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| RPGDot should... |
| show all newsbits for single player CRPGs and MMORPGs |
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44% |
[ 34 ] |
| concentrate on SP CRPGs and leave MMORPGs to MMORPGDot |
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42% |
[ 32 ] |
| even post news that are visible only on subsites now |
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13% |
[ 10 ] |
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| Total Votes : 76 |
Rendelius
Critical Error
Joined: 06 Jul 2001
Posts: 16
Location: Austria |
| Future of RPGDot news - please participate |
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We have nearly finished our internal redesign of RPGDot. Basically, we have completely seperated the content from the design, and will be able to offer a unified login for both the site and the forums (as well as a better integration of the latter).
We also had an idea where we would require your input: how should RPGDot go on with the news? We think that the number of newsbits we post per day will continue to increase. I know for sure that a lot of people like that we have the most complete coverage - but some, at least that's what we think, could have problems finding the relevant newsbits amongst the 20+ we post each day.
While we will offer an opportunity to filter the site for registered users, we thought about opening a new site for MMORPG news. MMORPGDot would concentrate on massive multiplayer online roleplaying games, not bringing news about single player CRPGs. Our question is: should we get rid of those newsbits on RPGDot? or should RPGDot stay the "hub" for the network, where each and every newsbit can be found (apart from those entered at our subsites for certain games).
Please help us decide by answering the questions in our poll. Thanks.
_________________
Rendelius
former Senior Editor RPGDot
now at http://www.theastronomers.com
Last edited by Rendelius on Mon Jan 27, 2003 7:04 am; edited 1 time in total |
Mon Jan 20, 2003 2:31 pm |
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Ekim
Eagle's Shadow
Joined: 27 May 2002
Posts: 2365
Location: Montreal, Canada |
Well, here's the only problem I see with seperating MMORPGs from SP RPGs:
As an MMORPG fan, I also love SP games, but I know that the opposite isn't always true and that a lot of SP fans don't like MMORPGs. If you seperate the two, although many MMORPG haters won't mind, you will force those who like both to hop from one site to the other to get their desired news. While that's not very demanding, it still might push away some of us who like to get our news from one unified place, as we currently do!
I vote for keeping the current system of filtering our own desired news. I don't read on console games because it doesn't really interest me, but I wouldn't want those news bits to be quarantined either, and force those who like them to switch URLs all the time... We can all live happily together, can't we? 
Just my 2 cents 
_________________
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=Member of The Nonflamers' Guild=
=Worshiper of the Written Word= |
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Mon Jan 20, 2003 7:26 pm |
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Roach
SBR Belfry Bat
Joined: 20 Jan 2002
Posts: 3233
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quote:
Originally posted by Ekim
As an MMORPG fan, I also love SP games,
I’m some what similar but opposite. I play SP games, and have only recently started playing MMOGs, (atitd beta3) and will likely play some of the upcoming mmorpgs like horizons. But if you made an MMORPGDot I would probably use it so infrequently that I would forget it was even there.
I’d prefer to keep the same basic system, I registered on the front page so I could, like Ekim, filter out the consol stuff and I also filter out a few others, but since MMORPG news can easily be filtered out I don’t really see a reason to create a separate site for it.
The only real critique I have of the news page, and I don’t even know if it could be done, is that it would be nice if the games that we select in our profile could be highlighted for us, and if so it would be nice to select a few more than the five. |
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Mon Jan 20, 2003 8:24 pm |
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Rendelius
Critical Error
Joined: 06 Jul 2001
Posts: 16
Location: Austria |
Yeah, we have to work on the selection criterias a little to make the site more user friendly. The way it is handled now is less than perfect: you can exclude categories, and override your exclusions for five games. So if you aren't interested in MMORPGs, with the exception of AC2, that can be done. But maybe we should rethink the way you can select the news that should be displayed. But how? I am still clueless about how this could be done for app. 100 games that are in the news and 600+ in the database.
Would it help to arrange the news of the day by category? I mean, we could even allow you to in- or exclude every single game, but this wouldn't be fun for you, just work  .
Well, we will have different "skins" in the future, with different options how news are displayed. Maybe that helps.
_________________
Rendelius
former Senior Editor RPGDot
now at http://www.theastronomers.com |
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Mon Jan 20, 2003 9:06 pm |
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Roach
SBR Belfry Bat
Joined: 20 Jan 2002
Posts: 3233
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“Would it help to arrange the news of the day by category?”
Probably not.
I don’t know the first thing about programming or site design so I don‘t know if it can be done or how hard it would be if it could. But I was thinking that if the news bits are filed by game which I would think they would have to be if a profile can filter out all MMORPG news except for one or two chosen games, then maybe it somehow it could show the news bits that are for the chosen games in bold text like the features are. |
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Mon Jan 20, 2003 9:55 pm |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
I'm going to agree with the others...I basically only play SP but I've recently played ATITD Beta 3 and potentially have some interest in SWG - and who knows what else?
I don't even filter the console stuff at this stage - perhaps one day a title will convince me to buy a console. I'd rather be aware of everything that is going on.
Arranging news by category does sound good to me. I could carefully read the PC SP section and scan quickly through the MMORPG and console categories.
In my mind, it seems desirable for RPGDot to remain the central site, rather than diluting viewers across separate sites - but it's your site, so I'm sure you have a vision! |
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Mon Jan 20, 2003 11:21 pm |
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cfmdobbie
High Emperor
Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 1859
Location: London, England |
Disclaimer: I come to this site for the Morrowind forums, and haven't really looked at the rest of the site!  I personally don't have any interest in any MMO* games, but I suppose I could see myself getting into other SPRPG games in the future.
I think keeping a news filter system is much better than splitting into several sites. Splitting diminishes the community that already exists and dilutes the RPGDot brand. If your servers can handle it, and your site software can be written to cater for both tastes, there's no reason to split.
I also don't think arranging news by category would help. It's just not the right solution - if there's too much news on the page to pick out the bits you're interested in, you need to reduce the number of items displayed, not divide them up differently.
Maybe your content tagging system just needs an overhaul. I guess you have a system where news about Morrowind is tagged with something like ["Morrowind", "The Elder Scrolls", "Bethesda", "Single Player", "Fantasy", "NetImmerse"]. In a perfect world the user would select something like this:
code:
"Fantasy" AND (
("MMORPG" AND "Sony") OR
("SPRPG" AND NOT "Dave's Dodgy RPG")
)
It's pretty hard to make this efficient (you end up doing SQL DECODEs or having huge joins and nested SELECTs). Maybe you need to decide on a number of global categories (eg "SPRPG", "MMORPG" and "Other") that can be filtered independently. Then you could probably implement something pretty fast that just had an ALLOW/DENY system from there. No construction of boolean expressions or anything, simple table lookups.
code:
SPRPG:
Company:
Allow:
[ ] Sony
[X] Bethesda
[ ] WotC
(etc)
Deny:
(same list as above)
Format:
Allow:
[X] PC
[X] X-Box
(...)
You'd probably want to chop this up into multiple pages to stop it turning into One Huge Form. Don't go down the DHTML route, construct all the forms server-side. Use the standard rules for allow/deny systems (check docs for /etc/hosts on any UNIX box).  Sorry, I guess you'd know all this better than me!
Is this the kind of idea you're after?
_________________
Charlie Dobbie
=Member of The Nonflamers' Guild=
=Moderator of the Morrowind/Oblivion Forums= |
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Tue Jan 21, 2003 1:03 am |
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corwin
On the Razorblade of Life
Joined: 10 Jun 2002
Posts: 8376
Location: Australia |
Some interesting thoughts. OK, I dislike MMORPG's and oil and water mix better together than I and a console do, so I naturally filter out all those things and I'm very happy with the result. I'd hate to specify particular games or publishers, because on e of the biggest benefits I've had from this site over the years, is news about games and publishers I've never heard of. Gothic, DD and Arx leap quickly to mind. I'm content with the current setup.
_________________
If God said it, then that settles it!
I don't use Smileys, I use Emoticons!!
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Tue Jan 21, 2003 7:09 am |
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Ariel
Harmonious Angel
Joined: 21 Jul 2001
Posts: 432
Location: Germany |
I am also in favor of one central place for all RPG related news, namely RPGdot, with the option of filtering out unwanted news items. I think separating different categories is a step into the right direction, though at the same time I concur with cfmdobbie's statement that the number of items displayed should be reduced first if possible.
I've never liked the so-called "portal" sites that assemble a huge mass of information on one entry page, although it probably describes best what RPGdot is in regard to RPGs.
.~.~.
Anyway, here are some ideas for easier differentiation of RPGs both on the news and user side:
First, I would distinguish between
~ normal RPGs and related material, the main category
~ MMORPGs, the new and still undeveloped era
~ Console RPGs, for what it's worth
Second, the display of news headlines could be standardized. As of now, every news guy has a different style of his own. Moriendor for instance usually puts the game's name, followed by the actual headline, an @ and the source. Rendelius on the other hand is very inconsistent and puts whatever seems fitting as a headline. That and the general incompatibility of news in general, e.g. reviews, articles, ramblings, makes everything hard to read and wade through, especially if you want to quickly scan the headlines for news of interest.
I could imagine something like formatted tables, with a few or all of the following columns:
~ Time of the newsbit - already done
~ Category (RPG or general/MMORPG/Console)
~ The Name of the Game or related information
~ The actual headline, i.e. the type of newsbit posted (reviews, screenshots, general info etc.)
~ Source that the actual newsbit hints to
These items could also be improved for further ease of use:
~ Syntax highlighting for the category. Maybe different colors for each of the three genres, or a small icon that describes the genre directly, which would save precious space and be easier to look at.
~ The source could be a direct link to the article that the newsbit refers to, as opposed to the headline which links to the newsitem itself. I hope you understand what I mean..
Third, regarding the separation of RPGs, MMORPGs and Console RPGs, in addition to a small icon or similar identifier, it could be made possible to let the user choose the way these news are displayed.
1) Sorted by time, all categories mixed together, like it is now, the default.
2) Sorted by category, according to priorities defined by the user, e.g. first all RPG news sorted by time, then all MMORPG news sorted by time, same for Console RPGs. This order should then of course extend to the actual news items.
.~.~.
One last remark concerning the customization of RPGdot. I don't like the handling of my profile so much, because it's so "hidden". It would be nice to have small icons that let you quickly filter or highlight certain games or categories in the current and all future sessions. Kind of like the forum has buttons that let you report posts or delete your own.
This way you could easily filter certain news. However, it should likewise be easy to unfilter them..
Oh, I figure that it's not possible to highlight favorite games, as Su suggested. That, too, would be a nifty feature.
Meow...
Arhu
_________________
“Through the sounds of falling rain, through the clouds of bitter times
I see the pure grace of your smile, in dreams of the warmth in your eyes” - Tim North |
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Tue Jan 21, 2003 2:52 pm |
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Myrthos
Spoiler of All Fun
Joined: 07 Jul 2001
Posts: 1926
Location: Holland |
What you are suggesting makes for some complicated headlines. Do you think it improves the readability of these headlines at all? Afterall there is just a limited amount of space that is available.
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Tue Jan 21, 2003 3:52 pm |
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Ariel
Harmonious Angel
Joined: 21 Jul 2001
Posts: 432
Location: Germany |
Would it, or would it not? I have no idea as I've never seen anything like it. I does seem overloaded, but then again the amount of space used now is about the same, isn't it? At least Mo puts most of the information already in the headline, all but the genre. *shrugs*
Just tinkering with some thoughts.
_________________
“Through the sounds of falling rain, through the clouds of bitter times
I see the pure grace of your smile, in dreams of the warmth in your eyes” - Tim North |
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Tue Jan 21, 2003 4:03 pm |
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Rendelius
Critical Error
Joined: 06 Jul 2001
Posts: 16
Location: Austria |
Well, for my part, I like "humanized" headlines. I mean, we could only offer the link like some other sites do, but I think RPGDot would lose a lot of its charme when we are getting to standardized...
_________________
Rendelius
former Senior Editor RPGDot
now at http://www.theastronomers.com |
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Tue Jan 21, 2003 4:24 pm |
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Ammon777
Warrior for Heaven
Joined: 20 Apr 2002
Posts: 2011
Location: United States |
I like the MMORPGDot idea. That would be cool to be able to see only the newsbits on those games in one place, and then switch over to RPGDot for SP news. Good idea. |
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Tue Jan 21, 2003 5:06 pm |
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Namirrha
Noble Knight
Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 218
Location: Utah County, Utah. |
Rendelius, I think either one is good. I'm not a big fan of MMORPGs and I come to RPGDot for single player games mainly. Please keep the personalized headlines. RPGDot has always been more personable and likeable than many other RPG sites because of this. I would be for an MMORPGDOT.
_________________
Give me the shadows, shield me from the light, and I shall let nothing pass in the darkness of the night. |
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Tue Jan 21, 2003 5:57 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
I think, based on what I've seen so far, that the answer to your question will depend a great deal on the user. For instance, since I only play SP, filtering out all the MMO and console news makes my news list very manageable. So my answer to your question is to leave it as is. Someone that follows all 3 groups will have a huge list, so they will probably favor some changes to organize their news differently. I realize that doesn't really answer your question, but perhaps it points to a reason to allow customization by the user.
As for dividing the site, I wouldn't do that. It breaks up the RPGDot community, which is a big part of the appeal. It also waters down the "non-commercial fan site" image which you have worked hard to build. Additionally, it might complicate things for you if internet advertising ever bounces back since you'll have 2 different sites with 2 different "traffics".
And since several people have put up a "wish list", I'd like to throw one out there. When you bring up a newsbit, it would be nice if you had a button tied to the user's profile, "Don't tell me about this game anymore". I don't know about anyone else, but I try to take a look at the news for all the SP games. Occasionally, I decide that a game isn't for me. It would be nice to filter out news from such games individually at the touch of a button.
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=Proud Member of the Non-Flamers Guild=
=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Tue Jan 21, 2003 6:12 pm |
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