AJAX Commentary

How It Works

Auto-Refresh System:

• JavaScript timer polls the server every 5 seconds, flat. There's no option to speed it up or slow it down, everyone gets the same cadence
• Fetches only the comments newer than the last one you saw, without reloading the page
• Updates commentary div with new content (no page reload)
• Automatically skips polling entirely while the browser tab is hidden (Page Visibility API), then polls immediately on refocus
• On a full page load, the first comment you have not seen before is marked with a divider: a bold, gold-edged row that shows where you left off in a busy room
• Resets timer for next poll

Posting Comments:

• Type comment in form
• Submit via AJAX form submission (plain JavaScript, not jQuery)
• Comment posted instantly without page reload
• Form clears after successful post

Inactivity Detection:

• Page time counter tracks time since last user interaction
• Idle-pause timing is derived from your session's inactivity timeout (15 minutes), not a fixed 6-minute window
• Idle that long and auto-refresh pauses behind a resume pill: "Live Update stopped due to inactivity, click here to reactivate it." If messages landed while the pill was up, it counts them instead and reads "▲ 4 new messages," so the backlog announces its own size
• Separately, when the session itself is near expiry, the notice becomes a warning with a link to stay logged in; let the session lapse and it becomes a link to log back in
• Click any of them → Resets the session timer (or logs you back in) and resumes auto-refresh

Nothing for Players to Adjust

There is no "Live Chat" preferences panel and no refresh-speed dropdown. The 5-second poll interval is hardcoded for every player: you can't speed it up, slow it down, or turn it off from a preferences page. The only thing you personally control is your session's inactivity timeout, and even that is the same for everyone (normally 15 minutes), not a per-player choice.

Benefits

For Users:

• Real-time chat experience without manual refresh
• Faster conversation flow in village commentary
• No lost text when typing during page refresh
• Consistent, predictable update speed (5 seconds, same for everyone)

For Server:

• Lower bandwidth than full page reloads
• Polling stops entirely for hidden/background tabs, and idle-pauses in step with your session timeout, saving server resources
• Efficient JSON responses vs full HTML pages

Limitations

• Requires JavaScript: No live chat without JS enabled (falls back to manual refresh)
• Fixed Refresh Rate: Everyone polls every 5 seconds; there's no way to speed it up or slow it down
• No Offline Queuing: If connection lost, comments don't queue (user must refresh)
• Session-Length Timeout: Polling idle-pauses on the same clock as your session's inactivity timeout (15 minutes), and you'll need to click through the "still there?" prompt to keep it going

Comparison to Manual Refresh

Without AJAX Commentary:

• Must manually click "Refresh" or reload page
• Lose typed text when refreshing
• Full page reload every time
• Slower conversation

With AJAX Commentary:

• Auto-refresh every 5 seconds
• Keep typed text during refresh
• Only commentary section updates
• Real-time chat feel

Strategy

What You Can Actually Control:

• Nothing about the refresh rate: it's fixed at 5 seconds for every player, so there's nothing to tune here
• Your session's inactivity timeout (server default: 15 minutes) governs when idle polling pauses; staying active in the game resets it naturally

If You Want to Avoid It:

• Disable JavaScript in your browser (falls back to manual, page-reload-based commentary, with everything else that implies)
• Otherwise, live polling is just how commentary sections behave now; there's no in-game toggle to turn it off