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In Blocking Autoplay Videos, Chrome Is Breaking Many Web-Based Games (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: An update Google rolled out for its popular Chrome browser this weekend helps prevent those annoying auto-playing video ads on many websites from disturbing your day with unwanted sound as well. But that update is causing consternation for many Web-based game developers who are finding that the change completely breaks the audio in their online work. The technical details behind the problem involve the way Chrome handles WebAudio objects, which are now automatically paused when a webpage starts up, stymying auto-playing ads. To get around this, Web-based games now have to actively restart that pre-loaded audio object when the player makes an action to start the game, even if that audio wasn't autoplaying beforehand. "The standard doesn't require you to do this, so no one would have thought to do this before today," developer Andi McClure told Ars Technica. "With Chrome's new autoplay policies, developers shouldn't assume that audio can be played before a user gesture," Google told The Daily Dot in a statement. "With gaming in Chrome, this may affect Web Audio. We have shared details on what developers can do to address this, and the design for the policy was published last year."
...Nothing of value was lost.
Isn't this a solved problem at this point? It seems like all the Chrome users are suddenly rediscovering all the features that have been in Firefox for decades.
Back around Y2K, you got this feature by installing the Flashblock extension. I stopped installing it when Firefox made it so that you had to click to start any plug-in. Now it is available as "media.autoplay.enabled" setting in about:config. I guess I am in shock that anybody *doesn't* set their computer this way. I think there is even an option in Firefox to say "it's okay to let *this* site autoplay stuff."
It broke all of my Captivate tutorials that use autoplay feature as well. Chrome is really making it difficult for me to recommend it lately.
I wouldn't recommend Chrome anyway, BUT this is a positive rather than negative. What broke Captivate was Captivate with its assumption it has rights and access to autoplay.
They should use AI technology to determine if the user wants the audio to start automatically or not. Can't AI do that?
Modern app appers know that only apps can app apps, and the appiest apps are apped using Apps on Appdows 10 S! The LUDDITES at LUDDITE Google broke LUDDITE Chrome so it can't run appy app apps anymore!
Apps!
Who's writing video games in HTML anyway? Why would you write a game in HTML?
Flash and Java applets provides a method of writing games you could play in web browsers, and no one particularly cared when those technologies went away, because web games are universally terrible anyway.
Gemcraft was the king of Tower Defence games. Even that game is a proper game now and not some Flash monstrosity. Overall I agree though, web is a terrible way to write a game. There are much better ways.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
It's the modern day IE6, they can do whatever they want. Doesn't mean they should, or that they'll always be able to, but it seems likely they'll continue to do so until it starts to hurt their wallet. Or they lose interest in it.
In this case- blocking autoplay videos IS the right thing to do though.
I suspect Google has learned the lesson from IE6 too. They know it is easy for a new browser to knock them off their perch if they misbehave too badly.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Not really. Have you ever browsed/searched Youtube? You get a single screenshot and a cut off title. I can figure out if it's the video I want without playing it, but not without clicking the link. Access to the full description and comments without playing the video is helpful.
It took Google Chrome doing this to have websites like Netflix fix their broken video player when you have autoplay disabled (in firefox my case).
Vimeo is still broken though, even after countless bug reports to them over the years about it.
Wonder when Google will fix YouTube where you have to press play twice in order for it to start playing a video with autoplay disabled.
This space is not for rent.
They're in the process of disabling flash. In the version I'm running, Flash is technically supposed to ask to play, but Chrome doesn't actually display a prompt and treats it as if the plugin isn't present at all. You have to enable it for specific sites, which means you're doing an all-or-nothing approach.
In my case specifically, I disabled the option "Use hardware acceleration when available" because it was a troubleshooting step in the past (Youtube was somehow misbehaving under Chrome.) The result is some Flash/WebGL games are unplayable because they don't show critical images, such as the phasing bloons that don't show in Bloons Super Monkey 2.
Basically, those playing web games need to use Internet Explorer (version 8/9 that still supports plugins), Pale Moon, or Vivaldi. Sticking with Chrome/Firefox/Edge means those web games will die.
Developers should be used to changing rules, as annoying as they are. Maybe Google could have found another way, but if it was too easy to work around then the ads would do so?
In this case the issue appears to stem from preloading behaviour. Maybe the alternative here is if Chrome asked for permission, on behalf of the site, just like the location API does?
The main solution here seems to be to delay resource loading until there is user interaction.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
because web games are universally terrible anyway.
Pretty much this. Web games are essentially digital drugs. They're addictive by design and their entire goal is to try to get you frustrated enough to pay up for boosters and items. Nothing of value was lost.
Hey everybody. I make stuff (educational games mostly) and put it on the Internet and I don't charge anything for that stuff. I don't run ads on my websites. I use HTML5 to make my games, because I believe in open web standards, and I want my games to keep working forever.
Two of my games broke.
I can't add the click callback fix, because both games don't even use the mouse (keyboard only), and load with the game in a centered div. Neither game is fixable, unless I tell my users to click, for no reason, other than Google is stupid.
I don't like ads either, but I think everybody should follow the rules.
Load the page with an autofocused <button> element, and instruct users to press the Enter key. Chrome should be treating activations of that button as user gestures.