Jump to content
angelicdragonpuppy

Yearly Suggestion Check-ins by TJ

Recommended Posts

Obviously this is just an appeal @TJ09 but I wanted to put it out there.

 

Many popular suggestions sit in years for silence, lucky to even get a tiny comment as to if they have any shot of being approved or if something in them needs changing. Accordingly, topics go in circles for ages, everyone just nodding along because there's nothing new to say, and not suggesting anything new because we've been given no reason to. 

 

As such, I think it would be nice if popular suggestion topics that were still active after a year get a yearly check-in by TJ. Users put a lot of thought into suggestions, and it's disheartening and frankly souring to watch them go year after year, unanswered. To make things simpler to keep track of, maybe mods could post a sticky that keeps track of 1y+ still active threads, with users helping to lighten the workload by letting them know if any just met the milestone or need to be removed or what not.

 

It would just be nice to get some feedback. Even if something WON'T happen, let us know why (so we can either try something else, or accept it and stop wasting our time)

 

Here are some popular suggestions from an older thread

 

Simple Suggestions:

- Accurate breeding / action timers ("this dragon can breed again in 1 day 5 hours") (suggested ??? most recent topic is here, can't find older ones but they're around)

- Way to reverse refusals (suggested in 2014, probably earlier)

- Allow dead dragons to have their names removed (suggested in 2013)

- Allow people to claim names off inactive scrolls (suggested ??? by TJ himself, still hasn't happened)

 

Complex Suggestions:

- An unfreeze BSA (suggested 2014)

- More BSAs in general (no particular one, but the subforum is filled with lovely ideas. Reconcile, Identify, Adopt, Multiply, Boost, Harmonize, Prank, Wrap... plus suggested changes to teleport to alert people when they're locked or accept only part of a trade) (suggested before the BSA forum went kaput, obviously)

- Higher CB Christmas / Valentine limits (suggested in 2015)

- Kicking dragons that sit in the cave for too long to the AP (suggested ??? - this topic still exists, don't know the name to find it)

- Change how breeding works (suggested in 2015)

 

Some of the things off the old list have happened (the market and in-cave trading, platinum trophy woot woot, groups), but the rate of feedback is still painfully, off-puttingly slow. I realize that direct admin commentary on EVERYTHING is unreasonable... but the parameters suggested should break it down to just the handful of truly worthy, wanted suggestions.

Edited by angelicdragonpuppy

Share this post


Link to post

Can you add in my suggestion of showing eggs on the confirmation of the 'Bite' BSA please? As well as the spinel breeding both red and green? I can pull up the threads if needed

Share this post


Link to post
10 minutes ago, Dalek Raptor said:

Can you add in my suggestion of showing eggs on the confirmation of the 'Bite' BSA please? As well as the spinel breeding both red and green? I can pull up the threads if needed

 

Since this is just a plea for TJ to consider looking into old but active threads, and nothing might come of it, I'm not going to put in every suggestion right now. Just a few as examples (I left out quite a few other suggestions that I'd like to see happen). If he's open to it we can all help compile a list together. :) 

Share this post


Link to post

I think this is a good idea. Seems like a great avenue to open up that channel of communication more between users and admin. :D 

Share this post


Link to post

We can easily try to achieve that by pinging TJ every once in a while - especially when support for a suggestion is very evident, all the kinks have been ironed out (as far as possible) and all the suggestion still needs is the word of TJ.

Share this post


Link to post

There's nothing more I'd love to see than for Dragon Cave to get more quality of life improvements, to see certain mechanics edited to perhaps work better, all that sort of stuff. I don't know if TJ doesn't have the time or simply the energy or even the will, and all of those are perfectly valid reasons of course. I just feel like this game could grow so much more if it had regular updates (and not in terms of new dragons).

 

What I'm trying to say is... I'm super happy and grateful that DC exists. But I'd also be SUPER happy (and I think A LOT of people share this thought) if DC got more regular QoL updates. Or at least more communication for those.

We all love this game so much but outside of dragon updates (which are also great, don't get me wrong!) the game is pretty stagnant and... dated, in some ways.

So if there is any way that more updates or communication could be arranged, whether by TJ or some other way - I'd really love that.

Share this post


Link to post

@olympe I've tried, including recently. No answer. Sometimes after multiple pings.

 

@Cinspawn with you 100%. I enjoy DC, I'm glad it exists... but man, does it drag its feet on QoL improvements. I mean, you still have to guess if a dragon breeding again "in 1 day" means in 5 seconds or 23 hours... and the game has existed 12+ years! There are other things, too, but that one is still mind boggling to me.

Share this post


Link to post

Yes, plz. It's a lot better than having to wait for a thread to suddenly be locked to know the status of it.

Share this post


Link to post

I would really like to see something like this. Some threads go forever with no comment at all from TJ, so we have no way of knowing if they are not an option, if they need tweaked to be an option, or if they are being considered. They just sit in limbo and we wonder...

Share this post


Link to post

Support.

 

Pinging him is not a guarantee that he will reply. I've seen him get pinged in two back-to-back comments (or close enough) within a thread and only answer one. I imagine it's easy to lose track of that many notifications, too.

Knowing if an idea is on a good track (like the market thread) or if it's never going to happen (on site messages, for example) would be really useful. I think it would also help those who make and support the suggestions feel like they are heard, instead of like they are just wishing into a void.

Share this post


Link to post

While I totally 100% support this, I've seen these kinds of suggestions in the past and nothing ever comes of it. We've had 'more communication please!' suggestions multiple times over the years, and look where we are. 

 

I do very much agree that it would be wonderful if we could get *some* communication on Suggestion threads. Even just a 'this isn't going to happen' or 'I have no plans to do this anytime soon' would be more helpful then letting a Suggestion sit there gathering dust, or gathering tons of support with no idea if it's actually a direction TJ wants to go.

Share this post


Link to post

Just an idea, to help maybe organize suggestions of higher want from users: what if we set up a system where suggestions have to get a certain number of Agree/Yes votes in a poll for TJ to respond? Perhaps at that point it'll give more motivation for him to check in, and he doesn't have to worry about smaller/ less significant suggestions all at the same time? (like how if a petition gets a certain number of signatures type deal?)

 

Just a thought. 

Share this post


Link to post

We could also do it based on the age of the suggestion. Some of these suggestions are years old.

 

I 1000% support this. More communication between members and staff is a suggestion I'll always approve of.

Share this post


Link to post

@hazeh yes, I think that would make sense! When I made this I originally suggested only year old topics with 100+ posts get reviewed, but a lot of the most agreed upon suggestions don’t have that many because people just agree and have nothing to discuss. Would be a nice way to gauge interest from people who feel they have nothing to add in a comment.

Share this post


Link to post

+1

 

I would really something like this, even if it were just for older or more active topics. The option to put some suggestions to bed, either with "Yes we'll do this eventually" or "No we aren't doing this and this is why" would be really nice to declutter the section and to revive some topics that have stagnated due to near-universal agreement. 

Share this post


Link to post

Yes please. The only aspect of this game I find more frustrating than popular suggestions not being added, is the fact that there's almost never an explanation for why popular suggestions aren't being added. Here's hoping TJ finds the time to reply to this thread, at least...

 

Come to think of it, as far as I've seen, it seems like any major site update is added on Dragcave's birthday. I really like Hazeh's idea of integrating an agree/disagree poll into every suggestion thread and having TJ respond to the highest voted ones. It's only natural that Dragcave's birthday gift would be whatever its userbase wants the most, right? As long as TJ approves of it, of course.

Share this post


Link to post

only problem with a poll is that TJ doesn't like them.  People change their minds and polls on the site can only be voted on once. 

Share this post


Link to post

Well, in this case it would act less as a poll and more of a petition. Perhaps this tally for support can only be added once the suggestion itself has been hashed out completely or addressed concerns from other users. Mods could tack it on once the suggestion itself reaches a point of maturity (maybe 1 year, as suggested?) and any votes after that are simply in favor for implementation, so once those votes reach a certain number (I don't know... 100? More?) then TJ /has/ to respond or decide on it. 

Share this post


Link to post

To be honest, I don’t find the poll completely necessary, as I believe every thread deserves to be given an answer to - not just the most popular ones!

 

That being said, I can’t support this suggestion enough. I remember a few months back (maybe even a year or two??) there was a very popular thread discussing more creator/staff input and communication, which as purpledragonclaw said, is very important on a site with such heavy input from player voices :) I feel like this site is really blessed to have such a focus on player input, but it’s sad that a whole lot of it is basically speaking into the void. Either that, or have communication with mods where they can have the deciding factors - anything is better than radio silence!

 

Even if at the end of TJ input, the answer to 90% of these suggestions are “no”, I’d still be so much more satisfied at least having heard a response rather than nothing.

 

Of course, I truly appreciate everything TJ does for this site and the players, and understand that he has a life too, but I just concur that more communication is key. If suggestions are going to go unheard or undiscussed, why even have a suggestions board in the first place, right?

Share this post


Link to post

I'm not sure if the poll idea would work so well, but I don't really feel strong enough to be too strongly opposed. I do definitely support the base idea going on here, though. Naturally it's unreasonable to ask just one guy to have to comb through the whole section regularly, but if something is popular enough to gather support for a whole year, or years, it's only fair to get at minimum some basic acknowledgement. It's impossible to know if he's even read some of these threads because he's so quiet and distant.

Share this post


Link to post

I don't like the idea of a poll at all. I really don't see a reason for it at all, there are plenty of other simpler ways to see which threads could use a response (number of replies, time since made, etc). And there are reasons polls aren't really welcomed in Suggestions, they don't really do anything to move a suggestion along. I also don't like the idea of a 'petition' poll that would only happen once everything was 'hashed out completely', because who exactly decides that? Almost every single suggestion (even Trader's Canyon!) has little nit-picks or things that people want changed or things that might not be the best way to do things.... TJ has actually spoken out in the past *against* having every little thing hashed out, because then people will complain if it isn't implemented exactly like the thread says (I believe that was in the Trader's Canyon thread, I'm not digging for it.)

Share this post


Link to post
2 hours ago, RealWilliamShakespeare said:

Even if at the end of TJ input, the answer to 90% of these suggestions are “no”, I’d still be so much more satisfied at least having heard a response rather than nothing.

I agree.

Even if it's just a list (with links) of suggestions that he could look through and give the deciding voice upon, it would make it easier for him to do so (it's all in one place) and easier for us to see if we have any hope at all for any of those suggestions or if we should just say good bye and focus on something else instead in the game. :)

Even if it's just a mod looking through the list at regular intervals for him and letting him know when there's something that might need addressing.

 

There are plenty of ways to delegate a bit better so the workload is reduced for those involved, AND we still get a voice as to whether this suggestion would ever be done, or not.

Share this post


Link to post

In an ideal world, yes, every suggestion would be appraised and answered—but let’s be honest. A ton of very big, very popular topics haven’t even gotten answers. Accordingly I think we should aim low and hope for the best in just asking for at least what seem to be the most popular, active, long running threads to be looked at. I like the idea of adding a poll after the year mark (if discussion has largely stagnated) because it seems like a good way to gauge interest. If the last 30 posts in a topic have been people just saying “yes I like this,” others might not post just to say the same thing, so it looks like only 30 people want it... even if in reality it’s 170.

 

On a different note I am also grateful that we have as much input as we do on the game... but AT THE SAME TIME, the frequent silence on popular topics sometimes makes it feel like we just have the illusion of having a say to keep us happy. I know it’s not the case, we’ve had several nice things happen after asking for them, but in general it’s such a dragged out, unresponsive progress that it can often FEEL like we’re screaming into the void. Just a little more communication would make suggestions seem so much more hopeful a place to be.

Share this post


Link to post

You brought up this exact discussion already in February, and I responded back then. As I have said multiple times in the past, I don't think any sort of extra formality to the process is warranted.

 

If anything, maybe automatically hiding/closing old threads would ensure that only fresh/recent discussion is surfaced here.

Share this post


Link to post


  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.