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View Full Version : That dang "?" icon... grrrr...



dr_venture
September 23rd, 2012, 02:31
A sanity check for you GM's out there: do you really prefer that the default icon in chat that indicates roll are not shared with players is a question mark? I know these types of things are highly subjective, which is why I ask... but I just hate it, myself. To me, I see that "?" and think that something is unresolved or in question... like I should answer something. Obviously I intellectually understand, but it's just very unintuitive to me.

So what are your thoughts to just changing the "?" to the generic FG icon for something which cannot be seen by the players: the greyed-out eye icon (see attached picture). If there any reason that you can think of that it should remain a question mark? Does the eye icon make more sense to you guys?

Thanks.

JohnD
September 23rd, 2012, 06:36
Would prefer the greyed out eye myself.

Valarian
September 23rd, 2012, 07:24
The greyed out eye makes sense now that the same icon is in the combat tracker. It has more intuitive meaning and would probably be more obvious to new users. The question mark is okay, but takes more thinking about.

Crowley72
September 23rd, 2012, 17:22
Anything would be ok with me, as long as it's easier to see.

I had GM rolls set to hidden yesterday while working with a friends in making a character. It took quite a few rolls to realize that my rolls were hidden, because the grayed out ? didn't make enough of a visible impression to get my attention.

An eye sounds ok, what I want to vote for is something that grabs the GM's attention.

C

Tiqon
September 23rd, 2012, 19:24
Heh, I have always wondered what the "?" meant (still newbie, have only run 2 sessions atm)... the eye makes more sense.. sure :).

dr_venture
September 23rd, 2012, 21:32
I'm glad I'm not the only one who has thought there was perhaps a better icon to use here. There are enough mysteries still left for me to learn in FG that I thought there might be a reason it's a "?" instead of something more intuitive. But since it's just an icon, this is happily a very easy issue to fix.

Valarian
September 23rd, 2012, 23:14
I suppose "You've hidden the roll and your players can't see it" is a little big to fit in to an icon. :)

Griogre
September 24th, 2012, 08:31
I personally have very little preference either way. I will point out the ? is still standard on all the other rulesets, but as Valarian pointed out the grayed out eye is pretty standard on most rulesets combat tracker. I think a "not" eye (universal circle with slash in red in front of a normal eye) icon might be more intuitive if you are going to make a new icon from scratch though.

Tiqon
September 24th, 2012, 09:03
An icon of a dice dressed like a Ninja would be awsome ;). or a Ninja rolling dice :D.

dr_venture
September 24th, 2012, 20:25
I do agree that the 'greyed out' eye is not a perfect symbol, but at this point, from the few rulesets I've used (admittedly a small sampling), I've gotten used to that icon representing "not seen by the players." I'd rather not introduce another icon to represent the same thing (I don't mind replacing the "?" though, as it's kind-of meaningless to me, intuitively speaking... almost like having a triangle or a stop sign or something else almost random). Also, the greyed eye is a little less visually obtrusive than having a chat window full of red circles with slashes. For me, the greyed eye says it, but in an unobtrusive way.

As with most such things, YMM(APW)V... Your Mileage May (And Probably Will) Vary :)

phantomwhale
February 4th, 2014, 11:25
Just spent 5 mins wondering what the heck that question mark was, where it came from, and what it meant.

Yeah, would agree a question mark is NOT indicative of "players haven't seem this roll"

Trenloe
February 4th, 2014, 11:32
Just spent 5 mins wondering what the heck that question mark was, where it came from, and what it meant.

Yeah, would agree a question mark is NOT indicative of "players haven't seem this roll"
I think the "broken" eye icon (should it be called the eye-con? Sorry!) fits in with what is now being seen in the combat tracker and for changing token visibility in the right-click menu.

The question mark definitely causes confusion - recently I've seen a few people mentioned it means that an attack roll isn't targeted on anything, which is incorrect but all part of the confusion.

Moon Wizard
February 5th, 2014, 00:49
What? You wanted a program where you didn't have to think? :p

JPG

JohnD
February 5th, 2014, 01:14
Us married guys aren't used to having thoughts that we haven't been told we can have ahead of time. :/

Trenloe
March 19th, 2014, 22:40
The Broken Eye icon is now used instead of the ? icon to indicate secret rolls.