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What would you like to see more of or change on SP/BoM?

Discussion in 'Sorcerous Sundries' started by Taluntain, Feb 10, 2011.

  1. Aikanaro Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


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    Well, I'm not a big fan of how the news headlines are presented. Might just be me, but my eyes kind of slide through them without absorbing much. Better chunking (bullet points?) might improve them.
    My screen resolution is 1200x800, btw. It takes about two mouse wheel scrolls. I realise that might not sound like a lot but it's not exactly inviting either.

    I totally understand why you wouldn't want to do a fluid layout because they're a colossal pain in the arse to make, but right now things do feel (to me, anyway) too cramped on the front page.

    (I've just finished an IT/Multimedia double degree and have been having good website design practices drilled into me, so I might be more sensitive and nitpicky to this sort of thing than most people)
     
  2. Old One

    Old One The Old Warrior ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    OK, now I know I need more learnin ma!
    Went to answer one of Tals questions and posted the quote. What an idiot!

    Tal , you asked what games I was refering to when I tossed out the Sacred games. Those were the two that formed my solid dislike of what are supposed to be good sites. It was kind of a "see what you can find" thing and see how bad your competion is. Any good game found by real members should be considered. Members who come back more than once or twice.

    I went into some of our game forums and looked for information about the game. I don't know if you remember me trying to find information about the game when SoZ came out, would it be possible to say somewhere if a game was ment to be played off line as well as on line, how many players and so on? Not everyone has played what we offer, information about games is hard to find anywhere unless all a person wants is a sales pitch. If we have such an area could it be easyer to find for a first or second time visitor and the search blind like ones we all know!

    I found some areas where a post went unanswered for weeks where someone had a question no one answered at all. Our fault someone isn't returning after awhile when that happens. One of the best things about us is the help we give each other and how friendly we can be. Don't want to hurt feelings but don't Mods look at posts anymore? Nasty comment I know but they used to when I posted or went looking at someones question I wanted an answer to also.

    On the subject of RBP. When I was the most interest being there was when conversions between members were goiing on post by post not just one liners except for saying I'm Here. One line banter is different than one line comments and gone I am! It used to be full of conversations and I quit going there when they went away. I'm one of the guilty ones doing just what I am complaining about. We members don't talk to each other in a public open conversation area anymore and I don't mean FAI. We are split into a lot of areas. These observations are very small problems but I think could boost traffic on the site. Just the observations about what I thought and why I slowed down comming.
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2011
  3. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Awesome! ;)

    Better now?

    No, we have a fluid style... it's been like that until last year. It's just forced to fixed width currently, but originally it was fluid. But it looks ridiculous on any resolutions larger than 1280x1024 - everything just stretched across the whole screen. I realize that things may feel cramped, but compactness has its advantages as well...

    Well, there's theory and there's practice... I can't see fluid becoming the norm ever again given the plethora of varying resolutions in use today. When the standard was 800x600 or 1024x768 and only the largest monitors went up to 1280 it still made sense. Today it just doesn't.

    ---

    Old One, your reply got lost somewhere... there's only my text in your response.
     
  4. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Yes we do, but I don't answer questions unless I know the answer to it! :) There are several games talked about here that I have never played, and many of the games people talk about are so old now I don't remember the details... :)
     
  5. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Regarding mods responding to posts, I've got the same problem as BTA. Back when we started, I still had the time to play most of the games and their details were still fresh in my mind. These days we're covering a bunch of games that I never got around to playing and I forgot most of the details of the old ones by now. If the people who still actively play the games can't answer the questions, there's not much chance that any of the mods will be able to.

    The Sacred games are one of those overlooked titles I guess... there are several such ones every year. Both titles only received average reviews. Unfortunately we can't cover every title in as much detail as I would have liked and some inevitably fall through the cracks - especially those that our community at large doesn't seem to be very interested in or those whose critical reception isn't very enthusiastic. That said, I know that the games have their share of fans!

    For the kind of general summary information that you're after, Wikipedia is usually a good source:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_(video_game)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_2:_Fallen_Angel

    As for the RBP... it's got its ups and downs depending on which members participate and to what extent. Right now we don't have that many members who are (still) interested in RBP conversations. When the average Facebook user spends around an hour a day randomly chatting there, I guess most don't feel like doing it over there as well...
     
  6. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Aha!

    I think you have a point there.

    The really sticky sites have self sustaining user content. Note that the most popular part of this site is the message board, which is, surprise surprise, user content...........
     
  7. Aikanaro Gems: 31/31
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    On a less radical note: Is an in-built dice roller for the forum possible? A bit of googling shows this add-on: http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=245192

    Just feeling a bit of the roleplaying bug - not sure if anything will come of it, but a dice roller might be convenient.
     
  8. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Sure, that'd be doable... but I've been holding back on installing any new mods until we switch the boards over to 4.x as they'll all need to be reapplied anew for that version. Though if I'd known how long it'd take them to bring the new series to the state anywhere near worth switching to, I wouldn't have.
     
  9. Silvery

    Silvery I won't pretend to be your friend coz I'm just not ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran

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    I dunno, I kinda like the idea of scantily clad women...
     
  10. Decados

    Decados The Chosen One

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    I have no idea where Silvery got this from, but I support it. ;)
     
  11. Silvery

    Silvery I won't pretend to be your friend coz I'm just not ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran

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    Ironically it was page 3 I think. Didn't notice there was another page between comments :lol:
     
  12. Splunge

    Splunge Bhaal’s financial advisor Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Which is why we need more people like Baronious. :)
     
  13. Gaear

    Gaear ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful

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    On that note (and this is meant for consideration, not as criticism), might it possibly be a better idea to let the exchanges like in the Reputation thread above live on, publically? Just from the standpoint of a casual observer, I found it vaguely compelling before it was constrained to PM.

    BoM members tend to post more coherantly than the "f#@^ u b!t@&$" types from other boards, so I don't think there's normally much danger that things will get to that level here. (Could be wrong though of course.)
     
  14. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    I'm not going to delete what's up already, but as a rule, anything personal should be handled via PM or e-mail... otherwise we could have public free-for-all threads where members could duke it out. Which might have some entertainment value in a tabloid kind of way, but what would be the point? Having a wide audience would bring out the worst in most people. If anyone wanted a public personal argument, they could do it via visitor messages, but I don't think that it has any place in the forums. It derails threads, if nothing else.

    For the record, we've never enforced how reputation should be used (not that we could anyway, given that it's private). And retaliatory/disagreeing neg-repping is something that goes as far back as the rep system itself, so it's not something that was just invented. I won't name names, but plenty of members especially in the Alleys use neg-rep on various posts simply because they disagree with them (or rather, can't stomach the poster). But this is a component of the rep system that has various checks and balances so in most cases, such repping doesn't present anything more than a momentary annoyance. Or rather, it shouldn't - I know some people get their knickers in a bunch over every neg rep they get just because it's unfair. In the words of a famous author: cry me a river.
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2011
  15. Saber

    Saber A revolution without dancing is not worth having! Veteran

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    I didn't know JT wrote books. Any of them good?
     
  16. The Magpie

    The Magpie Balance, in all things Veteran

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    Firstly, I apologise for posting in this thread and then vanishing for a month. Secondly, I also apologise if what I'm posting echoes previous posts, but I just don't have the time to read them all.

    What tends to bring people to sites is content. I found SP whilst browsing for BG1/2 content of some description (either patches or portraits... or maybe GateKeeper?) and stayed because of the forums populated by intelligent human beings, rather than Caps Lock abusing trolls. Content is the worm on the hook, and for SP to keep from terminal stagnation, some workable content angle has to be found. I understand that the need for stupendous bandwidth required to host mods for more modern games rules that out. SP, therefore, needs to look in other directions. Reviews, written articles, maybe even Podcasts (better compression than video, and arguably more in keeping with SP's ethos) are ways to energise content that require relatively little bandwidth compared to video or mods.

    Things like forums for more titles etc. should encourage discussion among those already here, but in an environment as transitory as the Internet, that worm on the hook needs to be as juicy as possible.
     
  17. Paracelsi

    Paracelsi Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Agree with above. I guess many visitors just take for granted that SP is as much a game resource site as it is a forums. An "if you wanna improve your game experience, see SP's list of mods/patches/guides/game news or check the SP store" feature could work, I mean I've just started posting last week but I've already read a lot of posts where people keep asking for links to mods which SP already had. And the number of resources this site offers is enormous, not to mention some of the useful info I've read here is unique to this site.
    Also I think the forums need to be more closely tied to the main site in some way, since most people who do searches on RPG stuff end up here instead of the main site.
     
  18. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    So, Tal... 2+ months on from the original post, how closer are we to getting the mobile BoM or different skins?
     
  19. Nakia

    Nakia The night is mine Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    There is already a great deal here. One can spend all day here and I think :) some do.

    The only thing I can think of is the Bethesda TES V Skyrim game that is due out 11/11/11. I know SP primarily supports Bioware games but I think Skyri8m is goin to be a very popular game. A friend has started a Blog Site for Skyrim just recently and it is already getting many visitors. It is quite well done and you mi8ght call it a one-stop shopping center for information on Skyrim.

    Prehaps if SP did some hype for Skyrim it might attract more people.
     
  20. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Barmy, the mobile skin is only going to happen once I upgrade the boards, but as they're slowly getting to where I feel the switch will be warranted, that should happen soon.

    As for the skins, I'll see if I can cook them up in the next few days.

    Nakia, we're covering Skyrim on the site (news, forum, content as well in the future I hope).
     
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