Does CC make you feel claustrophobic?

[IcePack]

The focus for the past while has been on retaining new players. That's happened in various ways over the past few months.
I know it's been stated previously our focus remains on new players, since that encompasses numerous things not all will be announced in detail. Some work, some don't. But there is continuous efforts and improvements sought in that area over the last several months

[owenshooter]

The focus for the past while has been on retaining new players. That's happened in various ways over the past few months.
I know it's been stated previously our focus remains on new players, since that encompasses numerous things not all will be announced in detail. Some work, some don't. But there is continuous efforts and improvements sought in that area over the last several months

but you do get my point how many of these suggestions have been floating around for years and it would be nice to know they have been completed (even a first stage/beta) or to even see a screen shot of what new players see... also, it may convince some of the older players to stick around... i see what BW is doing... i like most of it, and am vocal about it... what i don't like, i'm just as vocal about... anyway, just a suggestion...-Jn

[iAmCaffeine]

iAmCaffiene: Guide games are a part of it, but only one aspect. Although guide games have had an impact on conversion rates, so while you may feel they're a joke, they have been a helpful tool to new users.

I'm sure a small percentage have done, and I agree with the general premise of it. However, it certainly seems that the vast majority of 'guides' (term should be used loosely) are just doing it for the reward and offer very little in the way of actual assistance or welcoming. I realise it might be slightly hypocritical to make these comments without being a guide myself, but I simply do not have the time to dedicate.

[Dukasaur]

New users have a guided / controlled experience on the site now so it's a little less daunting than one might think.

i must have missed that post in the announcements... i am sure it has beautiful screen shots and wicked cool examples with pointy arrows and shit, pointing at some of the things users have suggested over the years... man, i'm running over to announcements to find this right now...-Jésus noir

What good does an announcement do for brand new players? Announcements are geared towards existing players who read the forums. As it is constantly tweaked to see what works better to new players, see what keeps them around etc there really isn't going to be an accurate announcement on the subject as it will likely change until we find something that works / BW is happy with.


iAmCaffiene: Guide games are a part of it, but only one aspect. Although guide games have had an impact on conversion rates, so while you may feel they're a joke, they have been a helpful tool to new users.

not for brankd new players... ugh... let me explain this in the simplest way i can. when you ask users for input... and users have been suggesting things like, "SIMPLIFY THE GAME FOR NEW PLAYERS"... you might want to let people know it has been done, wouldn't you think? that is also something people take into consideration before buying premium/re-investing in the site... we are under 10k players now, and it is getting harder and harder for a lot of us older players to stick around... when you take steps in the right direction, you should herald those and let the people that have been asking for changes, know they have been done... i don't know, just seems logical... *cough*...-Jn

You're absolutely right, but there isn't anyone with the time to do it. BW is only one man, he made the decision (rightly, I think) that he should keep his nose to the grindstone and keep programming. You may think writing an announcement here and there is not that time consuming, but doing it well actually takes a lot more time than you'd think. During his first few months here, BW was actually making a lot of announcements, but soon found that it was taking way too much time away from actually programming, so he stopped.

After that the volunteers tried to fill the gap. IcePack, TeeGee, myself, Trini, Foxglove, and various others have tried to get information out to community as much as possible, but that has meant limitations also. First, we are just part-time volunteers here, with lives and jobs elsewhere. That is a small but significant issue. More importantly, though, we don't always know what BW is doing. Sometimes BW doesn't know what BW is doing. A lot of what he does is experimental: he'll tweak a feature, see how it goes. Sometimes it goes badly and he'll have to come back and do it differently. Other times it goes well, it which case he won't have to do anything more to it and he moves on to something else. A lot of it is a work in progress, essentially a living experiment, and he doesn't feel it's worth discussing until it's finalized.

A lot of things get fixed, and it isn't until a few days later that anybody realizes it. When Panels first came out, they were all unstable and kept regressing back to their default. It was annoying as hell to have to fix them all the time. I don't know at what point they became stable, but one day I recall thinking to myself, "wow, it's been a long time since I've had to reset my panels."

When autosnapshots first came out, they used to take the snapshot at the beginning of the turn instead of the end. Used to drive my clanmates crazy. I don't know at what point that was fixed, but one day I realized that my clanmates weren't bitching at me about the snapshots, and sure enough they had been fixed. I don't know when. It was just one of the problems on BW's long list of things to fix, he fixed it, he moved on.

It would be nice if each and every feature got the publicity it deserves, but that would need a volunteer who has as much time to spend on the site as BW does, and that just isn't going to happen.

As Icepack points out, the new user problem has been BW's number one priority since August. There are constantly changes being made to make the new user experience easier. The guide games are just one element of many, and those too have been changing all the time. The method of inviting guides into games has changed a couple times. There is a new user interface that you won't see unless you're a new user, there are the coach bots, there are some follow-up emails. A lot of it we don't see, a lot of it we don't even know, because only admins play with those pages. BW collects stats on everything, he evaluates what is working and what isn't. Even if we could post about it all, the posts would be out of date before long. Some features are only left active for a few days before BW decides they're not working and changes them again. The man is a dynamo.

[JOHNNYROCKET24]

New users have a guided / controlled experience on the site now so it's a little less daunting than one might think.

i must have missed that post in the announcements... i am sure it has beautiful screen shots and wicked cool examples with pointy arrows and shit, pointing at some of the things users have suggested over the years... man, i'm running over to announcements to find this right now...-Jésus noir

What good does an announcement do for brand new players? Announcements are geared towards existing players who read the forums. As it is constantly tweaked to see what works better to new players, see what keeps them around etc there really isn't going to be an accurate announcement on the subject as it will likely change until we find something that works / BW is happy with.


iAmCaffiene: Guide games are a part of it, but only one aspect. Although guide games have had an impact on conversion rates, so while you may feel they're a joke, they have been a helpful tool to new users.

not for brankd new players... ugh... let me explain this in the simplest way i can. when you ask users for input... and users have been suggesting things like, "SIMPLIFY THE GAME FOR NEW PLAYERS"... you might want to let people know it has been done, wouldn't you think? that is also something people take into consideration before buying premium/re-investing in the site... we are under 10k players now, and it is getting harder and harder for a lot of us older players to stick around... when you take steps in the right direction, you should herald those and let the people that have been asking for changes, know they have been done... i don't know, just seems logical... *cough*...-Jn

You're absolutely right, but there isn't anyone with the time to do it. BW is only one man, he made the decision (rightly, I think) that he should keep his nose to the grindstone and keep programming. You may think writing an announcement here and there is not that time consuming, but doing it well actually takes a lot more time than you'd think. During his first few months here, BW was actually making a lot of announcements, but soon found that it was taking way too much time away from actually programming, so he stopped.

After that the volunteers tried to fill the gap. IcePack, TeeGee, myself, Trini, Foxglove, and various others have tried to get information out to community as much as possible, but that has meant limitations also. First, we are just part-time volunteers here, with lives and jobs elsewhere. That is a small but significant issue. More importantly, though, we don't always know what BW is doing. Sometimes BW doesn't know what BW is doing. A lot of what he does is experimental: he'll tweak a feature, see how it goes. Sometimes it goes badly and he'll have to come back and do it differently. Other times it goes well, it which case he won't have to do anything more to it and he moves on to something else. A lot of it is a work in progress, essentially a living experiment, and he doesn't feel it's worth discussing until it's finalized.

A lot of things get fixed, and it isn't until a few days later that anybody realizes it. When Panels first came out, they were all unstable and kept regressing back to their default. It was annoying as hell to have to fix them all the time. I don't know at what point they became stable, but one day I recall thinking to myself, "wow, it's been a long time since I've had to reset my panels."

When autosnapshots first came out, they used to take the snapshot at the beginning of the turn instead of the end. Used to drive my clanmates crazy. I don't know at what point that was fixed, but one day I realized that my clanmates weren't bitching at me about the snapshots, and sure enough they had been fixed. I don't know when. It was just one of the problems on BW's long list of things to fix, he fixed it, he moved on.

It would be nice if each and every feature got the publicity it deserves, but that would need a volunteer who has as much time to spend on the site as BW does, and that just isn't going to happen.

As Icepack points out, the new user problem has been BW's number one priority since August. There are constantly changes being made to make the new user experience easier. The guide games are just one element of many, and those too have been changing all the time. The method of inviting guides into games has changed a couple times. There is a new user interface that you won't see unless you're a new user, there are the coach bots, there are some follow-up emails. A lot of it we don't see, a lot of it we don't even know, because only admins play with those pages. BW collects stats on everything, he evaluates what is working and what isn't. Even if we could post about it all, the posts would be out of date before long. Some features are only left active for a few days before BW decides they're not working and changes them again. The man is a dynamo.

was this during the time frame he was MIA and no where to be found right after a major site update that every player hates ?

[IcePack]

What update was that, JR?

[BoganGod]

What update was that, JR?

You play dense so well. Be careful it may well become a reality not an act.

The Central Command roll out, where NO ONE KNEW WHERE HE WAS AND/OR WHEN HE WAS COMING BACK. The usual apologists gibbered away in multiple threads. No word though from the big man.

[IcePack]

What update was that, JR?

You play dense so well. Be careful it may well become a reality not an act.

The Central Command roll out, where NO ONE KNEW WHERE HE WAS AND/OR WHEN HE WAS COMING BACK. The usual apologists gibbered away in multiple threads. No word though from the big man.

I'm pretty sure he did post in one of the threads at the time. I can't speak for other mods and what they said / did, especially if it wasn't something i had been keeping up with.
Just looking for clarification, thanks for providing it

[Dukasaur]

What update was that, JR?

You play dense so well. Be careful it may well become a reality not an act.

The Central Command roll out, where NO ONE KNEW WHERE HE WAS AND/OR WHEN HE WAS COMING BACK. The usual apologists gibbered away in multiple threads. No word though from the big man.

He was gone for like five days, on a well-deserved vacation, and he stayed in touch every day. You're making it sound like he vanished for six months and left no forwarding address.