Dev's choice, rotate the title every week

ChickenSmasher · 07-15-2009 07:27 AM

Since I came back to the game a little over a month ago the same missions are on the front page of the AE search box. Most of the dev's choice story missions on the front page aren't even that great, but keep getting votes just because they are on the front page.

I'd like this to be a little more fair for everyone. My suggestion is you can be Dev's choice" for 1 week max so everyone gets a chance to get the title for 1 week.

The way it seems to me right now the people with 999+ rating on the front page will stay there forever. AE needs to be more user friendly to everyone in that sense.

It's a game give everyone a good chance to have some glory for a week.

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"A coward dies many times before their death, the valiant taste death but once." - William Shakespeare

Learn it... OWN IT!

LordXenite · 07-15-2009 07:31 AM

Cute idea, really, ChickenChaser... but it ain't gonna fly. Thanks for playing though.

EDIT :: Don't get me wrong, I truly like this idea, it's just not going to happen.

I believe that a Kheldian Gold Standard should be based on SO's, and for anything above that... there's Platinum!

Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati

ChickenSmasher · 07-15-2009 07:47 AM

The same people have been on the front page for months! They still havent been voted down just because it's the 1st thing people see when the page opens. It's like going to the supermarket, people buy more item's that are eye level then on the bottom shelf

It isnt fair for everyone else. Giving everyone a chance to have their mission as a dev's choice. I see nothing wrong with this idea.

---------------------------------------------------------
"A coward dies many times before their death, the valiant taste death but once." - William Shakespeare

Learn it... OWN IT!

SpaceNut · 07-15-2009 07:52 AM

What the heck are you talking about?

Dev's Choice has nothing to do with popularity among the players. I could publish a mission right now and the devs could mark it as Dev's Choice by lunchtime. They show up at the top of the list because they're considered "most honored" missions.

Dev's Choice
Hall of Fame
Guest Author
5 Stars
4 Stars
3 Stars
2 Stars
1 Star

Everyone DOES have a chance to be Dev's Choice - you just have to have a developer really like your mission.

@SpaceNut - My 50s, AE arcs and current projects at ParagonWiki

...I forgot what experience means.

ChickenSmasher · 07-15-2009 07:55 AM

I'll say it again.
The SAME people have been on the front page "dev's choice" for months! They need to rotate them more often so everyone has a chance.

---------------------------------------------------------
"A coward dies many times before their death, the valiant taste death but once." - William Shakespeare

Learn it... OWN IT!

LordXenite · 07-15-2009 08:10 AM

ChickenChaser, listen... IIRC Dev Choice arcs and Hall of Fame arcs are "protected" from being voted down. This means, that as long as an Arc has the status of DC or HoF, its true star-ratings aren't shown!

I believe that a Kheldian Gold Standard should be based on SO's, and for anything above that... there's Platinum!

Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati

Citizen_Razor · 07-15-2009 08:43 AM

You're half-right.

Dev Choices *are* protected. Its true rating average could be 3, but it'd show up as 5 stars anyway because it's "protected."

Hall of Fame, on the other hand, is not protected. You could make it to the HoF, then people could down-vote it and you'd lose your HoF status. That was a huge problem back when zero-stars were possible. Now that it's not, HoF arcs have been able to stay around for longer than 10 minutes.

I agree, DC arcs do occupy too much prime real-estate in the AE interface. But the solution is not to be DC for only one week. Personally, I'd change the front page to show only 5 random DC arcs, 5 random HoF arcs, 5 random 5-star arcs, and 5 random 0-4 star arcs. Obviously your chances of reaching the first page would be greater if you had a DC or HoF arc, since there's so few of those, but at least more people would have a chance of making it to the front page, and it wouldn't be so dominated by all the DC arcs. Pages 2 and the rest could be sorted the way they are now.

Play my MA arcs!

Tracking Down Jack Ketch - ArcID #2701
Cat War! - ArcID #2788

Adult_Swim · 07-15-2009 11:33 AM

I made a post like this not too long ago.

They should move the DC arcs to a different section after a month or so. They've already proven to be good, they have their accolade, give others a chance.

One of the attractive features of MA is to have a feeling that your story could be enjoyed one day as well. When you realize, rightly or not, that your story will be quickly lost among the other thousands of stories you figure why bother.

Like I asked earlier, you mean to tell me the best stories were all created in Mar and April? Puhleeze.

LordXenite · 07-15-2009 12:17 PM

Seriously guys, the whole AE Browser is wonky at best. The sort-by-rating button does not sort the whole list truthfully by rating first and vote-numbers second as it should!

As a developer, I understand why this is so, but I don't have to like it. I do understand however that it's not an issue that is truly urgent so it may be taken care of come I18 or something like that... if at all, but as long as the sort-by-rating function doesn't work properly, I can't trust the Arc Browser as a tool. Not yet...

I believe that a Kheldian Gold Standard should be based on SO's, and for anything above that... there's Platinum!

Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati

Geek_Boy · 07-15-2009 12:58 PM

[ QUOTE ]
It's a game give everyone a good chance to have some glory for a week.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not so much against them moving some stuff around, but this isn't a soccer game for four year olds. Not everyone wins and we are keeping score. If your arc is terrible and gets no plays or votes, you shouldn't ever be on the front page.

Bubbawheat · 07-15-2009 06:52 PM

What I think is a good idea for the front page:

3 random Dev Choice
3 random Hall of Fame
3 random 5 star
3 random 4 star
3 full random arcs

That way the Dev's Choice don't dominate the front page, and it gets rotated every time it's refreshed.

DeviousMe · 07-15-2009 08:49 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I'll say it again.
The SAME people have been on the front page "dev's choice" for months! They need to rotate them more often so everyone has a chance.

[/ QUOTE ]
An expiration date on a dev choice marker would provide no more incentive for the devs to go out and find new arcs to tag with that marker than they have at present, and thus not accomplish the purpose of giving people a greater chance to get one. Sorry, but this is a bad idea.

"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi

Characters

Geek_Boy · 07-16-2009 05:21 AM

[ QUOTE ]
What I think is a good idea for the front page:

3 random Dev Choice
3 random Hall of Fame
3 random 5 star
3 random 4 star
3 full random arcs

That way the Dev's Choice don't dominate the front page, and it gets rotated every time it's refreshed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Now that is an excellent idea.

Nex_Fatalis, you make me ashamed for all forum posters with a _ in their name.

Citizen_Razor · 07-16-2009 05:33 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What I think is a good idea for the front page:

3 random Dev Choice
3 random Hall of Fame
3 random 5 star
3 random 4 star
3 full random arcs

That way the Dev's Choice don't dominate the front page, and it gets rotated every time it's refreshed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Now that is an excellent idea.

[/ QUOTE ]

The problem is, that shows only 15 arcs on one page. Right now the default is 20 arcs per page (except for 19 on the front page for some odd reason).

Make them 4 of each, and you have 20 arcs on the front page.

Play my MA arcs!

Tracking Down Jack Ketch - ArcID #2701
Cat War! - ArcID #2788

Shard_Warrior · 07-16-2009 05:51 AM

[ QUOTE ]
What I think is a good idea for the front page:

3 random Dev Choice
3 random Hall of Fame
3 random 5 star
3 random 4 star
3 full random arcs

That way the Dev's Choice don't dominate the front page, and it gets rotated every time it's refreshed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, but what is stopping you now from clicking "next" or using the search function to find other arcs? I don't get this.

Shard Warrior - 50 MA/Regen/BM Scrapper

Founding Member and Leader : Shadow-Force
Co-Leader: Council of Heroes
"Whatever evils come this way... we will be there to stop them."

anachrodragon · 07-16-2009 06:43 AM

I've said this before, but I'm in favor of a personally customizable front page. That way if I want to set it so that I see a certain type of arc, I can do that.

Lets say I want to default to showing arcs with the "humor" keyword, and like 1 and 2 star ratings (pretend I'm looking for bad humor), then I should be able to do that.

Personally I'm not really that interested in the Dev's choice arcs, so I'd rather not see them up front, but I'd really like some choice of what I have on my front page display.

Vermain · 07-16-2009 07:28 AM

[ QUOTE ]

Ok, but what is stopping you now from clicking "next" or using the search function to find other arcs? I don't get this.

[/ QUOTE ]

Absolutely nothing, but a lot of people tend to look at the front page first before going and doing anything else. It's why the Dev's Choice arcs all had 999+ votes in the first little while of the MA being released (especially the ones at the top like the Johnny Sonata arc), whereas the rest of them had to spend that time struggling up from page 300 to get even close.

Shard_Warrior · 07-16-2009 09:45 AM

I don't see that as being a dev or coding problem though. That's just people being too lazy to use the search features or click the next/previous links. You can lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink.

The tools are there to find good arcs, you just need to use them.

Shard Warrior - 50 MA/Regen/BM Scrapper

Founding Member and Leader : Shadow-Force
Co-Leader: Council of Heroes
"Whatever evils come this way... we will be there to stop them."

Adult_Swim · 07-16-2009 10:52 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I don't see that as being a dev or coding problem though. That's just people being too lazy to use the search features or click the next/previous links. You can lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink.

[/ QUOTE ]

But that is exactly what the default sort does - it leads the horse to water. And that's all I'm asking for.

I'll say it once again - I find it hard to believe the best arcs were all created in April.

Shard_Warrior · 07-16-2009 12:25 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't see that as being a dev or coding problem though. That's just people being too lazy to use the search features or click the next/previous links. You can lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink.

[/ QUOTE ]

But that is exactly what the default sort does - it leads the horse to water. And that's all I'm asking for.

I'll say it once again - I find it hard to believe the best arcs were all created in April.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sure there are many great arcs written since April. Use the search features available to you and you'll find them.

Shard Warrior - 50 MA/Regen/BM Scrapper

Founding Member and Leader : Shadow-Force
Co-Leader: Council of Heroes
"Whatever evils come this way... we will be there to stop them."

Adult_Swim · 07-16-2009 01:15 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't see that as being a dev or coding problem though. That's just people being too lazy to use the search features or click the next/previous links. You can lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink.

[/ QUOTE ]

But that is exactly what the default sort does - it leads the horse to water. And that's all I'm asking for.

I'll say it once again - I find it hard to believe the best arcs were all created in April.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sure there are many great arcs written since April. Use the search features available to you and you'll find them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think they call this swing and a miss.

Shard_Warrior · 07-16-2009 01:55 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't see that as being a dev or coding problem though. That's just people being too lazy to use the search features or click the next/previous links. You can lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink.

[/ QUOTE ]

But that is exactly what the default sort does - it leads the horse to water. And that's all I'm asking for.

I'll say it once again - I find it hard to believe the best arcs were all created in April.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sure there are many great arcs written since April. Use the search features available to you and you'll find them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think they call this swing and a miss.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sorry, how are you unable to find other arcs besides the developers choice ones again?

Shard Warrior - 50 MA/Regen/BM Scrapper

Founding Member and Leader : Shadow-Force
Co-Leader: Council of Heroes
"Whatever evils come this way... we will be there to stop them."

Lazarus · 07-16-2009 03:21 PM

[ QUOTE ]
The same people have been on the front page for months! They still havent been voted down just because it's the 1st thing people see when the page opens. It's like going to the supermarket, people buy more item's that are eye level then on the bottom shelf

[/ QUOTE ]

They can't be voted down because unlike a Hall of Fame, a Dev Choice arc is permanently 5-starred.

[ QUOTE ]
It isnt fair for everyone else. Giving everyone a chance to have their mission as a dev's choice. I see nothing wrong with this idea.

[/ QUOTE ]

Try finding someone who does like it other than the few people who got lucky and are DC'd. Most of them are from way back in closed beta of issue 14.

They should have it just display a few random DC and HoFs, like others have suggested. Also letting us change our search defaults would be nice so we don't have to keep doing it every time we log on or switch toons.

Bubbawheat · 07-16-2009 04:53 PM

There are thousands of players who play the AE, there are a lot of lazy players that don't hit "next" or "search", that's why when there's a new dev choice arc, it only takes a couple weeks or so before making its way up to 999+ plays.

Mokino · 07-16-2009 04:57 PM

Dev choice and (possibly) hof could be moved to seperate non-default tabs than the normal arcs.

Though the idea of having a few randomly picked slots of each on the front page ahead of the other arcs wouldn't be a bad idea.

However, if the front page arcs were completely randomized, something would have to be done with the ratings syetem so that the page doesn't get filled with 1-star garbage.

I also would be for a special temporary badge added to arcs for their first few days of existence. Makes new content easier to find for players and also makes the new arcs more appealing if somebody decided to be a jerk and downvote an upcoming arc.