Your opinion is needed! (Beta build interactions)

odes

So, one thing that's been bugging me for a while is the fact that since few(er) people have access to beta builds, it also means fewer people can vote for interactions made in this build when they're first published. I.e., when the build finally goes public, the interactions will have a low score per time value (and thus ranked lower) even though many of them are excellent.

What do you think would be a good way to combat this?

So far I've thought of simply resetting the time for these interactions when the build goes live, but I'm not sure that's the best way. Any other thoughts or ideas?

Thanks!

FenrirWolfe

Alright... This is just tired brainstorming from my side. Please, take it with a grain of salt.
1. Make the patron-version interactions the newest - you're doing that already.

2. Change the rating system - right now it's just "Like" or "Dislike" which doesn't necessarily fit the person's opinions.

3. Encourage checking older interactions and rating all interactions - that could be done with some sort of a point system which could be "meaningless" like an achievement system or it could actually do something important after enough points have been gathered (e.g. enabling 1 skin - possibly only for a limited time) which WOULD hurt your payment system and thus would need to be strongly moderated so it wouldn't be exploitable.

4. Make it so patrons have a "stronger" vote (e.g. 1 vote = 2 points) for those patron-only interactions during the testing stage. That's only a temporary solution for the exact time of the release. The effect would need to be stopped immediately and removed very soon (2 days at most) after the release or it would greatly hurt the statistics.

5. Increase the number of patrons - I can't really help you here. Lowering the prices could help but it wouldn't be significant enough. Perhaps more advertising? I really don't know where or how much or anything on that matter.

7. Mark interactions that the viewer hasn't seen before - something like a red ribbon with "NEW" written on it that would go away after you've seen the interaction (not just the thumbnail)

In the end, it doesn't really matter too much what you do. It all comes down to whether or not people want to go through every new interaction since they've last checked the Sync and whether or not they will vote on them. I'm afraid that isn't going to happen as often as you'd want to - especially among those who haven't paid for it. I generally do both of those (maybe except the voting part - there are many I like/dislike but not enough to vote) but that's because I know and appreciate the work people have to put into them.

Actually, to be truly honest, I haven't been to the Sync in a while. I'm concentrating on my work instead. I have slightly below 30 of my own poses/interactions and there is always something to change whenever I revisit any of those. That being said, I will go through every new (since I've last visited the Sync) interaction and vote if I'll feel it's good/bad enough when the next public version comes out.

NOTE: I removed number 6 because it was a terrible idea. It was so terrible that its "description" was literally me complaining how bad the idea is and how it shouldn't have even crossed my mind.

Futatuesday

I think resetting the time would be the simplest way to do it. The only other ways I can think of are allowing non patrons to still view the new interactions or lowering the pledge amount some. The latter probably wouldn't have that much of an impact honestly. The former feels like it could work but then it might cause bigger problems because I don't know what would need to be changed. Would you need to put out neutered public build updates for that to work? Would people be able to manipulate their client side files and have access to the characters without the need of backing the patreon? It's probably more trouble than it's worth.

I suppose you could also try giving patrons more than one vote.

Shadow_Drake

A few ideas pop into my mind when I think about the voting system:

1. How about having a value like a star rating, that is used in alot of systems these days. For example have it work out the average of the ratings everybody puts down on say.. a 6 star system and have it show up on a 'Top Rated' and/or 'highest ratings this week/month'.

2. A filter where you can remove certain elements in a search. For example there are those that aren't into homosexual (Gay) or heterosexual (Straight) stuff can just not choose to see it as I think some are getting dislikes just for that.

3. A short comments tab for those that want to give feedback and also for the creators to even give a short description for each interaction.

4. This isn't really something for the interactions but it just jumped in my head. There are a bunch of interactions that have a very good pose or view, so how about having a different interaction that is just for 'screenshot' or just a 'pose view' for those who aren't into the animation side of this game?

Sevvie

Meh. I honestly don't think there's anything that you can do. Its up to the voters on how they handle it. I dislike the entire voting system to begin with. I get that you wish to limit the amount of crap on here, but I urge you to find another way.

For instance, some of my own creations which have taken up to a few hours to create to ensure there are no clippings between parts, good POV settings, realistic ass-waves, thrusts, etc. that is getting 40-50%% down-votes and no explanation why, yet I see interactions on here that only have a static figure and no snapshots at ALL (For instance the "New Challenger Appears" one where it is LITERALLY just the 3 female characters sitting in a chair) that are getting a ratio of 90% likes where there was absolutely no work involved. Its stupid.

Hell I even see some really really good ones that are in the negatives. It seems the quick and simple ones (such as a static "Fisting" scene ) are the ones that are getting the votes, instead of the ones where honest time was spent are being downvoted for no good reason.

I feel that someone shouldnt be able to downvote it unless they have it loaded and actually TRIED it rather that just searching for things the dont like and clicking the "dislike" button on it just based on the screenshot - Essentially Shado_Drake's point #2

Oozaru

@Fenrirwolfe: I totally do not agree with number 4 and 5 in your post. Making the votes of patrons count 2 times more than those of non-patrons sucks. Simply because there're probably more non-patrons playing this game, than patrons. Considering patron votes more would cause many non-patrons to lose interrest in the game sooner or later. Probably, though I cannot tell for sure.

And I don't think high prices are the reason why people don't pledge. In fact the prices are just fine. I don't really mind them. A bigger problem on this side might be the fact, that you can only pay with credit card. At least it's a big issue for me, since I don't own one and you can pay with your bank card everywhere here in Germany (Online Shops included) so there's no need for a credit card here. I'd love to pledge at least 12 $ a month. That's really bothersome. *mentally spits on PayPal*

FenrirWolfe

@Oozaru
Please, read everything I write before immediately "disagreeing" (you actually agree but don't know you do) with me. It makes me feel like I have to respond to some sort of a prick - WHICH I'M SURE YOU'RE NOT (I made it bold and in caps so you can clearly see it). Responding to people who will disagree (even if they actually agree but they don't know because they didn't read the whole thing) no matter what is a waste of time... but I'm sure you were just tired, had a bad day or something entirely different. If you still do, please, pay attention to the whole thing. I don't want to fight you. If I wanted to fight someone I'd go argue with religious fanatics - not people I respect.

Number 4: I clearly wrote that such an effect would need to be disabled (patrons would only have 1 vote) immediately after the public release and those duplicate votes would need to be removed very soon after the public release (within 2 days AT MOST) or it would greatly hurt the statistics. Also, that whole idea was created BECAUSE there are less patrons than non-patrons. I also though (and still do) that GENERALLY patrons care more about quality than non-patrons and therefore are more reliable with such a feature. Note: I didn't see how it could have an effect on how interested non-patrons are and I can't agree or disagree because I don't have enough information on that.

Number 5: "Lowering the prices could help but it wouldn't be significant enough".
"could" signifies a possibility (not "absolute truth" - whatever that means).
"but it wouldn't be significant enough" should be self-explanatory.
In fact, I would be surprised if even 4 people decided to become patrons because of the lower price.

And yes, it would be amazing if PayPal wasn't such a stuck-up, immature piece of... but I haven't thought of that for some reason. Are there any online ways of payment other than credit card and "PayPal"? I don't think so but I don't know. That's why I'm asking.

Oozaru

My post was no attempt to start an argument, bro. Just chill, will you? But yes, you're right. I dind't read carefully enough. Sorry.

As for other ways of payment... No idea. It still pisses me off, though.

FenrirWolfe

Well, it was an attempt to start an argument albeit not a "heated" one. You disagreed and so you explained why you did. That's how argumentation should look like. The only problem was that you didn't know what you disagreed with - which happens to everyone every now and then. Also, I wasn't angry. I even wrote that I respect you (which I meant and I still do). Please, understand that disagreements don't have to be a negative thing. If done right, they are actually the exact opposite because they lead to debates which lead to improvement... and that's why we're here, isn't it? ^-^

And the payment.. It could be done via PayPal if sent to one of their accounts directly, instead of the Yiffalicious Patreon. I think that would slow the project down because everything would need to be done manually... So it's not really a good idea. But what do I know?