Improving Achievement Trading?

[Spades68]

I haven't been around for a very long time, maybe 4-5 months, but I'm not sure. Regardless of my experiance here I think I atleast deserve to be heard out.

Problems

Achievement Trading Thread: Heres where us nerds are put in the closet in the house called x360a. One thread that can do only so much, and its been overloaded with doing jobs its not designed for.

Ok so you want some achievement that requires 4 people so you pop into the trade thread and immediatly look at the current page and don't see anyone wanting the same (as for me I check atleast 4 pages back) now you throw up your post and pray that the next 10 replies are going to involve you somewhere so your request doesn't get lost in the endless "HELP ME's".

Most players that want help are generally too thick to comprehend the ability to page skim before posting their request, and even those that do must go through endless post-backs, private messages, and a load of other mickey-mouse bullshit if the achievement you want involves more than 2 people. You have to organize times, dates, and make sure everyone is on the same page, or you just end up with a cluster*pluck* as it always seems destined to be.

Now I was talking about overload a few seconds ago, what I am whining about is that some players post on these forums looking for other decent players at certain games, since moderators lock their threads and yell at them for not going to the closet, where can they go since the thread doesn't pertain to their request. Don't pin the "This is an achievement site" crap on me, I see plenty of other stuff on here and a large community who cares just as much about the games they play as they may achievements, and probably a lot more who care about the games so much more.

*Note* - If you think I don't like achievements then your probably dead wrong, I probably have more nerd points than you in the 12 games I own than you do in your "look at how much money I have and uncompleted games collection". 11000 GS.

So these requests to find other skilled players are normally lost into the abyss of "help" posts that create 2 pages a day.

If your one of the more intelligible players like probably the moderators then you obviously know I'm not applying this to your demographic, this post is to merely sight the masses and how this system could possibly be improved, and I will not just comment on the issues but will offer solutions aswell, but can't make them happen on my own :(.

Solutions

Why not create a forum inside each game forum? This is a place where players can actually get the bigger picture and find more precise results to their queries.

Okay you got your Achievement Trading Thread and this is what could happen when you click on it, also it should be changed to Achievement Trading / Player Finding Thread.


http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb106/Oritz00/AchievementThreads.jpg

Now what am I saying about guides? Well there are a series of questions or requests players want to ask when they post/reply. I think there should be a series of questions the post asks the writer that are common ground to the basic idea of the forum.

Lets make an example for Achievement Trading...

Achievement: Roflmao - Use the rofl copter on 5 players in 10 seconds.
Location of Poster: United States (It's in profile, I know)
Location Preference of Responders: North America and Europe
Number of Players Req: 5 (not including you)
Back up Players: 3 (opens 3 extra spots on list)
Microphone Req: Yes
Date Open Until: (have posting date listed here automatically) - 1/13/09(Have a date tracker here and once it runs out make it automatically change the text here to "CLOSED" also give the players the option of choosing CLOSED theirself)(Not only have the power to setup a closing date but also allow them to choose 2 other options which are "Forever" or "Until Further Notice")
Comment Section: (this is your normal posting area) This achievement is ultra trash and am looking for some peeps to help me with it. My friend Ted Turner said he can help me but I need 4 more.




Group:

Spades68
TedTurner
[Empty]
[Empty]

[Empty]
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[Lancer Jezus]

_____________________________

This is all just a simple example so don't take what I listed above completly literal. I'm not the only 1 with creativity so I'm sure if the project is ever undertook it would be thought out to the enth degree. Except really look into my DATE idea I think it would be extremely valuable in tracking posts and closing old threads rather than people replying to a guy who has gotten the achievement 4 weeks ago.

My idea to further advance the site, it may not be a total mirror of my thoughts but then again I never get 100% of what I'm thinking into words.

[The Pants Party]

The problem with making a specific forum for every game where everyone can make their own thread is this: when I come to the site I check my subscriptions (threads I've posted in) then select "New Posts" and see what's new on the forums.

In my second step, if every person were allowed to make a thread for every game they wanted to boost in, I would most likely have somewhere around 50+ pages of threads to sift through, most of them completely useless to me. The way the system is now, I have maybe 10-20 pages (I usually check the site 2-4 times a day so it doesn't pile up) and only a handful are useless (unless I've never played the game and can't answer questions about it).

Trust me, we know the trading threads can get cluttered, but we also know they work if people use them right. The alternative would be an even bigger mess.

[Spades68]

In my second step, if every person were allowed to make a thread for every game they wanted to boost in, I would most likely have somewhere around 50+ pages of threads to sift through, most of them completely useless to me.

Misinterpretation, my fault for not being clear enough.

I am not saying making 1, but 1 for every single game. It wouldn't be cluttered, only as cluttered as each individual forum is now.

Also about your "checking forums" deal. I can see the difficulty in moderating more forums but is the forum suppose to just be geared towards convient moderating and not the posters who use it. In my opinion they are both important but see no need for one to overpower the other.

Not going to sit here and be the pot calling the kettle black, I don't do what you do so its difficult for me to have an understanding of it, but I do respect it. Set that aside, if the idea was more developed I think its usefulness would overpower its addons to moderating.

Thanks for the reply btw, hope I read the quote properly.

[Blue Radium]

I can see where you are coming from with this idea. But, I think it would turn into the same disorganized "HELP ME" thing. The only difference is that instead of a post being used to put people out there as a possible booster, they have to make an entire thread. And like Pants said, it is easier to sift through 50 posts clicking on the little gamercards to see if each person is online, then sending them a message if they are. This system apparently also makes it a lot easier on the mods.

I found that the best way to use a trading thread is to first go through the last 2-3 pages and check for anyone online. Send anyone who is a message about boosting who is online and either has a "I want to boost in general" sort of post of is specific about wanting to boost the same thing as you. If nobody wants to boost, make a post saying what you want to boost, then look for more people online after about 3 hours. If you wait long enough, typically someone will message you about boosting.

[AOS Puck]

I'm with Pants on this one. I've been an Admin as well as a Global Mod on several other forums so I know how much work it takes to manage forums. You then add a bunch more forums and it gets overwhelming.

People on this site can't even use the trading threads properly, who is to say they will use the new method properly. I can't even count the number of times I go into a game thread and there are three topics created by people asking to boost/get help with achievements. After a mod takes care of those, more pop up over the next few days. The only real cure to the problem is for members to use their brain and proper threads instead of being lazy and creating new threads constantly.

[The Pants Party]

Misinterpretation, my fault for not being clear enough.

I am not saying making 1, but 1 for every single game. It wouldn't be cluttered, only as cluttered as each individual forum is now.

I see. Well, that would be a much better way than I originally saw your idea as, but then again there are only so many spots on say Page 1 of that forum. You might have one person come along and make a thread for all 13 games they need to boost, or just 13 different people with 13 different games. Again you run into the problem of too many things to sift through to find what you really need.

Or with the "new posts" situation you have all the members of the forum (many who don't even agree with boosting but are still excellent members here, or many who just don't boost often) having to sift through all these new boosting threads all the time.

Unfortunately like the others said, it would just be thread overload. Having one thread dedicated for every game is the simplest, cleanest way for the forum as a whole, even though the thread itself may become a bit messy.

Three things I may suggest to you: 1) Use your signature. Post what games you want to boost and when you're available. 2) Use the social groups. Create a "clan" of sorts and invite some people. 3) Be more active on the forums. You'll meet more people and sort of fall into the same position as #2, having more people to rely on for boosting and helping with games.