The Hearth

The Hearth is where you talk with the people on your servers: voice, chat and who’s about, on every page of the panel. It sits in a bottom corner as a small pill with a fireplace. Click it, or press Alt+C, to open it. Inside are three tabs (Voice, Chat and People) and a gear for its settings.

The fire on the pill burns as its server does: cold when the server is stopped, a calm fire while it runs, roaring while others are about. A number counts what’s unread.

Voice

Talk with people on a server, or in the Lobby (the panel’s own room, for everyone with a server here) from your browser.

• Click a room to join voice there; Join voice joins Everyone.
• Mute with Alt+M, Deafen with Alt+D. Leave ends it.
• Voice stays on as you move between the panel’s pages.
• People in the game hear you in your room. A browser has no place in the world, so it doesn’t join the game’s nearby voice.

Your browser asks for the microphone the first time. The panel must be on HTTPS for that.

Chat

• Lobby: everyone with a server on this panel.
• Servers: each server’s chat, with what’s said in the game and from the panel. Writing here goes into the game too.
• People: your direct messages, and anyone asking to message you.

Type @name to whisper a player in the game or message someone on the panel. Alt+U opens the newest unread conversation.

People

Everyone on your servers: in the game, in voice, or with the panel open, and who played lately. A mark on each face says what they’re doing: green playing, blue in voice, gray on the panel, amber away, red do not disturb. Click someone to message them, or find them on the map.

Friends, at the top, lists your friends and anyone you blocked.

Keeping it open

The pin in the Hearth’s header keeps it open down the side of the page, as a drawer. Drag its edge to make it wider; ⇄ moves it to the other side.

Privacy

In the gear’s Privacy settings:

• Do not disturb: no chimes or pop-ups, here or in the game. Messages still arrive.
• Status: a line about what you’re up to.
• Show me as: online, friends only, or hidden.
• Who may ask to message me: anyone, people on my servers, or nobody.

In the game

With Stoke Client in Valheim, direct messages and the Lobby reach you in the game’s chat: /dm name text writes one, /r text answers the last, /lobby text writes in the Lobby.