Host vs guest controls: who should run the queue
Guest controls are a single toggle with a large social effect. Off, VideoKe feels like a DJ booth: people add songs, you run playback. On, it feels like passing the remote around the couch. Both are valid. The mistake is flipping it on because it sounds “more fun” before you know the group.
What the host always keeps
Even with guest controls off, joiners can still request to enter (you approve), add tracks with +, and use chat. You keep skip, play now, reorder, and remove. You also keep kick and the ability to close the room by leaving.
That split is enough for most family nights and almost every office social. People still participate. They cannot delete someone else’s turn or skip a shy cousin mid-chorus.
What guest controls add
When you enable Guest controls, approved people get the same playback and queue powers you have: skip, play now, drag, remove. They still cannot kick others or take hosting. You can turn the toggle off again without restarting.
Use this when:
- The group is small (roughly five or fewer) and everyone already knows each other.
- You are singing, not managing, and you trust them not to skip you.
- You are remote across cities and cannot babysit the queue from a noisy kitchen.
Do not use this when:
- Kids and adults share a queue and “play now” becomes a weapon.
- You invited plus-ones you have not met.
- Two people already argued about whose song is next.
A simple rule that works
Start off. Get three songs deep. If nobody is pestering you to skip, you can leave it off all night. If you are tired of being the remote, turn it on and say out loud: *skip is for dead tracks, not for songs you personally dislike.* If that sentence gets ignored, turn it off. You are not being authoritarian; you are keeping the night from becoming a skip war.
Queue etiquette is what you say in that sentence, written down.
Play now vs skip
Skip means “this performance is over.” Play now means “interrupt and jump this title to the stage.” Play now is the nuclear option. In host-only mode, only you can nuke. That is often the point of hosting a birthday: the guest of honor’s song actually plays, instead of getting buried under seven meme tracks.
If guest controls are on, agree that play now is for the birthday song, a technical failure, or a group shout that is obviously unanimous. It is not for “I changed my mind.”
Recovering a wrecked queue
Turn guest controls off. Remove the joke pile-up from Up next (confirm each remove if the UI asks). Drag the next fair song to the top, or play now once to reset the stage. Leave the toggle off. People can still add to the end.
If someone is the problem, kick is allowed. Kicking is session-only; they are not banned from VideoKe. Tell them in chat or in the group chat so it does not feel like a silent disappearance.
Hosting while you also want to sing
You can sing as host. Put the laptop where you can reach skip after your song, or enable guest controls for one trusted person (“Maya has the remote”). That is more stable than giving the remote to the whole room. Device setup — who owns speakers, who should mute — is in Speakers, microphones, and the host device.
The mechanical button list lives in Room codes, join requests, and the shared queue. This page is only the policy: start closed, open if the group earns it, close it again without drama.