LFG (again)

I was trying to think of "the simplest thing that could possibly work" to improve the LFG stuff we discussed.

My first thought was to make that "What games are you into?" box a text area with a drop-down.



Not sure about the statuses are: Not looking for a game, interested in a game, desperate for a game!!!!! ?

Show a random person on the homepage who's looking for a game - prioritising those without games (new members).



Perhaps notify new members to set that box.

I don't know. I want something simple and see if we can evolve it into something good, without overdesigning something from the start.

My hope would be that GMs might step up and invite new members. If nothing else, it might introduce us to other community members and help reduce siloing.

I like this idea, especially if there's a link attached to view all LFG things

I also believe that the statistics shown in that screenshot are a complete lie

If there were a link to a page to view all LFG then that "PM to multiple people" feature could come in handy too.

PM to multipeople

It would be cool if there were a chart or poll or something that shows what games people want run the most that are currently under represented.

Maybe that will come, although there's nothing stopping someone running a poll in general chat at the moment.

When we originally talked about this I thought we'd have tagging, but then there was the question of who maintains the tags, then investigation showed that the admins don't have their own metadata area to maintain them, and it turned into a whole thing.

We don't have so many people looking for games that I think we need tagging at the moment. That's why I'm after the simplest thing that could possibly work.

I think that's:
* Set whether you're looking for a game
* What sort of a game you're looking for
* Advertise people looking for games
* Get a list of people looking for games

I think most of us like to see people without games find one.

Looking at the staging site now. LFG feature looks good. Might be nice if there were "arrows" to flip through potential victims players.

If you click The Gamers you can filter for people looking for a game.

Oh, cool. Was thinking it just for homepage.

Does anybody use The Gamers page? I sometimes click it, and am often surprised at how few of the people I know.

Sometimes but rarely. When I do though, I too am surprised at people I haven't seen before.

Oh, what about an alphabetical index as well for the gamers page? Maybe it's unneeded? Unnecessary? Dunno. A light bulb just got lit in my head and I blurt it out.

The search function that I believe is coming should be all we need although why not have a sort function by, say date and alphabetical order? That might be handy.

You're right, it's kinda unnecessary after all ?

I wouldn't mind a sort by date just for grins.

What was the url for the staging site again? I need to bookmark it

Mapdm.com

I would keep it in the orange as well, not green.
Also, it's only choosing between Adam and Anti right now, right?

Well, i think it should stand out somehow. Got any ideas other than a different color scheme then?

Yeah, it's mainly us in staging I think. (That turned the function on at least)

I dont think it should stand out any more than the avatar picture there already makes it. Why would it?

Jeez bowl. You can't let me have one goddamn thing, can you? That box is probably my one change to the site. Everything other change is just a tweak of what already existed. If you want it orange then I can do that - orange comes free with one sulky Adam. ?

I agree. All the extra colour are distracting and make it harder to emphasise important things.

Since this is a new feature, having it appear in a new colour for a while might be OK, but it should fade into the background once the novelty wears off.

The Private Message system on GP is sorta sucky. I also dislike 'recruiting in private' on general principles.

Can we add a link to a forum thread where we can chat to the player about what they are looking for instead of (or as well as) the link to 'Send a message'? The player would need to create such a thread (in the tavern?) and add it to their LFG blurb.

This allows for and fosters dialogue.

Well, you know I was already against turning the Latest Game Posts thing red. But that was a highlighting I at least understood the reason for, even if I didn't like it personally.
This is a thing I actively don't think should be highlighted, especially not in an even highlightier color ?

Why do you think it should be green?

I don’t any more. I’m past caring.

variable to change

Curious why you dislike private recruiting. I feel that it has its place among all the other types of recruiting here, like new players only, high rate posters, casual posters, mostly roleplaying or combat-heavy etc. Sometimes people know a group that has just the right qualities to make a particular system in a particular setting incredibly entertaining and they want a guaranteed fun game. I've been lucky enough to be in such games. But I am also in open recruiting type games.

It seems like we are conflating the historical "What sort of games are you into?" with the "What sort of games are you looking for?" of the new LFG.

Perhaps they should be separate fields? Especially if someone is not currently looking for games.

Can me make the Looking for a Game box collapsable like the others (announcements) in that area?

Some people may not be interested in starting games (not currently or not able) and making them scroll past something they have no interest in is non-ideal.