New Features on Great Games Experiment!
by Sean Sullivan · 12/06/2006 (10:22 am) · 17 comments
It's been exciting to see the response and activity of users on the Great Games Experiment. The GGE team has been working hard to put together new features and overall working to make the site a better experience!
Larger Image Quotas
We have doubled the size of everybody's quota! Now, each user, game, group on GGE has an image quota of 2 mb. To clarify what this means, each user, game and group has its own image pool to which you can upload any amount of images (as long as you remain under your quota). These images can be used to deck out your profile with your avatar, screenshots, etc. To learn more about how images work on GGE, visit My Images help section
Private Messaging
There is now a private messaging system in place on the site, through which you can easily contact other GGE users. To send somebody a private message, simply view their profile and click the 'Send Message' button! To find out if you have new messages, visit "My Account" or to view all of your messages, visit "My Messages"
Game Listing Contributors
Since this site is focused on community, we wanted to make game listings a community effort. It is now possible for many people to act as contributors on any game listing. The owner of the game has the ability to invite users to become contributors on their game listing. Also, users having the ability to request to become a contributor when viewing a game listing.
More Beta Invites!
Each user has received two more beta invites! Use them wisely =) If you have more friends than invites, be sure to send them to the main page of the site where they can request entrance into the beta.
Much more is coming down the line in the near future so stay tuned and enjoy the Great Games Experiment!
Also, keep the suggestions/bug reports coming. We appreciate all feedback concerning the site.
The GGE feedback/bug report form is available here
Don't forget to fill out our quick survey! The survey is available here and will take 5 minutes of your time at most!
Thanks!
Larger Image Quotas
We have doubled the size of everybody's quota! Now, each user, game, group on GGE has an image quota of 2 mb. To clarify what this means, each user, game and group has its own image pool to which you can upload any amount of images (as long as you remain under your quota). These images can be used to deck out your profile with your avatar, screenshots, etc. To learn more about how images work on GGE, visit My Images help section
Private Messaging
There is now a private messaging system in place on the site, through which you can easily contact other GGE users. To send somebody a private message, simply view their profile and click the 'Send Message' button! To find out if you have new messages, visit "My Account" or to view all of your messages, visit "My Messages"
Game Listing Contributors
Since this site is focused on community, we wanted to make game listings a community effort. It is now possible for many people to act as contributors on any game listing. The owner of the game has the ability to invite users to become contributors on their game listing. Also, users having the ability to request to become a contributor when viewing a game listing.
More Beta Invites!
Each user has received two more beta invites! Use them wisely =) If you have more friends than invites, be sure to send them to the main page of the site where they can request entrance into the beta.
Much more is coming down the line in the near future so stay tuned and enjoy the Great Games Experiment!
Also, keep the suggestions/bug reports coming. We appreciate all feedback concerning the site.
The GGE feedback/bug report form is available here
Don't forget to fill out our quick survey! The survey is available here and will take 5 minutes of your time at most!
Thanks!
About the author
#2
12/06/2006 (11:11 am)
So still no image browsing on the larger versions? I thought that would have been useful...
#3
12/06/2006 (11:21 am)
Quote:Each user has received two more beta invites!Just curious why beta invites are limited? Wouldn't it be better to have them unlimited?
#5
12/06/2006 (11:46 am)
Beta invites are limited because we have to be careful about our servers and bandwidth. A meltdown of our infrastructure would not be too cool.
#6
To add to what Jeff said, the purpose of this beta is to throttle the number of users so we can scale up the infrastructure and code together. With a site as expansive as GGE, it is important to not open the flood gates at the beginning or there could be potential downtime suffered.
12/06/2006 (11:52 am)
Quote:A meltdown of our infrastructure would not be too cool.
To add to what Jeff said, the purpose of this beta is to throttle the number of users so we can scale up the infrastructure and code together. With a site as expansive as GGE, it is important to not open the flood gates at the beginning or there could be potential downtime suffered.
#7
The site is becoming populated. The private messaging is awesome. Great job Web guys!
12/06/2006 (12:02 pm)
I think people should go ahead and check out Phantasia!The site is becoming populated. The private messaging is awesome. Great job Web guys!
#8
A few suggestions...
It already feels like the main page is getting swamped. Particularly its going to turn into a place to read about games you already know very well, rather than opening up ground for newer games.
Cant say as I have a suggested fix there. But I can see that so far most games I've learnt about that are new to me have required active digging rather than being suggested to me intelligently.
Look at the number of groups that are really quite pointless but are on the main groups page as an example.
I also want to be able to thread messages in a groups message history etc. Basically I think youre going to run into issues as some groups get lots of messages in there (impossible to test beforehand I understand, but essentially we'll need all of the admin of a real forum at some point). The thing is, the group author and maybe moderators will need this control.
Thats another thing, group auth/admin and levels of control over groups.
Group shared download space
Whiteboards (preferable like a shared sketch space?)
Hmm, sure I'll think of more.. but still got work to do before then (like uploading pics of Air Ace soon).
Great job so far, but a ways to go! :)
12/06/2006 (12:25 pm)
Its just like gmail was beta invite only.. it also adds to the kudos to some extent.A few suggestions...
It already feels like the main page is getting swamped. Particularly its going to turn into a place to read about games you already know very well, rather than opening up ground for newer games.
Cant say as I have a suggested fix there. But I can see that so far most games I've learnt about that are new to me have required active digging rather than being suggested to me intelligently.
Look at the number of groups that are really quite pointless but are on the main groups page as an example.
I also want to be able to thread messages in a groups message history etc. Basically I think youre going to run into issues as some groups get lots of messages in there (impossible to test beforehand I understand, but essentially we'll need all of the admin of a real forum at some point). The thing is, the group author and maybe moderators will need this control.
Thats another thing, group auth/admin and levels of control over groups.
Group shared download space
Whiteboards (preferable like a shared sketch space?)
Hmm, sure I'll think of more.. but still got work to do before then (like uploading pics of Air Ace soon).
Great job so far, but a ways to go! :)
#10
'Most Recent'
'Highest Rated'
'Most Popular'
'Most Viewed'
That way the newer additions are right at the top.
12/06/2006 (1:33 pm)
I agree with Phil. I think one improvement would be to reorder the summary pages to something like:'Most Recent'
'Highest Rated'
'Most Popular'
'Most Viewed'
That way the newer additions are right at the top.
#11
I have a huge Group Tools initiative designed out, but we have not been able to get to it yet. Groups will be one of the most powerful aspects of the site.
After this week, most of the basic social networking stuff will be in place, and we can start on the "good stuff". While we are working on the good stuff, we still needs buttloads of content, i.e. profiles, games, connections, so there is enough data for it all to work.
One of the hardest things about social networking is getting momentum. We have good momentum, and that will allow us to continue with adding more "tools".
-Jeff Tunnell, GG, GGE
12/06/2006 (1:36 pm)
None of the main front/main/landing pages are even close to what they will be. There will be a lot of user generated content, but each of the main pages will have an editor/aggregator as well. Much much more to come in this area.I have a huge Group Tools initiative designed out, but we have not been able to get to it yet. Groups will be one of the most powerful aspects of the site.
After this week, most of the basic social networking stuff will be in place, and we can start on the "good stuff". While we are working on the good stuff, we still needs buttloads of content, i.e. profiles, games, connections, so there is enough data for it all to work.
One of the hardest things about social networking is getting momentum. We have good momentum, and that will allow us to continue with adding more "tools".
-Jeff Tunnell, GG, GGE
#13
Ok - I thought it was for other reasons. Damn my conspiracy theory oriented mind.
12/06/2006 (2:33 pm)
Quote:Beta invites are limited because we have to be careful about our servers and bandwidth. A meltdown of our infrastructure would not be too cool.
Ok - I thought it was for other reasons. Damn my conspiracy theory oriented mind.
#14
12/06/2006 (2:37 pm)
Can we get linebreaks & GGE tags in the comments? Posting videos in the comments on a game would be sweet... 
#16
But 1 MB doubled to 2? What is this, 1994?
At any rate, some of my early complaints were already solved before I had time to complain about 'em, so nice work on being ahead of me.
12/06/2006 (11:04 pm)
Yay! GGE is coming along nicely... But 1 MB doubled to 2? What is this, 1994?
At any rate, some of my early complaints were already solved before I had time to complain about 'em, so nice work on being ahead of me.
#17
12/07/2006 (11:30 am)
Testing!
Torque Owner Mark McCoy