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Posts
[NBA]inary appreciation of the human form
[SUPREME COURT] coverage at Wimbledon
[JOB]bing out in the WWE
[SPOILERS] and other car parts for pimping your ride
MHWilds ID: JF9LL8L3
We really need a "Boo-urns" button.
wait what are we breeding
hahm you'll see
hahahehe
ahhAhAAHHAA
AAAAAAHHHHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHA!!
oh you'll see
I can't answer that until the [NSF56K] and [NSFW] tags are working.
We're all gonna start a flame war about what a "boomer shooter" is lol. But yes, broad genre game tags would be nice for G&T, I support.
Twitch: akThera
Steam: Thera
Edit: i don’t see the point of tags for DnD unless were going to allow more than 1 thread per topic.
Tags
Prefixes
If what is most important is being able to ignore certain topics, then topics must be tags. Which puts us back where I was in the OP - with tags serving the dual role of categorization/topic AND expectation-setting. It's theoretically possible to set both, but duplicating the topic into both prefix and tag is probably too much to ask of forumers creating new threads.
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/prefix-essentials-featuring-auto-expiring-prefixes-and-prefix-filtering.6648/
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/multi-prefix.6281/
Also they seem to be paid, so that might impact their viability.
I think if we dump everything into tags then we'll probably want a convention similar to now where the topic is prominently placed in brackets so folks can easily scan and not have to dig into the tags...
Long-term I wouldn't mind managing a roadmap/backlog for the community if folks want to contribute add-ons, but YMMV on needing that level of management for part-time volunteers working on a free/open-source basis. It's been my experience that folks will work to fix their own priorities because that's what they're motivated to work on. :P
It allows for multiple tags per thread.
Yeah I've got to err on the side of "tags are categorization, not expression" here. Maybe we need a community way to propose new tags but I favor a limited set. The beta site already has 2+ pages of mostly useless tags.
Legos are cool, MOCs are cool, check me out on Rebrickable!
So real tags which are used for filtering/searching and imply thread rules remain separate and admin-defined, but also have some custom styling rules to highlight bracket-wrapped words in the title, but it's only a cosmetic function.
(ofc that falls into the "is it possible?" bucket)
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
yeah i am pro-silliness i just want to avoid 100 searchable tags that each apply to only one thread
category tags like above and a second set of tags similar to how hashtags are used
That'd be really easy to implement in the front end JS, but probably better overall from a performance standpoint to do it in whatever section is actually building the page.
Oh I wouldn't even consider doing it in JS. There's definitely a place to do it where it'll carry through to anywhere thread titles are used
General thoughts:
- I feel like there's a weird crossover with Analysis and On-Topic. Like, is there ever an instance where something would be Analysis without being on-topic.
- I'm not sure about H/A as a tag when we have an H/A forum. Might just be a matter of simply using a different name, but it feels odd.
- News being "strictly focused" feels like it's at odds with your example where it's in conjunction with Casual.
- Are PBP and Phalla really that distinct from one another? Genuine question.
- Is there a way to broaden out Guild to make it not just MMO and include similar opt-in subcommunities as well? Would that be worthwhile?
MHWilds ID: JF9LL8L3
Phalla are faction-based, oppositional, vote driven games with dozens of players
PbP is a game-system based (eg D&D5e, Pathfinder, etc) campaign, typically with a GM and a small handful of players
CYOA is a collaborative, vote driven narrative and typically open to anyone including latecomers
Edit: phalla players can correct me if that's wrong, I'm basing it on a quick read of some of the phalla threads I found
Phalla is forum mafia, the online variant of the classic group game.
Lots of forums play forum mafia. Due to reasons of wanting to make more dick jokes, we call our version Phalla, but fundamentally it's the same game you would find on dozens of different forums.
That said, over several decades there has been a lot of exploration of how far you can stretch the definition of 'forum mafia'.
Some games are fairly traditional. Some are structured like completely separate games with mafia-like components.
I think the only two real definitive requirements of Phalla are:
There are multiple competing factions with mutually exclusive win conditions.
There is some sort of vote mechanic where the winner of a majority of the votes faces some sort of consequence (usually elimination from the game).
Personally, I'd say it's clearly distinct from a play-by-post game.
Edit: Maybe to expand on why it's different.
I think the actual important factor is time commitment. How I would define each in the context of Critical Failures is:
A PbP is often trying to emulate a tabletop campaign. If you're interested in playing, you often submit an application. If accepted, you're hopefully committed for months to years of checking the thread frequently, posting in character, rolling dice, etc. If you don't post, you're potentially going to derail the whole campaign since the rest of the party can't move on without you. They need to find a replacement or hand-wave a situation where your character dies or whatever. High commitment over a long time.
A Phalla is a party game. The host posts the game, there's a period to sign up (usually with no restrictions other than a maximum player count) and then the game runs continuously for a period of time. Usually a week or two, although shorter and longer games exist. While the game is going on you are expected to post at least once a day, and to actively engage with the mechanics of the game (voting, trying to figure out who is who, using special abilities). If you don't post, this is a minor hitch. The host often has a list of reserve players to sub in for inactives. If there are no reserves left, usually you are just removed from the game and issued a game loss. High commitment over a short time.
A CYOA is like a more casual version of a PbP. The host makes up some rules, posts a description of what's happening. Anyone is allowed to drop in and post about something they would like to do or they would like to happen. The host posts an update. Anyone is allowed to respond. Etc. etc. If you make a character but stop posting in the thread, no biggie. The game goes on without you as long as the host wishes it to. Low commitment.
It's important for people to know the amount of commitment they're getting into when playing a forum game, which is why it may be beneficial to keep these tags separate.
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
That said, other people do, so I'll cede that point. Just felt weird to me, I'd consider them the exact same sort of thread (CYOA stuff is a little bit different, though I think it's also very close).
Edit: something that might be neat in the same space is to have a tag that indicates signups are open for a given forum game, which the OP could edit out once the game is full.
Phallas are in CF on the current forums, but they're really not that related to analog games aside from taking the core DNA from Mafia.
Maybe they should actually be in the chat subforum or something?
I dunno. A lot of forums I see have a separate 'forum games' section where there's no serious discussion happening.
Looking back at it, it seems a little strange that we include it in the same subforum as people discussing the latest D&D or Warhammer rules.
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
But I'm not sure if that belongs best in a chat forum or if it does still make sense with the other analog games. We did used to have Phalla in SE, ages and ages ago, and we still have EPYC and occasional CYOA stuff there as well, but I'm not sure if it's the best fit necessarily. For drop-in/drop-out stuff it works, but it can also lead to a lot of "Hey what's this okay cool not interested" sorts of posts.
Hell, maybe even just PBP is the outlier here...
Which to me indicates that PbP games and Phallae are on one side of the line, and CYOA, EPYC, and Horse Art is on the other.
I think that if we wind up going with a full restructure, this kind of delineation is pretty much critical. And even if we go with one of the other options, it would still be extremely useful to preventing a lot of the tension that's become standard.
Legos are cool, MOCs are cool, check me out on Rebrickable!