Mahz's Dev Journal

[Mahz]

@SilverRain I think raw post count is the wrong metric to reward, but I do like the general idea of people accumulating "trinkets" of some sort over their time at the guild. While it's still in a fledgling state, I hope the trophy system will address this in one way as it matures.

@LegendBegins Darn. Well, a temporary hack is to simply put a space before >This< so that it's not flush up against the side.

Like:

>This<

[Mahz]

I threw together a basic chat system here: roleplayerguild.com/chat

Work in progress.

I think I'll spend Saturday finishing it up.

[Ellri]

Yes @Mahz, a follower vs. a friendship system would solve things pretty well. Perhaps even have it have the extra feature to notice if two people follow each other and suggest changing it to friendship?

Privacy is always a tough nut. On one hand, there's the act of people wanting to be able to hide themselves, on the other there's the fact that others might find too much invisible to be attractive.

Would an optional tweak to the invisibility system be to show a rougher idea of when someone was last on?
Rather than say "21 minutes ago" on the last online, have it show "last 24 hours" or "last two to seven days" "eight to thirty days" "More than a month ago"?

How will the chat system work when compared the IRC?

[Fallenreaper]

What about a system for sorting PMs into something like folders or something? I know deleting pms has been noted as complicated code, hence something that will likely take a while but until then could a system like that be implied? It would make locating and seeking out pms much easy until an deleting option can be discovered? I know some guilds, including the old one, had a function like that which was very useful.

*braces for reaction*

[Mahz]

Yes @Mahz, a follower vs. a friendship system would solve things pretty well. Perhaps even have it have the extra feature to notice if two people follow each other and suggest changing it to friendship?

@Ellri

I'll just keep iterating on top of the current stalker system and see where it takes me.

Would an optional tweak to the invisibility system be to show a rougher idea of when someone was last on?
Rather than say "21 minutes ago" on the last online, have it show "last 24 hours" or "last two to seven days" "eight to thirty days" "More than a month ago"?

@Ellri

Hmm, this is a decent idea. But I think we'd have to dig in to what invisibility-mode is for and what people are trying to get out of it when they use it.

The invisibility system, as far as I can tell, is really just intended for temporary privacy. Like when you tell someone you can't reply to a roleplay tonight because you're going to bed but you get on in an hour to PM your main squeeze and want to avoid the awkward "I thought you were going to bed..." confrontation.

Until someone corrects me, it seems like permanent invisibility-mode is an anti-feature. Maybe it shouldn't be something you just set and forget for eternity.

How will the chat system work when compared the IRC?

@Ellri

The IRC channel is an independent beast that simply coexists with the guild. It's a chill hangout outside the guild's jurisdiction and it's been that way for years. It's not something I care to disrupt.

The guild's on-site chat system exists to integrate with the site. Leads to features like group chat channels, IMing someone when they're online, chat RP, "looking for party" type channels, etc. Also, the chat server is implemented as a general web-socket server which will give me a foundation for building real-time notifications for the guild.

[Mahz]

What about a system for sorting PMs into something like folders or something? I know deleting pms has been noted as complicated code, hence something that will likely take a while but until then could a system like that be implied? It would make locating and seeking out pms much easy until an deleting option can be discovered? I know some guilds, including the old one, had a function like that which was very useful.

*braces for reaction*

@Fallenreaper

I tallied up the most popular requests from my feedback form:

roleplayerguild.com/posts/28..

PM organization was pretty popular with 6 votes. It's definitely something I want to do.

[NuttsnBolts]

Hmm, this is a decent idea. But I think we'd have to dig in to what invisibility-mode is for and what people are trying to get out of it when they use it.

The invisibility system, as far as I can tell, is really just intended for temporary privacy. Like when you tell someone you can't reply to a roleplay tonight because you're going to bed but you get on in an hour to PM your main squeeze and want to avoid the awkward "I thought you were going to bed..." confrontation.

Until someone corrects me, it seems like permanent invisibility-mode is an anti-feature. Maybe it shouldn't be something you just set and forget for eternity.

@Mahz

I think that's mostly it when you mention how people that want to stay hidden may just want to come and read RPs or PM people. Your regular member is going to guess the approximate time when someone is generally on anyways (being in the US, Australasia, or Europe). I think the term "Lurking" is better at explaining it than Invisible. I do like @Ellri's idea that when someone is a lurker they will state that they have been online sometime during the last 24hrs, 1 week, etc. You can see the person is an active forum member but won't see when they're on exactly.

[Ellri]

Maybe even rename the "invible mode" to "lurker mode"? That would be another way the guild is unique.

But we agree, finding out what people desire from the mode is probably a good idea. Not using it, we imagine it is the one you described "Don't wanna post now, but want to read stuff and don't want complaints about not posting" rather than "None shall see".

[Ellri]

We'll throw in a small question here, @Mahz... The posthumously awarded trophies (or whatever you choose to call it)... What do they "look" like? Where do they appear?

[BBeast]

@Mahz, I like how you added the chat system. What you need now is the ability to set up private chatrooms in the Guild- for when you want to communicate in real time with a particular user/group rather than the whole Guild. And then, eventually, we could have that collaborative post Piratepad-type feature.

[Mahz]

Maybe even rename the "invible mode" to "lurker mode"? That would be another way the guild is unique.

@Ellri

Lurker Mode

We'll throw in a small question here, @Mahz... The posthumously awarded trophies (or whatever you choose to call it)... What do they "look" like? Where do they appear?

@Ellri

If you can excuse the hacked together, unfinished UI, you can at least browse some trophies here: roleplayerguild.com/trophy-g..

It makes more sense when viewing a user's trophy box on their profile.

For example, roleplayerguild.com/users/ro.. has a couple trophies including a trophy with a special effect:



Since it's their active trophy, you can see the special effect in their postbit:



I just really need to put in the hour or two to finish the trophy pages and flesh out the trophy descriptions. When I do that, I can at least link to the trophy list somewhere on the homepage and create a feed of awarded trophies or something to actually expose the system.

Until then, the feature is more of an easter egg.

@Mahz, I like how you added the chat system. What you need now is the ability to set up private chatrooms in the Guild- for when you want to communicate in real time with a particular user/group rather than the whole Guild. And then, eventually, we could have that collaborative post Piratepad-type feature.

@BBeast

Yeah, that's the spirit. Though my baby step for the weekend is to get the chat lobby good enough for people to use.

I'm glad I held off on the EtherPad integration. Way too much complexity for the guild to stomach so early.

[Ellri]

That page might not be perfect, but it certainly does the job.

[SilverRain]

@LegendBegins Yeah, that's true about speed posting in RPs. Granted the forum where I came from was a much smaller community with only about 40 regulars. So we weren't that prolific when it came to posting.

@Carantathraiel Interestingly, the forum wasn't Gaia. Though now I know where the equipment system came from. :P

@Mahz I like the idea of having forum trinkets. Trophies sound cool - especially how some of them are coming with 'special abilities'.

[LegendBegins]

Yes @Mahz, a follower vs. a friendship system would solve things pretty well. Perhaps even have it have the extra feature to notice if two people follow each other and suggest changing it to friendship?

Privacy is always a tough nut. On one hand, there's the act of people wanting to be able to hide themselves, on the other there's the fact that others might find too much invisible to be attractive.

Would an optional tweak to the invisibility system be to show a rougher idea of when someone was last on?
Rather than say "21 minutes ago" on the last online, have it show "last 24 hours" or "last two to seven days" "eight to thirty days" "More than a month ago"?

How will the chat system work when compared the IRC?

@Ellri

I'd much rather not. In many cases, I know someone will be back in X minutes. If I don't know when they were last on, I can't anticipate when they will return.

[Mahz]

<Snipped quote by Ellri>

I'd much rather not. In many cases, I know someone will be back in X minutes. If I don't know when they were last on, I can't anticipate when they will return.

@LegendBegins

Says the guy that's invisible!

But @Ellri gave me a simpler idea: what if invisibility-mode simply obscures your activity within the last 24 hours?

When visible		When invisible

Seen 3 days ago		Seen 3 days ago
Seen 2 days ago		Seen 2 days ago
Seen 1 day ago		Seen 1 day ago
Seen 12 hours ago	Seen today
Seen 3 hours ago	Seen today
Online			Seen today

[LegendBegins]

@Mahz
I'd also like to mention that the reason I use invisible mode is so people don't think I haven't actually been online in days. This is my account for official business, and I only log on to post something officially, but I'm always lurking with my others. I don't want anyone to think "Oh, Legend hasn't been on in days."

[Ellri]

@LegendBegins You're not alone in preferring to know when people last were on... But a lurker mode would give a better idea than full invisibility, even if its not as optimal as actual visibility (which hopefully would what most use).

@Mahz That could work. We still think it should be renamed to "lurker mode".

[LegendBegins]

@Mahz
Sorry, sorry. I'm only invisible for the sake of other people.

@LegendBegins You're not alone in preferring to know when people last were on... But a lurker mode would give a better idea than full invisibility, even if its not as optimal as actual visibility (which hopefully would what most use).

@Mahz That could work. We still think it should be renamed to "lurker mode".

@Ellri

If it was activated, I would have no reason to remain invisible, since people would think I've been gone for days anyway.

[Mahz]

@Mahz
I'd also like to mention that the reason I use invisible mode is so people don't think I haven't actually been online in days. This is my account for official business, and I only log on to post something officially, but I'm always lurking with my others. I don't want anyone to think "Oh, Legend hasn't been on in days."

@LegendBegins

I hope you understand that that's not really a use-case I will go out of my way to support. My proposed improvement to the invisibility system above would eliminate this use-case. :(

The purpose of invisibility-mode is to give people privacy over the exact moment they're online. That invisibility happens to hide *all* activity information was the product of a quick implementation until I could think of a better approach.

If you may be lurking on other accounts, it seems better to reassure people via status and signature. Or even user title: "Not my main account".

@Mahz To be fair, I'm sure a lot of people want it to be that way, and will be unhappy if suddenly they aren't quite as invisible as they were before.