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15:47, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Feature Request: UI Adjustment to Players/GM Wanted Forums.

Posted by amul
amul
member, 1 post
Life, in 3 words:
It moves on.
Wed 27 May 2020
at 20:50
  • msg #1

Feature Request: UI Adjustment to Players/GM Wanted Forums

In the new UI, the emphasis has been placed on searching by the title of the advertisement, and there is no longer a separate column for what system each advertisement's game is for.

I dunno about others,  but this is a step further away from how I wish to search for games.

First, I want to sort by the several general styles of games here on rpol. There are "creative writing" style games, traditional rpgs where each player plays a specific character, ensemble games where each player runs a collection of characters, and games where each player is playing a larger collection or gestalt entity.

Next, I want to consider the system used for that game.

Only after those two options do I even want to consider the title of the ad post.

Others may have different search criteria. I request that further research be done into how the player base would want to search for games to join, and the system be updated to address those needs better.
bigbadron
moderator, 15884 posts
He's big, he's bad,
but mostly he's Ron.
Wed 27 May 2020
at 21:04

Feature Request: UI Adjustment to Players/GM Wanted Forums

At the top of the page in the W-P forum on the new site, there is a link that says, "Search for Game Advertisements".

Clicking on that will allow you to set the parameters for a search (including selecting the genre and the system).  The "style" of the game is very much something that should be specified in the ad itself.

As for Wanted - GMs - that's a little different.  It's up to the poster to specify their desired system in the title (and, since they are most likely not advertising an existing game, then there is no game information for the system to display).
amul
member, 2 posts
Life, in 3 words:
It moves on.
Wed 27 May 2020
at 23:27
  • msg #3

Feature Request: UI Adjustment to Players/GM Wanted Forums

I confess, I don't use Wanted - GMs even 10% as often as I use Wanted - Players, so my suggestions regarding that page are more about including that aspect in the wider scope of my feedback. I don't want my feedback to be about making the new UI fit my needs, I want to point out where additional work might be wanted.

Yes, the search functionality there is pleasingly robust, and I don't feel any changes might want to be made there. Rather, it's about how the information is laid out on the primary access point to those ads.

The search feature and the topic listing serve two different needs, at least for me. If I'm hungry to play a specific system, then I use the search function. If I want to see what games are out there, and find any system I'm familiar with that has open slots, I use the by-topic forum.

It's certainly possible that other players have different metrics. I'm not suggesting mine is the best strategy. I'm saying that the new system makes it harder to see some data that it's presenting, and the logic for that choice seems to be that the title of the ad is more important than when it was posted (I agree), who posted it (I agree), the genre (information irrelevant to any search I've done), and the system (a high consideration for me).

Hmm. Now that I'm looking at it more thoroughly, I also notice that there's no way to see how many posts are in each thread. It could be valuable to include some information in that view about how long that game has been running for. Players might be more or less interested in a brand new game versus one that's looking for replacement players. Applicant players sometimes post in these threads, so you don't want to just include thread length. Maybe a feature to let GMs bump their ads without requiring a post?

It's all a question of what information RPOL wants people to have when looking for games, and how easily accessible that information is at the primary access point. Obviously, every designer is going to have different opinions about that. All I'm saying is that the new design makes the information that I want to see there less visible, and so other people may have other preferences, and that's something I would encourage you all to look into.

I've been on this site for at least 5 years. The old system was functional for me. I'm sure I will get used to the new system in time. But you guys asked for feedback, and this is what I have to give back to the community that is serving me so well: you might want to do some research into how players want to use that page.
jase
admin, 3753 posts
Cogito, ergo procuro.
Carpe stultus!
Sat 6 Jun 2020
at 03:28

Feature Request: UI Adjustment to Players/GM Wanted Forums

I'll assume you're only talking about Wanted - Players here as the GM forum doesn't have a dedicated search function and acts like most of the other forums.  W-P is the only one that's specially modified and that has the system information.

To the topic at hand -- Considering the limited width we have available and the fact that game systems can be up to 60 characters we really cannot dedicate a column purely to the game system.  Sure it's on the old site but it's crammed in there and only works at about 1,600 pixels wide (and only then because we truncate the game system length).  The old site also has smaller text and no side menu.

Regardging the width; about 2/3rds of browser windows are under 1600 pixels wide.  Incredibly more people use 1366x768 (generally a 13.3" laptop screen resolution) than 1920x1080.  So we've got to keep that limitation in mind.

Anyway... personally I find the system information perfectly find and readable with ease.  It could possibly stand to be a bit larger but I haven't had any comments about it (besides yours) whereas I have had some people lamenting the need for additional (vertical) scrolling, which increasing the font size would cause.  Happy to look at it some more but I'd unfortunately need more feedback.  Either way I unfortunately don't think there's space to include the system as its own column.
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