New fields in the Calendar

[cogollo]

First of all, the calendar feature you just implemented is what many of us were waiting for. Thank you!

Secondly, please add a "Playing Time" field (or something with a similar name) for directors of campaigns to mention when they are going to play. It should be a normal text field, so that anybody can write there whatever they want, to make it as flexible as possible.

Thirdly, please add a "Time Zone" field, so that everybody knows what is the time zone the director of the campaign lives in (that will also make the "Playing Time" field clearer)

[Goblin-King]

Secondly, please add a "Playing Time" field (or something with a similar name) for directors of campaigns to mention when they are going to play. It should be a normal text field, so that anybody can write there whatever they want, to make it as flexible as possible.

Currently, there's the session list that is available to potential players. The idea there was to make it as flexible as possible to come up with scheduled play times that aren't tied to a particular pattern. A gamemaster could type in, say 3 Wednesdays in advance if he wanted to play on that weekday.

I guess some GMs like to dedicate a particular day for the game (i.e. the "Wednesday game" etc.), while others just want to find the next possible opening that suits all participants, and any single fixed method won't work for both.

I'd love to see some more discussion about this, especially from the point of view of GMs looking to set up a game.

[Sigurd]

Underscoring the international nature of the games you have to give a space for time zone.

If a prospective participants have a time zone difference 6+hrs they should know that up front before any other communications - helps prevent misconceptions.

Considering you might hopefully have a lot of these things in a short order of time this would be my reccomendation.


1. Require a valid email to make the record - this will be your contact point.
2. Simplify your data into fields Game_Name, DM, Time_Zone, Playing_Time. (I think this is the minimum data you can do if you include a mechanic to reach the DM somehow.
3. Stale entries can be tested by a monthly automailer to the initial email to see that the game still exists. Automailer deletes old records it hasn't received a responce from in the previous month.

You could add things like Setting, Player_level, Alignment etc.... or just have a descriptive field after the data.


Sigurd

[Snikle]

Yeah, something is up with the timezones, I have mine set to my local tz, set the time for the game, but then when I go to the campaign page, the game time i entered is way way off, like it is using a different tz on that page.

[Goblin-King]

Yeah, something is up with the timezones, I have mine set to my local tz, set the time for the game, but then when I go to the campaign page, the game time i entered is way way off, like it is using a different tz on that page.

The time zone used for all the times on the calendar is now displayed on the campaign pages. Snikle, could you check if it matches the one you've set in your account options?

If there's a bug, it's either in the display component that adjusts the times in the database to the user selected time zone, or in the part that inputs new session times and stores them, and I'd like to narrow it down a bit if possible.

[Snikle]

Here is what I am getting: (from the front page)
Your next campaign session
World of Sylnae (DM: Snikle)
Thu, Dec 29th 03:00 AM

(From the campaign page)
Scheduled play times
Date Yes No
Wed, Dec 28th 08:00 PM

[Dupre]

Ok, I can confirm that. We'll fix it.

[Alkaven]

I don't think I understand fully the problem with scheduling. I thought it was a standard thing to simply post session dates, that way, the players are all informed, and if anything comes up, it's easily fixed. It would act like a simple queue if anything.

For instance, if I was running an adventure for the next two months, I would post all my scheduled session days. Two sessions a week = 16 sessions, and an adventure should only last 12 (because the 12 episode philosophy sounds pretty standard).

So I would list 16 scheduled sessions. If a player can't make it, the scheduled session becomes a roleplay session (no encounters), and the next session will be the original encounter session.

That typically sounds like it solves all the problems. Your not restricted to a dedicated day, and it can be adjusted for players who want the next possible opportunity. I can't see why this couldn't be a "Fixed single method that can work for both".

The drawback I guess is that... You gotta post every single session date... Which I can afford to devote 15 minutes of my life to if need be.

[Snikle]

Well, I entered the dates for the next few sessions I plan on having, took me about 3 minutes, and I see that all my players have voted and the dates are set, works great in my opinion.

I would like to see the message board there either turned into a DM only posting section, say for campaign news or something, or a full blown forum thread. As it is now it seems to be a sort of hybrid that allows everyone to post, and thenit displays in a stictly linear format. Not very useful imho.

[festivus]

I don't know if this was mentioned, but making the player names on the sign up list as links to send private messages would be helpful.