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lordnikon
rank 87
Posted:
Tue Aug 13, 2013 10:24 am
quote : #1
profile : pm
Posts: 5902
Type: NTSC-U/C
Hi All,

I have a lot of work planned for OC and the forums in the coming months. I had to get a bunch of other stuff off my plate this year so I could focus on this site refactoring as it will take a significant development effort. I feel it would be great to take some feedback from the community before moving forward.

  • What do you guys want here at the site?
  • The 3 separate sites have served us well in the past, but is it time for a single site, with 1 login?
  • Should we maybe have 1 login, but still have the illusion of multiple site areas?
  • Should we cover the Saturn and MegaDrive for networking?
  • If we go with a single site, should we expand a classic game console discussion region, where systems like the PCEngine and NeoGeo could be discussed here?
  • Should we stay with the multi-site structure?
  • User content submission? Like articles, Reviews, etc?
  • Should OC finally run its own IRC channel?
  • Should we run some experimental fun services over telnet and cmd line? (I have plans to experiment more with Linux/netBSD on the Dreamcast, and using broadband network drivers to access services on the Dreamcast through these operating systems.)
  • How do you feel about the platforms covered here? Do you just care about the DC? Do the GC/PS2 even matter?
  • Should we focus more on homebrew and experimenting with these great classic systems?
  • Should we run an FTP server with an archive of files that can be easily accessed and downloaded?
  • Do you browse OC on multiple devices? or do you have the desire to but can't because the site just doesn't run well in a mobile display (tablet/phone)? (Time can be put into making the site function across a myriad of platforms, and interface dimensions)


These are just some of the questions I am throwing out there. This thread has no restrictions so feel free to go nuts and give your opinions. I am going to proceed with trying to hash out many of these initiatives in the coming months, but I wanted to get everyone's feedback.

Thanks all!

Smile
  _________________
I'm already numero uno on Dark Helmet's hit list...
DaMan
rank 28
Posted:
Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:30 pm
quote : #2
profile : pm
Posts: 598
Type: NTSC-U/C
An End to the Bots, nothing says dead site when they show up, yeah I know its a war each
side can only do so much, and moderating 3 sites would probably drive ya nuts.

1 Login, only problem I see with that is some users (not me personally) have different names
for each section.

of course I don't know when the last time those players logged in at each site. and the same thing with avatars I
Tried to pick an avatar that fit with each site B.D. Joe on DC because I own crazy taxi and although it came out for ps2
I don't own hence when OutRun 2006/ and or the PS2 Genesis collection came to PS2 OutRun avvy over there made sense.
still a minor hurtle and nothing that could truly stopping the 3 sites becoming one.

Still that would give me an excuse to talk a console / games on the nintendo side.

and yet still more rules : do we want comparisons like: GC ep I&II beats DC PSO v2!!! (well that was a bad example
OC members have more class than that.

I have to admit i've been slacking not just with pics, but I was hoping to get some games put in the activity log.
especially after the GAMES TM interview.
  _________________
My PSO character stats are here
along with a few other sites I can be found at.
My DC is offline.
TheMytho
rank 28
Posted:
Wed Aug 21, 2013 2:25 pm
quote : #3
profile : pm
Posts: 588
Type: NTSC-U/C
What I want the most from OC is a way to conveniently be able to start or join spontaneous matches without having to schedule a game a week in advance (and even then, you're hinging on whether or not anybody else remembered to play). Scheduling matches is an absolute crap shoot in many respects. I realize that it's the nature of the beast, but there has to be a way that we can foster more flexible gaming opportunities for those that are unable or unwilling to commit to a schedule. Some sort of game tracking feature where users could log in and easily broadcast that they are playing a certain game at the moment could work wonders. Other users could then see that somebody is playing, for example, Quake 3 Arena on the OC DM server, and join in. To prevent people from broadcasting indefinitely, there could be a 1 hour broadcasting block that is reserved for whoever initiated the broadcast. They could either choose to let it lapse if they can only devote one hour to playing, or they could log back in, renew their block for another hour, and continue playing.

As for where the GC and PS2 sites are as of now, I am worried that there will be major information overload should the three sites consolidate. The GC section is unique enough to where it can continue as is without any major changes. The PS2 site seriously needs a shake up though. What I am proposing is that the PS2 site continues on, but becomes a general Sony networking site that covers not only the PS2 but the PSP as well. There are tons of games on the PSP that can be tunneled over Xlink. In addition, the site would also cover homebrew and encourage experimenting.

I would personally love to see OC branch out and cover other network consoles, but all the other contenders are either too limited in scope to really pursue (Genesis/MegaDrive) or already have a community rallied together (Saturn). All these consoles could simply be given sticky threads in the Classic Sega forum for any and all networking discussion. The retro consoles bit sounds cool, but OC would start to lose its identity if it covered non-networked consoles.

Finally, some sort of chat would be ideal for managing the pickup games I discussed earlier. I am fine with whatever form that may take, but it needs to be integrated with the site if we wish to have any success whatsoever.
 
lordnikon
rank 87
Posted:
Sat Sep 21, 2013 10:26 pm
quote : #4
profile : pm
Posts: 5902
Type: NTSC-U/C
One of my ideas is to take an IRC channel (and possibly IRC server) and turn that into a real time game lobby for scheduling games.

TheMytho makes 2 really good points against merging the site into single site. They are points I never thought of before in the past.

1) OC is the only place that will have a GC online site on the net. It is so niche, that if OC doesn't run one, the console's network presence on the web simply won't exist.

2) Merging the site's together could indeed result in information overload.

OC as a whole has sort of just been chillin, without much work put in from me for a few reasons. I have been involved heavily with some archive projects (like archiving all of GameFAQ's guides... oh yea!), but also because of some other important reasons:

  • The question of staying multi-community, or merging to single site (before I move forward with OC I have to get this decision right).

  • Forum Technology. Believe it or not, OC runs on phpBB2 still. Which is fine. If its not broken, why change it? Though, if i did go single site, and then shifted the site forward to phpBB3, we could lose a LOT of features on the site. This site has a ton of mods written by other developers, which I then went in and modified on top of it. The site more or less runs on a "phpBB2 core". The site's code is now rather different than the final release of phpBB2. The front end code, is completly custom by me. Needless to say, any migration would take a considerable amount of effort.

    @DaMan: The site actually does fend off the bots rather well. It gets hammered by bots regularly, and only about 1% get through. The PS2 sites get it more than most for some reason. Though the Dreamcast site tends to only have the bots slip in every few months. Its not that bad. Sure it happens, but the protection measures in place do a pretty good job of it.

  • Online Infrastructure: There is so much work to be done in fixing the online infrastructure for these game consoles. Its almost mind numbing just how much work is involved. I might have to post this list and have people help out as it is a lot of work. Q3 has the DDOS problem, PSO's server solutions are garbage, with Sylverant being rigid from an administration standpoint, and the PS2's LAN options need to be re-tested. Not to mention the fact that we need to do some serious technical troubleshooting to build iron-clad PC-DC guides across the board.
  _________________
I'm already numero uno on Dark Helmet's hit list...
Kbuzz
rank 23
Posted:
Mon Sep 30, 2013 8:54 pm
quote : #5
profile : pm
Posts: 473
Type: NTSC-U/C
Preaching to the converted on the IRC option. Having a place for shared banter is much more appealing than having to use jabber statuses or game schedules. Even better would be some voip options. I know some of us have had pso and Q3 sessions over skype, and I find that appealing.

Really, whatever design creates the best hub for our shared interest is a winner in my books. Streaming the games we play and capturing the chat (with voip if possible) would really be a lot of fun. I'm not setup for that, but it's something I think we would get pumped up for.
  _________________
Pso: Kingbuzzo lvl 80
QUake 3: [OC] Kingbuzzo
lordnikon
rank 87
Posted:
Tue Oct 15, 2013 10:49 pm
quote : #6
profile : pm
Posts: 5902
Type: NTSC-U/C
With the new server, I have a ton of bandwidth available, so we could run a Ventrilo server for VOIP. That has worked really well in the past over at the PS2 site, and with our new server we have 5000GB of bandwidth available to us each month. Wink So a central server is totally feasible.
  _________________
I'm already numero uno on Dark Helmet's hit list...
Kbuzz
rank 23
Posted:
Sat Oct 19, 2013 11:28 pm
quote : #7
profile : pm
Posts: 473
Type: NTSC-U/C
I'd be down for that. I use TS but wouldn't mind using vent if that's what most ppl are used to.
  _________________
Pso: Kingbuzzo lvl 80
QUake 3: [OC] Kingbuzzo
amcdc79
rank 10
Posted:
Sun Oct 20, 2013 1:35 pm
quote : #8
profile : pm
Posts: 127
Nikon, what great questions and ideas, and to ask for our feedback, Man, you are the Best! Exclamation

Personally, I like it the way it is, but, you did ask,so here are a few questions and ideas back at you Smile

Yes I would like to be able to use the same id and password for all three sites.

What about the Xbox, are all of their games now offline, anyway of bringing them back?

What of the PS360, with the remaining next Gen. consoles about to launch, it will be very interesting to see how long their games stay online.

Do we want to have the Manufacturers as main headers, with their Consoles as Subsets?

I agree, Any console capable of going online should be here, especially the older ones.

You can never have too many reviews of a game, so having a place to do so would be a +

How big a site do we want, how much time and effort do we have to set up And maintain the well established order of things around here.

Dreamcast owners these days generally know about the homebrew scene, but we do like to be kept abreast of any new games in the pipeline.

Please forgive me for rambling, looking foreword to see how this comes to fruition.
 
lordnikon
rank 87
Posted:
Fri Nov 01, 2013 9:25 am
quote : #9
profile : pm
Posts: 5902
Type: NTSC-U/C
Hey amcdc79,

Thanks. I am always trying to do my best in keeping the community going. Here are some answers to your questions:

SINGLE ACCOUNT LOGIN:

As far as the primary username and password for all the sites, this is tricky. Accessing all of the sites with one user acount would require some sort of re-architecture of the site. OC started in 2003 as 3 communities witrh 3 seperate databases. Merging them would require quite a bit of work. Even if initially successful, after a few weeks or months nasty bugs and problems with the mysql database could arise.

The way I see it we have 2 options:
1. Abandon the topic/post history at the GC and PS2 sites, and merge the forum structure/content into the DC site, to then forge 1 large OC site.
2. Retain the existing 3 tiered site structure, with leaving it up to users to create the same account name/password at each site, and using auto-login for convenience.

TheMytho has made some great points to me here on the forums and on IM saying that it could be information overload merging all of that site content together. Other key points include damaging the strength of the DC community, the uniqueness of a GC online community would be lost, and other complex problems arising (like whether to merge support forums) all go against a site merge concept.

One idea I do have is to create an API so that on the front page, each site could see latest posts from the other 2 sites. So if you were at the Dreamcast site, you could see some of the latest posts at the GC/PS2 site, and vice versa for the others. This might connect the experience a bit better.

ADDING CONSOLES:

OC's current format covers the first 3 consoles to connect online for TCP/IP online play, and each of them lived duriing the dialup/broadband era. The DC/GC/PS2 consoles each went through the same trials and tribulations. Other systems do not fit this model.

The future of more modern systems like PS3/360 is the same as the systems we cover now. Online games will be released, and eventually terminate. It is a rat race that I am no longer interested in keeping up with.

Simply tracking the status of PS2 online games had turned into a nightmare, and consumed far too much of my time. That site suffered horribly because new online games were coming out every week, and games were regularly getting shutdown. It was a moving target.

1 console will be added to OC, to the PS2 site, and that is the PSP. The justification for doing this is: Most of the more creative/japanese games on the PS2 were shutdown. There are equivelants to these games on the PSP like Monster Hunter and Metal Gear Portable Ops Plus. Also, since the PSP runs games at a similar quality level as the PS2 (almost allowing for the same game to run comparably on each system, many games being direct ports), this makes sense. The PSP is essentially a portable PS2. The only other console that might be allowed, is the Wii at the gamecube site. Not so much because more people have Wii's, but because we live in an HD era, and component cables to output 480p progressive scan on the GameCube are expensive and harder to find.

I understand for some people the notion of continuing to interface with non-current technology is difficult. Some people are more than happy to neslte in with a niche community. Others, require a constant flow of "newness". New hardware, new games, etc. Which means OC might not be the site for such people.

I don't have any plans to add Xbox, PS3, 360 or any other future systems.

HOMEBREW:

Homebrew, and more specifically Linux/NetBSD operating systems are some of the big things I want to bring more focus to on the site. Linux/NetBSD has the capability to connect online for every console OC covers. We have never explored this option here at all. There are many things we can do with these consoles via networking in Linux and I want to explore those together as a community. Things like online "MUDS" via cmd line might be possible.

Plus, there is something always new going on in homebrew for these systems. We have the capability to talk about this stuff at OC, but I think users havn't gotten involved with it as much, or don't come back to OC and post about something when they read it elsewhere (ie. a new homebrew game being released).
  _________________
I'm already numero uno on Dark Helmet's hit list...
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