Possible changes to "Games You Play"

[Ronin Storm]

In the light of the new PlayFinder feature, I'm considering a big revamp of the Games You Play feature.

The biggest substantial change is that I'm planning on cutting all the lists down to only include games that have an online multiplayer component and then adding in or separating from the "XYZ series" items the ones that are likely to be interesting to THNers.

Reason for this is twofold:

1. Shorter lists are easier for everyone to manage, from new members filling them in to admins figuring out whether we've already got the game in the lists.
2. The current set of lists weren't really designed with getting you a game, but a cut-down set would be purely focused on helping you find other players / them find you without any confusion.

Happy for questions and suggestions but I'd appreciate it you'd vote your thoughts in the poll.

 

[thatbloke]

Hmmmm I'm not sure that removing particular games would achieve the required effect.

Perhaps re-organising the lists might help? Perhaps a list of games that are the main interests of THN at that time could be shown more prominently, and then in addition to that have an "other" or "show more" button that would show all of the other options available for selection.

So, for instance, games that would make it into the main games section would include (but not be limited to): BF2, BF2142, PR, CoH, WoW, CnC3. You could then have a different category/section for the other (less played/popular) games.

I feel that removing certain games may stifle interest on THN in some of them as people may not feel that there are people to talk to about them.

 

[Ronin Storm]

A big problem with the lists is that there is no portability between them. If I remove an option one place and add it in another then it may as well be a new game. As such a "main interests" list will go out of step with our actual main interests but the data captured in it can't be moved.

Unfortunately, there's a second problem with the current system, based on vB's profile checkboxes -- it only supports a limited (20?) number of options per checkbox list, hence the need to break them apart.

The issue, for me, is not about whether people feel they can talk or not... they will or won't anyhow, given past experience. The issue is whether people can actually find people to play games with and, in general, I feel that our current list of games does not work well towards that purpose.

Were I a more brutal admin, I'd just delete all the lists and start again with a new set. However, as a more pragmatic admin, I'd like to cull the games that aren't actually playable with others (or just so out of date or crap they aren't played by THNers at all).

 

[Ronin Storm]

I'm getting a general, mild feel here of "please don't take away the diversity", which is cool.

In which case, what I think I'll do is tweak the descriptions some and look for places where I need to split things apart.

I suggest to everyone that they mainly only tick things in their profiles that they'd actually be up for playing if someone came along and offered them a game. For example, my list is currently 6 games long.

I'll give the descriptions and field names some thought and post up some changes that keep the diversity in place.

 

[BiG D]

I would like to see it be just like that, it would make it easier to judge what people will actually play. If people want to list every game they like, maybe we need a textbox like the computer specs in the profile...

 

[Ronin Storm]

If people want to list every game they like, maybe we need a textbox like the computer specs in the profile...

That's a good idea. Nice alternative. Keep the searching simple and contained but still open the floor for free expression.

Thatbloke, and others, would that help you keep diversity and expressiveness?

 

[thatbloke]

Yep, it could also open the possibility to variations on things, such as putting Interests and other things in there, e.g. a card came which you would not perhaps be able to play online, but may be able to find someone to meet IRL and set up a game or something.

Kind of like a more customisable search field for your profile

 

[Ronin Storm]

Knowing that the best place to ask/answer questions is in a post and not in the shoutbox...

how exactly are the groups in the play finder split in the back end if they are at all?

Currently there are five checkbox lists. These are vBulletin profile fields, which extend all our profiles from the basic fields. The data is implemented as bit array and stored as an integer.

vBulletin limits the maximum length of a checkbox list, presumably because too many checkbox options will cause the bit array's integer to overflow a (medium?) integer.

It's a bit restrictive but it's high performance, relatively speaking.

Make sense?