5punky Scores

[Dog Pants]

This is kind of what was in my head. With less drunken photoshopping in what feels to be sub-zero temperatures;

[Dog Pants]

Before we get into the specifics of the ratings, I was too bored drunk and tired to give appropriate amounts of stars, so all ratings on the screenshot are random. Also needs more CDC.

[Baliame]

I've whipped up a quick database model yesterday, should work accordingly. What I was thinking is pretty much similar then:

One page with a master list of all entries in a chosen category, you could change the category here, and the list shows pretty much what you drew there. The critique could be either a random one or the one that comes with the rating that's closest to the average, so that it would be the most accurate. Additionally, I'm tempted to add a year field. The whole list could be sortable by name (self-explantory), by rating (which actually sorts by the average underlying the stars), by the number of reviewers, by the number of people who own it or by year (which actually sorts by release date).

Specifics of the ratings are pretty simple. We take an average and round it to the nearest integer.

One page which displays all reviews for a selected entry plus maybe one DVD cover art/in-game screenshot/main character concept art with added CDC plus a short description plus an average (could be weighted (for example: Grimmie's contribution to RTS games could weigh a little more than one of the average 5punker's since he's clearly an expert)) rating. On this page, people can opt to add a review or simply mark a game as owned. There could also be a facebook-style indication of who owns the game, something like "This game is owned by 24 people. Click [here] to see all!", so that it doesn't mess up the layout unless needed. Adding a review would be done by a quickfield, you choose a rating and add a critique and voilá, you've added a review. Reviews would go by forum usernames, so it's one entry per user max.

Finally, one page which you can access from the list, it's a simple add new entry page, all you do is specify a name, category, genre and release date, and optionally you can "own" it or review it.

It's important to note, I've designed my database model for more general purpose, so we can have not only games, but movies and books as well. Series would need some additional work, so I'm going to see if I have enough momentum to finish this first and if I do, is it getting used more than the wiki or the arcade.

[Dog Pants]

That sounds fantastic Bali. Pretty much exactly what I was thinking. I'd go with the average score over random, and I'm not sure about weighting reviews, but otherwise brilliant. Presumably it would be easy to add a link to a forum thread about the game too, since the reviews are more likely to be discussed and read there.

[Fred Woogle]

Sounds good :D Go Pant's with awesome idea, and Go Bob with making it :D

[Baliame]

I'm coming along nicely, how about you?

[Dog Pants]

That looks perfect, excellent work. I wonder how we could integrate it into the site without it getting in the way of the forums. That looks like it's on themain index page, which would be a bit cumbersome for a living forum. Easiest way would be just to have a button on the top bar, but it might get forgotten about there.

[Baliame]

I'm not sure if it's possible, but we could simply redirect the game reviews forum to that page.

Anyway, it's not on the main page. It works exactly the same way the memberlist does.

[FatherJack]

If it's almost as easy to rate a game (click number of stars, write a short sentence) as it is to say "I own this", perhaps that functionality could be combined.

That way we get a better sample for the figures and more reviews for people, and while it might mean some people give a poor score to an otherwise well-thought-of game it should average out in the end.

I wonder how we will mantain a master list of games, so that new entries can be easily added, but not bogus/accidental duplicate ones and whether it's possible for people to change their score/comment later on, perhaps on further reflection or a patch/add-on being released.

[Dog Pants]

I agree that people should be able to edit what they've written/voted, and that it's just as easy to click that you own something by clicking on a star rating. Although if you're saying you own a game just after you've bought it you might not know what to put because you haven't played it yet.

I've had a chat with Bali about some options, and it seems to us that having the review scores linked in with forum reviews in some way both prevents duplication of effort and makes it better integrated into the site. The details of it are still open to ideas though.

[Baliame]

I've given thought to it and I'm probably going to stick with the original idea, which is quite the reverse of what you suggested, but admittedly, attempting to write a parser for a game reviews forum run by 5punkers is an accident waiting to happen. Anyway, I have an apache server running, so poke me on xfire for my IP and you can check out my progress mostly live.

The phpBB2 system, by the way, is very well designed for stuff like this, so editing isn't going to be a problem. Anyway, it's 9 PM and I'm not feeling tired at all, so I'm probably going to finish a design for the non-standard parts (the reviews page for example) tonight.

Once the project is done I'm going to need cooperation from whoever has access to the SQL interface to run two queries which create tables, because it uses less resources than running a CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS every time the page loads.

[FatherJack]

I agree that people should be able to edit what they've written/voted, and that it's just as easy to click that you own something by clicking on a star rating. Although if you're saying you own a game just after you've bought it you might not know what to put because you haven't played it yet.

I did think this, but then wondered what value there was in knowing that people owned a game but not what they thought of it. Perhaps it might be handy to know who might be up for a game online, I just thought it might gently push people into reviewing. Ultimately, though - I guess it depends which is easier to implement and not get hung up trying to implement something which doesn't flow naturally from the way the reviews are written now.

[Stoat]

Once the project is done I'm going to need cooperation from whoever has access to the SQL interface to run two queries which create tables, because it uses less resources than running a CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS every time the page loads.

If, when you've completed it to your satisfaction, you can send me the files and an sql dump, I can sort all that out.
I'll need to test it against our mod-ridden install and convert the template to match etc.

[Dog Pants]

Ultimately, though - I guess it depends which is easier to implement and not get hung up trying to implement something which doesn't flow naturally from the way the reviews are written now.

Very much so. It's no use if nobody uses it, so if it comes naturally then hopefully people will.

[Lateralus]

Nothing meaningful to add in terms of ideas, but just wanted to say that this looks fucking awesome. Great work all.

I really like the idea of being able to review other things like books too - would make things easier than trawling the recommended reading thread (which I have done on more than one occasion, on my mobile, in Waterstones).

[Baliame]

I've already integrated movies and books into the system Lat, and once I'm done with the whole thing I'll add series as well, possibly in a "series->season->episode" fashion.

Anyway, sneak peek time. Say hello to the view review page prototype. Suggestions welcome.



The first two screenshots show the integration of Pantsu's Torchlight review, as well as most of the things users can do on the page. Rating is as simple as on youtube, you click the appropriate star under "your rating". Critiques are only submittable after you rate the game, however, as requested, you can change them simply by, the same way you first add it, typing your new critique in the textbox and pressing update. Admins and the author of the review can edit and delete the review, although the add/edit review page is still WIP.

The third one shows how the movie review pages differ from game review pages, not much, but obviously you cannot review a movie with a gameplay section.

The last two screenshots show the gradual degradation of the page with different events -- on the fourth screenshot, the review has been deleted, and on the fifth screenshot, I'm logged out as well. Guests can view reviews but cannot rate or review the entry.

Also, if anyone could come up with five sections for a movie or a book review, I'd appreciate it. (and I'd prefer five, any more or less than that is dodgy)

[HereComesPete]

Shiny.

I think by sections you mean you ideas for sub-categories for rating the books/movies/games?

If so, you could go with -

Synopsis/Intro,

stuff that's good,

stuff that sucks,

Other stuff that the directors and actors have done.

If you liked 'insert random other film/book/game' you'll probably like this.




And possibly instead of stars we convert scoring to



"Four 5punks out of five".

[Dr. kitteny berk]

looking good

[buzzmong]

Good work Bubbles!

[Fred Woogle]

Awesome dude, 1 thing thats possibly missing, is to be able to put a link to the game website or imdb or something? Or possibly pull info from imdb? *shrugs*