You may have noticed a new posting for the September event. That's because I've rebuilt our event module to be better, stronger, faster than it was before. Here are some highlights:
- You can now RSVP to an event from the event listing or the new block in the upper, right-hand corner of the site. Just select whether or not you'll be attending and, if you think you might, what character you'll be playing. Plot members can RSVP as plot members, and anyone can RSVP as full-time monsters.
- You can see who else has RSVPed and what they'll be playing from the Who's Coming section of an event listing.
- You can prepay online. Okay, this isn't really new, but it now has its own dedicated section called Prepay.
- Once I'm done building it out, we'll be able to log attendance and payment information directly on the site. Not particularly exciting for everyone else, but I know it's great for us logistics folks.
- Also once I've built it out, the system will dynamically email everyone one week before the game. If you've RSVP'ed, you'll get a reminder of your RSVP status and a prompt to update it if necessary. If you haven't, you'll get a polite request to RSVP. The emails will have handy links like the downtime participation requests so you can RSVP in as little as one click.
What do you guys think? Wifty? Not doing something you'd like to see it doing?
Oh, you haven't even heard the best part. I was talking to Nick on the phone yesterday about predictive modeling. Essentially, based on a person's current RSVP status, RSVP history, and attendance history, I will be able to tell you the probability that they'll attend a given game and give you a statistical guess as to the total number of players who will be there. We'll have to collect a lot of data first, but I'm pretty sure I can write a workable algorithm.
Have I ever mentioned I'm a bit of a math nerd? ;)
"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."
- Wizard of Oz
Just in case anyone's curious why I've been reposting old events, it's because I just got done adding the leftover features to the new event module. This included going back and logging attendance information for the old events. Tedious, but I doubt anybody's going to complain about thorough records-keeping.
What you guys might be interested in, though, is the new ranking system that randomly spawned off of attendance tracking. Now that I've got it all in the database, I can do neat things like count the number of games you've attended (or at least paid to attend) and give your profile a rank based on that total. Here are the ranks I cooked up.
| User Rank | Number of Events |
|---|---|
| Newbie | 0 - 2 |
| Survivor | 3 - 6 |
| Adventurer | 7 - 11 |
| Spanner | 12 - 17 |
| Champion | 18 - 24 |
| Veteran | 25 - 32 |
| Elder | 33 - 41 |
| Immortal | 42+ |
Yes, if you attend every event for, say, three and a half years, you too can gain the coveted title of Immortal. Granted, it doesn't really give you anything extra, but I figure it's a nice way of letting players show off their loyalty. What do you guys think? Do we need badges to go along with them? ;)
"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."
- Wizard of Oz
I know it will be helpful for me.