Long term health of mafiascum

[Kison]

While we haven't ruled out any sort of ranked system, I don't see that as a low hanging fruit. If we were to go that route we'd likely do so once game automation - or at least game tracking - is first in place.

[GreyICE]

Low hanging fruit is probably a better start page and a better newbie queue. The entire splash page screams "early on 2000s"

[GreyICE]

Oh here's some SUPER low-hanging fruit. The post button currently works by finding the absolute post number, instead of the post number relative to the thread.

So

Code: Select all

[post]800[/post]

Does nothing.

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[post]p10093577[/post]

Also does nothing.

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[post=#10093577]Some stupid text here[/post]

This works.

Now intuitive programming wise, the first one should produce #800 instead of what I ACTUALLY had to type to get that output.

[chamber]

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[post=800][/post]

also works.

[chamber]

Code: Select all

[post]800[/post]

also works. the # infront forces it to reference the global rather than relative id.

[GreyICE]

800

Edit: Huh, so it does, but it shifts the code to the older version. The mouseover text is still the same though. Nice upgrade.

[chamber]

This is how it has always worked.

[Ranmaru]

By the way I always like the way the site looks, no need to improve the look further. Maybe the banner could use an update.

[Vaxkiller]

Again, I'm not sure where the retention problem is, but perhaps after newbie games are over maybe we can "invite" them to other queues/games or at least give them a TLDR of what they can expect from other types of games.

[Kison]

Low hanging fruit is probably a better start page and a better newbie queue. The entire splash page screams "early on 2000s"

I certainly agree on the home page and would like to tackle that at some point soon. I think the main goal should be to explain the site better & do away with the

how to join

graphic. While the latter is informative, it's a bit overwhelming & having to view it on a completely separate page is not very friendly. We should probably link directly to the registration page as well.

In other news, just a few days ago we launched an automatic "welcome PM" that is sent to non-alt users on their first login:

Spoiler:

Welcome to MafiaScum, NewUser! We're glad to have you!

To sign up for your first newbie game, visit the

Newbie Queue

and post

/in

. You will be added to the queue & receive a private message when your game begins.

If you're a more experienced player, you can find more games in the

Queue

forum.

Good luck & we hope you have fun!

I'm sure the messaging can be improved, but several new users have already clicked through to the queue from the message itself.

[Mathdino]

thank you based kison

i am thoroughly surprised that wasn't already a feature

but this was a very good addition

[GreyICE]

Low hanging fruit is probably a better start page and a better newbie queue. The entire splash page screams "early on 2000s"

I certainly agree on the home page and would like to tackle that at some point soon. I think the main goal should be to explain the site better & do away with the

how to join

graphic. While the latter is informative, it's a bit overwhelming & having to view it on a completely separate page is not very friendly. We should probably link directly to the registration page as well.

In other news, just a few days ago we launched an automatic "welcome PM" that is sent to non-alt users on their first login:

Spoiler:

Welcome to MafiaScum, NewUser! We're glad to have you!

To sign up for your first newbie game, visit the

Newbie Queue

and post

/in

. You will be added to the queue & receive a private message when your game begins.

If you're a more experienced player, you can find more games in the

Queue

forum.

Good luck & we hope you have fun!

I'm sure the messaging can be improved, but several new users have already clicked through to the queue from the message itself.

Some more ideas, in no particular order. Some of these are trivial, some of these are probably a bit of coding

- Links to Scummies-Awarded games
- Date for next Marathon weekend
- List of games currently in signups (this is HUGE - but requires some work to automate queues more)
- List of games in need of replacements (optional, might not be our best foot forward)
- List of newbie queue games currently in signups

I'd love it if signups were automated, and could send out a specific email when the queue popped. Or maybe even the option for a text message? Is a text too complex?

[Psyche]

oh boy automated signups i forgot that was a thing

[Gamma Emerald]

maybe give listmods like, a button to press when a game fills sending the email

[mastina]

- List of games in need of replacements (optional, might not be our best foot forward)

For this, I assume you mean in some place other than the devoted thread for that purpose? That being, a place which the hope would be for higher visibility and either automation (mod inputs replacement needed-->shows up on list; mod inputs replacement no longer necessary-->removed from list) or a rapidly-updated easily-accessed post of some kind?

Something like that would indeed be awesome.

[GreyICE]

Exactly. All of that on the start page when you log in. You know, how Amazon shows product selections, new stuff, top picks. Show games in signup, games needing replacements, top completed games, that sort of thing. Not as cluttered as something like www.boardgamegeek.com, but something more like a modern splash page for a website. The nonfunctional landing site is dying thanks to the irritation of "clicking through" on mobile phones. I think mobile and tablet devices are climbing north of half of all internet usage, and the splash page is remarkably unfriendly to them. Giving them things they can click on in a landing page is not.

[Kison]

- List of games currently in signups (this is HUGE - but requires some work to automate queues more)
- List of games in need of replacements (optional, might not be our best foot forward)
- List of newbie queue games currently in signups

I'd love it if signups were automated, and could send out a specific email when the queue popped. Or maybe even the option for a text message? Is a text too complex?

These are all things we'll be doing immediately after we upgrade the board. Which is getting fairly close, by the way(if you're good with CSS, let me know as you'll speed up the process quite a bit).

Text notifications would be simple. If the demand is there, we could figure something out.

As for Marathons, I've dug into it a bit. It looks like we used to do them multiple times a year until about 2015. As far as I can tell, there's no real coordination for when the next one will be. I'll see if we can come up with some kind of schedule, or at the very least announce the next one well in advance.

[xRECKONERx]

I love BBMolla's suggestions.

[Mulch]

A ranked queue will be the death of the site

The rest of the stuff discussed here all sounds great

[BBmolla]

A ranked queue will be the death of the site

Why

If you don’t like the queue you don’t play in it who cares?

[BBmolla]

It’s like someone saying “team mafia will ruin the site,” it’s absolute nonsense.

Any arguments about people using it to show off or whatever are dumb arguments anyway. Any of us who have played league or over watch or whatever games know the “my stats are better, you play support.” But that shouldn’t stop ranked games it’s really not that big of a deal and that sort of thing happens at this site already so it won’t be any different.

[GreyICE]

- List of games currently in signups (this is HUGE - but requires some work to automate queues more)
- List of games in need of replacements (optional, might not be our best foot forward)
- List of newbie queue games currently in signups

I'd love it if signups were automated, and could send out a specific email when the queue popped. Or maybe even the option for a text message? Is a text too complex?

These are all things we'll be doing immediately after we upgrade the board. Which is getting fairly close, by the way(if you're good with CSS, let me know as you'll speed up the process quite a bit).

Unfortunately all my CSS experience is from around 2012 at the latest. Which, in internet terms, I think means I have a fine grasp on fire, and know how to build a square wheel. Otherwise I'd take you up on that.

[Zachrulez]

It’s like someone saying “team mafia will ruin the site,” it’s absolute nonsense.

Any arguments about people using it to show off or whatever are dumb arguments anyway. Any of us who have played league or over watch or whatever games know the “my stats are better, you play support.” But that shouldn’t stop ranked games it’s really not that big of a deal and that sort of thing happens at this site already so it won’t be any different.

I mean the idea that a ranked queue getting popular enough that it might get difficult to find an unranked game could be a legitimate worry. I just see all this clamoring for a ranked queue and my thought is... why? Do people think it will actually measure player skill in any meaningful way? It's possible to play a great game and still lose just as it's possible to play an absolutely awful game and still win. There's probably even an argument for it making players more toxic as their rage level builds on that unreasonable player that just won't listen

because their rating is riding on this!

I mean I don't even hugely care and it didn't take me long to think about these potential issues.

[BBmolla]

It’s like someone saying “team mafia will ruin the site,” it’s absolute nonsense.

Any arguments about people using it to show off or whatever are dumb arguments anyway. Any of us who have played league or over watch or whatever games know the “my stats are better, you play support.” But that shouldn’t stop ranked games it’s really not that big of a deal and that sort of thing happens at this site already so it won’t be any different.

I mean the idea that a ranked queue getting popular enough that it might get difficult to find an unranked game could be a legitimate worry. I just see all this clamoring for a ranked queue and my thought is... why? Do people think it will actually measure player skill in any meaningful way? It's possible to play a great game and still lose just as it's possible to play an absolutely awful game and still win. There's probably even an argument for it making players more toxic as their rage level builds on that unreasonable player that just won't listen

because their rating is riding on this!

I mean I don't even hugely care and it didn't take me long to think about these potential issues.

If it means more players stay than there's no problem, it'll even out. If it means all the current players move to it and retention rates go unchanged, then we get rid of it.

Like Blitz queue

[BBmolla]

I donno. I guess it depends on what your vision for the site is.

For me I want this to be the go to place for forum mafia focusing on dayplay. I think it's the purest form of mafia and I haven't seen anywhere else have it down as well as we do. I think the next step in keeping incredible players here is to give them a chance to thrive by letting them prove themselves.

In addition, I think it's important also to keep our roots, which is our incredible theme games that are balanced like nowhere else.

I think this is the place for both of those things to thrive, but I guess that's just me.