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  UTD Matcher key features

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  UTD Matcher roadmap

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  UTD Matcher Discord icon

Inspiration

As incoming freshmen discovering UT Dallas, the biggest downside we came across was how socially dead it was. We all noticed this first-hand after joining some large Discord / Patio / GroupMe servers, only to find most of them inactive despite the large member count. Even current students at UT Dallas acknowledged this issue, and its need to be fixed. This inspired us to create a matcher bot to solve the two largest issues we observed in the servers—it is far too impersonal and daunting to try to make friends through these means. An odd sentiment considering the large number of commuter students.

What it does

To address this issue, we created a chat room feature that allows users to specify the number of people and topics for the other members to join if interested. This chat automatically sends a prompt to encourage conversation and closes if left inactive for five minutes, alerting the room members that it closed so they can continue elsewhere. Users can also create a game chat that allows users to compete and chat over Discord in games like tic-tac-toe and hangman. If the user wants a more personal experience, they can use our anonymous chat feature by dm-ing the bot to directly chat with another anonymous user. The users will be hidden to make meeting new people less daunting, and the users can choose to match, revealing the names if both match, or quit to end the conversation.

How we built it and challenges we ran into

We built this bot in python using Visual Studio Code's liveshare extension so we could collaborate in real time. We used the discord.py framework to code this bot and tested it extensively through a mock discord server, frequently referencing the discord.py API. The discord.py framework was new to us, so we struggled to find the correct methods and events that correspond to our features. Additionally, this was our first hackathon so we struggled with creating a plan that we could finish in 36 hours.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Although we did have struggles, there are many things we are proud of. Our favorite feature is the anonymous chat option because of its ability to bypass the fear of failure that many initially face, preventing them from reaching out. We brainstormed many different ideas to solve this issue, and ended with the anonymous chat idea because of its elegance and effectiveness.

What we learned

Along with learning how to code a Discord bot from scratch, we all grew our soft skills. We had to practice communicating effectively to divide the work and provide constructive criticism, while also practicing time management through setting soft deadlines for each person's part. Within python, we learned asynchronous programming, dictionaries and lists, and object-oriented programming for modular games.

What's next for UTD Matcher

In the future, we plan to add a myriad of features to make the bot more multipurpose. We want to add a personal account system with user tags for users to search for friends based on similar interests. We also want to create a RSVP system with notifications to make planned events, like workshops or game nights, easier to discover and remember. Lastly, we plan to create a companion website that will serve as a hub for feedback and bot information, while also allowing non-discord users to use our features.

We are aiming to work closely with the UT Dallas discord teams to integrate our bot into their servers after the hackathon. We hope that we can reinvigorate the discord servers and contribute to making UT Dallas a more social and friendly college by creating a bot that can aid in better channeling the activity of the commuter student population.

Built With

• discord
• discord.py
• github
• python
• visual-studio