A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger | Hacker News Reader

A game about staring into the eyes of a stranger

stranger.video

280 pointsunderanalyzer86 comments

Ha, I went to submit a 'Show HN' about this and someone had beat me to posting it :)

I've been hacking on stranger.video for the last couple of weeks. One big design goal was to build something omegle-like that I'd be a little more comfortable using (thus there's no audio, no text chat, video is limited to faces, video cuts if it can't find a face, if you don't like what's on screen close your eyes and it disappears, etc). But I started before omegle shut down - the timing was surprisingly (and of course the shut down is sad).

The site is also intentionally set up to not feel too gamey; I think some folks experience this as "staring contest" and others as "weird art about missed connections" and I'd like it to be open to both (so, no leaderboards). I think it'd be really cool to set up some physical devices that are all hooked up to an instance of this site.

Anyway, I blogged a little bit more about the site at https://eieio.games/nonsense/game-12-stranger-video/. Happy to answer questions here ofc.

It's a great idea. It pretty directly re-humanizes the web.

Some marketing to consider...

Both "staring" and "strangers" gives it a disconcerting vibe, amplified by the dark background and the naked request to enable the webcam.

What about "See someone" or "See someone seeing you" or "See someone seeing you for a second", with a blue sky to start?

Then instead of emphasizing staring, just say something like "blink to leave".

Thus: "The webcam will show only your face, and then you will see someone seeing you. Blink to leave."

Also, in the detailed explanation, you might add that it is peer-to-peer, and no images are captured or stored anywhere else.

The "buy me coffee" link makes the site seem... incentivized, I guess. If you instead add that prompt to the information panel about you, I think you would still capture the appreciative few without putting off the many now triggered by pervasive tipping (kind of like early google text ads vs yahoo banner ads).

Thanks for the feedback! I'll think about what you said about the buy me a coffee link.

The vibe of the website is intentional though; I wanted the website to feel like a weird little hole in your computer that someone was staring at you through. You're totally right that there's a different version of this website that produces a very different vibe (and I am probably going to experiment with more ideas in this space), but this one is supposed to be disconcerting.

> The vibe of the website is intentional though

I like it. Keep it like this

I like it, too, but the "What is this?" text should be displayed on the home page, not after clicking. It would assuage most of these types of concerns.

it is displayed (or at least it's supposed to be displayed) at the same time that the "enable webcam" button is[1] - if it's not that's definitely a bug! Are you on mobile? Would love to fix whatever you're seeing.

[1] they should both fade in as soon as the facial recognition stuff loads

I definitely clicked off for this reason, the vibe and lack of explanation. Was wondering if this is some kind of biometrics capture ploy.

Not everybody wants your data, only I do.

I feel like "gazing" is a better choice than "staring" without losing too much of the humanistic sense of it. It is a little uncomfortable. It's supposed to be. That's okay because we are all human.

"Stranger" reminds us that we really don't know these people, yet we do know we share a human experience regardless.

Very cool stuff! Definitely feels like an intersection of art and programming. Not a lot of websites I pull up make me feel like I am connecting with an actual person staring back at me, however brief. Quite likely because, well, they're not. Written words are a kind of connection, one way video is a kind of connection, but two way is it's own whole thing obviously and a type of feeling that is novel in my web browsing. I know chatroulette and omegle did it first, but still the feeling is so outside of the norm of using the internet that it feels novel.

I think you definitely captured some of the intimidating vibe that unbroken direct eye contact with a stranger can create. It was very fun though. I enjoyed seeing people's facial expressions go from neutral while staring at their own face, to lighting up once they are looking directly at another person who is also trying to not blink. The eyebrow wiggles or nose contortions people pulled in order to emote while not blinking was also very fun.

I was beaming a huge smile back at folks, and eventually used a sticky note to write !iH and put it on my nose. Definitely got some reactions from that haha.

Yes, some folks are using a virtual webcam to just show a static stock image of a person's face (cowards!). But I got some unique real humans.

The disconnect is really quick, and felt like maybe there's some bugs. In terms of, folks would frequently disconnect quickly. I don't think I ever SAW anyone blink, so likely the stream is cut off immediately and the blinking frames aren't sent? I'd love to be able to see someone blink in this before they go away. Even a freeze frame of that would be nice. Grounding them going away with the human expression of blinking would help keep me in the experience, cutting away without seeing the action that caused them to "lose" breaks the experience for me.

Very cool project though! I'm not sure how often I've written code that makes a human _feel something human_ that isn't frustration haha.

A friend last night floated a similar idea re: cutting off too fast - it'd be great to get sent a slo-mo of them blinking. I think you're totally right that it cuts too quickly and would gain a lot there.

In general I am very very quick to cut and I think that contributes both to the experience feeling worse and to some of the bugs (there are definitely bugs!). The blink detection is also super finicky - blinks are just really fast, and if I dial down the sensitivity it's super easy to miss obvious blinks entirely.

I'm glad this is resonating with some folks though. I wasn't sure before building it if it would, and this gives me a reason to iterate on and improve it :)

The knowledge that I can end a given session by closing my eyes feels very good and natural. It also gives it a bit of a "game" type of experience.

But I'd encourage you to think about the experience you're trying to create, in terms of how to handle the sensitivity of blinking for ending a session. With a single blink being the end, then it becomes very easy to accidentally end a session (either via a bug in false positives, or of course just doing the human thing of blinking).

If you want to maximize time spent staring into a human's eyes without looking away, then the session could end after say 1-2 seconds of eyes being closed, or looking off screen. Then the choice to leave is a bit more intentional, and so sessions can last longer for folks who really want to see how long they can stare at a stranger without tapping out.

The video feed showing the stranger's face doesn't seem to be working, but the inputs taken from my own camera (blinks) do. Is there a way to fix that issue on my end?

I think this is likely an issue with the way that I am (trying to) set up the (ideally) peer to peer video connection. One thing you could try is to switch to a mobile device using data if you're having trouble matching with folks from your wifi; it's possible that firewalls are causing problems.

but i also definitely have more work to do to pair people in a more intelligent way so that video is likely to actually work - I put off doing this because I wasn't sure if anyone was actually going to enjoy playing!

If you don't want to potentially cause people to get into serious trouble I would caution you to do anything that reveals the IP address or any other information about the participants. I've run a cam site (ww.com/camarades.com) for close to two decades and the privacy of your participants should be your very first and top concern.

I pushed a change to route everything through my server for the time being. Thanks for flagging.

YW and thank you/props for being this responsive.

Whoa Peer to Peer connections with strangers is scary stuff that almost no one would volunteer for. I get the bandwidth reasons to do it but everyone should know this is peer to peer before connecting and know the risks of being hacked/stalked as they expose their IP to strangers. I would put a huge disclaimer about it, which I didn't see on your site.

It's WebRTC. It's all over the web and well implemented. What are you exact concerns? IP isn't GPS

I agree. No issues in exposing your IP. What exactly would be the "fear"? You connect with someone, then they use your IP to file a request with law enforcement to go get your address then use that info to "stalk" you?

I pushed a change to route everything through my server for the time being.

Huh, I (naively, I guess, although this seemed largely true of my playtesters) thought that folks would assume that this was how it worked. The site does mention that it uses WebRTC although it certainly is not a "huge disclaimer" right now. I am going to see if I can rejigger the site to just always use my TURN server for now.

I'm also happy to chat more (here, or you can email eieiogames@gmail.com).

Talking about physical devices, I see you mention tablets in public places. Would you make them eye-catching, so people come up to them, or hidden, to be spooked by someone's stare? There is an interesting project in Vilnius & Lublin that just shows a livestream on what's on the other side (it's still up today) https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/30/22460964

For the tablets I was picturing things that were pretty clearly labeled - you'd know what you're getting into. Like an exhibit or an installation (but in many places, not one). I don't think I'd want people to be surprised - I'd want them to get onto the call knowing that was the only time they'd see that person.

I love that installation! My old office had a (much less elegant) setup like this that linked some of the social / kitcheny spaces across our offices and I liked it a lot.

Oh wow I pitched this to tonari at the start of 2022 not knowing this existed. It’s beautiful

I tried it 4 times. 3 times, I got "the stranged hid their face", which I understood as they weren't showing a face at all?

Anyway, I met with someone for a few seconds and it was a strange experience. No audio, no text, only communicating through face gestures, it was fun :)

yeah, that message plays if the face detection can't find a face. It's a little wonky because on their end the face detection gets their whole webcam (and then crops to just the face) - but the cropped version is all that's transmitted to you (I thought it'd be deceptive to transmit more). SOmetimes the face detection struggles to find a face in the cropped face. But I thought cutting the video there was safer than letting it through.

Glad you had a fun and weird experience with your other play session. That's certainly the intended experience.

This is a really interesting experiment/art-project! Fascinating idea and solid implementation. There is definitely a sense of connection with the person on the other side of the screen!

Side note: the Hacker News crowd definitely looks like what I'd expect the Hacker News crowd to look like :)

I feel anxious and excited just thinking of clicking this link. But it’s a unique kind of anxious I haven’t felt in many years… I think I trace it most recently to when I met my wife in-person for the first time. That bus ride…

Without even participating you sent me on a journey. Thank you and Well done.

That was really fun! would be cool to freeze frame on the blink before disconnect. I couldn't shake the feeling I was just looking at videos until a girl with a nose ring seemed to echo my attempts at not smiling

First thing i thought of was this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ5zx__Iavs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EumnijQBhw

This is hilarious. Can’t keep a straight face for anything, though.

Me too, I go into solid stare mode during the countdown but as soon as the stranger appears I can't keep it together.

We spend half our lives trying to find that place where the demons are few and apart. Enabling the camera? Defies all reason.

From what I've gathered from reading over the years, this is actually potent and a dangerous game for the participants. Specifically, it can lead to personal bonds that aren't actually warranted by any good reason. Some may assume that this is some unconditionally good thing. It isn't.

I am curious, what is this phenomenon called?

EDIT: I believe this is called "Eye Gazing". https://www.scienceofpeople.com/making-eye-contact

Look for the section "How Eye Gaze Deepens Emotional Connection"

Is there a name for this kind of thing?

Better read the privacy policy

Since you're alluding to there not being a policy - someone can now tie a face to an IP address.

I can't find it?

I can think of quite a few entities that are very, very interested in this data.

Nice project though!

Needs Queensrÿche.

In silent lucidity, dreams take flight, A canvas of stars, a tranquil night. Whispers of moonbeams, soft and wide, Guiding the soul on a cosmic tide.

You're an album too late.

I've always known that the mirror never lies.

neckbeards and india, the winning team! good to see you guys again

I stuck with it for 75 people. Zero [presenting as] women.

What about dogs? Any presenting as dogs?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_...

What do you think the baseline gender ratio is on HN? Presumably we made up nearly all the users for the site today.

I think I would do it if it guaranteed a gender. It would give you that fall in love feeling potentially.

I was commenting on how this sort of thing is a sausagefest. You didn't need to make it creepy.

Real women are rare on the internet, especially on the tech sites

That's not true. Women have their own corners of the internet, largely social media or content hubs like youtube.

Nice thing about going to a bar is, you can stare into the eyes of a stranger, and even get to know them if you both like what the other sees.

My eyes are half-closed in their relaxed state, and it's funny how my eyes are open and the site thinks I'm blinking.

Didn’t work :( wouldn’t connect to stranger

Would've loved to have tried it, but sadly am stuck at "connecting to stranger". I guess the problem could be that I'm in Europe, so if all 3-9 strangers (that's the range of people staring during my waiting period) are in USA the ping is high so the system won't connect us.

Sounds interesting!

Now got 4x in a row: stranger lost video.

I made a game in a similar style:

https://internetfight.club/

State your hot take, then yell back and forth with a stranger until one of you rage quits.

I got paired with an opponent who didn't respond at all, but I had a blast

As an autistic person, I cannot imagine a worse form of torture. Well done!

I swear I just played against someone who was sitting on the toilet, lol

I was able to win consistently by alternate winking. It's extremely uncomfortable to continuously wink at a stranger for five minutes, but it's an unbeatable meta.

Can I get a version that lets me stare at a dog's face instead?

Does the connection close if you blink even once? Or if the algorithm can't find your face once? I was barely able to see anyone b/c of stuff that seems like this.

None of the other video appeared to be live, is that intentional?

this is definitely not intentional and is probably some combination of me doing a bad job of setting up webrtc, people having spotty internet, and people messing with the site.

A human blink is 100ms, it would be amazing if in half that time a blink could be detected and the feed immediately switch to someone new once you open your eyes again.

You may like the game "Before Your Eyes" then, it's controlled by blinking: https://www.gog.com/en/game/before_your_eyes

Depends on how long you are allowed to do the staring.

Its very commonly said that if you stare into another person's eyes for thirty seconds, you'll either fight or fuck.

It gets stuck forever on "connecting to stranger..." even though the "# strangers watching" text keeps updating. Is it down?

Looks really cool btw.

Not working for when I tried.

I wonder if I print a set of open eyes and test your game.... Will it detect the trick? Would I win or get banned?

Jokes aside, eager to test ; )

I definitely don't want to make you do any work, but if you keep having problems i'm happy to debug your setup with you (just email eieiogames@gmail.com) for as long as you have patience!

in my experience the face detection is relatively good but the eye detection is still a little spotty / could be tweaked[1]. Although within reason that's just part of the fun.

[1] https://twitter.com/thecpe/status/1725553399981044165

Looks fun, thanks for the X ref. Will try again later when back at desktop and send over a debugger if still same issue!

Nice idea!

Chatroulette 2.0?

I love it, even though I find it terrifying.

Reminds me of this. Tl;dr ask questions, stare into eyes for 4 minutes, fall in love.

https://web.archive.org/web/20231030202322/https://www.nytim...

It's not loading for me either

Hilarious. Took a few attempts to connect but it was worth it.

Was this based on the concept from the Big Bang Theory show?

The Ritual of Chüd

tried the app for like half an hour staring at my own eyes.

2 strangers staring

ready?

stranger lost connection

repeat

don't know if it can be improved in any way, i guess there should be a way

site worked fine for me, but Im curious as to why 7 seconds without blinking and what significance of that is ?

heh, I had thought of an aversion therapy where if you failed to lock eyes with someone you get this shock.

so it's literally a staring contest. which is great. it would be better, though, as an eye contact contest. first to look away "loses" and then disconnected. also needs to be gamified. when you connect you first see the stats of the other party. so you know what you're up against and try to beat them.

Or it could just be.

I can only see my own video :(

Insanely uncomfortable for me lol I dig it.

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