all 19 comments

[–]TezameruHerpest Derp 1 point2 points  (1 child)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

I've read it all (thanks for providing me with a link jom) and actually, i kind of like the idea of giving everyone more time to vote. It looks/sounds pretty confusing, altough everythings worth mentioning, the TL;DR helps a lot tough. I'll give you a thumbs up with the new system you came up with, it's the additional time that sells me. :D

[–]Jomskylarklikes cupcakes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

It is a bit confusing, but all of the components will be in multiple threads across the subreddit, as opposed to here where are all of the components are in the same thread. In other words, it might be a bit overwhelming now but hopefully people can take it one at a time. Also, people will have multiple days to look it over and ask questions.

Still, you're right, so I'll see if there's anything I can do to make it simpler. :)

[–]Jomskylarklikes cupcakes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

What you are about to read is a planned modification of the voting system. It will go into effect first thing next week. For this week, nominating & voting will occur as normal for 36 hours starting early Saturday.


Greetings,

Here at Playdate we strive to provide the best services to our friends and are always looking for new ways to innovate and impress. [continue obligatory political speak that sounds super cheesy.]

Alright! So here's the deal. I know the voting system isn't optimal, and I've been thinking about this for quite some time. There are three major problems with the current voting system:

  1. Too small of a time window to nominate. Not everyone is around or available for 36 hours -- which is how long voting usually lasts -- on some of Saturday and most of Sunday.
  2. Late nominations get screwed. Only a handful of people return to the nomination thread after visiting it once.
  3. It can be a little confusing. We call it the "voting" thread but in reality there are two separate activities going on -- nominating and voting -- and both are conducted in the same thread.

In the past we thought about implementing another weekly thread before the voting thread that would be solely for nominations. It would fix the latter two issues! But this brought in more problems -- adding yet another steam group notification (yuck!), and further filling the content of the subreddit from playing games to nominating/voting for games. A few other ideas have bounced around but none really stuck.

Until now. cue dramatic music

To combat this, we have come up with a system that we think will solve all three issues listed above in a simple and efficient manner. In a nutshell, nominating and voting have been broken up into two distinct sections, but done so in an intricate way.


Here's how NOMINATING will work.


  • No longer will you be restricted to 36 hours to nominate. With the new voting method you are able to nominate for 120 hours -- Monday - Friday! At the top of the nomination thread will be a banner stating whether nominating is open or closed, and when that is expected to change. No more waiting to nominate during the 36-hour window and forgetting about it at the last minute!
  • Nomination threads are a little different than voting threads. Instead of posting a new thread weekly, a new thread is posted monthly. All nominations for the month are put into that one thread. Old nominations (aka nominations that are pushed into voting) will be "removed," so don't be alarmed if you see a bunch of "removed" notices in the nomination thread. ;) There will always be a link to the monthly thread in the sidebar.
  • Simply post your nomination in that thread. You'll still need to follow the traditional rules of nominating a game. Nominations still must have a link to the product page, list of supported platforms, and price. Note that if a nomination is invalid and the nomination phase ends, that particular nomination will be treated like the others -- removed -- but it won't be added into the voting phase. So make sure to read over the nomination rules! :)
  • When the nominations phase ends and the voting phase begins, /u/PlaydateBot will post all nominations with their formatting in the current voting thread. With a bot account, no one mod will get a ton of comment karma!

Here's how VOTING will work.


  • You will still have 36 hours to vote. However, because all nominations are submitted simultaneously, everyone has a fair chance and you will only have to visit once!
  • For reference, voting always opens sometime Saturday morning (usually around 11) and closes Sunday evening, promptly at 11:00 PM EDT. There will continue to be voting threads posted weekly.
  • You will be asked to refrain from making new posts in the voting thread, however comments are encouraged as always.
  • After voting closes on Sunday we will follow the traditional format. We go into limbo on Monday, games are selected by the mods and announced that evening, so on so forth. The one difference is that after voting ends, nominations are accepted for the duration of the week (see above).

BENEFITS & TL;DR


Let's go back to the three problems.

  1. Too small of a time window to nominate. Not anymore! You can now nominate throughout the week! Voting is still kept in the same time window, but you'll only have to check the thread once, instead of multiple times.
  2. Late nominations get screwed. Never again! Everyone will have a fair chance at voting.
  3. It can be a little confusing. Each component (nominating & voting) has now been separated for ease.

ok. take a breath. read this.

  • Nominating opens when voting closes. Voting opens when nominating closes. Roughly, that is Monday - Friday for nominating and Saturday - Sunday for voting. If you're confused, check the nomination thread -- there will be a big bold statement at the top of the thread that states what phase we are in and when it will change.
  • If you'd like to nominate, there will be a link in the sidebar. Click it and post your nomination in that thread. Make sure it follows all of the rules or it will be removed, like normal. Nominations up for voting will be transferred to a weekly voting thread at the end of the nomination phase by /u/PlaydateBot.
  • To vote, simply upvote the games you'd like to play and add comments to help support your votes. The voting period will run in the standard timeframe of ~36 hours starting morning Saturday and ending late Sunday. Games will then be determined and announced like normal.

Advanced


  • Okay, so it's not exactly 120 hours. In fact, it's more than that. Nominating opens when voting closes, and vice versa. Bear with me: let's say voting is open from exactly 11:00 AM Saturday to exactly 11:00 PM Sunday, then nominating will open 11:01 PM Sunday all the way to 10:59 AM Saturday. However, because voting sometimes starts before 11 AM Saturday, it's best to try to have your nomination(s) in before maybe 8:00 AM EDT Saturday. It is unlikely I will post the voting thread before then.
  • The monthly nomination threads are going to be posted in /r/PlaydateDev. However, there will be a link in the sidebar of /r/Playdate. There are two reasons for this. First, it keeps our spam queue in /r/Playdate clean. Whenever we "remove" a comment, it's not actually deleted, just hidden and placed in the spam queue. If we were to keep the nomination threads in /r/Playdate, the spam queue would get cluttered with all of the old nominations. The second reason is simple: Boost activity in /r/PlaydateDev! :)

Let us know what you think, and if you have any questions! We've never done anything like this before in the history of Playdate so we have no idea how it'll work. Therefore, please be patient during the next couple of weeks as we work out all of the kinks.

[–]Jomskylarklikes cupcakes[S] 0 points1 point  (5 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

The nomination phase is now OPEN!

  1. You may nominate during this time. However, please refrain from commenting on other nominations unless it's critical, as comments will not be transferred by our bot account to the voting thread.
  2. We will stop accepting nominations early Saturday morning eastern time. Although there is not a set cut-off time, a good rule of thumb is to make sure you submit your nomination(s) before 8:00 AM EDT on Saturday.
  3. All valid nominations submitted during this time will be sent to the voting phase immediately after we stop accepting nominations on Saturday. That voting thread will be visible on the front page of /r/Playdate.

Here are the…

NOMINATION RULES


This is pretty much the same as before, but the wording has been updated a bit so please read the thread again!

If you'd like to nominate a game, please post it here. You'll still need to follow all of the same guidelines as before. When it's time to transfer nominations into the voting phase, they will be copied/pasted to a weekly voting thread by /u/PlaydateBot and removed from this thread. Therefore, please do not be alarmed when you see an ever-growing list of "Removed" notices in this thread as those are simply the old nominations.

We plan to create a new nomination thread monthly or so to keep the slate clean and fresh, as well as prevent Reddit's archiving system from taking over.

Please read and follow the rules below or your nomination WILL be considered invalid. Failure to follow these rules will result in your nomination being revoked. Should this happen, you may re-submit your nomination in a new post that follows the proper rules, or edit the current post. If the cut-off for the nomination phase arrives and a nomination is still invalid, it will stay removed permanently and the user will need to make a new post.

Nomination Qualifications:

  • The nominated game must have multiplayer capability and must be compatible with the computer. And other common sense that I hope I don't have to list here, like if the game isn't playable for the duration of the week in subject, it won't be considered a valid nomination for the upcoming voting period.
  • The nominated game cannot be one of the games that is currently being played (these are: INSERTGAME, INSERTGAME, INSERTGAME). You may nominate a game played the previous week, but it is highly unlikely to be chosen due to variety preferences.
  • You may nominate up to THREE games per week. There should be only one nomination per post.

The following MUST be included in your nomination post for it to be considered valid!

  • A link to the game's website or product page
  • List of supported platforms (specifically Mac/Windows/Linux)
  • Price (specifically free or not free)
  • A short description of the game (optional but encouraged, it doesn't need to be long).

We require users to list a few game specifications for their nominations to be considered valid. The reason for this is for the convenience of our users and mods. Writing a short description would also be helpful, but is not required.


Please do NOT comment on nominations in this thread! You will have your chance in the voting threads. The ONE exception is if you have reason to believe a game would be better suited for a later week -- such as an upcoming free-to-play weekend or a new, groundbreaking patch coming down the pipeline -- as we want to know about that ahead of time. If you have an opinion on a game, tell us BUT DO IT IN THE VOTING THREAD! Unnecessary comments will not be removed, but you'll have to manually transfer them over.

[–]Jomskylarklikes cupcakes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

[[[[[ THIS TEXT NOT PART OF WRITE-UP. BELOW IS BANNER IF THE NOMINATION PHASE IS CLOSED: ]]]]]


The nomination phase is now CLOSED!

  1. Do not submit a nomination in this thread at this time. It will be removed, no exceptions.
  2. The nomination phase will reopen at approximately 11:00 PM EDT on Sunday, at which point you may submit nominations for next week.
  3. This banner means that voting is ACTIVE, so go VOTE! Check the front page of /r/Playdate for a link.

[–]bobjrsenior 0 points1 point  (3 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

I'm not sure if it would a bit of confusing on where to nominate, but a thread link post or something like that to the nomination thread could help keep activity up since it is sometimes easier to see the color coded posts than a spot in the sidebar and it could refresh activity every week.

[–]Jomskylarklikes cupcakes[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

That's a good idea, but I'm a little confused, so where would you suggest it be placed? :)

[–]bobjrsenior 0 points1 point  (1 child)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

I didn't realize how jumbled my previous comment was until I saw yours.

What I meant is possibly posting a new post inside /r/playdate every week linking to the /r/playdatedev nomination page in order to keep people updated on when voting begins because not everyone will actively read the sidebar.

The small problem I was talking about in the other comment is people posting nominations in the /r/playdate post that links to the /r/playdatedev nomination page instead of the /r/PlaydateDev nomination page itself, but it could probably be avoided with a simple comment in the /r/Playdate post saying not to put nominations there.

[–]Jomskylarklikes cupcakes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

What I meant is possibly posting a new post inside /r/playdate every week linking to the /r/playdatedev nomination page in order to keep people updated on when voting begins because not everyone will actively read the sidebar.

Well, I was trying to avoid this because I wanted to cut down on the amount of official content that is submitted into the subreddit. I was also concerned about posting more Steam group notifications (as a lot of our users are exclusive to the steam group) as it would only make sense to make an alert for an official weekly thread.

If we were going to do this, however, then I wouldn't create monthly threads. I would create weekly threads in /r/Playdate and just have people nominate in those threads. I could do that in /r/Playdate because I wouldn't be removing old nominations to wipe the slate clean, but creating a new thread to wipe the slate clean. Think of it like the voting threads -- I don't have to remove all of the comments in each thread, I just dump the old thread and start a new one the next week.

But hey, it's not a terrible idea. In fact, that's good thinking. Without some kind of alert people might not be motivated to nominate. I'm just curious if we could achieve the same alert it might have through another method. Maybe we could use the green banner to symbolize the opening and closing of the nomination phase? And put a line of text that says "hey, we've only received a few nominations, help us out pls?".

[–]Jomskylarklikes cupcakes[S] 0 points1 point  (4 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Voting is now LIVE!

  1. This is your chance to help us choose the games of the week! Don't miss it!
  2. Because all nominations are present at the creation of this thread, you will only need to check this thread once to vote. However, it couldn't hurt to check a couple more times to look for comments and discussions.
  3. Do NOT add any new posts! They will be removed, no exceptions. However, you are encouraged to add comments. :)

Timeline:

  • Focus times for INSERTGAME on Saturday at 8:00 PM EDT and INSERTGAME on Sunday at 8:00 PM EDT.
  • Voting opens Saturday morning, and closes Sunday at 11 PM EDT!
  • Weekly wrap-up goes up late Sunday.
  • Games announced on late Monday. Server planning thread and individual discussion threads go up then as well.

Here are the...

VOTING RULES


This is pretty much the same as before, but the wording has been updated a bit so please read the thread again!

  • Games have already been nominated, so simply upvote the ones you'd like to play! You help choose the menu on this subreddit.
  • We will be selecting three games to play. Games will be selected based primarily on the amount of upvotes they receive, but also on the response they receive (comments/discussion) and other factors. What else do we look for? Cross-platform compatibility, low pricing and easiness to purchase, a fresh genre, whether it's been selected recently, etc. We always try to pick at least one cross-platform game and at least one free game (or one game that shares both elements).
  • We encourage you to comment on a nomination if you have thoughts on that game. Negative comments are fine as long as they're not offensive. Commenting gives us a better perspective on why X game should or shouldn't be selected.
  • Don't downvote nominations, because we are unable to determine if those downvotes are due to people not liking the games or due to trolls, and as such we usually (not always) dump them with the latter. If you don't like a game for ANY reason we DO want to know -- you can make a public comment, or message the mods with a throwaway and let us know privately. Be sure to back it up with a reason!
  • The three selected games will be played all next week, simultaneously. During the week, hop in our Steam Chat and ask if anyone's up for a match!
  • During the weekend, there will be three dedicated "focus times" (one for each game), in an attempt to help increase activity in the selected games. Focus Times are specific times set aside to play the chosen games. By playing just a couple of hours during a focus time, we can ensure that each game receives at least a little exposure and game time. Focus times are usually scheduled for 8:00 PM EDT on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday -- one per day -- with no end time. See this post for more information on how focus times work.

Get your votes in soon, because...

Voting will close Day, Month # at 11:00 PM EDT.

Voting may be extended if this thread does not receive enough participation (nominations and/or votes).

[–]bobjrsenior 0 points1 point  (3 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Although it may not be a factor since normal voting threads don't have a huge number of nominations, if the nomination thread gets popular enough or progressively gets more nominations throughout the month, then the voting thread could potentially get enough nominations to tire a voter searching for a game he wants to play.

This may not need to be addressed before the first week of this new system as it could be easier to find a solution for it as it appears.

[–]Jomskylarklikes cupcakes[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

That's correct, but how is that any different than it is now? Regardless of if we adopt a new method or not there will still be that "problem" (hehe, that's a good problem to have) of too many nominations to handle.

ninja edit: Could this be where you are confused?

progressively gets more nominations throughout the month

After nominations are sent into the voting thread, they are removed from the nomination thread entirely. It's like a clean slate for the next week.

[–]bobjrsenior 0 points1 point  (1 child)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

That makes more sense. For some reason I though only the chosen playdates were deleted from the thread every week.

[–]Jomskylarklikes cupcakes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Oh, yeah that would definitely be a problem! :)

Although, if people forget to nominate perhaps we could roll over nominations from the previous week.

[–]bobjrsenior 0 points1 point  (0 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Overall, it seems like a good idea to give every nomination a fair chance as well as make sure voting threads have a sufficient number of nominations.

[–]scarletbannerFadi 0 points1 point  (3 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Ah, I've been meaning to post in this thread.


I think it's worth a test run. The only downside I can think of is if the list of games happens to grow large enough that it would be difficult to filter through, but given subreddit activity in general I don't think that would be the case.

[–]Jomskylarklikes cupcakes[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

the list of games happens to grow large enough that it would be difficult to filter through

What do you mean by this? The list of nominations? To clarify, nominations are removed from the list weekly, so there shouldn't ever be any more than there are now (average of maybe ten per week).


On a somewhat related note, I became concerned that Reddit wouldn't prioritize parent comments by removed/approved status. In other words, there could be some removed nominations at the top of the list with the actual, important nominations deep down. This would make finding the nominations to vote on a pain in the ass.

I tested this and my fears were confirmed. Sort of. Reddit doesn't separate the removed comments from the approved comments, which sucks. However.

I was incorrect about how Reddit displays removed posts. I thought that the [deleted] message appeared for every removed post, however in reality it only appears for posts that have comments (it would be kinda weird to have a empty space in place of the parent comment but multiple visible child comments).

This is good. The nomination threads already have bold warnings to not post child comments on nominations. I had those statements added because when it was time to vote, I only wanted to transfer over the nominations, and not any attached comments. However, it also serves the purpose of discouraging users to post a comment that would display a [deleted] image, and in turn screw up sorting. Maybe Socialery can whip up some CSS to hide the reply button to make it even more discouraged.

Bottom line -- as long as people don't post child comments in the nomination thread, we're good. If people ignore the warnings and post child comments, we're fucked, because it'll make sorting a bit trickier.

[–]scarletbannerFadi 0 points1 point  (1 child)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

What do you mean by this? The list of nominations? To clarify, nominations are removed from the list weekly, so there shouldn't ever be any more than there are now (average of maybe ten per week).

Let me rephrase that. The only potential problem I could see with leaving the nomination period open for a week would be the odd scenario where there is a flood of nominations for that week. At this point in the subreddits life cycle however I don't think that would be an issue.

[–]Jomskylarklikes cupcakes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Ahh, I see. I guess that'd be the ideal problem to have, though? Too many nominations, too much activity etc? ;)
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