[Lasher]

To combine the two MUD databases and make things more manageable, I am also switching the voting script to something PHP based so that I can make whatever mods to it are necessary to play nice with the main MUD database that will be part of vBulletin.

One of the big differences is the new version of the software only supports weekly or monthly voting. I could make it bi-weekly like the current TMS but personally don't think it's worth the additional effort when the time could be better spent elsewhere. I don't have a strong opinion either way but if forced to choose would go with weekly. Figured I'd start a thread/poll to see what others think.

Thanks for taking part!

[Lasher]

I should have added another option to this along the lines of "Keep the current cycle, it's worth it".

Drop a comment in here if you'd rather keep the voting cycle as it is? Looking at the script I have I'm probably going to have to just start from scratch anyway to interface with vbulletin...

[Jazuela]

Voting, in traditional venues, is intended to make a statement as to your favorite "whatever." It isn't likely that someone will change favorites on a weekly basis. If it's his favorite this week, something drastic would need to occur for it to cease being his favorite next week. I never understood the point of voting every day for anything, let alone a mud. Either game X is your favorite or it isn't - a day isn't going to change that.

I definitely can see people switching muds after a month, or even playing two games at the same time, and finding a new preference for after realizing game A isn't as much fun as game B, and switching favorites at that point.

For this reason, I voted for monthly.

Think of it this way - if we had to vote every day for a new president of the country, nothing would ever get accomplished. Or if everyone was allowed to enter the Pepsi Challenge every day - sheesh - Pepsi would be the clear winner. Every other day. It's just pointless, in my opinion.

[Lasher]

The question isn't how often will a vote count - that won't change.

The question is how often the rankings should reset. Should have been more clear in the original question, my bad...

[Lanthum]

A thought that just crossed my mind:

If the list goes to weekly tallies, the vote totals for the lower end of the list might end up looking really bad. And for those people that choose muds to visit based on the "number of players" (more appropriately, the number of votes) - the lower end might take a hit in visits.

But that was just the first thought that came to my tired mind ...

[Ide]

My reasoning behind voting for once a week was this: not all players will vote at the same time, and the influx of players into voting (and out of it) may be fairly fluid. So the finer-grained the reset, the more accurate it may be. Also I just didn't think that 12 resets a year was enough 'action' for the top 100.

edit: I don't know if this is possible, but maybe the vote count could look like [current week]/[current month]. Or would that be too confusing?

[Emil]

Originally Posted by Lasher The question isn't how often will a vote count - that won't change. The question is how often the rankings should reset. Should have been more clear in the original question, my bad...

It looks to me like most posters misunderstood your initial question to mean how often people could vote, instead of how often the list would reset. I certainly was confused myself.
Possibly this affected the poll too, so maybe you should consider restarting that.

As for how often the list should reset, I see no real reason to change the current system at all, but if you have to do it, I think a monthly reset is preferrable to a weekly, particularly for the smaller games.

What I would like to discuss however is the period between which you can cast your votes, which I believe is 12 hours exactly now, meaning that if you choose to vote twice a day, you cannot do so at a fixed time of day, since to make sure that the vote will count, the voting time will move forward a couple of minutes each time. I have asked before how the period between allowed votes is calculated, whether it is 12 hours exactly, or whether there is a period of slack, so that the vote still would count if you happen to click the button five minutes early.

Most people, like myself, would prefer to vote at a fixed time each day, since that is easier to remember. So if you feel a need to change anything, a more appreciated change would be to set the period between votes to either 11 hours or 23 hours, to allow for this. (Preferably the latter)

[Threshold]

Originally Posted by Emil Most people, like myself, would prefer to vote at a fixed time each day, since that is easier to remember. So if you feel a need to change anything, a more appreciated change would be to set the period between votes to either 11 hours or 23 hours, to allow for this. (Preferably the latter)

I have always thought this was a good suggestion. Also, I personally think 1 vote per day (or 23 hours) is better than this weird 12 hour thing.

As for the weekly/monthly thing: I think ultimately it won't make any difference as far as the results of the voting. But to compare them:

Weekly will probably result in more raw traffic (frantic voting after each reset), but a lot more "bad traffic" of people just voting rapidly and bailing. Traffic in general is good, but it might not be the best kind of traffic. I also think weekly pretty much sets in stone the voting results since every mud will have the same "reset surge" and there isn't much time for people to overcome that.

Monthly might result in a little less traffic, but a higher percentage of meaningful traffic. It also has the advantage of letting muds lower in the ranks set goals and work towards them ("Hey folks, lets see if we can move up 2 spots this week. We only need X Votes.")

Whichever way you go, it would be nice to have resets on a set day (every Sunday, or the 1st of every month, or whatever) instead of the slightly less predictible resets that exist now.

[Valg]

I'd rather see monthly-- I think people will be more motivated to vote if their vote "counts" for a longer duration. Also, as another poster mentioned, I don't think it's realistic to assume that people's MUD preferences change on a weekly basis. Monhtly feels closer to the appropriate time frame to gauge any trends that come up.

[the_logos]

Originally Posted by Lasher To combine the two MUD databases and make things more manageable, I am also switching the voting script to something PHP based so that I can make whatever mods to it are necessary to play nice with the main MUD database that will be part of vBulletin. One of the big differences is the new version of the software only supports weekly or monthly voting. I could make it bi-weekly like the current TMS but personally don't think it's worth the additional effort when the time could be better spent elsewhere. I don't have a strong opinion either way but if forced to choose would go with weekly. Figured I'd start a thread/poll to see what others think. Thanks for taking part!

I guess I'd vote for monthly but I have no strong reason why. It doesn't matter much either way.
--matt

[shadowfyr]

Despite Threshold's apparent continued confusion, I would like to comment on what he said. *I* vote once a day, even here. Why? Because my work hours never place me at home at the same times two days in a row. 12 hour votes lets me actually vote. Imho, the ones that do 24 hours need something like, "once every 12 hours, but no more than twice in 48", or something, because I am **always** getting screwed out of the ability to vote when I need to on those.

As to the actual issue at hand, I really don't have an opinion. All reseting at all seems to do is make people *race* to cram as many votes as possible onto the site, so they can temporarilly be first (even if that only lasts like 20 minutes). Its quite absurd. A more reasonable way would to have what ever reset you want, but include something like, "last week", or even, "average over life of the mud", or something. Or maybe not. Mostly, vote systems don't really work too well anyway, since they often only show size of player base (vaguely), not *how many* of those players they do have do vote, or even what they would actually rate the mud at on a scale. And, some are likely to be more active in encouraging people vote, which means one with 150 players, where 120 vote, is still going to look bigger than one with 200, where only 50 vote. A fact that may have nothing at all to do with "if" its a good mud.

[Davairus]

Please add "stay like it is" to poll choices.

[Threshold]

Originally Posted by shadowfyr Despite Threshold's apparent continued confusion, I would like to comment on what he said.

Is there some kind of reason you decided to call me out? It didn't even seem to have any connection to the rest of your post.

Was that really necessary?

I'm sure you could have posted your opinions and feedback without slamming me.

Where's that moderator when we need him/her?

[Zhiroc]

A month is probably too long. A week is probably at the lower end of what would work.

But in any case, please get rid of 12, or even 24 hour spacing between votes. Who remembers when they vote? Only those people with scripts or bots or other tools, which skews results to those sites which provide such aids. Just let people vote 2 times per day, and make it simple, like 1 vote between 0-12 GMT, and a second 12-24 GMT. Or even go to 1 vote per day.

As an aside, why do vote systems really drive any benefit? Does anyone voting really look at the site? And in terms of advertising support, doesn't everyone block them like I do?

Personally, I think a rating system, like MMORPG.com's (though that could be better too) is far more interesting than a voting system.

[Lasher]

Originally Posted by Zhiroc As an aside, why do vote systems really drive any benefit? Does anyone voting really look at the site? And in terms of advertising support, doesn't everyone block them like I do?

The numbers under "out" are people clicking through to a MUD's information, so yes, someone is looking. There is nothing to be gained by muds encouraging players to click out as it has no affect on rating.

As for the blocking, speaking generally because obviously I'm biased on this particular page - when a site is free, financed by ads and not spamming me with popups or more ads than actual content, I keep them on.

[Threshold]

Originally Posted by Lasher As for the blocking, speaking generally because obviously I'm biased on this particular page - when a site is free, financed by ads and not spamming me with popups or more ads than actual content, I keep them on.

Same here. I only use my ad blockers on obnoxious crap that hinders my ability to actually read the site.

[Molly]

Originally Posted by Threshold Same here. I only use my ad blockers on obnoxious crap that hinders my ability to actually read the site.

Likewise.

As long as they don't blink and flash, ads are okey by me.
I don't think anyone is out to deprive you of your financial support, Lasher.