Suggested times for TWD games

[Vehicle]

Activity has taken a dip recently with the beginning of summer and end of coronavirus. Would anyone be interested in setting up specific times to TWD?

It could be something as simple as "Tuesday and Thursday nights are when people try to get games in" or it could be something more rigid like "warbirds on Tuesday, javs on Wednesday and base on Thursday." I'm really just looking for ways to get more games going and thought that setting up a time for people who want to play to log on could be helpful. Zone activity is a little like a snowball rolling down a hill. While it's unlikely we get back to peak-pandemic numbers, we're kind of at the floor for where activity should be right now.

[zidane]

i saw some games yesterday... it's not all doom and gloom lol. think there's a way to set up a twd watch on your pc to notify you when games are starting. from what i've seen the most active time for TWD is around 8pm-9pm EST.

[Vehicle]

i saw some games yesterday... it's not all doom and gloom lol. think there's a way to set up a twd watch on your pc to notify you when games are starting. from what i've seen the most active time for TWD is around 8pm-9pm EST.

I use the "games-starting" Discord, but that's kind of the reason I'm making the thread. There's plenty of times where I look at the Discord, see that there's no TWD happening, and go do something else. If there are ~5 people doing something similar, we could play!

[qan]

I use the "games-starting" Discord, but that's kind of the reason I'm making the thread. There's plenty of times where I look at the Discord, see that there's no TWD happening, and go do something else. If there are ~5 people doing something similar, we could play!

Some exceedingly simple "looking for game" flag that could be easily checked might work. It needs details worked out -- and the "exceedingly simple" part as well. Where to check for players, how long the flag stays up, etc. Anyone with a half hour to give it a think, get out a pen and paper and maybe brainstorm with someone else. We do have many options now that we didn't before. Would be nice if it didn't rely on any specific tech other than bots.

[Turban]

I know there are some games using channel bots on Discord to perform a simple headcount check which is active for X amount of minutes or until cancelled by a moderator. It would be very easy to set up on our Discord channel as well, but I'm not sure how effective it would be for a small community like ours.

[Rab]

How about people just log in and play like they did previously?

[qan]

Would be wary of requiring Discord to make it work, yes.

I think the trouble with the current system, just waiting online, is that we're all grown adults now. Meanwhile, every modern online game has some form of matchmaking better than established social networks. There's room for improvement. It doesn't need to be much.

Thinking of something simple, like logging in and queuing. Maybe players could have a flag set. Log in and if they've signed up to queue in the past, a bot PMs them (after a delay) to ask if they'd like to queue, and what they'd be interested in playing. (Or, some option that allows players to login and always set themselves as interested in playing certain gametypes, with an option to opt out at particular times when they don't want to play.)

After queuing, it'd let them know how many others are interested in those gametypes currently, and who they are. Once some threshold is reached, it could PM players. At that point, I think they'd need to reply to confirm they're not idle and still interested in playing in order to continue. If it's a go, the player lists are sent out. Players could then arrange a game, whether in TWD, wbduel/javduel/base, etc., in the normal manner. The point would just be providing some sort of tool that would only enhance the loose system that we already have in place, rather than replace it. Whichever tools might be useful to augment what we've got, that's what we should be providing.

If that seems like a reasonable start, we can start thinking of the flaws and where it might go wrong or go unused. I don't play TWD and only have TW + dev experience to work from, so I'm sure that could be improved (or scrapped entirely for something better and more likely to be used).

[beam]

Would be wary of requiring Discord to make it work, yes.

I think the trouble with the current system, just waiting online, is that we're all grown adults now. Meanwhile, every modern online game has some form of matchmaking better than established social networks. There's room for improvement. It doesn't need to be much.

Thinking of something simple, like logging in and queuing. Maybe players could have a flag set. Log in and if they've signed up to queue in the past, a bot PMs them (after a delay) to ask if they'd like to queue, and what they'd be interested in playing. (Or, some option that allows players to login and always set themselves as interested in playing certain gametypes, with an option to opt out at particular times when they don't want to play.)

After queuing, it'd let them know how many others are interested in those gametypes currently, and who they are. Once some threshold is reached, it could PM players. At that point, I think they'd need to reply to confirm they're not idle and still interested in playing in order to continue. If it's a go, the player lists are sent out. Players could then arrange a game, whether in TWD, wbduel/javduel/base, etc., in the normal manner. The point would just be providing some sort of tool that would only enhance the loose system that we already have in place, rather than replace it. Whichever tools might be useful to augment what we've got, that's what we should be providing.

If that seems like a reasonable start, we can start thinking of the flaws and where it might go wrong or go unused. I don't play TWD and only have TW + dev experience to work from, so I'm sure that could be improved (or scrapped entirely for something better and more likely to be used).

you're basically suggesting an automated year round tsl queue with an elo system which in my opinion would be great for the zone to replace twd since twd is just like 1 guy and a bunch of borrows anyway but I have no idea what would go into setting that up

[qan]

you're basically suggesting an automated year round tsl queue with an elo system which in my opinion would be great for the zone to replace twd since twd is just like 1 guy and a bunch of borrows anyway but I have no idea what would go into setting that up

Well, not so much Elo/real matchmaking. That would be a stretch goal, something this might turn into.

A minimum viable product would be a way for people to just say they're looking for a match while in game, and then to get notified when there are enough people to run a game.

If nobody's interested, though, and it wouldn't be used, it wouldn't really be worth coding.

[Vehicle]

I am of the opinion that a 'looking for game' bot wouldn't be particularly helpful if it's strictly in-game. Something like what Turban mentioned is probably the best bet. It could work something like:

• PM bot "!waiting base'
• Bot> You have been added to the basing waitlist, there are <9> other players waiting
• Once 10 or so people sign up the bot would send a message to the waitlisted players confirming they're awake.
• If enough people respond, the bot would pm the waitlisters something like: "<9> people have confirmed they're looking for a game, log in to Trench Wars now"
• Two caps start a game in TW and one of them can PM the Discord bot "!starting" or whatever, and it'd send a PM saying a game was starting

That's just my general idea of something that could potentially increase activity. We are a small community, though, so I'm not sure how effective it would be.

I don't think there's any reason to add any sort of waitlist capability in game. The people accepting TWD games know who's who and esc+a will usually suffice in figuring out if there are enough players for a game. I think adding some functionality where you could essentially "afk in twbd" from your couch (which a Discord bot would do) could potentially help.



Re: Beam and Qan, I actually really like the idea of basically drafting TWD teams on a per-match basis. Creating a ladder system at the player level is a great idea. Players might be more likely to log on and play if there's a leaderboard of "best" warbirds/javs/spids/terrs/sharks. It would obviously be a massive undertaking to create a non-squad-based league, but I love the idea.

[Vehicle]

Just to bring this full circle: We could also just pick a couple days a week where we as a community say we'll log on and play. I don't get why no one else likes the idea of just saying "Tuesday and Thursday nights let's try to get some games in."

I've only been back at this game for about a year, so I never experienced pre-Covid deadness, but it seems to be that without some proactivity things are only going to get worse. Unless everyone comes back when it gets cold out...

[daresound]

I like that idea. Like most games these days, log in and queue up, afk a bit and get a notification when your game is ready. . Currently we just send out a challenge thinking/hoping there's enough players on, and cancel half the time. This could give players an option to check the active pulse of the zone as well (based on real data, than just a hunch) to see how close we are to a game. These matches could be random teams, sorted if players are ranked, or just initiated. Normally I hate randomized teams, but this option could still leave room for organized TWD. !q !listq

[Pressure]

I've proposed this in the past, but what about creating a subset league within TWD called "premier league" with weekly competitive/scheduled Tuesday/Thursday games and a rolling ladder. It doesn't have to be formal, as long as a squad is registered and has a roster they can play in the competitive games on Tues/Thurs. The bot can be programmed to randomized games (eg, if -final-, disoblige, whiterabbits, and pallies show up, the bot will randomly organize to -f- vs. wr and diso vs. pallies game 1, and -f- vs. diso and pallies vs. wr game 2), and a ladder could be made that keeps track of games won on "premier league" nights. There could be 2 games each league for 3 hours.

Incentive to win for squads could be cash, TWD medals, or perhaps this could ultimately further help with seeding for TWL or something.

This would allow TWD to remain open 24/7, but would also give people looking for better games specific nights/times to log in and may promote activity around Tues/Thurs (which could bleed into other days too). This could also decrease roster attrition and promote squad loyalty and competition during the offseason.