It would be visible percent of recommendations that show what maps are popular, and the better maps would get noticed. Nobody likes the 5 star system for tons of reasons, and you want to just make it more specific? Like, WAY more specific? That's stupid. Even LESS people would review things, and their dumb opinions would weight the map even more heavily than it already does. You only have to leave text reviews as a comment if you so choose. And guess what, if you don't think the map is good, ignore it. If you like it, recommend it. Simple as that. If you want to create a ****ing survey for each category of each map style for each layout for each play style, then literally nobody would leave a review, which is the whole reason this thread exists. The answer is to simplify everything not make forgers take the SATs to critique a terrible forge map.
I really didn't feel like photoshopping, but here's my mockup: All of this information would be visible to the author of the map. There would only be 3 stars with 3 choices instead of 5 stars with 10 choices. Stars do not have any affect on the map's "score." Adding a comment would be optional, and it would automatically be added to the thread's comment section. The map page would show the number of recommendations, with a higher number making it eligible for community favorites. This puts everyone's feedback through the same filter and lets them assess the most basic attributes in a short time frame. And at a glance, you can look at the map page and see how many people recommended the map. I don't think this is too much to ask from people.
I'm just throwing the idea out there to be discussed, and those are all fair criticisms...although I don't understand what the '12 option side system' part comes from...But let me rethink / rephrase it a little bit. I'm not sure the core of my idea is that different from what you're proposing, except instead of clicking one button you are clicking 4 buttons. If you want to write something you do, if you don't then you don't. It doesn't have to be weighted really, that is a very unimportant part of what I was putting out there. It could just be 4 categories, and you rate the map on each category. Alternatively, you click the 'recommend map" button and it says "why?" and you check 'it looks great' 'it plays well' 'it's an original design' 'it's impressively forged' or 'all of the above'. There could even be a button that says "**** off , War" and bypasses the rating. That doesn't seem unintuitive to me. No matter what you could get a map recommendation and a bump, like you said, and that could contribute to community favorites. But now there are four different bits of info about the map that users could view. Someone viewing the map would see "78% of people recommend this map" and if you clicked on that, it would open up a menu that shows you how it scored in each category. It's just a little bit more information and a middle ground between a like and a review. This could also be rolled into the search bar, so if you wanted, you could search for maps based on specific qualities. Or the info could be used for some other behind the scenes stuff, I don't know. Written reviews could appear as they are, and then individual ratings without a review would just be tucked into the overall recommendation score. I'm not proposing that there would be 4 metrics displayed at all times, but that the info would be available to forgers and users of the site if they want. It would be more useful to the forger of the map than anything else I guess? I guess I'm not understanding how a 4 point review is like taking the SAT or really that complex at all. The question was how do we make reviews easier, and my suggestion is to make it less time consuming. Click 4 buttons and no text if you want to do that. The way I see it, it's basically one step away from what you're proposing. I don't think we disagree on as much as you think.
I think if this was put in front of people's faces when they liked a map, even if everything was optional, the default reaction of most people would be to at least fill out the star ratings and click a rating. Maybe some would skip it or some would bounce, but my guess is that most would simply fill out the form and move forward. - Perhaps if you leave a negative review / comment it could be sent into a private conversation? So people have to be some accountability that way? IDK. Either way this a better way to articulate what I was getting at. Not sure I have a whole lot more to add to the conversation, and I don't have an axe to grind with anyone on here, so I'll leave it at that.
@A 3 Legged Goat Was thinking about the category names you suggested and feel that there is some overlap between 'Art' and 'Design'. The category names should be clear without any supplementary text to accompany them so that we can be a little more flexible with the UI and how these are displayed on the site. 'Art' = Aesthetics 'Design' = Theme Without having a full description to accompany these terms I think it might be easy to confuse the attributes of each and how they would apply in a review. I understand that 'Originality', as I previously suggested would not apply for remake maps and was planning on omitting that section during a review for them. But what if we changed the language to 'Creativity'? That follows suite with some more review potential in the Art category. I also think it would be clear enough that we wouldn't need to accompany any text to describe it. Do you think its acceptable to have a 'creativity' section for remake maps?
Haha! --- Double Post Merged, Jul 11, 2017 --- While we're discussing things. We can probably get rid of this weird forge critic system. Doesn't mean anything. Also could I get the tag under my name changed from Legendary to Edge Lord. I don't know why we don't have that functionality to do ourselves, most forums I frequent give users that option.
I think there is great potential with the inclusion of a 'forge critic' system. I plan on making some adjustments to the community favorite system in the future and want to incorporate more involvement from forge critics. Right now, a review provided by a 'forge critic' is valued 2.5 times greater than a regular user. We'll continue to incorporate data from forge critics in valuable ways but that's a discussion for another day.
War, I appreciate you getting my back. For the record though, I have no problem with the guy. It seems like he has strong feelings about this and it's completely ok for someone to have and articulate a strong opinion like that. I understand where he is coming from and I am not offended. I have plenty of respect for Given and his opinion, and have nothing but love for the rest of you on this thread. Also I second the lol at Multi's categories. Well played.
Gonna keep throwing out random suggestions. @WARHOLIC Xeno forum has a huge add-on marketplace, is there anything that make the chatbox stay with you on every page and scroll with you like the facebook messenger. Would make it really useful.
Here look I did the research for you. Facebook style chatbox for Xenoforo https://xenforo.com/community/resources/arrowchat-facebook-style-chat.2750/ This one embeds Discord on FH https://xenforo.com/community/resources/ah-discord-widget.5550/
We're actually in the process of integrating Discord into ForgeHub in the near future. You will probably see that within the next month if not less. When that happens we are planning to replace our existing shoutbox with Discord if satisfies our standards from a functionality perspective.
Good to hear. I'll keep throwing out random ideas as they come. EDIT: FORGEHUB MERCH?!?!?!??!? EDIT 2: A SHIRT THAT SAYS "I'D FORGE THAT"
@WARHOLIC I don't think there should be text, I just included it for illustration. Here's how I view the words: ART Art - Framing and colors Aesthetics - Piece usage and structural details Lighting - Lights and Atmosphere DESIGN Design - Geometric layout Theme - What the geometry wants to be I don't think there is any overlap between the two of those. Whereas "Creativity"is a more ambiguous and self evident category. If it's meant to supplement the Design category, then perhaps that could work as a simple name change, and still remain relevant for remakes that change the theme. If UI is truly a concern, just include a highlight bubble over them for the uninitiated. And I personally want to see "aesthetics" phased out of Forge vernacular. A map can have a Theme with no Art, and it can have Art with no Aesthetics.
We aren't far off, I merely think that the more visual indicators people see about a map (specifically negative ones) the more likely they are to not click on it, and snowball from there. That is why I don't think users should be seeing stars on map posts whether it's 3, 5, or 20. If that information doesn't weight the rating of a map, and only the author can see it, I don't care at all. I simply think the only weighting for a map should be "Recommend" or nothing at all. This way, the best maps the community has to offer will stand out more. With all these additional stars and buttons, people will be less likely to review, and it will bog down map ratings. So if the only weighting is the "like" button, and everything else is only visible to the creator, I'd be happy. After all, the feedback is meant for the creator, NOT the community.