Status of the Guild...

Greetings,

I've decided to post this to give all our members a good overview of where the Guild is headed. I know that recently I've been a bit "hands off" on the Guild while I've worked on new features, and I also realize that that can be a bit discouraging, but rest assured I am as dedicated to the Guild as ever and your patience will be rewarded. With this post I'd like to share with you what is nearing completion and will be in "Guild 3.0". I'd also like to let you know that our planned member-drive will be starting with the release of this update. That will include banner ads on other sites as well as a healthy dose of guerrilla marketing. I have high hopes for the Guild in 2009 and beyond.


Thread/Private Message editor
Allow customizable dimensions for embedded images
Text can wrap around images
Justified text (left, right, center)
Ability to embed youtube videos
Ability to embed flash video
Ability to embed MP3 audio files
Tables (multiple columns, data etc)
Spoiler mask to cover certain post info until "moused over"
Extra line under the post name to describe the post

Member Profile Additions
Search for a member by name (search must be exact. No wildcards to prevent any sort of member name "harvesting")
Each member's profile will have its own forum where a user can post his own blog, myspace-style page, or pretty much anything else one could fit in a post. Users will have moderator power over their own profile forum.
A list (as links) of all the topics you are currently watching on the Guild
A searchable list of the topics a given user has started

Role-Playing
Members will now have moderator control over their own role-playing subforums (delete threads, lock threads, delete posts within threads)
Role-playing subforum threads do not re-arrange by last post date, but only by moderator. This allows the Game Master to keep his/her subforum looking how he/she wants.

Guild Library
Members will now have moderator control over their own story subforums (delete threads)
Story subforum threads do not re-arrange by last post date, but only by moderator. This allows the Author to keep his/her subforum looking how he/she wants.

Chat Rooms/Guild News Box
The Guild News box and chat room box now occupy the same space and can be toggled back and forth.
They are resizable and can quickly be toggled from normal small box to custom sized box.

Guild Radio
Returns with a new easier to navigate interface

GuildNet (tentative)
The Guild's own game server has passed initial testing. The reason it says "tentative" is because there are some database linking issues I have yet to work out. I am hopeful it'll be ready with the other updates.

Marketplace
A forum for members to buy and sell their used items.

Rank system
A new way of determining Guild rank is being put in place. Its based on both activity (posts) AND a new system where other users can rank you. The two criteria will each account for 50% of a user's rank, So only an active and well-liked member can hope to attain maximum Guild rank.

Trophy System
Those who finish in the top 3 in any official Guild Tournament will receive a corresponding trophy. These totals will be tracked and shown in detail in each member's profile, and in a condensed form under each post made by the member.

Guild Codex of Knowledge
The Guild will feature a tightly organized help index to cover all aspects of Guild life. HELP buttons on each page of the Guild itself will take you directly to the corresponding part of the index. Never again shall you wander the Guild's marble halls aimlessly while wondering where the bathroom is.


Those are the major changes. There are several other small additions, changes, and bug fixes too but they're too numerous to list here.

Wondering where the bathroom is? Your royal basin always worked just fine for me in the past, why change now?

Great stuff btw, but I won't get my hopes up on the 'when' in the meantime for obvious reasons.

-DL

Yay for progress!



Fighting in a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland near you!

Ohhh! My first guild update. Can't wait for a whole lot of this stuff.



*Bostonian sets everybody's to zero.* JK!




Excellent! This will make it a whole lot easier so you do not have to ask a person to delete threads etc...

Oh, and I'm not quite sure what you mean about the chat room/news thing. Please enlighten me further.

This is going to be awesome! *Bostonian gets the sedatives out in case they need to sedate any over excited members.*

When Nirano sees this it will be like a bomb just exploded in his head!

-Bost.

"Consider me a fool for eating the best-tasting dog treat created by mankind's greed."

-Drowelite

Bunch of questions, so bear with me.

1. Will you be adding a "friend" feature to more easily access your favorite users?

2. Can you elaborate on what you mean by "Extra line under the post name to describe the post"?

3. Will we be able to once again access a list of people in the chatroom without entering the chat?

4. Will all our ranks be reset?

5. Is there a way the average citizen can assist with the member drive?

6. Will there be a report post feature?

7. Can Woofy award winners get trophies? (jk )

"I am so self-absorbed I quote myself talking about myself in my signature."

~Guardog

Good stuff, can't wait.

No longer will Secret be bombarded by my 'delete this thread' requests

Sincerely,

The Sixth Lord to join the Ranger's Guild.

Yes.


Every thread (post) has a title in boldface. Underneath this line will be a second line where you can add a description of the thread. Example:

Guardog's Awesome RP Part 5
Journey to the center of the dogpound


Yes. The "Guild Visitors" link will again show who is in the chatroom (up to date properly). You won't actually be in the chat room unless you hit a toggle button that switches the NEWS windows into the CHAT window. By switching back to the NEWS window you exit the chatroom (I hope this also addresses Bostonian's question).


Post count will remain the same. You initial rating from other users will be set to "average". Since these two criteria (post count & user rating) average out your rank, your rank MIGHT fall a bit until you start getting votes from other users on what they think of you.


Certainly (and thank you). Here is a link to some things you can do:
http://www.rangersguild.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=520


Yes.


Would they not prefer milkbones or chew toys?

Yes that most certainly answers my question. Thank you very much Cryo!

-Bost.

"Consider me a fool for eating the best-tasting dog treat created by mankind's greed."

-Drowelite

This sounds....


EPIC

Why did you have to do this to me again Cryo? Now I have to go all mental until Guild 3.0. comes out like I did for Guild 2.0.

Nirano

Chief of The CRA

Hmmm. One last question about the new chat you are going to be putting in... Will the chat only be the size of the current news box, or will it expand to be larger?

-Bost.

"Consider me a fool for eating the best-tasting dog treat created by mankind's greed."

-Drowelite

It'll be able to do both. If you're just surfing the Guild you'll be able to see it in the little box so you can keep tabs on the conversation a bit while doing other things. A quick click and it'll expand and you can do some chatting. Same goes for if its in NEWS mode in case you want to read a longer news crawl. The news is getting a bit of a rework as well but more on that later.

I'm excited.

And this also cracked me up significantly:

Lord Cryofax, with the power to change the very fabric of reality itself.

That's awesome. I forgot reading it

Nirano

Chief of The CRA

You'd better watch out before he changes your name to something extremely embarrassing!

-Bost.

"Consider me a fool for eating the best-tasting dog treat created by mankind's greed."

-Drowelite

The next Guild update is getting closer by the day. I am busting my butt on it to the detriment of my personal health and social life... Here is a pic of the current state of my computer and desk area... Remember I do this all for you...

We should have a competition to see who can count all the cigarettes in that picture.

Keep up the good work, Cryo!

"I'm still waiting for a 'The Last Orgy: Fall of the Empire'-esque RP. Show how the Imperials are so good
at staying on top and how miserable they'll be once they're forced down by all the other races." - Ristaag, Bethesda Forums