Telltale site/store/forum update

[Tjibbbe]

I know there was an old thread about this, but besides my best efforts I couldn't find it, so here goes:

Some months ago Dan Connors mentioned that the Telltale site would be getting a giant update, and it has been mentioned in other places as well since then. I almost forgot about this, but I was browsing the GDC Vault today and stumbled upon this talk Dan Connors held in 2012 on Digital Distribution: http://gdcvault.com/play/1015814/Emp...tribution-From.

Interesting stuff if you're into these things. However, at one point he mentions the new site and shows a screenshot of it (click on 'New Telltale Store - Launches this Month!' in the menu at the left to jump straight to that part of the talk). He doesn't say a lot about it, apart from the fact that the games will be able to interact with the website (possibly some sort of achievement-list on your Telltale account, or something like that). Now, this made me curious all over again. Does anyone know what happened to this, and if and when we can expect the update?

[Ribs]

It's been in planning since before I joined if I remember correctly, so I'll expect it promptly, possibly just after Team Fortress 2 or Duke Nukem Forever.

[MusicallyInspired]

? I don't get it. Both of those games are out.... :S

[Darth Marsden]

Yes, there is one planned. Me and the other mods have had the privilege of having a sneak peek and...

...uh...

...not sure if I should really discuss it. It's certainly different though.

[coolsome]

Originally Posted by Darth Marsden

Yes, there is one planned. Me and the other mods have had the privilege of having a sneak peek and...

...uh...

...not sure if I should really discuss it. It's certainly different though.

That doesn't sound good!

[Darth Marsden]

Originally Posted by coolsome

That doesn't sound good!

So it does. How about that.

[Ribs]

I can't imagine anything that could possibly be as bad as Darth Marsden's making it sound...


...unless...
...is Tomp a moderator on the new forum?

[Darth Marsden]

...y'know what? Sod it. Here's my thoughts.

I didn't really play around with the whole site, since it's not fully finished and all, but I did tinker around with the updated forums Community Section and... ugh.

The closest comparison is something like Reddit, where you can have nested comments. That's very much the case here, and it's just awful. What were once simple linear threads, like what we have at the moment, can be split into (potentially) dozens of different conversations, all originating from various points. It makes managing them an absolute nightmare.

Let me use a diagram I made a while back to explain what I mean.

Original Conversation
|
>Response 1
>Response 2
>Response 3

That's the basic system we've got now. But what the new forums Community Section is currently based around is nested comments, which is where individual replies can have several different conversations spawning from them, often in entirely different directions content-wise. It's something more along these lines:

Original Conversation
|
>Response 1
| |
| >Response 1, Response 1
| >Response 1, Response 2
| | |
| | >Response 1, Response 2, Response 1
| | |
| | >Response 1, Response 2, Response 1, Response 1
| |
| >Response 1, Response 3
| >Response 1, Response 4
| |
| - >Response 1, Response 4, Response 1
| - >Response 1, Response 4, Response 2
| - >Response 1, Response 4, Response 3
| - >Response 1, Response 4, Response 4
|
>Response 2
>Response 3

As you can see, it's very confusing to follow, especially if you're trying to moderate it - there's a whole host of different conversations spawning off of the original one.

But that was back before Christmas, and they were (apparently) going to take a good listen to the feedback I and the other mods gave them. I don't quite how that's going though, which is why I was a little reluctant to discuss it. What I'm talking about here could well be out of date by this point.

[Chyron8472]

Originally Posted by Darth Marsden

Yes, there is one planned. The other mods and I have had the privilege of having a sneak peek and...

...uh...

...not sure if I should really discuss it. It's certainly different though.

fixed.

Originally Posted by Darth Marsden

...y'know what? Sod it. Here's my thoughts.

I didn't really play around with the whole site, since it's not fully finished and all, but I did tinker around with the updated forums Community Section and... ugh.

The closest comparison is something like Reddit, where you can have nested comments.

[diagram]

As you can see, it's very confusing to follow, especially if you're trying to moderate it - there's a whole host of different conversations spawning off of the original one.

That diagram looks very much like Reddit.

I hate that about Reddit. What we have now is simple and clean. If we get off topic, we either start a new thread, or else a mod splits/merges it.

With Reddit-style forums, we wouldn't just have derailed threads, we'd have a 30 car pileup.

[Secret Fawful]

Great! Once they implement that, they'll greatly improve the forum.

By ensuring that I won't be in it....

[Darth Marsden]

Yeah, that was the general feeling. We were NOT fans of it.

[Tjibbbe]

Thanks for your honest answer! It's much appreciated.

I guess they'll try to launch the new website once pre-orders for Fables (or maybe a later game) are available. I think the website is a bit outdated, but the forums always looked fine to me. Certainly prefer the current setup to what you're describing.

[Chyron8472]

Originally Posted by Darth Marsden

Yeah, that was the general feeling. We were NOT fans of it.

Maybe that's why they haven't implemented it yet?


My imagination is thinking up that someone at TTG likes Reddit and/or thinks their nested conversation style is part of why Reddit is popular, thus said someone had this grand idea of making the TTG forums to be similar.

And then, after having put hours and hours of effort into coding it and pretty-ing it up, the primary feedback given is that it sucks. So, because they didn't have any other ideas besides just the one, they're scrapping the whole idea either until some better idea is brought up (which still has not happened) or else in hopes in we'll forget they brought it up in the first place.

[Secret Fawful]

They're screwing up the site
You know it happens every time
I think about the fun I've had with this community

Is it ever the way they say it goes
But let's forget all that
And if you need to ban me I wouldn't mind it
cause I always post just to tell you I'm fine
And to show

I've overcome the blow
I've learned to take it well
I only wish my words
Could just convince myself
That it just wasn't real
But that's not the way it feels

[Ribs]

Shame Reddit's got a horrible system. As does Tumblr. And Pinterest. Pretty much any social networking site that primarily shares images seems to not have a good layout. Only reason I know the tumblr system is through experience because it really is just a mess to figure out original posters and the like.

[Darth Marsden]

Originally Posted by Chyron8472

Maybe that's why they haven't implemented it yet?


My imagination is thinking up that someone at TTG likes Reddit and/or thinks their nested conversation style is part of why Reddit is popular, thus said someone had this grand idea of making the TTG forums to be similar.

And then, after having put hours and hours of effort into coding it and pretty-ing it up, the primary feedback given is that it sucks. So, because they didn't have any other ideas besides just the one, they're scrapping the whole idea either until some better idea is brought up (which still has not happened) or else in hopes in we'll forget they brought it up in the first place.

...maybe? I don't really know. I can only give my opinion on what they showed us last year. Beyond that, I don't know what's going on.

And yeah, what I'm discussing was the forums Community Section. It wasn't all bad, it's just that the commenting system was so different, so unfamiliar and so difficult to imagine moderating that I (and others) very much voiced our disagreement with it.

Other features include(d?) liking/disliking individual comments, allowing video embedding from YouTube and such and not being able to simply jump to the last unread comment. It was... unfinished, to say the least.

[Ribs]

Originally Posted by Darth Marsden

allowing video embedding from YouTube

...isn't that possible on vBulletin anyway?

[Vainamoinen]

Darthy... I am not even sure you were to disclose ANY of that, including the idea of a sneak peek...

[Darth Marsden]

Originally Posted by Ribs

...isn't that possible on vBulletin anyway?

Well, we keep it disabled here for a reason.

*cough**cough*

Originally Posted by Vainamoinen

Darthy... I am not even sure you were to disclose ANY of that, including the idea of a sneak peek...

To be honest, I think people knew we'd seen it.

You may be right about discussing it though. I'll lock the thread and leave it at that.

[puzzlebox]

I was saving this for Monday, but might as well talk about it now!

The web team is working to get the new site ready for public beta on Thursday 7th Feb, so everyone will be able to see and interact with it then (unless the date changes for some reason, but that seems to be a pretty firm deadline).

So yeah, I'll have more info for you guys closer to Thursday next week. I know Telltale's ways can seem a bit mysterious at times, but I do read the forums a lot (just like before I worked here!), and am totally happy to answer questions where I can. Just be aware that there will sometimes be things that I'm not supposed to talk about yet!