Search for a specific campaign / friend

wgulliver
wgulliver
edited December 2013 in General Discussion
Is there anyway to search for a specific campaign or search for friends of mine that are using Obsidian Portal? Do I have to wait for an invite from them to know that they are even on here? How can they invite if I cannot?
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Comments

  • Pils
    Pils
    Posts: 149
    The campaign / friend is disabled with the new OP, and I miss it too!

    For players, you have to go to Settings menu/players/ and invite new ones if you know their usernames or mails...

    -Pils
    "Dark Sun / La Décade des Héros":https://dark-sun-a-trova.obsidianportal.com/: Face the Fire of the Dark Sun... a World ravaged by Sorcery!
    "Al-Qadim / Golden Voyages":https://aq-golden-voyages.obsidianportal.com/: Who among you dares to challenge the high seas?

    -Pils

    Dark Sun ● La Décade des Héros : Face the Fire of the Dark Sun... a World ravaged by Sorcery! (CotM - Dec 2012)

    Les Royaumes Oubliés : A D&D 5e old school style Forgotten Realms campaign!

    (And I'm so soooorry for my poor english...)

  • geelpete
    geelpete
    Posts: 3
    Pils--I was actually looking for a search feature to find Al-Qadim campaigns ported to other systems. I thought Fate would work beautifully, but I have no idea how to find a Fate Zakhara campaign (searching becomes particularly problematic because of the "Land of Fate" moniker). Anyhow, your page looks great!
  • Basileus
    Basileus
    Posts: 585 edited January 2014
    I'm curious if all these missing community-oriented features (and this is one of many) were simply overlooked in a rush to push the Reforge out the door by some arbitrary deadline, or if there was actually a design meeting or something where it was somebody's big idea.

    "You know all those features that allow for user interaction and community building, that have let our members support each other and come together to share their creations? Yeah, I don't like that at all... lets get rid of them."
    Post edited by Basileus on
  • Teak_Dhara
    Teak_Dhara
    Posts: 61
    I agree with you Basileus. This site claim hundreds of thousand of users but basically if you look through campaigns, there are dozens and dozens that haven't had activity for months and in some cases years. Finding an active campaign was ridiculously difficult. The search features were and are horrendous. The "classified" forums, which is where I do my recruiting is dead. I have 4 new campaigns that I am recruiting for (all different types) as well as adding players to my existing 4 campaigns (all play-by-post) and after a week I had ONE inquiry. Where are the players? Where are the people who are looking for campaigns? I fear that any new subscribers who join the site will grow discouraged because they don't know how to find active campaigns that are recruiting and instead see a ton of old dead campaigns. I would strongly recommend beefing up the entry page for new users (and perhaps all) with advanced search features to find campaigns that are not only active (meaning there are regular postings and play happening) but also are recruiting and allow for filtering my genre and/or system.

    Montana
  • Maesenko
    Maesenko
    Posts: 325
    Montana, your post gave me an idea for a feature request: a running feed somewhere on a main page that shows the total number of accounts and any accounts that were created that day. Too bad I know that it's highly unlikely to be implemented any time soon.

    OT, at least we got the comments sections re-added. Here's hoping search functions are next.

    _~Mae_
    "Whispers in Tamris":https://whispers-in-tamris.obsidianportal.com/

    ~Mae

    CotM Selection Committee

  • Leonidas300
    Leonidas300
    Posts: 275
    I as well as several others have been banging away at attempting to get some sort of explanation on this and (wait for it...) have gotten zero reply. They did bring back comments both campaign and adventure log but the site wide search and search by recently updated/popularity are also key tools. I have no idea if these are coming back but I would recommend that we continue to push the point that we want it everyday both here on the forums and on the help section cause the help section is the only place the developers have posted in quite awhile.




    "Leonidas300":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/metzger/wikis/leonidas300
    "A Manifestation of Chaos":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/metzger/wikis/main-page
    COTM - Sept. 2012
  • Leonidas300
    Leonidas300
    Posts: 275
    @ Basileus - your service to community especially in those first reforge weeks went under-appreciated/ignored by the powers that be but I want to let you know that it was invaluable to many users myself included. I still have not gotten my campaign completely done and likely won't before it ends, but your threads were amongst the things that kept me from quitting OP entirely like two of my players did.
  • GamingMegaverse
    GamingMegaverse
    Posts: 3,001
    @Basileus- I also echo Leonidas comments- you were one of the people that I pointed out to OP staff that had done yeoman's work post-Reforge.

    I think that this was well-meaning. It looks better than the old search- it just does not do any of the things that all of us need!! It was an aesthetic change of a part of the old Portal that did not look good, but functioned well. I also sincerely hope it is all brought back. I used the listings of campaigns by fans to get ideas from those that had great campaigns- Arsheesh, Duskreign, Chainsaw, et al. Now you cannot even find them unless you have their exact link. I found other Palladium games easily- and reached out to new gms. Now that is next to impossible. We pushed, and got, the designation of online game. What good is it if you cannot search for other online games? Think of how much easier recruitment for new PbP games would be if you could search by PbP games looking for players!!!
    Rant done, for now....
    killervp
    "A God...Rebuilt":https://a-god-rebuilt.obsidianportal.com
    "OP's COTM April 2012":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/a-god-rebuilt-aprils-cotm/
    "Duskreign's First Ever COTM":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/wyrmshadow/wiki_pages/112011

    Just trying to help out.

  • Basileus
    Basileus
    Posts: 585 edited January 2014
    Well, thank you guys, that is encouraging to hear. :)

    On a potentially positive note, I was looking through the API documentation for OP, specifically the campaign information that it will return, to see if it might be feasible to write a small utility that would use the OP API to search the database for campaigns based on some of the criteria discussed. Included are both an "updated_at" field and a "looking_for_players" field, which seems promising - could narrow results by recently updated, game status, and such.

    The documentation is Preforge, so it might also return data for whether a game is tagged as online, since that is a thing now. Of course, being Preforge, none of that documentation may be valid at all anymore. Only way to be sure would be to actually write a small application to try some of the old API methods and see if they still work and what they return. Could be useful, though I'm a bit hesitant to go too far down the rabbit-hole and actually think through this more thoroughly (much less actually start any sort of code) without knowing what OP is planning on fixing/upgrading/etc and on what timetable.

    Another interesting possibility (though a long-shot), is that it might be possible to type search parameters directly into the URL, provided we could determine what the valid parameters are. Currently to search by system its just querying by "game_system_id". To see what I mean, go look at the Campaigns page filtered by a game system, then look at the URL after the "?". If the underlying script supports it, I think it might be possible to simply add additional parameters to the URL (should look something like "&updated_at>=2014-1-1T" pasted to the end of the URL). Could also be complete bollocks, though, I didn't have any luck as I was poking around.

    Dunno, just some thoughts, of dubious value. I'll keep looking - I'd really like to find a way to hack it into working, without having to wait weeks between tidbits of information that may or may not be relevant to these concerns.
    Post edited by Basileus on
  • GamingMegaverse
    GamingMegaverse
    Posts: 3,001
    I would rather it worked, than a hack!! Someone want to start a help ticket on this one- I have started a whole lot of them...

    Just trying to help out.

  • Arcteryx
    Arcteryx
    Posts: 4
    Well I'm glad to come across this thread, I thought I was going crazy that I couldn't find the friend facility that I thought I remembered having...

    So there hasn't been any replies or feedback on when that functionality is coming back in?
  • Maesenko
    Maesenko
    Posts: 325
    No, sadly OP has been strangely and disappointingly tight-lipped about anything and everything Post-Reforge. Considering how strong this community has been and the cry for greater transparency is voiced loudly and frequently, we have heard next to nothing since the Reforge went live. Things have been updated/readded here and there and we have had _occasional_ comments from DreadGazebo and more recently Jehzavere, but aside from those we have largely been left to our own devices.

    _~Mae_
    "Whispers in Tamris":https://whispers-in-tamris.obsidianportal.com/

    ~Mae

    CotM Selection Committee

  • GamingMegaverse
    GamingMegaverse
    Posts: 3,001
    So, anyone opening a ticket? Will be happy to add my voice if you do. Seems they go there a lot more often than here on the forums.

    Just trying to help out.

  • twiggyleaf
    twiggyleaf
    Posts: 2,011 edited January 2014
    I have started a ticket. I call on all those who agree with the need to SEARCH FOR A CAMPAIGN to support this ticket by adding their voice "HERE":http://help.obsidianportal.com/discussions/problems/12375-search-for-a-campaign-functionality-post-reforge .

    twigs
    Post edited by twiggyleaf on

    "I met a traveller from an antique land....."

    CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.

    Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign

    Inner Council Member

  • Arcteryx
    Arcteryx
    Posts: 4
    Is this Search for a campaign, search for a friend or both :) I doubt they don't already know what folks are clamouring for... there's probably some shortage of capacity to handle things and they're prioritizing "repairs" by importance.
  • Basileus
    Basileus
    Posts: 585 edited January 2014
    @twiggy: Hmm, for whatever reason, I can't see that ticket ("Private or deleted").
    Post edited by Basileus on
  • GamingMegaverse
    GamingMegaverse
    Posts: 3,001
    Same here- cannot see ticket, same error.

    Just trying to help out.

  • twiggyleaf
    twiggyleaf
    Posts: 2,011 edited January 2014
    Apologies! For some strange reason it was designated as "PRIVATE". I have now changed that to "PUBLIC". Please try and let me know if OK. The link seems to work for me. Arcteryx, I'm afraid I just made the initial request a "SEARCH FOR CAMPAIGN". If you wish to add to it with "SEARCH FOR FRIEND" as well, let me know on here and I will also back your reply!

    "PUBLIC LINK":http://help.obsidianportal.com/discussions/problems/12375-search-for-a-campaign-functionality-post-reforge

    twigs
    Post edited by twiggyleaf on

    "I met a traveller from an antique land....."

    CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.

    Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign

    Inner Council Member

  • Basileus
    Basileus
    Posts: 585
    Huzzah! Success.
  • GamingMegaverse
    GamingMegaverse
    Posts: 3,001
    Please, everyone, participate in this as you did with the comments! The more people that respond to Twiggyleaf's ticket, the more likely we can rebuild our community again!!
    killervp
    "A God...Rebuilt":https://a-god-rebuilt.obsidianportal.com
    "OP's COTM April 2012":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/a-god-rebuilt-aprils-cotm/

    Just trying to help out.

  • PhoenixMark
    PhoenixMark
    Posts: 90
    I have added my voice. Unless we post links to our campaigns on the forums, folks will not find them. This is a shame. Having comments reactivated is relatively useless unless folks can find our campaigns.

    "PhoenixMark":http://www.obsidianportal.com/profile/PhoenixMark

    "CRIMSON SKIES":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/crimson-skies
    "COTM June 2012":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/crimson-skies-junes-campaign-of-the-month/

    Also "Sactown Blues":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/sactown-blues and "NEW Shimmering Kingdoms TRUE20":https://shimmering-kingdoms-true20.obsidianportal.com
  • Arcteryx
    Arcteryx
    Posts: 4
    I've added my support to this ticket.
  • twiggyleaf
    twiggyleaf
    Posts: 2,011
    I hear you PhoenixMark, oh HOW I hear you......

    twigs

    "I met a traveller from an antique land....."

    CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.

    Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign

    Inner Council Member

  • twiggyleaf
    twiggyleaf
    Posts: 2,011
    DEV REPLY TO THE SEARCH FOR CAMPAIGN TICKET:

    "I can tell you for certain that the ability to search across all campaigns will return to Obsidian Portal in the future. There are a number of logistical barriers that must be overcome to slay this particular dragon and the development team is investigating the best way to execute.

    As such, I can't promise an ETA at this time, but please know that we are aware the feature is in high demand and there are plans to deliver it when we can get all the planes in alignment."

    twigs

    "I met a traveller from an antique land....."

    CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.

    Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign

    Inner Council Member

  • Arcteryx
    Arcteryx
    Posts: 4
    Good to hear; glad they replied back to us on this.
  • GamingMegaverse
    GamingMegaverse
    Posts: 3,001
    Travis19 on Jan 21, 2014 @ 07:41 AM
    I am not sure about player searching, but I will bring that up as well. I imagine the two will go together.
    "By popularity" (fans/favorites) is on the list as a possible method of sorting/filtering search results, so I can't say for sure it will be implemented, but it's on the proverbial radar.

    Just trying to help out.

  • Meagoinc
    Meagoinc
    Posts: 26
    Has anyone inquired about linking forum member profiles to our actual profiles? @ Basileus I was trying to find your campaign, and clicking on your screenname just brought me to a page saying how long you've been here and how much you've posted (go Basileus!)... but not your actual OP campaign presence. Given how long it's taking to get things like sorting campaigns by update date, I wouldn't expect this anytime soon, but has there been talk about linking OP and the forums more closely (particularly in the way of linking profiles) in the past?
  • Basileus
    Basileus
    Posts: 585 edited February 2014
    I've often thought the same thing since the forums are essentially the vehicle for the community at the moment. Even just hyperlinks in the profiles between these forums and OP proper would be a convenience (and as such things go, should be pretty easy to implement).

    The only discussion I could find was "this":http://forums.obsidianportal.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=1282&page=1#Item_0 thread from 2010 (which was actually somewhat helpful) - nothing else in these forums or the suggestions. But the suggestion in that thread requires individual users to know about that feature and then go out of their way to use it.
    Post edited by Basileus on
  • Maesenko
    Maesenko
    Posts: 325
    I'm glad you posted on it with your epic-level necromancy, Basileus. I just did it finally after consistently forgetting to do so. Thanks!

    Now if only we could get it to automate forum signatures...

    _~Mae_
    "Whispers in Tamris":https://whispers-in-tamris.obsidianportal.com/

    ~Mae

    CotM Selection Committee

  • Meagoinc
    Meagoinc
    Posts: 26
    Thank's Basileus! I've had "Tyellador":https://tyellador.obsidianportal.com/ linked in my forum profile for a while, but since linking is something each person must do, reviving that thread is super-useful. :D

    I'm still wondering why our profiles go there: "Forum Profile":http://forums.obsidianportal.com/account.php?u=171597
    ...and not here: "OP Profile":https://www.obsidianportal.com/profile/Meagoinc . Since the top bar was such a big feature of the reforge, it seems quite natural that both the top bar and profile integration with the main OP site ought to extend to the forums (which are hosted on the same server, I am guessing). Perhaps I'll make a suggestion ticket, though it's wayyyyyyyy down on the list of priorities (go Campaign searching!). :)
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