Forum
How to save kdice.
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BlueLineKing7 wrote
at 6:38 AM, Tuesday December 30, 2014 EST
How do you make kdice better? A few ideas I would like to share that I feel would make this game increasingly better.
For starters, a major complaint of mine in previous years has been the chat box. I have always felt you eliminate the chat box, you've eliminated a large part of the problem. Many bitter fueds have really started in the chat box. Some will say "if not for the game play of others..." but I argue trying to hold a conversation with someone when your furious, especially at that individual at the time, is not going to end well most times. I myself have been caught in the heat of the moment cussing or yelling because I was pissed at someones strategy. It happens. It always leads to feuds that carry over into other games, starts to involve others, and than escalates. And no matter if you fall into one of the 2 categories at some point you've either raged or whined during a game of kdice or any other online game you've ever played. The question is how do we improve this aspect by taking away the chat box, while still allowing communication strictly for game sake? I offer a "limited" chat with pre-typed messages in a drop-down box that allows players to deliver in-game messages, but at a controlled state. Simple phrases like "Good luck everyone" or "Flag (insert color/place here)", along with some other typical common phrases used in light conversation. I also suggest highly that unique gamertags/usernames be done away with. In it's place, generic color based names would be distributed to the players at the table based on their location at the table. IE: 1st spot "RED" would be name listed, 2nd spot "GREEN" would be listed as players name, and so on and so on. The argument will be made this could allow silent and unnoticed PGA's, which is true. The combat this problem, I would like to introduce the idea of a report button function. If a player received "X" amount of reports for cheating gameplay, a MOD would be issued to see what was going on and track the history of that user and any participating players in the cheat. You would only be allowed to report a player once a month, to allow a fair and even portrayal of the individual and not allow 1 single person to load 1000s of votes to another. A single vote cast during a month allows that player to rest assured his vote cast will be against that player for an entire month and if others feel the same way, he will be gone. It will also help the MOD figure out who the "real" cheaters are as with no gamertag or chat, the person would not even know who they are reporting. This would lead to people being less likely to just spam the report button on people they "didn't like" as they would not know who was being reported besides the color of the person during THAT single game. This would be a clear shake up of the system no doubt, and would take a lot of getting used to, especially from the very very vocal community, but I believe with the forums/message board still be around with the unique usernames on display, you would get a much more lively message board. In the long run, would cheating still be an issue? Yes. Would arguments still happen? Yes. But the likely hood of both would and should decrease. Just because you can't stop a fire instantly doesn't mean you don't start to put it out. These are just ideas I feel would start putting out a fire that been burning a long long time. |
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Gurgi wrote
at 8:18 AM, Tuesday December 30, 2014 EST This is the worst idea i've ever read. This isn't a game or kids only.
honestly 70% of this game is the community and being able to talk with people. Do you even play this game? |
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flagsrweak wrote
at 8:32 AM, Tuesday December 30, 2014 EST Not the first time this has been brought up.
I guess you should've noticed that there's also a social aspect to this game hint: reviews, friend/fan tags) that's very important for many players. I honestly think that implementing something like this would make this game lose like 40-50% of players, while another 30% would also regret the changes. But maybe there could be a "special" table that'd allow for games with no chat/nicknames, if only there weren't like a hundred better ideas that could be implemented before that. (Like team game tables, reliable mod tools that would allow for more effective permabans, tools to automatically keep ips with open proxies [@:80, :8080, :3128 etc.] from registering/playing etc.) |
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BugThug wrote
at 4:18 AM, Friday January 2, 2015 EST Why does KDice need saving?
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Zuma wrote
at 7:46 AM, Friday January 2, 2015 EST true. Kill it with fire!!!
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ehervey wrote
at 8:44 AM, Sunday January 4, 2015 EST clearly a shitty idea
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hcdug wrote
at 6:54 PM, Sunday January 4, 2015 EST I appreciate the suggestion. The best part of the game though is chatting with the nards. IDC about the game much anymore, its the players that entertain me.
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THRILLHO wrote
at 1:23 AM, Monday January 5, 2015 EST Who's alt is BlueLineKing7?
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BlueLineKing7 wrote
at 6:17 AM, Tuesday January 6, 2015 EST Funny Thrillho, your always worried about "whos alt"? And have yet to realize this name has been around before you knew what this game was, check stats. And this isn't my main...perspective.
Also, this isn't about social things, or it is. If its about "making friends" on the internet than my suggestions are out of place. What I am saying is to me this is a game, and a game alone. Can I chat with cool people? Sure, occasionally. Usually most games are typically quiet, unless on 500 and above. So social elements are really only for the diehards. The first thing about running something like this is die hards matter little. The die hards shouldn't make up the vast majority of the landscape. The issue with kdice is attracting and keeping NEW players, and always has been. Before there were monthly titles is was just an open leaderboard. The die hards demanded more, so monthys came along, than tournys, than 4-8-16 block games, than 4-16 eliminated. Soon team games or a APP will be out but mainly its to make cash or feed the die hards. The casual joe this site needs to make the cash may be had via the app as long as you dont need to pay for a funky browser to use it on iphone and can play multiplayer, but if thats not realistic you need to get people on board with THE GAME. Eliminated chat brings it back to the GAME which can addict and hook people, and makes "noobs" feel more welcomed and less cheated when the 2 "friends" gang up on him when it was the right move to gang up on him, but he doesnt know it yet. The chat has caused more problems than it has ever created good. The forums or out of game chat can suffice the die hards need to make friends and be social via a computer. Casual want a game and socialize online via twitter or facebook. The money is in the casual gamer not the die hards who want to chat and be friends. |
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flagsrweak wrote
at 6:58 AM, Tuesday January 6, 2015 EST "The money is in the casual gamer not the die hards who want to chat and be friends."
As I see it, your reasoning has two major flaws. The first is, that you are completely ignoring the fact that the unobtrusive ads that you see on the site generate only some of the revenue. The other part comes from membership fees. Now the question is, does the casual gamer buy membership just as often as a "die hard kdicer"? In the current system, membership has two main advantages: -You can start the month with 2500 points, immediately qualifying you for 500 (and 2000) tables. -You can take part in some exclusive multi-table tournaments with the other members. That exclusivity also means regularily socializing with the same friendly people, and keeping away the jerks and the cheaters. The second one seemed to be a prerequisite to winning the monthly competition, although with the new tournaments and the kill bonuses on regular tables, this is no longer the case. Nevertheless, why would a "real" casual player (playing 10-20-50 games a month) care about winning the monthly competition? Or even about "skipping" the 0 tables at the beginning of the month. Sure, you could buy membership just to show their appreciation and/or gratitude to the developer, but how many people do? ____________ A final, unrelated remark: if people hardcore cheated in the past, they usually used a device other than the in-game chat for communication. Skype, AIM etc. Using the in-game chat for this is risky since the chat logs may be available for the mods/devs, and screencaps can be used by the other players. |
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BlueLineKing7 wrote
at 4:16 PM, Tuesday January 6, 2015 EST The chat just causes issues, cheating is their too, but as you stated, the least likely of issues as it would lead to ban.
The ad revenue is going to be low, as only so much traffic hits this site. If more people came to the site, the ads would get clicked more, and more revenue could be had. He could also charge more for those ads to be placed on the website. Its a numbers game, and don't think for a second if given the oppurtunity to have 5,000 casual gamers if it meant losing all 100 hardcores he (Ryan) wouldn't jump at the chance. It would be dumb not too. I used to be in connection with EA Sports Canada, especially the hockey side of things. I learned real fast that appeizing the hardcore gamer was not only difficult, it usually mattered little in the sale of the game. A hardcore gamer is a hardcore gamer. Meaning they will play a bad game to their hands fall off because its "in them". The casual gamers needs the bells and whistles to say "oooh thats nice, ill buy that". Its how buinesses make money. The membership program is in most degrees, a failure. How much money do they really make from that? I would assume the monthly boost would get paid for more often then the memberships, outside again, of the hardcores. You can keep that, and the boosts, although both should and could be tinkered with a bit, and still get rid of chat. The membership and boost, along with many other features have nothing at all to do with the in-game chat. Again, hits on this site and traffic by casual, non-kdice regulars is how you save it. A fresh look, with new features that could allow reporting of suspicious play to be done easier and more efficient as well will help. Limited or no chat will allow new players to feel less likely to be targets for being the new guy or not wanting to sit at a table with "friends" having conversations at the table before the game even begins. Again, it's not about just cheating, but a new players perception of cheating and being cheated. The no gamertag feature allows new players to feel like they just "blend in" and the play of players will determine strategies and any alliances, not who knows who. My ideas are not perfect, no ones ever are. But I think you are all missing the point on this big time. I understand, as hardcores, you will disagree on many levels as this directly effects you, possibly in a negative way. But on a business side, and for the better of the game and to keep the game around long term, these types of changes will help the product. |