Sakusammakko
February 21st, 2009, 10:50
The success of our gaming community depends on making it easy for people to try the FGII software with a real gaming group (see previous post) and making it easy for people to find other players who they can have a great gaming experience with.
I've been really concerned about how we can make it easier for gamers to find other gamers. Let's face it, if people find a game they're really interested in, they'll spread the word about this great program they've found.
Here are a few ideas. Is there a way we can make them happen?
1) There needs to be a more obvious way to see at-a-glance people who want to host/find a game.
Is it possible to have some kind of sortable table with drop down menus?
Imagine: You want to find/host a game. What's most important to you-- probably the day of the week, time of day and ruleset. You enter these parameters on the sign up sheet and your name goes on a big list.
Others come along and sort the list in ways that make it quickly obvious what the gaming opportunities are that suit them. There could be a PM button and you send a message off indicating your interest.
Each listing could be time-sensitive. You're sent an automatic PM every 2 weeks asking if you're still looking. If you don't take action, your post is removed to keep the list current and clean.
2) Monitor the game calendar to make sure it's up-to-date.
Something similar should happen for the game calendar. Currently, it's not possible to see at-a-glance what games are on (by ruleset) and when (day and time). Nor are the campaigns current. How many people are driven away in frustration because the game calendar is not easy to navigate?
Once again, can we make the front page of the calendar sortable by ruleset, day and time?
GMs could be automatically PM'd every month to take action to ensure the calendar stays relatively current and clean. Alternatively, if no activity has taken place on the site in a given time period, the GM could be warned that the campaign will be removed.
Bottom Line
The goal is to get more people having a great gaming experience. We have a friendly community on this site. Now it's time to have a user-friendly game calendar as well.
I've been really concerned about how we can make it easier for gamers to find other gamers. Let's face it, if people find a game they're really interested in, they'll spread the word about this great program they've found.
Here are a few ideas. Is there a way we can make them happen?
1) There needs to be a more obvious way to see at-a-glance people who want to host/find a game.
Is it possible to have some kind of sortable table with drop down menus?
Imagine: You want to find/host a game. What's most important to you-- probably the day of the week, time of day and ruleset. You enter these parameters on the sign up sheet and your name goes on a big list.
Others come along and sort the list in ways that make it quickly obvious what the gaming opportunities are that suit them. There could be a PM button and you send a message off indicating your interest.
Each listing could be time-sensitive. You're sent an automatic PM every 2 weeks asking if you're still looking. If you don't take action, your post is removed to keep the list current and clean.
2) Monitor the game calendar to make sure it's up-to-date.
Something similar should happen for the game calendar. Currently, it's not possible to see at-a-glance what games are on (by ruleset) and when (day and time). Nor are the campaigns current. How many people are driven away in frustration because the game calendar is not easy to navigate?
Once again, can we make the front page of the calendar sortable by ruleset, day and time?
GMs could be automatically PM'd every month to take action to ensure the calendar stays relatively current and clean. Alternatively, if no activity has taken place on the site in a given time period, the GM could be warned that the campaign will be removed.
Bottom Line
The goal is to get more people having a great gaming experience. We have a friendly community on this site. Now it's time to have a user-friendly game calendar as well.