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PLAY.NET forums nigh unusable
volune
Member Posts: 14
Anyone here tried to navigate the PLAY.NET Hero's Journey forums?
It's a nightmare. Havnt they heard of threads?
I mean you go over to (General Discussions > Hero's Journey Discussions) and you expect to see tons of discussions people are talking about to pick from. Just like every other forum software.
No, "Hero's Journey Discussions" happens to be THE topic, and everyone posts to this one GOD TOPIC. Discussions in this one long topic bounce back and forth between groups of people and are almost impossible to glean any sense from. You either have to search, or slog through lots of posts between the posts that are relevant to your sub-topic.
The sad thing is I am a software developer who designs web applications. We arnt talking some computer illiterate type, sitting here drolling on myself. I feel as if either im just not getting some fundemental trick to the forums, or you guys are alienating ALOT of people from using your forums do to lack of a better view of the discussions.
I mean how many threads do you see on MMORPG.com with 2000 posts on it? not to mention these posts are many different real discussions intertwined.
I would have brought this up on the forums of PLAY.NET, but i knew it would have been a pain to actually deal with (view) any discussion that my topic might generate there.
Comments
Simutronics has had those forums for years and only now are they seeing any complaints. The player populace from their other games (GS ,DR, MO, AoH, CS) never seem to mind the boards there.
One of the options in the profile section is to display posts by thread groupings. That makes their boards no different than any other.
~~ FGM Razu ~~
~Hero's Journey~
While I'm sure everyone who uses them regularly doesn't have any problems, the forums do look a bit... dated.
It's not imperative, but I think they would be less intimidating to the newcomer if they were standardized.
Of course, what I really think is that there should be an entire website dedicated to HJ (much as Blizzard eventually changed from "www.blizzard.com/wow" to "www.worldofwarcraft.com"). Then they could put vBulliten or something on that site, which is something most people are familiar with. I get the feeling people not familiar with Simu would be more inclined to get going in the community that way.
Just what I think though.
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss
I knew i was missing some fundemental trick.
But here is the twist, i dont have an account, so i dont see the options.
I never bothered registering because i couldnt read the forums.
You are probably going to get alot of this, expecially with HJ.
Ive now gone to the lenghts of geting an account to log into the forums.
i do not see this threading option you speak of.
perhaps in your splash page asking for login for the forums you should mention to non-members that registering will allow them to read the forums in a thread view. or perhaps make the thread view default for unregistered viewers.
im going on faith of this alleged thread view because im currently not seeing it.
I get where this is headed, and being one of those people new to simutronics, i don't much like it. Why are people opposing changes to the play.net forums so adamantly? Surely searchable forums and threading would be an improvement, right? What would it hurt to improve the forums' functionality or aesthetics? People aren't just complaining because theyre bored, theyre doing it (in this case) constructively.
And as for the statement that everyone liked the forums until just recently, I've seen threads that beg to differ. On the official forums there is complaining about the lack of functionality that dates all the way back to 1997.
here is a nice nugget on information i gleaned from searching the forum dedicated to the forums:
--
There is a sort order, which can be sorted by subject, which is as close to threads as we get.
-Andy
Thats not encouraging. If HJ gets huge as im suer we all want it to, i hope you guys consider switching to a new forum software. Or to build real threading into yours. sort by subject is a poor substitute. you cant sort by subject and by date, which would make it somewhat better. crowding all the replies to a subject into the window is also limiting to any sort of real forum browsing.
i must say its good you guys have that unofficial FAQ going. that is by far the best (really the only decent) way of getting HJ info in my experience. mmorpg.com being second.
you guys are stepping out of the world of understanding and savvy MUD players into the arena of bloodthirsty, ungrateful, and attention span lacking graphical MMORPG players.
i know you dont want to alienate your existing fan base, but your current forums will alienate the fickle.
HJ-Diviana
Hero's Journey GM
Hero's Journey Official Site
Hero's Hall
You know, i was in your shoes too, when i started looking into HJ. And I HATED the forums with a passion. But i'm actually kinda used to them now. They're not actually that bad. Granted they're not as good as all the other ones out there, but once you get used to them, they're really not all that bad or confusing.
That's entirely reasonable, but I'd like to point out again that I actually use the official forums. I'm just saying that complaints about the current forums aren't without merit. They could use some improvement. That's a fact. Just because many people don't mind them doesn't mean that they can't be improved. Why is this even an argument? As for your statement diviana, I'd be suprised if the same people programming and building HJ were also the web designers. That's not how most companies work.
Not all of us are. Some of us agree that the forums need an update or twenty.
Personally, I have nothing whatsoever to do with the website or forums but my understanding (as was at one time posted on the play.net forums... i think) the forums are directly linked to the players accounts. I dont know the details at all but I know that changing them isn't quite as simple as one would think.
But I can assure you that this is something that is being looked into. What will change, if anything, I have no idea of, but we can hope.
________________________
Zee
Simutronics GameMaster
Hero's Journey - Quests Team
http://www.herosjourney.net
I'm glad there will be a change. As it is now, I don't use the forum, and yet this is the one online game I'm so looking forward to.
And, I can also tell you, it surprises me that HJ isn't more looked forward to by other online gamers. It doesn't seem to get as much attention as games like Vanguard. I'm not at all interested in Vanguard; neither is my guild. MMORPG does a good job of keeping up with HJ, and now I have sparked more interest at Two Ton Hammer
Friends in EQ2 are getting tired of that game and looking to find a new game. I don't know about WoW players. I would like to see more gamesites stepping up the interest in HJ.
I think now that dark and light has bombed HJ will probably see a surge of hype.
I think it will be hard to tell how much hype HJ has because of their forums. forums are critical for pre-launch hype. DnLs forums were crazy active till their beta bombed. People were organizing guilds there years before the game even got to beta.
The kind of people who want to play Vanguard are raiders, It doesnt seem that HJ is being marketed as a raiding mmorpg. And i sure hope it isnt a raider mmorpg.
I wouldnt mind raiding if the game class system allows anyone to join a raid, have fun and be effective. Games like WoW and EQ have lame ass raiding where you need a specific makeup of players. Then it always turns into a popularity contest. In AC quests would routinely have 40-120 large groups doing them and it didnt make a spit of difference how your character was built.
I have to admit I'm not a big fan of our forums. But if you spend some time figurering them out, they're actually not that bad.
I *do* think we'll see some improvements in the future. Can't give you any specific date or month. But someday.
Till then, for those of you who don't want to use our boards, can use this one! We'll be here, too, to answer questions and discuss topics regarding Hero's Journey.
Have a nice weekend, everyone!
HJ-Jorgen
Hero's Journey
World Builder GM
www.HerosJourney.net
Who's your marketing/PR person? I'm willing to volunteer some time to hype/spread the world about HJ
I'm sure you can spread the word about Hero's Journey without any acceptance from Simutronics. If you have an aestetic sense, like to code, or both!, head over to the Job Section at herosjourney.net - maybe you'll be part of the actual development of the game:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
http://www.play.net/hj/info/apply/
If you want to make a website, we got a Fansite Kit:
http://www.play.net/hj/downloads/
Regards,
HJ-Jorgen
Hero's Journey
World Builder GM
www.HerosJourney.net
I have neither a sense of aestetics, or an ability to code, i'm more a "you point, I punch" kinda guy. Though I'm pretty good with words when I have a need to be
And was joking around in a more unoffical capacity. They just need to get their name out there more. Something like... getting the attention of someone like Woody from GUcomics would be huge to getting the name of the game out there. Even IGN doesn't have an offical listing for Heroes Journey. If you try putting it into the search on the website, it doesn't really bring up anything. We need more hype! 
Fortunately, more hype is around the corner. I can't vouch for the Network sites, but I've been in the process of putting together a new Hero's Journey fansite/guildsite for a while, and will be launching it in the coming weeks.
You are right though when you indicate there are other ways of getting the public interested (outside of the hype meter). Woody would be a great start.
Edit: Hmm.. Yes they do?
http://pc.ign.com/objects/743/743359.html
HJ-Jorgen
Hero's Journey
World Builder GM
www.HerosJourney.net
HJ-Jorgen
Hero's Journey
World Builder GM
www.HerosJourney.net
IGN does have the Q&A sessions, but they don't have much else. Most games have a page that links to the main website, gives info on release, talks about the game and such. But instead it only has a list of featurettes. They usually have Q&As too... come on people, we need more hype!
I have adapted to the playnet forums. I wouldn't say I like them, but I have adapted.
The forums I don't care about are these(mmorpg.com) ones. I get automatically logged out quite often and they could really using a "previous" and "next" button here as well.
Humility before Honor.
~~ FGM Razu ~~
~Hero's Journey~
I used to have that too, even if I left a page open for 15 mins I'd have to re-login.
But for the last week that I've been trialing Firefox, I've only had to log in once; when I first loaded up mmorpg.com. I've never had to log in since.
Firefox really is so much smoother and faster than IE. Takes a bit to get used to but I recommend you try it out.
And no, I am not employed by them haha.
"(The) Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude." - George W Bush.
Oh. My. God.
I'm going to have to agree with Razu. I've run phpbb and vBulletin boards in the past, so I do understand where most people have problems with the Simu boards. However, whether you want to read one thread, or want to read them all, Simu boards are great for both (although much more so for the latter).
I personally have all my posts collapsed, and then if I am just reading one thread, I expand the posts necessary. The forum always hides all the posts that were before the last one you read, so if you want a clean slate, just go to the last page.
This is good, as Razu said - you can more easily pick up where you last left off...whereas, in threaded forums, if there is no "bumpage" going on, a thread is lost to obscurity. Thus, people talk about the same things every other week, because no one knows about the lost threads. On Simu boards, we have cyclical topics only about once every six months to a year! Or discussion goes on for that long. 
Well, I agree that the MMORPG.com forums are pretty bad. I haven't actually used the Simu forums, but I won't doubt their functionality.
However, while the Simu forums may be great once you get used to them, that fact itself is the very problem. They're only great once you get used to them. To any newcomers, they're intimidating, and many people will go to other forums (like this one), or just write off the game (or more likey, all of Simu, if they haven't heard of them) as being disorganized and unprofessional.
Now, on the other hand, these forums, quite bluntly, just suck. I hate having to scroll through pages of posts to find the new ones every time someone posts something, not to mention trying to figure out where something new has been posted at all, thanks to the "new posts" icon not working. Plus, the post previews almost always cut off most of the post. But even so, I think that more people are willing to try them because they look just as good as any other forums. It's only later that they realize how many problems they have, but by that time they've learned to make due.
What I'm talking about here isn't how good the forums truly are, but how good they appear to be at only a glance. When someone clicks the discussion about Character Classes and finds what appears to be one giant thread, they get scared and run away without signing up or even knowing that they could change the view.
I think a good part of increasing hype and popularity is making the forums less intimidating.
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss