Reworking the SG search (and info)
An interesting idea. I know I have often wished the SG registrar provided the names of leaders or some other means of contacting the Super Group.
http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes#
I like it.
It really wouldn't apply much to my private SGs, but it still seems useful for looking up other SGs.
Altoholic - but a Blaster at Heart!
Originally Posted by SpyralPegacyon
"You gave us a world where we could fly. I can't thank you enough for that."
I think it's time for an overhaul (and added utility) to the Supergroup search window. Right now, it's just not very useful. (It should also be resizeable, as it's not right now.)
Here's how it looks currently:
So, how about a revamp. We could quite frankly steal some of the AE search window. This would also require a revamp of the SG description window, of course, to get this information in.
First, what kind of information would be helpful for a SG to list? To me, some of the following:
1. Who the leader is/who to contact - list whoever has the big red star, basically. If there's an alternate person, have a spot for them, too.
2. Membership. Not names, just numbers. Levels might be useful, as well.
3. Founded date. OK, perhaps not important, but one of those bits of info some might want to see.
4. Last Active date - if nobody's been in for a year, I probably don't want to ask if I can join.
5. Accepting members? Public, invite only, private not accepting.
6. Focus? This would be PVP, PVE only, RP, AT specific ("Kheldian only," for instance.)
7. Notes - separate from Description. (Things like "We run MS raids weekly" and such, other info someone may want to know.)
Access to edit this information, of course, is still on the SG permissions page. (At least for what *can* be edited.)
Next, edit the search page at the registrar. Search fields:
1. SG name
2. Leader or Member name (so if you team with Blasterguy and he says "Yeah, we're recruiting, I can't invite though," and you take a day to think about it, you can just search on blasterguy - alternately, if you feel you have to complain about a member but not in a /petition sort of way, you can.)
3. Accepting members - just search for every group set to whatever selection. Radio buttons, essentially.
4. Focus - Checkboxes with an "Other" field that would take text.
The results window (larger and resizeable) would give three lines of information for each, which can be expanded (much like the arc description in AE can) to see the rest of the information:
Double clicking to expand would give:
The expanded description should give more of a "feel" for the SG. It's as much an advertisement for it as an expanded description (thus the addition of a logo and the motto on top of the other information.) It does also leave the Prestige in, for anyone who's actually interested in that. (It could be left in the search, but should really be listed as something other than "Top 100 Supergroups" - specify it's by banked prestige or something, not an actual 'rating' of the groups.
I'd think a rework like this would help people find groups that are a better fit for them, help them contact people in the groups they're interested in, and just be more useful than our current arrangement.
Example searches:
1. Know the SG name:
I teamed with "Blasterguy." He said his SG, "Better Living through Heroics," was pretty fun and active. I go in the next time I log in, having gotten the two IOs I had stored in my currently inactive SG's base out and left them, and search on "Better Living" in the name. Three groups come up, I pick "Better living through heroics," see they're public, do some PVP and RP, and accepting members - and it's pretty active. I click on LeaderGuy, which opens an email (or /gtell, global not revealed perhaps) and say "Hey, I teamed with Blasterguy, he said your SG is pretty fun, I'd like to join."
2. The lost coalition
This is one I had happen a while ago. I'd inherited leadership of an SG. I noticed, after a while, one of our old, old coalitons (that I didn't remember ever NOT having, really) was always dead. I had no idea who ran the group, since I didn't set up the coalition. With this setup, I could have looked up the coalition and emailed the leader - or seen that nobody had been active in the group for the last, say, two years and just broken off the coalition all together right then and there. (As a side note, I'd also like a "coalition management" function for the leaders - a coalition specific email, activity, etc. just to make communication inside the coalition a little easier.)
3. Looking for RP
I'm new to Justfinity server. I like RP, don't care for PVP, so I want to find a group that fits me. I go in, put nothing in the name, and look for "Accepting" groups with "focus" set to RP and hit search. I browse through the ones that look interesting, discarding the three listed that do PVP, and contact 1-2 likely ones with members who have been on in the last 2-3 days to start with.