This thread is about the Pathfinder Society reporting interface at paizo.com/pathfindersociety and ONLY about the reporting interface.
I'm convinced after feedback from you guys and gals that some of the reason reporting of Pathfinder Society events isn't happening is because the website sometimes causes difficulties for GMs and coordinators. After the New Year, Tech Guru Ross and I will have a meeting and hash out any and all improvements that the Pathfinder Society reporting interface could use throughout 2010. I have a few in mind, but as the folks who use the reporting interface far more often than I do, can you give me specific examples of things you'd like to see improved?
For the sake of this thread, please keep your comments to specific aspects of the reporting process and how they can be improved. Generalized comments such as "it sucks!" or comments about the rest of the Society page are not welcome in this thread.
Special Note: If you're noting a specific error you routinely encounter, please tell me exactly what the error says and where it occurs and also share what web browser and version of that web browser you are currently using.
Thanks!
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This thread is about the Pathfinder Society reporting interface at paizo.com/pathfindersociety and ONLY about the reporting interface.
I'm convinced after feedback from you guys and gals that some of the reason reporting of Pathfinder Society events isn't happening is because the website sometimes causes difficulties for GMs and coordinators. After the New Year, Tech Guru Ross and I will have a meeting and hash out any and all improvements that the Pathfinder Society reporting interface could use throughout 2010. I have a few in mind, but as the folks who use the reporting interface far more often than I do, can you give me specific examples of things you'd like to see improved?
For the sake of this thread, please keep your comments to specific aspects of the reporting process and how they can be improved. Generalized comments such as "it sucks!" or comments about the rest of the Society page are not welcome in this thread.
Special Note: If you're noting a specific error you routinely encounter, please tell me exactly what the error says and where it occurs and also share what web browser and version of that web browser you are currently using.
Thanks!
First and easiest change I could suggest is changing "Report Event" to "Create/Report Event". I may be stupid but I actually called in to find out how to create an event because I was looking for a link to create an event to match the one to report an event.
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1)Since reduced price scenarios for game stores never happened, is there a need to differentiate between store events and home events? On that note, wouldn't it be simpler for the user to just have one create event, instead of 3? Then you could choose to copy a past event as a template (sort of like ebay allows)
This just stems from the fact that most of the reporting questions I have seen are asking that they created the wrong type of event. If the reduced price for stores is still a possibility, I would still say this should be reduced to 2 (or 1 with a check-box or radio-button to differentiate home and store games.).
2)Also possibly give players the option to be emailed when events they have played in are reported. This would allow them to check the details.
3) (not quite so important) some sort of secondary interface where players can dispute results (would require some sort of proof - scanning the chronicle for instance) Since you are relying on the DM the write the results down and the coordinator to type in the results, there should be a way for the player to point out typeos, as long as they can back them up. There are just too many hands in the cookie jar to not protect against the human error.
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This thread is about the Pathfinder Society reporting interface at paizo.com/pathfindersociety and ONLY about the reporting interface.
I'm convinced after feedback from you guys and gals that some of the reason reporting of Pathfinder Society events isn't happening is because the website sometimes causes difficulties for GMs and coordinators. After the New Year, Tech Guru Ross and I will have a meeting and hash out any and all improvements that the Pathfinder Society reporting interface could use throughout 2010. I have a few in mind, but as the folks who use the reporting interface far more often than I do, can you give me specific examples of things you'd like to see improved?
For the sake of this thread, please keep your comments to specific aspects of the reporting process and how they can be improved. Generalized comments such as "it sucks!" or comments about the rest of the Society page are not welcome in this thread.
Special Note: If you're noting a specific error you routinely encounter, please tell me exactly what the error says and where it occurs and also share what web browser and version of that web browser you are currently using.
Thanks!
Second suggestion is to be able to add in the date of a recurring event. Marking it as every two weeks does not tell people what date it is running. I run a store event every other week and I have had numerous people contact me or the store to find out which Saturday it is being held because there is no way to mark specific dates.
Third suggestion is to have a calendar with all of the events for any given date posted there. I have often found that I cannot find an event within x miles of my location yet there is one scheduled. If I can look for events being held on December 12 then I will see all of the events including that event which is x+1 miles from me. The DCI (for use with LG and LFR) calendar is an example of being able to look at a monthly calendar with all events by state.
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Do an out-of-array check when looking up character names.
I got a false Pathfinder ID (badly handwriting). There were reasons to assume that the character should be -2 and not -1 as on the sheet.
As the first character name didn't match (well - it couldn't anyhow having the wrong ID) I tested out -2 and -3 as well.
On entering -3 the whole page crashed and all entries done before got lost.
Thod
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I agree that a lot of the problems come from the Session # getting mixed up and overwritten. This results in some characters being reported on duplicate scenarios and other characters never getting credited. What I would suggest is to have all the Sessions visible on the reporting page. Make the Session # fixed to a frame on the page. You could fit two columns of session frames on the page. If a session is added, then Session #2 (maybe #2 & onward is visible but faded out until activated) is clicked on and becomes active. This is repeated for Session #3 and so on. That way there will be no jumping between Sessions displayed and getting results mixed up.
On the individual Session itself, I favor drop-down menus. The date of play, scenario # and GM info setup I have no complaint about. The player information area I have some suggestions for. There should be five columns per row, (A) PFS Membership #, B) Character Name + suffix #, C) Faction, D) PA Points Earned and E) Notes) but the columns after the field for PFS# are inactive (faded out) until the PFS# in column A is entered. First you enter the root number in Column A. After the root number is entered, Column B is populated with a drop-down menu of every PFS character that is registered under that root number, expressed “-1 Meskhenet”, “-2 Bargru”, “-3 Dolce Elizabeth Antoinette”, and so on. Column C is defaulted to the Faction assigned to the character selected in Column B, but may be overridden by the GM and change to a different Faction (because we all have players who have changed their minds after character registration). Column D should have an option of 0, 1 or 2 in the drop-down, but might be linked to the scenario and limited to the number of points available in the scenario selected. Column E could be where character deaths are reported, or cautions given to players by the GM.
I would like to say that I am not a web designer and have no idea if any of this is feasible. I’m just brainstorming.
When building an event, it would be nice to have an option to e-mail a notice or invite players through entering their e-mail address after the event is created. When viewing events reported on the organizer side, it would also be nice to have a “Hide Completed Events” option because my event page is getting very long and takes some scrolling to get to the bottom section where the organizer builds more events.
That’s all I have for now. I’m sure more will come to mind as I think about Pathfinder Society while I’m supposed to be working…
These are good suggestions--keep 'em coming!
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Thod makes a good point about phantom entries. I have described this problem in the former thread, but it bears repeating. It seems like if a GM enters the wrong PFS number or character, saves his/her work (without choosing 'Mark Completely Reported') then comes back and corrects the error, the damage is done and can't be fixed. A GM might fix the error on his/her side of the reporting system, but the player still sees the error on their side. I don't know if this is a reproducable error in the system or just a glitch, but it needs to be patched.
Sloppy handwriting has caused a lot of incorrect reporting to happen. I have two phantom PFS characters on my account from organizers who mistakenly reported my number at tables I never played at. I am not going to bother Josh about this because I know he's got better things to do with his time. I'd rather have him focused on writing and editing than doing clean-up work on the reporting system. However, if the problem in the first paragraph can be fixed it would be cool to have a way for a player to contact the organizer who reported the table without bothering Josh. Then the two of them can work out the problem without creating a clutter of dialog on the messageboards. A lot of websites have a feature through which you can blindly send a message to another user without needing to discover their e-mail address.
Because Christmas is coming, I'm asking Santa Frost for more than I think I deserve on the off-chance he's caught up in the spirit of the season... I've been mostly good and all my tables have been reported (as far as he knows).
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These are good suggestions--keep 'em coming!
Faction reporting for new characters
When you enter a previously non registered character - either as you have given out a card with a code or as it is the very first game and the player hasn't registered yet you have to enter the faction as letter in the box instead of clicking the button below the faction.
If you fill in the box, the button is activated automatically.
This should work both ways round. I had to guess (well - not tooooo difficult) what to fill in the box. In the first attempt I just clicked on the buttons - which you can press !! but got an error message - missing data. Took me a moment to find out what I had missed.
Actually I assume hitting the button below the faction is more intuitive as adding a letter.
This issue doesn't appear for existing characters as both fields are auto-filled.
Thod
PS: This is my fourth suggestion and I don't want to leave the impression I don't like the webport. What I missed so far to say is that actually - once you know what to do - that the reporting is quite fast, comfortable and painless. In my view it is a pretty good job - but minor glitches do weigh heavy on the first impression - as this is likely the time you will do at least one non-intuitive bit wrong.
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I must throw in a positive note. I have never had any trouble with the reporting system once I got the hang of it and I find it a very fast job thanks to the automatic populating of the fields based on the player's number.
But I found the process a little opaque at first. I don't think you need to do much to fix the system but I DO think you need a few screen shots to walk you through the process the first time.
System is pretty good but you need a graphic "One-Minute Guide".
And hey ...can we have a better event location for Europe that doesn't require you to research your Latitude and longditude! Please.
Chief Technical Officer
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Actually I assume hitting the button below the faction is more intuitive as adding a letter.
Agreed (and the button action could probably use some tweaking...).
The reason for the letters, though, is sheer speed—one of Gary's goals was to make sure you can report as much as possible without having to switch between mouse and keyboard. If you have a pile of sessions to enter, and you teach yourself to do it with only keystrokes, you can really fly through them in no time.
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Actually I assume hitting the button below the faction is more intuitive as adding a letter.Agreed (and the button action could probably use some tweaking...).
The reason for the letters, though, is sheer speed—one of Gary's goals was to make sure you can report as much as possible without having to switch between mouse and keyboard. If you have a pile of sessions to enter, and you teach yourself to do it with only keystrokes, you can really fly through them in no time.
Vic
Actually this is some very useful comment. It didn't even occur to me so far you would use the reporting mouse free. I assume you can use the tab key to go from entry to entry?
In my view the underlying issue are two different user groups you try to cater for. The hard core user (mouse free) will be fine as it is. He has done it often enough - he wants speed.
The first time or occasional user on the other hand will prefer a more intuitive way and will cling to his mouse. He will spend more time on understanding what to do as to actually filling out the report.
Some of the latter users will migrate to the first user base eventually.
So ideally it should cater to both and should work both ways round.
Thod
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There needs to be a purpose for the reporting. In season 0 when factions were supposed to be competing, it felt like an integrating kind of effort. Now its is unclear why this task should be performed. It currently seems like pointless busy work. This combined with a less than friendly and unintuitive interface (IMHO) tends to suppress participation.
Perhaps a kind of reward system? Even if only symbolic: "You have gained the rank of 'Grand Poobah GM'" when you log your 20th table. Maybe an extra special profile graphic?. Some real-world swag might be nice, too, but I suspect that is hoping for a little too much. :-)
There's a sidebar on page 27 that details why it's important that our GMs accurately and frequently report their events.
We are brainstorming some additional reward-type mechanics to further increase the desire to report, but those will likely not see action until late Season 1 or even Season 2.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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I would like to see a method of contacting a GM or organizer to discuss reporting errors or conflicts. Since you and Gary and Ross are busy, the fewer fires you need to put out, the better. If a player could click a button to email a problem to the organizer or GM and have them take care of fixing misreported tables, that would be great. It seems now that there are a lot of players who don't know how to contact convention GMs or organizers, and adding this line of communication would really help strengthen this relationship, which I think will also increase people's opinion of PFS as a whole. If privacy is a concern, the email script could use some kind of anonymizer so that an email can be sent but that both parties' emails are hidden from the other.
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I would like to see it made easier to report sessions your character has participated in and to edit the character. Just last night I played in a Pathfinder Society scenario with short notice. I did't have my Pathfinder Society number, so the DM game me a card with a new number on it. I have no way that I can see to register my new character and to enter or edit any relevant details for him. Can I have some assistance in this matter?
You can't change numbers. If you don't have your number with you, then you'll need to exchange information with the GM to get your number to him later. If you've already got a Pathfinder Society number, the card doesn't work for you as it assumes you have no number and need one.