Game Calendar revision

[Goblin-King]

The Game Calendar has been fixed and slightly revised.
We've added the possibility to delete campaigns for GMs. The main list is also no longer displaying public games that have been flagged as not accepting players as it caused unnecessary clutter.
Players can now resign from games they are active in.
There was a bug with the community home page summaries, that was fixed so they should work a bit more reliably there now.
There's now a 6 hour tolerance in showing up to a session. All times are relative to your time zone (set in the user profile management section). Please make sure it is correct if you use the game calendar.
The listing page has slightly more information regarding game player counts. It now separately lists the number of spots available if that is less than the minimum number. This feature regards spots that have either been invited by the GM directly, or accepted by them, as reserved.
Games with a number of accepted and invited players that is higher than the maximum player count are displayed with a red maximum player count to warn prospective players of this. Games with less players than the minimum count have the minimum count number in bold.I admit the Number of players column is a bit cryptic as it is. Please comment on it and feel free to make suggestions.

We welcome all feedback regarding the functionality of the system. We are planning some additional improvements that let you find a game based on the rules system as well as some additional tags faster, as well.

[ProfMarks]

Fantastic news and a great boon to the community!! Well done Tero.

[Highway Man]

Looks pretty good and the options look good as well.

I'm not sure if it does this already, but will inactive games vanish after a certain amount of time?

[mr_h]

Maybe a last "active" date? That way you know if a game has been abandoned and the GM hasn't come back to clear it out? Or even a Game System column (so that you can sort out the ones you don't want?)

Also, I mentioned this to someone over at FUG, but it might be useful to mention it here too.

Is there a way you can add a "Looking for Group' section as well, for the players that is? It'd be a good way to gauge interest, as well as clean up and better organize all those folks looking for games. I figured it'd just need categories like: Name, Contact Info, Timezone, Game Systems willing to play (D&D variants, Gurps, any, etc), Avaiable times. If it's searchable, even better.

Like I said, it might clean some stuff up for the forums and people looking, as well as give GM's who are looking for replacement players another place to look.

[Spyke]

That was quick! Nice work.

Spyke

[Mellock]

Hurrah! :)

[PrahvianMan]

I can't find a way to delete or edit the discussion topics and things are starting to get a little cluttered and long there. I would like to be able to correct at least one of my discussion entrys and delete some old ones.

[Goblin-King]

I can't find a way to delete or edit the discussion topics and things are starting to get a little cluttered and long there. I would like to be able to correct at least one of my discussion entrys and delete some old ones.

Any feedback regarding the implementation of this would be welcome. The discussion area wasn't really originally intended for serious matters. In that vein, I'd like to perhaps limit the discussion to a minimum of 10 of the latest messages, filtered to include only ones from the last month if it gets longer than that. For more persistent information, the GM would use announcements.

Are there any convincing arguments to the contrary?

As far as editing goes, it is hard to communicate changed entries to other users returning to the discussion after an edit, so I'd recommend simply correcting things in another message.

[PrahvianMan]

Ok, but there is no documentation on what the discussion area was intended for and "dicusssion" is wide open to interpretation and use. Most every other type of message area allows for preview, editing and deletion of the message. The handiness of the discussion area is that you don't have to click on a link to see its contents.

I think the GMs should at least be allowed to delete discussion entries. Especially if they might be vulgar or not fit, in his judgement, or old and past usefulness in his estimation.

[trevorgall]

Some nice changes.

Would love to see the time zone for the game, shown on the menu. So one can quickly eliminate the games not suitable for playing in.

[Rpetiger]

would be nice if all the game times were not deleted untill at least a month after the set date, so you can tell how active a game is.

[Alchais]

Maybe a last "active" date? That way you know if a game has been abandoned and the GM hasn't come back to clear it out? Or even a Game System column (so that you can sort out the ones you don't want?)

Is there a way you can add a "Looking for Group' section as well, for the players that is? It'd be a good way to gauge interest, as well as clean up and better organize all those folks looking for games. I figured it'd just need categories like: Name, Contact Info, Timezone, Game Systems willing to play (D&D variants, Gurps, any, etc), Avaiable times. If it's searchable, even better.

I would like to offer a "second" on both counts here. As a player currently looking for a game, would be nice to have both of those available. I have sent messages to several "games" in the Calendar and have not received any reply back. For all I know, those games don't even exist any more.

[Blue Haven]

Yeah i agree with Alchais :) you guys should clean the calendar...like send a message to the GM of the game and if they don´t reply clean it up...this way its more easy for ppl to find games and not waiting for replys of dead games...

[Berova]

The ability to delete old games was a big positive step, but there's still a lot of clutter that limits usefulness and organization can be much better to increase utility.

I would add/echo previous suggestions with the following:

Add categories (like by game system and/or ruleset, time and day of week, frequency, long-term game/short-term/one-shot, etc.)
add search (by the above categories)
permit filtering (again by the above categories)

[someoneinatree]

Yeah just seconding points / adding my two cents:

*Separate out input fields to "Title", "Game Type" (campaign/oneshot), "Ruleset", "Character Level", "Setting" (Forgotten Realms/homebrew etc), "Frequency" (monthly, fortnightly, weekly, bi-weekly etc)
*Filter/search by various categories
*Some fields should be selected from drop-downs to enable more accurate searching. It eliminates some elements of human error, and gives consistency. If they're all plain text you'll have the nightmare of trying to sort a field when people are typing anything from 4e, to fourth ed, and DnD 4.0.

The most complex thing I'd like to see is the way "suggested scheduling" might work. As most people have some flexibility in their schedule, no one wants to commit to a specific time before they've got players interested. Add to that the fact some of us are always having to translate timezones, and it can make scheduling hard! So what I'd like to see is some kind of "suggested schedule" input where people select a few possible time slots on different days of the week in their local time, and they display in everyone else's local time.

You could even allow players to check boxes saying which suggested playtimes they are available for when they apply to be a player.

[someoneinatree]

I would also add that games/campaigns that are "in progress" actually get moved to a separate calendar entirely with its actual playtimes listed.

[trevorgall]

AGAIN we desparately need a time zone feature on the list, with a filter. I am frustarted at havng to trawl thru games to find those suitable for GMT+10.

[Hye Jedi]

AGAIN we desparately need a time zone feature on the list, with a filter. I am frustarted at havng to trawl thru games to find those suitable for GMT+10.Very much agreed... I think the Calendar feature would go a LONG way to alleviating the very common complaint about finding a game. Through guided data input and improving sorting capability I think things would be easier.

[dragon1976]

Great hey knocks on some doors need a player becasue the faster i learn this interface the faste ri can run my own games Gmt+10

[BruntFCA]

Bump for Timezone.

Just make it that you can't enter the completed record until the Timezone field is filled, very simple.

Currently theres an EU, a UK FG groups on google, there's also a US FG group on Yahoo. There's about 2 other group somewhere that I've not lost track of.

A lot of this hassle is unnecessary, a lot of hassle is created by Time zone issues.

EDIT: I've also noticed that the Game Calendar is not linked on the top, making it hard to find. The only place it's linked it from the Home Page! Most people who purchase FG2 go directly to these forums, it should be linked to the right side of "Community", like it is on the homepage.

[Chappy]

Maybe a last "active" date? That way you know if a game has been abandoned and the GM hasn't come back to clear it out? Or even a Game System column (so that you can sort out the ones you don't want?)

Also, I mentioned this to someone over at FUG, but it might be useful to mention it here too.

Is there a way you can add a "Looking for Group' section as well, for the players that is? It'd be a good way to gauge interest, as well as clean up and better organize all those folks looking for games. I figured it'd just need categories like: Name, Contact Info, Timezone, Game Systems willing to play (D&D variants, Gurps, any, etc), Avaiable times. If it's searchable, even better.

Like I said, it might clean some stuff up for the forums and people looking, as well as give GM's who are looking for replacement players another place to look. Fourthed. PLEASE delete the old games. Nobody else is ever going to. It's been YEARS.

Also, a Looking for Group section, while harder, would also be awesome. (That would probably need even more of a strict cleanup, though. XD Maybe "Sign in once every three weeks, or your name is removed from the list?")

[someoneinatree]

Thanks for the updates so far (the new columns to sort by etc).

Other feature requests/refinements:

Default to sort by "Last Activity" column
I think this is the most compelling column to start with when you first go to the calendar.

+1 to Listing deletion
It would be great to have a system that sends an email warning to the GM that their game has been inactive for x time and will be deleted from the calendar in x days/weeks. If they log in and updated the calendar (with latest session times or whatever), then the timer resets. If they don't, the listing is auto-deleted.

Compulsory timezone
Make it mandatory to update your user profile with timezone if you don't currently have one when creating a listing on the calendar.

Drop down list for game system
Standardise the way people list game systems by making it a drop-down box selection during listing creation. Populate it with all of the most popular rulesets, and then include an "Other" box for the lesser known rulesets.

Filtering
Make it possible to filter listings by column response and not just sort (so that I could for example see all D&D 4e games and then sort them by a different column)

[skybluerob]

Hello

The Game Calendar could be really useful, but it still doesn't seem to be as useful as it could be.

A Lot of the 'Last GM activitys' seem to be 0:00 so I don't know which games to currently apply for.

Please have some sort of feature where if a GM hasn't updated their game in the calander for a month (maybe 2), then it automatically gets deleted.

This will keep the calendar current, and will encourage GMs to use it to update the times of the next session etc....

Until this is done, the calendar will still be useful, but to a new person looking for a game, it will be pretty useless and players will lose faith in the calendar concept (they probably have already because of all the dorment stuff on it).

Its a shame as it is a great concept and a real missed opportunity for FG at the moment.

[ddavison]

Thanks for all the feedback. I removed all the games sessions that either did not have a last GM activity or that had no session activity scheduled.

[skybluerob]

That's excellent, much easier to see what's going on.

I would also consider putting some sort of monthly (or quarterly) sweep on to remove old stuff, however these deletions have made things a lot clearer.

Rob.

[elydustin]

Well as a new player I can tell you that the calendar is definitely a valuable asset to the community. I just applied to a 3.5e game and I'm excited to see if the play times and such. :)

[bobthebuilder]

Thanks for all the feedback. I removed all the games sessions that either did not have a last GM activity or that had no session activity scheduled.

That was silly - you deleted my campaign that I was still accepting players for; I was one of the first on Fantasy Grounds using the original software two years before you even came here.

[Blue Haven]

Well Bob is right...he is here almost every day and his game was active...

[ddavison]

Bob, I apologize for the problem. I am not sure why your campaign would have been deleted, since I only removed those that did not have any GM Last Activity. This value is driven by a change to the campaign notes or a scheduled session. I was not able to rely upon the addition or deletion of members since many players were signing up for games which were abandoned but left open for recruiting. Has it been open and recruiting for a while?

[Sigurd]

Change to the calendar is so overdue. Thanks.

With due respect to Bob, I'm sure those reentering games are suffering a lot less than the users who found the abandoned games impossible to sort through.

[Blue Haven]

Ddavison...yes the game was open and he was recruting too :(
we were looking for one more friend to join...
How i understand you Sigurd... :(

[ddavison]

Again, I am sorry for the difficulty this has caused for Bob and his players. Unfortunately, you will need to re-enter the campaign. We will probably do a sweep every six months or so, though, so please make sure you see your last GM activity updating as you guys play. If you don't see it updating when you think it should, give me a PM and I'll try to get those issues addressed.

[bobthebuilder]

It's alright, I create another entry on the calendar.

[someoneinatree]

This value is driven by a change to the campaign notes or a scheduled session.

I'm not sure this is working as intended. I know that adding a new session to my calendar listing (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/index.xcp?id=512) does not update the "latest GM activity" field. Only by changing actual detail for the listing can I get this field to update.

[Nasum]

ok im new here i want ask a question i was choosed seweral cmapaigns at the game calendar sorry bout my english it isnt perfect well all i was choosed is status pending and when someone accept me into campaign will i be informed??? and how to join to acceptet campaign tnx in advance any help i apreciate :)

[Nasum]

I'm not sure this is working as intended. I know that adding a new session to my calendar listing (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/index.xcp?id=512) does not update the "latest GM activity" field. Only by changing actual detail for the listing can I get this field to update.

hey man o was choosed your campaign and if u accept me how to join to your campaign???

[Doc_Waldo]

Are there any plans to update/fix/revise the calendar?

[mfitzi]

Is there a chance that a column could be added that give the proposed game times? I am only available certain days to play, and if the play days/time was given, it would be much easier to sign up for games...
Thanks!

[Blackfoot]

Is there a chance that a column could be added that give the proposed game times? I am only available certain days to play, and if the play days/time was given, it would be much easier to sign up for games...
Thanks!
While a good idea... it seems like that would be pretty cumbersome on the calendar unless there were only one day and time option available for each game. For games that meet every week on Thursday at 7:00pm GMT+5 that might work out well... but when games are starting up sometimes those numbers aren't quite fixed. Even so.. those games could leave that item blank until they have settled on a specific day & time.

[someoneinatree]

Are there any plans to update/fix/revise the calendar?

This thread has been around for a LONG time. Any news here?

Some of the key things IMO:


Automatic deletion of games inactive for six months + (perhaps with email notification to GMs one month prior to give them a chance to generate activity)
Default sorting should be by most recently active.
Adding a new session to a calendar listing should update GM activity (don't think it does at the moment)
Use a drop-down list of the rulesets currently implemented in FG2 (and perhaps leave an "Other" on that list so GMs can name the system they're using in the listing title instead). As an open-text field, sorting by this column is not very useful.
A field for linking to a forum thread
A field for linking to an external website (eg. Obsidian Portal campaign sites etc)
GM name should be a link to their forum profile for easy messaging!
The option for automated email notification to GMs when a Player applies to a game (also perhaps with a template that reminds GMs to switch "accepting new players" to No if appropriate).

[JohnD]

Here's something for future consideration.

The 'edit' and 'delete' links are right next to each other on the character lines. It is very easy to accidentally delete a player... it would be nice if the 'delete' link gave you a pop-up asking if you are sure you want to delete the player.

[someoneinatree]

This thread has been around for a LONG time. Any news here?

Some of the key things IMO:


Automatic deletion of games inactive for six months + (perhaps with email notification to GMs one month prior to give them a chance to generate activity)
Default sorting should be by most recently active.
Adding a new session to a calendar listing should update GM activity (don't think it does at the moment)
Use a drop-down list of the rulesets currently implemented in FG2 (and perhaps leave an "Other" on that list so GMs can name the system they're using in the listing title instead). As an open-text field, sorting by this column is not very useful.
A field for linking to a forum thread
A field for linking to an external website (eg. Obsidian Portal campaign sites etc)
GM name should be a link to their forum profile for easy messaging!
The option for automated email notification to GMs when a Player applies to a game (also perhaps with a template that reminds GMs to switch "accepting new players" to No if appropriate).


Adding one more to this, not really for my own purposes but I can see how it could be useful:

A field for language so that non-English speakers can find games.

[PaxVeritas]

Greetings. I dropped away from FGII for about a year, and am now looking to return. My primary concern is that the game calendar is still as confusing as it was last year. Old games from years past clutter the list, and there isn't a clear column specifying when the actual game is. Its very frustrating trying to find a game to join, and suggest a very clear GAME START DATE/TIME field. Thanks for considering,
Regards,
Pax

[phantomwhale]

I think it's fair to say the Calendar is moderately useful for organizing an already arranged game (auto-timezones, tracking consent for a certain session time), but really the forum is still the best place to go looking for / advertising new games.

This also works well as it's important to have an idea of what the feel, style, etc... of the game is, and also it's a little reassuring to have traded a couple of posts with someone to know the game IS going to happen (or the player IS going to actually show up).

But yeah, the calendar isn't quite there for facilitating finding new games.

[Blackfoot]

I must admit that when I bought FG and came on the site looking for games... the calendar was a place I expected to be able to find them.

I would be a good thing to find a way to make it work better.

[leozelig]

I have found a few good players who applied through the game calendar, but many players just blanket multiple games with requests to join and are very unreliable.

I know the calendar could be improved, but I suspect that many GMs simply do not use it to organize games, which is unfortunate.

[X-baby longshot]

Moved post to https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?3756-The-Game-Calendar

[Blackfoot]

Oh bother.

[RCathcart]

I'm having trouble putting in a game date time. Specifically, if I put the time as 11, it turns it into 11 PM. If I put "11am" or "11:00" (and permutations thereof), it still sets it to 11 AM. Lil help?

My campaign is at https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/index.xcp?id=2343

[Blackfoot]

Go for military time... 23:00

[damned]

I'm having trouble putting in a game date time. Specifically, if I put the time as 11, it turns it into 11 PM. If I put "11am" or "11:00" (and permutations thereof), it still sets it to 11 AM. Lil help?

My campaign is at https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/index.xcp?id=2343

23:00

[RCathcart]

Go for military time... 23:00

Tried that. No joy.

AND then... I tried to put in 11:00 again and it WORKED!

I tried putting this in several times over before and it didn't work. I have no explanation. :/

[Gruber]

Try looking at Roll20's 'Join a game' page (https://app.roll20.net/lfg/search/) with advanced options on and make something out of it. I personally like FG more and think it is a better product overall, but searching for a game and joining is a hell for me. I am from Europe and want to play only chat/text games, so managed to find only one game for me on FG and 3-4 on roll20 only because of the ease of game joining calendar (i like the monthly calendar look at FG game calendar but really needs the filtering options).


IMO, the most important options for a game calendar would be:

1 System selection
2 Game date/time +starting soon option
3 Voice/Video/Text-chat selection
4 new players welcome/not
5 scheduling: one shot/weekly etc

Hope that helps.

[Kozmo]

I am looking to get into a group as well

40 years of age and have only played AD&D tabletop. Great group of guys eons ago. Now I'm here and just discovered Roll20 a week ago. Purchased the $40 package on steam last night. I also have a Discord account if anyone would like to chat. Good game times for me are Saturday late night CST(9PM) till the wee hrs of the morning. I'd like to play 1st 2nd edition but also like 4E from what I've listened to on critical hit. But it seams like everyone does 5e on FG. True?

much respect

Kozmo

[Blackfoot]

I am looking to get into a group as well

40 years of age and have only played AD&D tabletop. Great group of guys eons ago. Now I'm here and just discovered Roll20 a week ago. Purchased the $40 package on steam last night. I also have a Discord account if anyone would like to chat. Good game times for me are Saturday late night CST(9PM) till the wee hrs of the morning. I'd like to play 1st 2nd edition but also like 4E from what I've listened to on critical hit. But it seams like everyone does 5e on FG. True?

much respect

Kozmo5E is the latest thing so yeah.. it has a lot of popularity.. plus FG has official content which makes it even stronger. BUT you'll find that there are a lot of folks who play with other rulesets... including (but hardly limited to) those that you've mentioned. Take a look around, create a new thread in this forum.. and I'm sure you'll find something soon enough.

Oh.. and welcome to FG. :)

[Trenloe]

Just over half of all games on Fg are 5E - statistics here: https://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3507-Who-s-Playing-What-on-Fantasy-Grounds#.WKSGujsrIfk

But there are still lots and lots of other games. You just need to have patience and be pro-active in looking, and applying for, games. Don't wait for GMs to come to you!

[LordEntrails]

There is a really good blog entry I would suggest reading for those that are looking to join a game; https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/entry.php?241-How-to-Build-a-Successful-Long-term-Gaming-Group

[Skulca]

I have found it extremely hard to find games and players for fantasy grounds on the actual FG site period. This is pushing me away from this great tool, other sites that shall not be named its almost instant to set-up or join a game and FG is starting to become my least used tool :(

I played a few great campaigns but always found the players on other DnD campaign sites. FG forums is to hard to sort and find games.

The Calendar and LFG functions are critical for game creation imho, a campaign management tool would also rock but there a many of those you can use already online.

[JeffKnight]

On the calendar thing, has anyone looked at this bot (or a similar one) for the Discord server?

https://www.cloudcraftgaming.com/discal

[whitepinkbun]

I admit I haven't searched hard about whether this is a known issue, but the time zone on games doesn't set for me here in Adelaide - Australia it sets it to JDT, and no I checked it's no the same... Adelaide or ACDT is GMT+10:30 hours
JDT is GMT+9:00 well JST is.... JDT is either that +- 1 hour...

[Trenloe]

I admit I haven't searched hard about whether this is a known issue, but the time zone on games doesn't set for me here in Adelaide - Australia it sets it to JDT, and no I checked it's no the same... Adelaide or ACDT is GMT+10:30 hours
JDT is GMT+9:00 well JST is.... JDT is either that +- 1 hour...
In your FG profile -> General Settings -> Date & Time Options: set Time Zone to (GMT+9:30) Adelaide, Darwin. And set "DST Correction Option" to automatic.

Is this what you're saying you've already done?

[whitepinkbun]

In your FG profile -> General Settings -> Date & Time Options: set Time Zone to (GMT+9:30) Adelaide, Darwin. And set "DST Correction Option" to automatic.

Is this what you're saying you've already done?

Indeed tried it with DST Correction Option to automatic, disabled and enabled - Always the wrong time, at the moment I have it set exactly to ""Date & Time Options: set Time Zone to (GMT+9:30) Adelaide, Darwin. And set "DST Correction Option" to automatic."" and its still now JST suddenly instead of JDT in the game calender games which is 30 mins off which isn't to bad... just wanted to point it out.

[damned]

Im pretty sure Ive seen someone else from Adelaide post this before.
whitepinkbum you are probably used to being treated as second class citizens by now :)

[whitepinkbun]

Eh we have it better then a lot of other places in the world I guess lol...

[Grob]

I agree trevorgall

[deer_buster]

Would actually be nice to have a Player Calendar, where you could put in your ruleset(s), playtime/dates, etc., and if enough people are found on a specific set of conditions, available GMs could step up and run a game session or more....

[celestian]

I'm going to bemoan the fact there is no AD&D or even a Basic D&D/AD&D "rule" for a game ;(

[AlohaJerry]

There really needs to be a way to search the calendar for sessions in the time blocks you can play in. Maybe a player matching system where GMs and Players can check available time slots, game system, etc. and allow them to search for each other. As a GM I need players, as a playter, maybe I just want someting in my time slot and don't care about system.

[Gruber]

Whoa i come here from time to time searching for a game to play just to find out that the game organization and calendar have not evolved at all. On the other hand, you can easily find many games when logging in roll20 app. I prefer to play using FG but i just can not find a game that fits my schedule and preferences (system, text-based..). Meh..

What I want to say is that is is really crucial for FG to make a better online (searchable, with filters) game organization system. Use the experience from other tools, as well as p2p video games. It's not THAT hard..

[damned]

Whoa i come here from time to time searching for a game to play just to find out that the game organization and calendar have not evolved at all. On the other hand, you can easily find many games when logging in roll20 app. I prefer to play using FG but i just can not find a game that fits my schedule and preferences (system, text-based..). Meh..

What I want to say is that is is really crucial for FG to make a better online (searchable, with filters) game organization system. Use the experience from other tools, as well as p2p video games. It's not THAT hard..

Everyone has their own preferences for what they like to use and their own experiences as to how things went.
I personally would never use a lobby to recruit for anything other than a last minute pickup game.

[Gruber]

Everyone has their own preferences for what they like to use and their own experiences as to how things went.
I personally would never use a lobby to recruit for anything other than a last minute pickup game.

I understand your point and agree with you there. What I was saying is that this system is non-functional. I've pointed at some functionality options above, and the personal preference to the way players are recruited are another thing. You can always use good system to announce, find and apply for games, then a DM or a player can add more recruitment 'challenges' to it.

Probably most people here agree that the game organization and calendar should be reworked and updated, else the subjects would not be present here at all.

What I was mostly refering is this, recent post, which is exactly what i experience:



I have found it extremely hard to find games and players for fantasy grounds on the actual FG site period. This is pushing me away from this great tool, other sites that shall not be named its almost instant to set-up or join a game and FG is starting to become my least used tool

I played a few great campaigns but always found the players on other DnD campaign sites. FG forums is to hard to sort and find games.

The Calendar and LFG functions are critical for game creation imho, a campaign management tool would also rock but there a many of those you can use already online.

[LordEntrails]

If I remember correctly, Doug has agreed that the game calendar system needs to be updated, and that it is on his list to get done. But, it's about priorities and resources.

I think Doug and the SmiteWorks team has determined that the development and release of FGU, releasing PF content, and continuing the improvements on the core application are their priorities and the effective the limit of their resources at this time.

[AlohaJerry]

If I remember correctly, Doug has agreed that the game calendar system needs to be updated, and that it is on his list to get done. But, it's about priorities and resources.

I think Doug and the SmiteWorks team has determined that the development and release of FGU, releasing PF content, and continuing the improvements on the core application are their priorities and the effective the limit of their resources at this time.

IMHO - They need to push this up. Expanding the user base should be every bit as important as adding features to a product that is working fine. Of course, there are many things I would like to see fixed or added, but it doesn't mean anything if I'm not playing because I can't find anyone to play WITH.

[LordEntrails]

IMHO - They need to push this up. Expanding the user base should be every bit as important as adding features to a product that is working fine. Of course, there are many things I would like to see fixed or added, but it doesn't mean anything if I'm not playing because I can't find anyone to play WITH.
SmiteWorks has to look at the big picture and has data that we don't, but we can look at some reported number (2015 (https://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3385-Fantasy-Grounds-Usage-Stats-Are-In-5E-Pathfinder-3-5-Savage-Worlds-then-Star-Wars!#.Weq5L1V5VEY), 2016 (https://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3507-Who-s-Playing-What-on-Fantasy-Grounds#.Weq5VFV5VEY)) and see that the number of games is growing at a healthy rate. So, even though the calendar system could (and should) be vastly improved, it is working well enough that a large number of people are finding games.

You are certainly welcome to (and I would encourage it) to voice your opinion (and this is just coming from another user with no inside knowledge or influence), I will suggest that if you think there is something people can do to help you find a game, that you pursue that. There are several threads and blogs about how to get a group together that may interest you. (one link (https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/entry.php%3F241-How-to-Build-a&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwiJiMKs34DXAhVlj1QKHcheC9gQFggEMAA&client=internal-uds-cse&cx=010772646014076752437:l_cx3x-oggq&usg=AOvVaw3sK9D0CzEgeoBgf_Q6hHmu), two link (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?40375-Why-can-t-i-just-find-a-standard-D-amp-D-game-Too-much-to-ask), three link (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?40020-Join-Fantasy-Grounds-College-Learn-Fantasy-Grounds-learn-D-amp-D-and-then-play!), and I'm sure there are others)

[AlohaJerry]

/disagree
There are thousands of posts desperately looking for games/players in their available times. Many people have strange availability due to shift work or family obligations. Most try to post on forums, but go mostly unanswered and slowly sink into obscurity. It is amost impossible to search the forum looking for specific play times, considering that the player base is scattered all over the world, so what do you search for? I am in an odd time zone and have spent dozens of hours trying to find a game, to no avail.

Now let us look at FantasyGrounds competition, Roll20. (now I have spent SooOOOOoo much $$ on FG that I am not converting, but...) It took me 30 seconds to find 5 games in the time period that I want to play ( https://app.roll20.net/lfg/search/ ) using the advanced options. If I were new to online RPG, where would I go??? We (and FG as a company) should want to draw new people here and keep people here. How can we do that with a LFG system that looks like it came from the 90's?

Look at head to head here: https://www.gamebynight.com/?p=4126
Wouldn't it be nice to win on "Finding a game", break the tie and be the clear winner????

[ddavison]

I'm curious what options you used to search on Roll20. Imagine that same search on our Game Calendar. Adding additional search filters beyond Game System and day will simply make even fewer results show up.

Looking at the options that the Advanced Search on their site adds:
On any of these days: Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
> that is already available on the visible calendar. GM's posting their game need to schedule the sessions for it to show up

Game Type: Audio / Visual
Language:
To be played: Once Weekly Every other week Monthly
Starting at approximately:
> The rest are more granular searches, that while fine, further reduce the number of games that get shown. Returning a bunch of empty results is not going to satisfy anyone's needs.

A better interface to make it easier for GM's to post games to the calendar might help, but new search options doesn't seem like the solution at this stage.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=21130&d=1508810940

21130

[damned]

Ultimately the primary issue is that most GMs do not use the calendar for recruiting so no matter how good the search is there is a dearth of games listed.
How to change that is another question altogether.

[AlohaJerry]

First problem is that most GMs don't schedule their sessions in the calendar! It would be MUCH better to be able to set reoccurring day/time for your campaign. Amost all campaigns have a set schedule. GM could set time, check day(s) of the week, then Once, Weekly, Every other week, or Monthly. This would show more campaigns on the calendar. I am very sure that there must be more than THAT many campaigns accepting new players!!!

The only filter option is Game System. Manually, you CAN do day of week. Time is made very difficult by only showing in this calendar as GMT. The Roll20 search can look for Starting at approximately X:XX time (your time zone) and does all the timezone conversion. you can also find To be played: Once, Weekly, Every other week, and/or Monthly. The ability to filter for Mature Content would likely be appreciated, but not necessary.

[Trenloe]

The difference is that Roll20 *forces* a GM to put a game time in when they setup their game session - and many of these games change the game time initially posted as it was just a placeholder for a lot of games. So, even if you find 5 games that run in the time you're looking for there is a good chance that time will change because the GM was forced to enter a time just to get their game up there.

FG gives the GM flexibility to setup and advertise their games as they wish - if a GM doesn't want to use the game calendar they don't have to. And if they do, while they're getting players sorted and discussing times, the GM doesn't have to enter a fictitious time into the game calendar - forcing a GM to enter a time before they've confirmed can cause confusion or disappointment.

The feedback I've heard from a lot of Roll20 gamers is that a lot of sessions simply don't go off - either on the published time or at all. I'd much rather see a much lower number of confirmed game times, that have a much better chance of games happening, than see frequently changing times or cancelled sessions because the GM was forced to enter a time before they were ready.

I also don't want to see every single FG session forced to use a game calendar/scheduling system either. Let gaming groups use the setup they want to use - Facebook groups, Obsidian Portal, emails, Discord, game calendar, whatever they want to organise and run their regular FG games.

[ddavison]

First problem is that most GMs don't schedule their sessions in the calendar! It would be MUCH better to be able to set reoccurring day/time for your campaign. Amost all campaigns have a set schedule. GM could set time, check day(s) of the week, then Once, Weekly, Every other week, or Monthly. This would show more campaigns on the calendar. I am very sure that there must be more than THAT many campaigns accepting new players!!!

The only filter option is Game System. Manually, you CAN do day of week. Time is made very difficult by only showing in this calendar as GMT. The Roll20 search can look for Starting at approximately X:XX time (your time zone) and does all the timezone conversion. you can also find To be played: Once, Weekly, Every other week, and/or Monthly. The ability to filter for Mature Content would likely be appreciated, but not necessary.

I suspect that the need to schedule a time (which is optional on our calendar) is one of the bigger reasons why it seems so sparse. Adding a simpler checkbox with the days of the week and frequency would definitely simplify proposed scheduling. There is a difference between proposed dates and finalized dates that are scheduled. FG GM's either don't use the date field at all or they wait until the date is finalized before they add an actual date. Based on feedback from you and others, there is a lot of value in unofficial dates as well. The number of games that are Accepting Players and the number of games that are Accepting Players and have a future date scheduled are drastically different. We lose the majority of them by only showing the ones with scheduled dates on the recruiting calendar.

Proposed Day of Week does get a little hairy when you factor in timezones as well. My Saturday might be your Sunday.

[ddavison]

I added some checkboxes to the GM screen for Scheduled Days. This is separate from "Sheduled play times". Currently, Schedule play times will show cause your game to show up on the recruiting forums as usual, but players can now search on the campaign list page by days and system.

[Blackfoot]

I'm not sure if my experience is relevant here, but it is quite possibly similar to a fair number of other folks.
When I first found FG it was through a game that someone was running using a game system that I was a big fan of. He was offering to run with an Ultimate license so it was pretty easy for me and a friend of mine to join his game (using the calendar at that time I believe.. it was 2010 so my memory is a little fuzzy on a few details).. anyway we quickly realized how cool FG was and began playing with that GM on a regular basis.We'd made our first FG friend. We eventually decided that it was a no-brainer to buy a pair of full licenses for ourselves and some light licenses for our kids. I started branching out and looking for other games to join. The calendar was less complex then than it is now and had fewer games and was largely neglected by the folks who had posted games there since they set up their games... gathered players and then kinda forgot about the calendar. It didn't have a 'calendar' at the time it was just a list of games really.
I became frustrated with the calendar and poking around for games and eventually my friend started a campaign which in one form or another we still play today. We recruited players using the forums and the calendar.. we had a huge turn over in the beginning but we sorted it out eventually.. and that game is still on there but 'hidden' and 'not accepting new players'.

I became involved with Talen and the Pathfinder Society group and we started organizing games though Yahoo Groups. After Yahoo Groups folded up we moved back to the FG Forums to organize games and well.. the PFS Group is still at it today... (we had a fairly decent showing at the last FG Con and more games running this weekend) From there I've made many many friends in the community and now play in 5 different campaigns every week. (Yeah.. nuts right?)

OK.. so a long story to make a somewhat specific point.
The calendar is really only important at the beginning of a person's FG experience. Once you start making contacts there are tons of opportunities for proven players. The Organized Play groups are great for doing just that. You get into a 1 shot game or 10 and meet lots of players. Eventually someone will invite you to join their campaign. This process takes time.
I'm not certain that there are a LOT of other sorts of 1 shot games being run out there. Maybe I'm mistaken. Most campaigns don't add new players regularly if at all... but when they are starting up there is usually a post about them on the Forum appropriate to the ruleset or the LFG Forum.. or both. The Calendar is used more as a reference for timetables early on in the process since it resolves the whole global time thing (assuming you have your Timezone set right for your FG Account).
For PFS.. we use it to help with timing.. sometimes we'll post 3 or 4 different possible times for a game and ask the players (in the Forum thread) to sign up for the ones that work for them.
Generally speaking, if you aren't talking on the forum thread but sign up for the game you are out of the loop and are likely to miss out on the game. I'm not sure how it works for the 5e folks..

As Trenloe pointed out.. there are tons of ways to organize games. The calendar is probably the least effective... but at the outset.. it seems like the most obvious.
Many many new groups start up all the time and fizzle before they really get going. Every one of my friends has had that great game that folded on them because of this or that.

OK.. so this post got long.. and it doesn't really offer any answers.. just a little insight into the process.

[Gruber]

It seems there are different opinions and experiences around here. As I was reading through the last couple of pages I agreed with most of what LordEntrails, ddavision or Blackfoot were saying, but I somehow ended up on the far side here with AlohaJerry, again. :(

There may not be many of us that search for games scheduled outside of US prime times, or have unusual request or preferences, but we're here and are eager to participate. If I would be able to find a couple of games to participate in the upcoming months, and expect to have the same experience in the future, I'd definitely buy the license, learn the tool and its interface, and in due time - maybe a year or so - start DMing online games (as I was regularly doing offline).

[damned]

Hey Gruber (and AlohaJerry),

My experience in many ways has similarities to Blackfoot namely that in the beginning I used the calendar (and you guys are at the beginning) and almost never since.
My first experience was GURPS with ronnke (he who is building the newest and latest and greatest GURPS ruleset) and then I wanted more.
Im in AUS and I could only play one night a fortnight and quite late at night for AUS - and even worse a time for the US (eg. stupid early in the morning).
I couldnt find a game that matched my needs/availability so I bit the bullet and started a game. Wasnt my first choice and I hadnt RP'd in about 25years and I was pretty bad. Anyway.. I used the calendar - and got some players. And I used other websites, forums, groups to keep recruiting until I had a core of good reliable players.
Over time I have met many wonderful players and GMs. Ive run lots of stuff at FGDaze and FGCon and met many more good players and GMs. My campaigns now have players I know or players invited directly by me or by may players. These are social experiences and we like to game with people we know and like.
I only throw a game open to all when its a one shot at an event. But I do absolutely welcome new players to those sessions and welcoming new players is why we run FGCon and FGDaze.
I dont know if there is anything useful in that for you.
I guess my best advice is - participate in Con events when they run, and consider joining other games that are not what you would otherwise choose to join, that run when you are available )maybe its Savage Worlds, or GURPs, or Castles and Crusades) and you will still have a good time and you will build connections that will likely lead to the game you really want to play. Or run something :)

[Blackfoot]

It seems there are different opinions and experiences around here. As I was reading through the last couple of pages I agreed with most of what LordEntrails, ddavision or Blackfoot were saying, but I somehow ended up on the far side here with AlohaJerry, again. :(

There may not be many of us that search for games scheduled outside of US prime times, or have unusual request or preferences, but we're here and are eager to participate. If I would be able to find a couple of games to participate in the upcoming months, and expect to have the same experience in the future, I'd definitely buy the license, learn the tool and its interface, and in due time - maybe a year or so - start DMing online games (as I was regularly doing offline).Oh.. I wasn't disagreeing with you at all. Using the calendar is a very logical choice in the beginning when you aren't familiar with the community. Unfortunately, that's really just not how most GMs search for players (from my experience)... so that's where your problem really lies. As I was trying to say.. you are better off with the LFG Forum or PFS or the Adventurer's League forums. All of those post games regularly (We have 2 PFS games posted for Saturday for example). Our games ARE listed on the calendar.. but you'll want to contact us through the forums anyway to talk about character info.

Since the calendar is a gateway to new players should it have better functionality? You betcha. Couldn't agree more.

Oh.. Doug.. here's a thought. What if you added a link field to the calendar entry.. for linking to forum game discussion threads (or whatever the game used for discussion whether it was Obsidian Portal, EpicWords or whatever...) If the interface between the Forums and the Calendar were a little simpler somehow.. might that help?

[Blackfoot]

One more thought.. what about a 'One-Shot' Checkbox? That might make those sorts of 'easy to join' games filterable.

[Gruber]

One more thought.. what about a 'One-Shot' Checkbox? That might make those sorts of 'easy to join' games filterable.

IMO That and the previous one are good thoughts.

Also, I'm not that new to FG and its forums, I've been playing my fist games maybe two years ago. Alas, I have only been able to find two games to participate in so far. Unfortunately, both of them ended prematurely. So far, I've played a couple of games using R20 in maybe a year, and am currently playing a loosely scheduled one.

I've applied to more than two dozen games using the calendar here, most of them were not addressed at all..

So yeah, maybe it's time to get the game rolling (which I am currently preparing), but I'd still like to play a bit until the preps are done.

[Andraax]

I've applied to more than two dozen games using the calendar here, most of them were not addressed at all..

You need to follow up an "apply" on the calendar with a PM to the GM - the calendar does not automatically notify the GM.

[Blackfoot]

You need to follow up an "apply" on the calendar with a PM to the GM - the calendar does not automatically notify the GM.
Perhaps THAT piece of the interface could be improved somehow? I know that we generally use the discussion threads because there are no notifications for calendar discussion posts. There are a lot of options for GM communication that could be added to the calendar... I'm not sure how easy that is within the structure of how the calendar is set up.
Notifications for : When a PC Applies to the Game. (to GM)
When someone posts to the Calendar Discussion. (to ALL)
When a PC leaves the Game. - (to GM)
When a new Game Date is added - (to ALL)
When a Game Date is REMOVED - (to Players)
Upcoming Game Dates. (24 hours prior) (to ALL)
There are probably a few others but these would go a long way.

[Cailore]

Very good idea, Blackfoot. Give us some oneshot love.

[AlohaJerry]

Oh.. Doug.. here's a thought. What if you added a link field to the calendar entry.. for linking to forum game discussion threads (or whatever the game used for discussion whether it was Obsidian Portal, EpicWords or whatever...) If the interface between the Forums and the Calendar were a little simpler somehow.. might that help?

+1 That is a great idea. I also like Blackfoots idea in next post to add "one-Shot" box.

[AlohaJerry]

It seems that there is a common story, with either being new to FG or in an odd timeslot, that the calendar (if it were more effective) would help and likely draw more people to FG (and purchase licenses).

Taking it a step further, how about in program interaction to the calendar and campaign entry!!! How cool would it be to be able to auto-log who showed up, when the last time the game actually ran (could find abandon games easier in search), maybe even an interface to schedule the next session while you still have everyone in FG and are talking about it at end of session. Lots of crazy awesome stuff could be possible. Heck, once the devs add the hooks, the mod community may do the rest.

In summary, there needs to be a way to find games when you are not a FG veteran with loads of FG friends or long-standing campaigns. Also, easier one-shot scheduling could get people hooked on FG or just a new system.

[AlohaJerry]

BTW - glad to see the conversation picking up!

[GunnarGreybeard]

You need to follow up an "apply" on the calendar with a PM to the GM - the calendar does not automatically notify the GM.
I may be wrong but I think Gruber is referencing all the 'active' games listed in the calendar that never started or were quickly abandoned that are still set up as open for accepting new applicants. I know personally I have seen some listed there for well over a year since the last activity with 30 players. IMHO, these old entries are cluttering things up, and likely confusing new players, who think these are active games. Sure a player will eventually figure it out that they are not going to hear back from the GM but that just disenfranchises them right off the bat and gets them thinking then just need to move on to another VTT.

Personally, I have never used the calendar as a recruiting tool but itself but only as place to point players I have recruited or contacted via the forums here or outside sources (Facebook, etc) and only then to use it for posting session date/times once I have finished, or almost finished that recruiting. I am sure everyone has their own system that works bets for them as a GM, so there is probably no silver bullet to this issue.

[AlohaJerry]

I may be wrong but I think Gruber is referencing all the 'active' games listed in the calendar that never started or were quickly abandoned that are still set up as open for accepting new applicants. I know personally I have seen some listed there for well over a year since the last activity with 30 players. IMHO, these old entries are cluttering things up, and likely confusing new players, who think these are active games. Sure a player will eventually figure it out that they are not going to hear back from the GM but that just disenfranchises them right off the bat and gets them thinking then just need to move on to another VTT.

Good point. That's why I would like to see a little integration between client and calendar. It would be easy to filter out stale campaigns when you could REALLY tell when the campaign was last played.

I personally keep my campaign entry up to date with the next 3 sessions consistently scheduled. That would be so much easier if I could have set a regular schedule reoccurrence setting, then just mark the few sessions that we can't do as "canceled this week" when something comes up. Make it easy to use the calendar, but also easy to filter orphaned campaigns, then the calendar becomes a useful recruiting tool.

[ddavison]

There is a daily event that is supposed to automatically flag those as private if they are older than 6 months with no activity or updates. It looks like it didn't run, so I'm going to reset the scheduler and check back tomorrow.

[AlohaJerry]

I see a new "Scheduled Days" appears on the campaigns, but it looks editable by even the players. This is a good start, but there also needs to be a frequency entry (once, weekly, biweekly, monthly) and a "regular time" with time zone. Maybe even a button for the GM that says "schedule next session"

Also, recommended by someone earlier, there should be a place to link to the forum entry for the campaign since that still seems to be an important piece.

Lastly, being able to sort the calendar view list by Timezone might help people find a game in their schedule.