Current Events > GameFAQs 2nd Beta Beta

(+) Yeah! (+)

JACKBUTTMOMMY posted...

Based on context it seems to me like they want it to be viewable on as many systems as possible. I know a lot of people used to complain about how it looks on iPhone, but frankly I never really had an issue.

their issue on mobile is because of their choice in ad providers. they do that thing where they take a sec to load half a screen's worth of blank white space right as youre set to begin typing, so you inadvertently click on it, all the while the ad is slowing the shit down out of your phone

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Doom_Art posted...

If people think a crummy update is gonna bring traffic back to the site then I got a bridge to sell them

Im not saying youre wrong, because I 100% agree with you, but what other reason could it possibly be?

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JACKBUTTMOMMY posted...

tl;dr - Why is the code being changed?

Looks like post #175 answers most of that. Because they need to change the way game pages work.

As to why they need to do that? I have no 'insider' info at all, seriously, but reading into it I would imagine there's either more changes coming that would make it necessary. Or maybe they are trying to get a way to incorporate the other Red Ventures data rather than all three sites having different game databases. Giant Bomb's wiki is fantastic and their game database is more in a 'single game gets one page' style. Maybe if there were plans to incorporate data from one site to another instead of maintaining three separate game databases. (Though I don't know if Game Spot/GameFAQs share anything at all anymore outside of URL.)

Or maybe there's some unknown underlying reason where the current setup is unsustainable. I can't imagine they would just go and decide to do this on a blind whim.

\_()_/

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Doom_Art posted...

If people think a crummy update is gonna bring traffic back to the site then I got a bridge to sell them

A bridge where?


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JACKBUTTMOMMY posted...

As a classic gamer I would recommend including the ability to tag which game system youre playing on when it comes to topics on game boards, given that subtle differences can be found between different versions of the game.

Like a permanent username tag or?

Because when you make a new topic you choose which platform youre playing on and it tags it appropriately.

wackyteen posted...

You guys complained for years about the site being stuck in the late 90s/early 00s

The hell I did, I'd rather it stay exactly the same as it used to be.

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JACKBUTTMOMMY posted...

Thanks. I think that helps explain it a little bit further. Suddenly changing it outside of the context of having three sites work together seems more sudden and random. So long as this is true: We're doing our best to make things as close as possible and plan to continue to do so via feedback that we get - Ill be happy.

I just want to make it clear that I was just spitballing a few reasons I could think off the top of my head on why they would change it. I have nothing at all to do with anything (outside of pressing mod buttons and making people angry at me) and nothing I said should be taken as 'why' change in game pages. I know as much as you. =P

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JACKBUTTMOMMY posted...

Oh, really? Thats what I mean. Im not sure I realized the game boards were already merged into one - from the sound of things.

You have to opt into it currently (link in the OP)

JACKBUTTMOMMY posted...

Could you please explain why everything needs to be updated and changed?

More ads, probably

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Gobstoppers12 posted...

The hell I did, I'd rather it stay exactly the same as it used to be.

I know its been a point of complaint on CE for years, that gamefaqs is missing modern features.

Didn't mean to imply you specifically.

Error1355 posted...

I just want to make it clear that I was just spitballing a few reasons I could think off the top of my head on why they would change it. I have nothing at all to do with anything (outside of pressing mod buttons and making people angry at me) and nothing I said should be taken as 'why' change in game pages. I know as much as you. =P

One would think they'd include the Lead Moderators in their decision making process and clue you guys in so you can run some level of crowd control and interference

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just giving it a brief look, thing Im still saying needs to be there is some sort of divider between topics on the new topic lists. Whether its re-implementing some sort of grey and white grid like we have now or just simply putting lines between them, the current format is an eyesore for me. If I can have one and only one change, thatll be it.

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Please for the love of god fix the popular games list. Why is Genshin Impact listed as the number 2 Switch game when it's not even available on the Switch? All these multiplatform games that no one cares about on that system are drowning out the exclusives that we actually want to discuss.

And you STILL don't seem to understand the importance of tables with clean dividers instead of this unorganized mess of a list.
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Garioshi posted...

More ads, probably

Probably has something to do with consolidating page views for advertising metrics. Keeping the Xbox and PlayStation versions separate might look worse in marketing scenarios.

If you have two or three separate pages getting around 10,000 clicks each, maybe advertisers don't like that number as much as one page that gets 30,000 clicks. Same engagement, same number of total visitors to the site, but stacked together with all the consoles in the same spot.

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Giving it a whirl on a game board now.

I really dislike the faded colors on the navigation bar. I understand the "Board" page is dark blue because I'm currently on that and not the "Reviews" or "Guides" page, but the color scheme gives off "page not fully loaded" or "hyperclick you already clicked on" vibes.

I'm also not a fan of the weird, disjointed game info at the bottom of the page below the last post in a topic. I much preferred the "More topics from this board", even though I don't think anybody but me ever clicks on them, lol.

The sidebars with the game info are also pretty messy looking, and the giant heart in the top-right is a bit awkward.

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Not to shoot myself in the foot here or anything, but I would just like to point out that since RV took over, the site has FEWER ads than it used to. Remember that giant block of ads at the bottom of every message board topic/message list and on the homepage? Gone, almost immediately after the takeover. We are already looking into making other ad changes to help make browsing easier.

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Spent a few minutes using my phone to browse. Here's what I found:

The header row for the boards is completely unreadable with the purple on black color scheme (the text is black which is hard to see on the shade of purple used. The colors should be swapped or even just use white text rather than what is currently used). I'm not even sure we need a header row honestly.

The spacing between the topic titles and authors on the topic list is also unsightly compared to what it is now and could afford to be narrowed a bit.

Grey text is a bit too subtle for the post number and the quote/report links. The white lines on the top and bottom of the message info header (using "above post" setting) also look out of place on the black color schemes but not jarringly so.

Really though, who chose these colors?

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Is there a reason an opt-out-of-redesign button won't be added?

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pokedude900 posted...

Please for the love of god fix the popular games list. Why is Genshin Impact listed as the number 2 Switch game when it's not even available on the Switch? All these multiplatform games that no one cares about on that system are drowning out the exclusives that we actually want to discuss.

And you STILL don't seem to understand the importance of tables with clean dividers instead of this unorganized mess of a list.

This definitely needs to be fixed. Make separate tables with most popular exclusives and most popular multiplat if you need to but don't throw them both together because it'll just make it harder to find the actual relevant games.
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Is there anything inherently wrong with the current design?

I mean whatever I will use it regardless but I thought things were pretty nice currently.

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wackyteen posted...

One would think they'd include the Lead Moderators in their decision making process and clue you guys in so you can run some level of crowd control and interference

Why do you think unpaid volunteer moderators would have anything to do with designing the site? We are doing the same thing you guys are. Giving feedback on what issues we run into, but no moderator has anything to do with actually running or designing the site. Nor should we, as unpaid internet janitors.

PatrickMahomes posted...

Is there a reason an opt-out-of-redesign button won't be added?

From my understanding based on reading Allen's replies in this very thread, it's because the new code is replacing the old code. You are essentially asking GameFAQs to have two different databases for their game pages running at the same time.

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Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

Is there anything inherently wrong with the current design?

I mean whatever I will use it regardless but I thought things were pretty nice currently.

Yeah, I genuinely do not understand why this change needs to happen. Why can't we just merge the game boards (again, separating exclusives and multiplats) and leave the actual design as it is? Absolutely no one likes the new "modern" design.
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We can't "opt-out" of the redesign because as I stated before, we are making underlying code changes that don't work with the current code. At best, we can attempt to mostly emulate it, but it's definitely going to look a bit different in places because we're modernizing ancient code. Which is why once again we need to know exact things that don't look right or work right rather than just saying it's bad or you want to opt-out. There are definitely some useful posts in here, and I thank those who posted them.

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PatrickMahomes posted...

Is there a reason an opt-out-of-redesign button won't be added?

Same reason if you added a diesel engine to a previously gas truck, you can't keep using gas.

The future they want to go with in regards to how topics are created, guides are submitted, etc will be incompatible with the old site.

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Error1355 posted...

Why do you think unpaid volunteer moderators would have anything to do with designing the site? We are doing the same thing you guys are. Giving feedback on what issues we run into, but no moderator has anything to do with actually running or designing the site. Nor should we, as unpaid internet janitors.

I'm not saying you have anything to do with it but as people who were vetted and are clearly invested in the continuation of the site, you'd think they'd at least survey your guys opinions more frequently than the wider userbase

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SBAllen posted...

We can't "opt-out" of the redesign because as I stated before, we are making underlying code changes that don't work with the current code. At best, we can attempt to mostly emulate it, but it's definitely going to look a bit different in places because we're modernizing ancient code. Which is why once again we need to know exact things that don't look right or work right rather than just saying it's bad or you want to opt-out. There are definitely some useful posts in here, and I thank those who posted them.

I understand looking a LITTLE different if you're rewriting the code. What I don't understand is the complete overhaul of the layout and throwing away all good design sense.
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wackyteen posted...

I'm not saying you have anything but as people who were vetted and are clearly invested in the continuation of the site, you'd think they'd at least survey your guys opinions more frequently than the wider userbase

The admins absolutely are asking the mods for opinions. Both in this topic and on the mod board. Just we don't learn about it before you guys, because we're still just users of the site, not employees. <_<

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Error1355 posted...

The admins absolutely are asking the mods for opinions. Both in this topic and on the mod board. Just we don't learn about it before you guys, because we're still just users of the site, not employees. <_<

*shrugs*

Just feels like you'd have more ears to the ground but if the admins don't want to run the site that way, that's their choice.

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wackyteen posted...

I'm not saying you have anything but as people who were vetted and are clearly invested in the continuation of the site, you'd think they'd at least survey your guys opinions more frequently than the wider userbase

Seems pointless when the only distinguishing feature seems to be one group is smaller and has slightly more authority on matters of moderation.

As I understand it, moderators have only a knowledge of how the site works, not input on how it works, so they're functionally just a smaller sample size of the usership. Why not just skip the middle man and pose feedback to the regular users anyways?

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TreyFlowers posted...

I like GameFAQs BECAUSE the boards are simple and easy to use and read, looking the same since the early 2000s. Don't change pls

As long as it doesn't break mobile.

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While there are a lot of very good points being made all throughout this topic, there's one very, VERY important thing that everyone seems to be glossing over which causes a problem with this redesign.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/beta/drawn-to-life-the-next-chapter/forum

This is a merged forum for Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter (Wii) and Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter (DS). At a glance, this seems like a good idea. Simply merge the two versions of the game into one board. They can't be that different, right?

WRONG.

While I will admit that this is a niche case, it is a case nonetheless. These are two completely separate games developed by two completely separate studios which published at the same time under the same name. Literally any piece of advice, discussion, or anything about the DS game will have NO bearing for the Wii game. You CANNOT just do a blanket merge of every game. You need to go back and investigate older games on a case-by-case basis and figure out which ones can and can't be merged.

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Too lazy to see if this was mentioned already but (on PC) on the "Dark blue on black" layout, or whatever it's called. The Topic/Created by etc are no longer white text but black, so doesn't fit the rest of it terribly well.



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Caroniver posted...

WRONG.

While I will admit that this is a niche case, it is a case nonetheless. These are two completely separate games developed by two completely separate studios which published at the same time under the same name. Literally any piece of advice, discussion, or anything about the DS game will have NO bearing for the Wii game. You CANNOT just do a blanket merge of every game. You need to go back and investigate older games on a case-by-case basis and figure out which ones can and can't be merged.

I agree, however who on the admin team will be doing that, lol

Caroniver posted...

While there are a lot of very good points being made all throughout this topic, there's one very, VERY important thing that everyone seems to be glossing over which causes a problem with this redesign.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/beta/drawn-to-life-the-next-chapter/forum

This is a merged forum for Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter (Wii) and Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter (DS). At a glance, this seems like a good idea. Simply merge the two versions of the game into one board. They can't be that different, right?

WRONG.

While I will admit that this is a niche case, it is a case nonetheless. These are two completely separate games developed by two completely separate studios which published at the same time under the same name. Literally any piece of advice, discussion, or anything about the DS game will have NO bearing for the Wii game. You CANNOT just do a blanket merge of every game. You need to go back and investigate older games on a case-by-case basis and figure out which ones can and can't be merged.

ok but like will there be THAT many instances of this?

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Anyway, to give actual info on issue with the beta.

From the landing page: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/beta



When I click edit favorites, I get this:



It goes down the entire length of the page. Clicking the X does not get rid of it either. I have to refresh the page.

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PatrickMahomes posted...

ok but like will there be THAT many instances of this?

More than you might think. It's not much issue going forward since there's no real "Handheld" game systems left, but loads of console game had handheld versions that were completely different games in prior generations.

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PatrickMahomes posted...

ok but like will there be THAT many instances of this?

Probably not, and even in the cases where it might be true it's probably too niche to be of importance.

Let's be real here, you're probably going to Google or Youtube an answer to question and hit a wiki or a video. GameFAQs boards on occasion does come up, but it has to be a really niche situation, and even then, the obscurity of those boards would call into question the reliability of whatever the solution is to the problem.

If it's not common knowledge elsewhere, I don't know how reliable the boards would be. A dedicated FAQ would be more trustworthy at that point, rather than potentially sketchy unfiltered speculation posing as facts in a dead community that won't have eyes or interest to verify.

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The issue of games being different but grouped together will likely initially just be handled with the required console flairs but it's one we're talking about how we want to solve in the long term, possibly by unmerging games that are adequately different. We'd likely allow users to submit these suggestions to us like we currently allow with board flairs.

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Won't combining the pages result in like...a lot of trolling and shenanigans? Every board is going to be "Xbot LOL" or "PS-Fail" or the like. Especially on games with timed exclusive DLC or varied content. Imagine if we had cross-platform forums in the Soul Calibur 2 days when all the GameCube kids were flaunting their Link over our Heihachi.

I might still be bitter.

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SBAllen posted...

The issue of games being different but grouped together will likely initially just be handled with the required console flairs but it's one we're talking about how we want to solve in the long term, possibly by unmerging games that are adequately different. We'd likely allow users to submit these suggestions to us like we currently allow with board flairs.

That's wonderful to hear! Thank you for the info.

Gobstoppers12 posted...

Won't combining the pages result in like...a lot of trolling and shenanigans? Every board is going to be "Xbot LOL" or "PS-Fail" or the like. Especially on games with timed exclusive DLC or varied content. Imagine if we had cross-platform forums in the Soul Calibur 2 days when all the GameCube kids were flaunting their Link over our Heihachi.

People already go to the forums of other consoles to mock them. This won't change much.

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Alakazamtrainer posted...

How about making it a Poll of the Day tomorrow then?

How many people would blindly vote without even glancing at the beta simply because they hate change?

I dont understand what the point of all the posts that say they want to opt out. If you dont like it, Allen is literally giving you the opportunity to fine tune it to something youd like. Give some actual feedback so youll be happier with it. Hes explained why its happening, so its on you now to give him feedback he can use.

I noticed the suggested search results that pre-populate when searching for a game go to a file not found error. However the actual search results after confirming your search string work fine. Not sure if just a quirk of the beta.

The-Apostle posted...

Yeah, I think that line in OP REEKS of desperation tbqh... >_>

I can guarantee you that if the redesign causes a mass exodus it's going back again.
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Bio1590 posted...

I can guarantee you that if the redesign causes a mass exodus it's going back again.

I long for the chance to stir up conversation about video games in the comments section of adult entertainment websites.

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