A Bulletin Board as an Addition to the Shop?
So, in the spirit of getting those wonderful Uncs flowing, I was wondering if a command could be set up for services and teamwork. The website does have the ability to facilitate this type of interaction in the forums, but I feel the lack of participation there centers around convenience.
In my mind, this command would look something like /find ad <user> or /search ad for various advertisements.
The services/teamwork could be anything that isn't itemized. I'll run through a few scenarios:
Contracted work, Assistance with completing a task i.e. The Wither, Animal Wrangling, Farm permission (or availability to set a /home), Custom Enchanting, Custom Banners, Exploration (Adventures), Game Events and Challenges (pvp, skyblock, parkour, racing, 5-minute build contest on some flatlands)... ok I'm pulling at strings here, but I'm sure I missed a few.
These advertisements wouldn't necessarily have a /buy option, they would basically act as a bulletin board. Anyone could simply enter something like /ad agree <ad id> and the advertiser could read with something like /ad list <ad id> to see who wants to be involved. The ad could be updated, but this is a bulletin board- not a forum. lol.
Please let me know what you think!
ok, so this goes into 2 different potential directions:
1) a completely free system - just like a forum. In that case, we better make a small interface to the actual forum so that people can post and read contents of one specific section of the forum in-game. People can reply in normal text and start discussions.
Pros: This could allow us to use all forums in-game. Programming effort is relatively OK. Has web-interface alerady.
Cons: Not structured.
2) a narrow, specialized system - more like the shop. We would need to define specific services beforehand, attach a description to them and post them like a shop system. Then people can only "opt in" or agree and the requestor gets a notification. The requestor can then send a mail to the person answered and cancel the request once it's done. This only works if we can define those categories and do not need to change them everyday.
Complication: Do we want to have 2-way offers? (as in the shop?)
Pros: Structured, easy to find stuff.
Cons: Likely higher programming and maintenance effort, still no in-game interface to the forum. Will ev. also need web-interface, which is additional programming.
The connection to the forum sounds awesome, and the features mentioned is very inclusive, but...
The proposals seem overly complicated. My thought was more like the first option. However, the structure for service identification (categories) doesn't seem to be needed. It would literally be a bulletin board. Users would post a message for an advertisement and manually check it for those that "opt in." There might also need to be a field for the number of those that can opt in.
You did bring up a good point about cancelling an ad, that should be considered. There is also need for a time frame, such as "Saturday at 9 P.M. EST," so that field would probably be the most needed for the data strings and the most intensive part of the programming. This field probably should be mandatory. There could be an "Unannounced" field, which then could be updated from the called id of the post.
Paying for an advertisement does seem like a possibility, but that's more programming. It seems reasonable that there should be a universal 2-week or 30-day cancellation to avoid clutter. Also, paying for a communication feature seems counter-intuitive for facilitating community events.
So I'm thinking the process might look like:
/ad new Help me defeat the Wither for 5 Diamond
Ad 1234 was created! You have 2 weeks until this is erased.
Your current number of applicants are: Unlimited
Your current time frame is "Unannounced"
/ad date 1234 Saturday 9PM EST
/ad app 3 (app as in applicants)
Your Ad is updated!
then
/ad find alleywig
id 1234 Help me defeat the Wither for 5 Diamond. Saturday 9PM EST
/ad agree 1234
alleywig thanks you!
and then/or
/ad search
id 1234 alleywig: room for 2 more
/ad 1234
Help me defeat the Wither for 5 Diamond. Saturday 9PM EST
and so on.
Does this seem doable? Or should it be more inclusive to the forum? This is in no way meant to take over the forums, it's only a tool for rapid in-game communication and event planning. Messaging about the event could still be ran through /mail.
Oh, i forgot to mention. To avoid people paying there should be a limit to the number of advertisements.
It seems 2 is a good number. If the user wants to post more then paying might be inevitable.
Well, everything is technically possible. The question is rather the amount of work required.
Every additional command is additional programming effort. The issue is that what you describe is not a bulletin board.
A bulletin board has only 2 commands, one for reading and one for writing. What you describe is already 7 commands and there are many missing. The question about what to do with a request once someone agrees to do it is still open as well.
Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to shoot down your idea, I am just trying to give some perspective about what work effort something that seems simple is, since you describe your last proposal as less complicated and a "simple bulletin board", which it isn't.
Also, what you describe is pretty much what I would consider to be option 2 with a few details changed.
Sorry, I often throw ideas out there without perusing what others say (slightly autistic). The first proposal seemed overly complicated to the user, since it involved two interfaces. If those interfaces can truly interact on the forum as they would in-game, I would actually think that's the stronger option. If a user could post a topic to a section of the forum in-game with all the detail I mentioned and others could read it, well, then that's pretty much what I reverberated without realizing.
What I proposed is a specialized system. You're right, it is like option 2, my mistake. However, attaching registered services seemed like a lot of work.
I do value the time it takes to create and implement something like this. I would like to see if I can take a crack at this creation and deliberate on this further under better circumstances. I'll be honest, it does seem out of my hands, but I certainly don't want to impose any work on yourself - that was never my intention. I was hoping others might find some interest in this other than myself -is all.
If linking a command interface to the forums is possible then I do hope others are interested. I sure am. The topic section could be "Advertisements," or something like that.
I know you're hard at work - it's astounding, all that you do. Thank you.
Anyhow I was discussing more about what takes more work than something else, on a purely technical sense. This is not a discussion if you value it or not. And I know you don't impost stuff on me.
Let me make an interface for the forum first, that is something that is good to have anyhow. Then we can think about the rest.
This is not a discussion if you value it or not. And I know you don’t impost stuff on me.
Ouch. Just trying to be polite. Sorry for any transgression.
Ah, you are reading what I write in a MUCH too serious voice. there is no transgression, lighten up :)