
In NYC, if I am downtown and get a message that someone is on the Upper West Side, I am certainly not going to hop in a cab and chase them down. But, if I get a message that a friend is two blocks away, chances are I'll call them
Q: What about the "dodgeball becoming annoying" argument?
A: On the web side, Dodgeball works just like every other social network: You request me as a friend, I approve the friend request, we're now considered "friends". When you broadcast your location, you're only pinging people in your 1 degree network of friends. Once we know where you are, we'll attempt to find nearby friends-of-friends (not more than 2 degrees away).
Since we started building the site, we're run up against a number of "social bugs". For example, the "ex-girlfriend bug": Your ex-girlfriend sends you a friend request. You can't say "No" because then you hurt their feelings. You can't say "Yes" because then they'll know where you are all the time. So we built in tools that allow you to "manage friends" - to block people from sending / receiving messages to you without making it obvious that you've blocked that person. On the web site, even if a user has been "managed", the two still appear connected as friends.
We've built dodgeball so that you're only get pinged with messages that are relevant to either your social (e.g. friends) or geographic (e.g. 10 blocks) context. When certain people becoming annoying you can always "manage" them. When you decide to turn in early for the evening you can also send us an "off" message that opts you out of getting messages for the rest of the night.
Anyway, I hope that clears up any confusion - drop me an email if you have any other questions / suggestions.
Dennis Crowley
Founder, dodgeball.com
