Icrontic Gaming Backlog v2.0
primesuspect
Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
So a couple of years ago we started the gaming backlog of shamek has really carried the torch for that, the recent discussion @Linc and I had about the future of the site led to a discussion about what the next evolution of this should be.
The core idea of the gaming backlog of shame was to help people accomplish a few things:
Catalog their games
Track their progress (beaten/100%/unbeaten)
Share their progress with friends
Encourage each other
Review their experiences
To me, gamifying the experience of playing through your games library is what helps compel us to make progress on our gaming backlogs.
k, you deserve a prize for keeping it up).
So here's what I'm asking: What do you think v2.0 should look like? I was inspired a bit by Backloggery but their interface is awful. We would like to make this a core feature of the site, so give us your feedback. What would a perfect gaming backlog system look like to you? How would it integrate with Icrontic? What's the workflow look like? What should the rewards be?
Comments
My preference here is going to be for features that are more broadly useful than this one case, and that don't create entire new pages of UI for the site. This is to be in the context of a forum, not a Backloggery clone with improved UI.
I would like a Kanban/Trello-style list of games in various columns, from "Backlog" to "In progress" to "Done". I already organize my games in Steam kind of like this:
"Games" is my backlog. "Started" are games that I've started and am (somewhat) committed to finishing. "Won't Play" is a combination of games I got as part of a bundle and games I tried but just don't care for. "Ongoing" is for games like Binding of Isaac and FTL that are randomly generated, although I think most of them have victory conditions. "Multiplayer" is for games like TF2 and CS:GO - when are you "done" with TF2?
It would also be helpful to get Metacritic and HowLongToBeat information on games, and maybe be able to sort by some combination of the two (like show me the shortest game above 60 on Metacritic).
If it could import my Steam library that'd be great, if it knew which games had "done" achievements and automatically moved them even better. If it can hook into Humble Bundle and deliver an electric shock when I try to buy a bundle, that'd be fantastic.
I have a few principles I use to approach my backlog:
1: Limit work in progress (from Kanban) - focus on finishing not starting. Have as few games in progress as possible and finish them before starting something new. I'm not great at this but it's something I aspire to do better.
2: I use HowLongToBeat to figure out what games are the shortest (while still being something I want to play) when picking what to play next.
3: If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging. A game has to be very interesting or very short for me to consider buying it at this point. I have too many backlogged games, and I still wind up just playing BF4 with some friends.
Right now time is my limiting factor so I try to spend it wisely. I don't have weekends where I can do nothing but play video games anymore, so anything that helps me spend my time more effectively would be very helpful.
Maybe if we had some kind of horse race display could be fun. it could be as simple as google doc bar graphs for every person. (each person would set up their own page and their overall progress would then feed into a master file with the graphs). That way we could see progress and use it for motivation as well as friendly competition.
Also I think the play order of the games should be optional. That way the unbearable grind through one game could be rewarded by playing a game you would enjoy right after.
A dedicated "backlog night"? There's a tf2 night, Raid nights, etc. We could all hop in mumble or something, keep each other company or offer encouragement/advice for games. People could even group up and knock off the same games together.
Yeah for sure there will be no required order for gaming. Alphabetical was just part of the enforced "torture" because the original backlog "shame" challenge was to punish ourselves for buying so many games for no reason
Shame cram night.
I mean the jist of it is a gamified checklist, but that would require UI. What if instead of entire new pages of UI, the editing buttons above posts had a new option to make a specifically formatted list and then whatever database wizardry you would need to give points to completing items on that list. That way we could get badges for completing things, level up, and cast forum spells on prime. Is this about right on as to the usual obfuscated all over the place customer request you probably receive?
I love the idea of us all jumping on Mumble and socializing around our Backlog games...
/s Prime.
Working on my backlog started before y'all made it a thing. I made that joke because when I was in the last two hours of Child of Light I saw myself in 5 years finally checking off the last game and crying. These past two years I have been really trying to focus on enjoying the games I bought to enjoy so long ago, while I blow money on bicycles and z-wave devices.
Icrontic has moved to a heavy game focus over the years, dropping hardware to an sultry gaze. Which in my life's view I see that as a respectable and ok thing. Hardware for personal computers is to the point where you don't have to think to much. Knowing where the price jumps are and buying what you are comfortable with gets you a machine that runs almost everything at high settings. I view where Icrontic is now as an evolutionary step since hardware for gaming requires less of a focus and especially since gaming companies drop large budgets into marketing and spin control after they screw people over.
Linc saying he wants a semi-flexible module is a little tough. Doing some fast checking, there appears to be no other services that we as a group use that have public APIs except for steam. Origin, endomondo, raptr all have zero; don't know if there is some crazy beer drinkers social site where you can check off what you had for the night and review or build your dream beer list. The two areas I think we can fit a macro game into the forums is with fitness and gaming. There can be also the social aspect so sharing on the facebook page or time spent in IRC/mumble.
--Steam is easy because with a dev api key you can pull game list/achievements/currently playing/stats per game. This way there is a chance to macro it with badges based on number of achievements or hours played up to a certain level on games. I see this taking up 3/4 tables of information that can be updated on specific intervals. The user controls if we are going to mine them based on user settings of Public/Friends Only/Private. If there was a better way to get information raptr besides doing a html scrape on forum sigs they could cover the holes of people on consoles.
--IRC/Mumble as a side bar item that lets you check who is active and capable of launching a web browser with embed client and ads around the borders? There should be a way for the bots in IRC to check user stats and report back based on changes.
--Facebook/Twitter just something that checks for retweets/post and checks against that user's account name for a match to user info on Icrontic and then increments a "stat" value for them.
--Fitness websites seem to love to be closed so they can mine your data.
The point of looking at all of that stuff is that it would be cool to have a banner or sidebar that says these 12 people are playing these games. Then make the person's name clickable so it launches their twitch stream or gives you a fast way to watch their Steam stream. Doing a stream of who is doing what also means you can through in "Jimmy linked this really sweet article on the facebook page". You can also promote certain aspects that aren't going to be used heavily by clearing the list and only sticking up the Endomondo activity so users are aware of it, that kind of thing yo. The jest is figure out what services can be data mined, distill the information you want, and then display it in a delayed time frame to active users.
Doing that allows auto badge assignment based off tables and people being able to graphically look at reports of people based on the information we have acquired so it can be compared in a "Icrontic format". You could even tie some of it back in so if someone say you just threw down a bunch of time game Y they could select and a thread is started for them in the Backlog section where you can call people in to talk about that specific game.
tl;dr None of this is useful
I've personally gone back to mine to do the mini-reviews on games I really liked and felt needed the word spread. I don't know what is planned for the new front page, but if the reviews gained enough traction, say through large amount of points, bompz, or what ever system you come up with, then it appears on the new front page as its own article. main caveat being I have no idea what you plan on doing with the front page if anything.
Main point would be that if the review is supported by the majority, then it gets displayed as a legit Icrontic sponsored review in some shape or form.
Of course all that I've suggested could already be planned for forum content anyways. The recent addition of the "What's Happening ,,," bit at the top being a big example.
I like what everyone else has suggested so far, and feel that's all I can really contribute at the moment. I'm also really tired and will check back on this to make sure I understand and have indeed contributed all I can.
Off-topic, but Untappd is kind of that. My profile for example.
I tried untappd didn't like it. I just keep track of my beer in a little notebook now. Plus I find the beer scene becomes to followed if you know what I mean.
I've tried writing a serious response lie 4 times now and my tablet keeps fucking up when posting so fuck it give me cookie for every game I complete.
And you can trade cookies in for shit like cool emotes or special titles or actual cookies.