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Private Forums for Games

Tue, 12 November 2002 17:45

FurFuznel

Lt. Junior Grade

Stars! Nova developer

Messages: 437
Registered: November 2002
Location: New Brunswick, Canada

This is in response to Ron's e-mail about having private forums for each of the running games.

1. I like the idea as I tend to create a thread at Starbase Delta anyways, and it might just be that not everyone wants to read my in game rants about how the game is going and what I think of other players tactics, etc.

2. I do not think that they need to be private forums though as it does not hurt to have other people reading about how a player in their game behaves in another game.

3. Of course you might want to make them private so that you do not have 100 running game threads that keep making it seem like there are new posts at the forum (but IMHO this would be a minor inconvenience as I would only look at the ones I was interested in anyways).

I guess I have not really said all that much, but I will say that having a seperate area for the currently running game threads would be good so that they do not get mixed in with all the other posts.

The (at-least-today) Wishy-Washie FurFuznel Rolling Eyes

Shadallark <==> FurFuznel
Mental anguish is for those who choose to think - FurFuznel
running Mac OS X 10.6.7

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Re: Private Forums for Games

Wed, 13 November 2002 07:36

JamesWD

Master Chief Petty Officer

Messages: 99
Registered: November 2002
Location: Northampton, UK

Is there a limit on the amount of private forums? Question

[img]http://www.ukrockers.com/forum/attachments/si.gif[/img]

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Re: Private Forums for Games

Wed, 13 November 2002 09:22

Ron

Commander
Forum Administrator
Stars! AutoHost Administrator

Messages: 1230
Registered: October 2002
Location: Collegedale, TN

Not that I know of. Its just a question of figuring out how to automate the creation of a private forum when a new game is created, how users can access it, auto emailing them the private forum password etc. A fair bit of work. Sad

Ron Miller
Stars! AutoHost

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Re: Private Forums for Games

Wed, 13 November 2002 11:07

JamesWD

Master Chief Petty Officer

Messages: 99
Registered: November 2002
Location: Northampton, UK

You would have to give the hosts some level of moderator powers, regardless of rank. I would possibly be easier to get them to do it themselves if you just email them some standard instructions on it. Only problem being you wanted to incorporate rank and moderator powers somehow (at least I think you mentioned that??)

[img]http://www.ukrockers.com/forum/attachments/si.gif[/img]

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Re: Private Forums for Games

Wed, 13 November 2002 12:26

Ron

Commander
Forum Administrator
Stars! AutoHost Administrator

Messages: 1230
Registered: October 2002
Location: Collegedale, TN

True... yes, hosts would need moderator power in that game's forum. Not sure how to automate it quite yet. This forum is PHP and is very complicated as far as files included in different places, templates, user preferences etc... don't expect the automated part to happen quickly.

Initially, game hosts would be told, in the automatic email they get from AutoHost, that a private forum was possible for their game. They would have to tell me their HWF username, and the game's name. This means that any host that wants a private forum must be registered with HWF. I would have to setup the private topic for them manually.

It would be up to the game host to prod his/her players into registering, then giving them the forum's password.

Ron Miller
Stars! AutoHost

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Re: Private Forums for Games

Wed, 13 November 2002 20:10

ccmaster

Lt. Commander
Dueling Club Administrator

Messages: 968
Registered: November 2002
Location: Germany

When comes it on ?

ccmaster
King of the Traders

[Updated on: Wed, 13 November 2002 21:08]

ccmaster
King of the Traders

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Re: Private Forums for Games

Thu, 14 November 2002 13:56

overworked

Lt. Junior Grade

Messages: 403
Registered: November 2002
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

I concur with the idea of supporting some sort of game-oriented thread being created automatically for new AH games.

I'm not sure whether or not full privacy is *good* since some out-of-game commentary has generally been beneficial that I've seen. Best (but probably not easiest by a long shot) is making the public/private option something that the game host can affect. And hopefully without any manual intervention by Ron.

I would also think that the game "threads" could be segregated in their own section of the Forum. Easier for those not interested to skip the area if they wished.

- Kurt

Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana.
- Groucho Marx

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Re: Private Forums for Games

Thu, 14 November 2002 14:35

Ron

Commander
Forum Administrator
Stars! AutoHost Administrator

Messages: 1230
Registered: October 2002
Location: Collegedale, TN

3 private forums already setup.

Currently set to be visible only to registered users of HWF, and only players in those games can post in their game's forum.

I suppose we could discuss this in another topic, which I'll now create in this forum.

Ron Miller
Stars! AutoHost

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Re: Private Forums for Games

Tue, 19 November 2002 11:38

johng316

Chief Warrant Officer 3

Messages: 177
Registered: November 2002
Location: Indiana, USA

Hi Ron,

It would be wonderful to have a link on the game page to the game forum to make things easier on the player, and then let the HOst set up the rules in the Host Utility about who can read/post on that game's forum. When the game is complete, the forum should probably be deleted along with the game page.

Excellent work on this new forum, by the way!! Great job, Ron!

John G

All Your Base Are Belong To Us.

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Re: Private Forums for Games

Tue, 19 November 2002 13:09

Ron

Commander
Forum Administrator
Stars! AutoHost Administrator

Messages: 1230
Registered: October 2002
Location: Collegedale, TN

johng316 wrote on Tue, 19 November 2002 11:38

It would be wonderful to have a link on the game page to the game forum to make things easier on the player, and then let the HOst set up the rules in the Host Utility about who can read/post on that game's forum. When the game is complete, the forum should probably be deleted along with the game page.

Excellent work on this new forum, by the way!! Great job, Ron!

Thanks! Glad you like it.

I'll leave it up to the game hosts to put a link on their game pages using Host Utility.

It would be very difficult to merge message board permission settings into Host Utility.

[Updated on: Tue, 19 November 2002 13:10]

Ron Miller
Stars! AutoHost

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Re: Private Forums for Games

Tue, 19 November 2002 14:34

Stalwart

Chief Petty Officer

Messages: 74
Registered: November 2002
Location: Varies

Greetings Ron,

First off let me say you have done a GREAT job on this site, and as always am still helping to keep the Stars! spirit alive, THANKS! Very Happy

As far as avatars go I like the idea of keeping it simple. The badge system you have set up is plenty enough for me and adding avatars would only add a significant amount of space to any limited spaced hard drive. Besides, if they like Avatars so much goto Starbasedelta! Either that or try to set up a reputation for yourself.

For Hosts Wishing to insert game links to the game forum: As far as the link to the Game page (in the forums) Hosts have the option of inserting a URL to the game page using the Host message bar as a URL among other things. The Host message bar can be found in the Host Utility on Stars Autohost. That way when all the players upload their turn they can just click on the URL after their turn has been complete for a quick hop-to to the message board. Just my 2c.

Thanks again Ron for all your hard work. I have posted already 2 Extremely Long Posts that should get some trafic if people are interested, but should proove for some very interesting discusions none the less.

Thanks always and Best wishes,
Stalwart

"Attaining one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the pinnacle of excellence. Subjugating the enemy's army without fighting is the true pinnacle of excellence."- Sun Tzu

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Re: Private Forums for Games

Fri, 22 November 2002 14:40

tech25

Petty Officer 3rd Class

Messages: 49
Registered: November 2002

I have a few questions. First, is the private game forum really a place for people playing a particular game to post "public" messages? Or can real diplomacy occur there? I was planning on sending email messages to my future allied partner. Is there a methood to do this in the game itself? I have never seen a way to send messages or even a diplomacy section built into the game. I mean how do you share tech? I hope my partner has some idea on how we can share research.
So, if the forum is a place to "leak" public statements then by all means keep it open to visitors so that they can follow along with the game. I poked around in the forums and didn't find much of anything though.
Ok, that is it cause I just realized that most of my other questions are better handled elsewhere in a different forum.
tech25

Anyone can learn from loosing ...
an excepional individual learns from winning
David Drake
Email me: ---tech25@--yahoo.com---

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Re: Private Forums for Games

Fri, 22 November 2002 14:43

FurFuznel

Lt. Junior Grade

Stars! Nova developer

Messages: 437
Registered: November 2002
Location: New Brunswick, Canada

I have replied to this in a new thread in the Academy.

The private forums are for posting "public" messages to everyone involved in the game. For example if I wanted to declare to the Universe that I will destroy any ships that pass south of the planets McBride and IceBall I could post that there and let everyone know.

FurFuznel

[Updated on: Fri, 22 November 2002 14:52]

Shadallark <==> FurFuznel
Mental anguish is for those who choose to think - FurFuznel
running Mac OS X 10.6.7

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