Hello there my fellow N4G'ers I'm not really here to rant (ok maybe a little) I just want to respectfully ask the mods if they would even consider doing a small change to the website (please mods post here so we can get some discussions going).
I guess I'll start out butt kissing. I love the site and how it's pretty much eliminated me from having to have 20 different Gaming websites on my Bookmark bar. I don't mind too much about all the trolling a good portion of users do (happens with any website and I know it's hard to catch and punish these people) and it can be pretty entertaining. But moving on to my main point...
The bubble system, while it's a good idea so people can't spam and troll like crazy but it limits us who are really wanting to try and have a decent discussion with someone or multiple people in the comment sections. Now I'm not asking for it to be taken away but I was just wondering if you could consider upping our bubbles, not anything drastically but give everyone a total of six bubbles (except maybe those with 1 who most likely got them for trolling or other violations).
I know it's suppose to be more or less the community decides who to add votes on either taking away or giving bubbles but if we are going to be realistic we know that we have some hardcore fanboys here who mark anything they even find slighting offensive down for trolling or other such things (from what I've heard the mods make the final call at taking or giving them though).
But please for those of us who actually like talking and getting involved in the community or just answering a question someone asks, so please on behalf of us who didn't join the site back before everyone started off with more bubbles than 3 please try to do something for us.
I realize we can send PM's but I personally rarely notice when I get one and when I send people them they usually don't get back to me at all or it'll be days later.
An alternative solution (but myself and I'm sure others would love both) is to allow us to edit our comments more and for a longer period of time. Or another one would be to allow us to reply to comments replies that we have already participated in even if we have no bubbles left.
I realize that it's probably not as easy as just entering a line of code but if it's within your power please at the very least consider it, maybe have a poll asking the community about some changes they would like.
I've thought about making another account so I could try to continue conversations but what I'm told you can get a perma-ban for that type of stuff.
This is kind of a just wish for me and others but what are the chances of bringing back the open zone. Hear me out, with the open zone you could ban the worst of the trolls to it and the rest of us can try to hold up decent conversation about whatever it is the article is about.
I'll be the first to admit that most of my posts aren't exactly all that great but I tend to be pretty open minded with most things and try to help others if they need. I just think it's kinda unfair for those of us who really want to talk about games with others and just try to answer questions people ask it makes it pretty hard.
Thank you to any mods who participate in this BLOG.
WTMG's Leo Faria: "A Difficult Game About Climbing is obviously frustrating, and I don’t exactly think it’s a fun pasttime, but it’s exponentially more enjoyable than the horrendous Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy. It’s actually beatable with enough trial and error. Its mechanics, whilst not exactly polished to the brim, work as intended, with no intentional input lag. It’s still clearly meant for Let’s Play youtubers to film themselves losing their minds over it, but it can still be a passable challenge if you’re up for the task."
WTMG's Oliver Shellding: "Overall, I think Stitch is an ultra quaint title that oozes warmth and welcome in gameplay and visual presentation, and is just such a decompression tool after a long day doing literally anything. It gives me such joy and relaxation to bring together the numbers and colors until I’ve made a bicycle or a nutcracker or whatever. I’ll do Christmas puzzles in April, it’s fine and the game doesn’t judge me. Unlock more and more pieces, don’t wait for power ups or villains because there are none, and just keep making yourself happy. If games are art, this one is a sweater my mom made for me, and I’m wearing it to keep out any and all chilly elements. But, just like mom, I’ll only pretend to listen."
WTMG's Leo Faria: "I loved that New Star GP ended up being nothing like what I was expecting from it. I thought I was going to get a simple and straightforward love letter to Virtua Racing, only for it to be something more akin to the best F1 racing games from the mid to late 90s, with a perfect blend of accessible physics and simulation elements. New Star GP is adorably retro in its visuals and vibes, but it’s got some surprising amount of depth and an interesting career mode. A little hidden gem in the racing scene, without a doubt."
One think I would like them to change is the reporting system. Making us post at least a certain amount of characters (only needs to be 5 or 10 minimum) so that reports such as Lame or Other with no reason are avoided. A reason why something is Lame or Other would be better than no reason at all
-Change this stupid bubble system ASAP
-Bring Back Open Zone/Gamer Zone whatever
-Fix the broken Reporting system
-Change the mods,Mainly Odion(kidding lol)
I think they are too strict with some people, and too lenient with others when it comes to their comments. God forbid that you make a post disagreeing with one side of the faction here on n4g. You will lose a bubble faster than you can edit your post, then to recover that bubble you'll need a year's worth of kissing up.
Honestly, up-rating comments and down-rating works just fine. If a user's rating reaches zero just collapse the thread or comment and it will be flagged to moderators as a suspect troll/spam post. Uprating means comments found to be insightful/exemplary by others users can be flagged in green or highlighted in some way. Look at DailyTech's system for an example.
But the bubbles need to go. They serve only to hinder any kind of discussion. I often find myself unable to respond to other users in many cases,and while it's easy to lose bubbles it's far too difficult to get them back. I shouldn't have to conform to some sort of common agreeable ideology in order to be able to better participate in a discussion, eg. having to praise and agree with sentiments I m against in topics I don't care much about (but are popular) just so I can have more than three bubbles to discuss something I actually do care about and have much to say about.
The bubble system is a joke. You're at the mercy of the mob and staff, some of whom have blatant biases. They're very easy to lose and almost impossible to regain.