mmmyummylemons
Starting Trainer
As a user, I would like to be able to know which servers are up and running (without having to search for this information) so that more people will play online.
The reason I suggest this is because the amount of people who play online has shrunk significantly since the official server has not been up. I find myself not enjoying the game as much without the lively online environment. I blame the sharp online player decrease on the transition from having a reliable server automatically registered in the servers list to having to dig through the forums to find one. I haven't played much at all since the official server has not been available. I've been patiently waiting for the memory leakage problem to be resolved so that the official server can return. Of course, playing on an unofficial server allows all of the same gameplay, but the existence of these servers is not obvious enough to many users and it results in there not being many people to play with.
To give an idea of a solution:
(To make this simple to read, I'm describing the creation of an automated list of the top most reliable servers that is obvious to find for users)
I suggest that every time a connection to a server is successful, the server information is collected and and a corresponding tally is kept of the number of successful connections. Perhaps the client could count backwards from 5 minutes when a user connects to a server, and if they're still connected at the end, then it sends the information to +1 tally. When the user leaves a server, the countdown is abandoned and nothing further is done. There should be an upper limit on the tally because there is no use for an infinite tally and it could complicate things later. There would need to be a way for server owners to opt out of this for privacy purposes. The server could tell the user's client upon connection as per whether it should start the 5 minute countdown that leads to the tally. This will prevent a tally from being made for a server that wishes to be private.
Then, the top 5 servers (using the tallies as criteria) are updated and displayed on a list that is accessible on the server selection page of the client via a labeled button (preferable,) on the launcher (less preferred,) and/or on the servers page of this website (least preferred.) It would be helpful although optional to keep track of who is sending the information to protect against spamming. Every 12 hours, if a server has not had a successful connection, the tally decreases by 2^n, n starting at 0 for the first tic and increasing by 1 for every cycle in which no connections have been made. When a server has a tally of -10 or less, it's removed from the list. This makes it fair for newer servers. If the tally is not decreased after a cycle, then the value of n decreases by 1 (if n is greater than 0) and no tally is deducted.
I think this solution is good because it maintains itself automatically on an official server unlike the server page which no one has been motivated to update. It's also efficient (if the dynamic data is handled properly,) user friendly, and gives clear options to the user. I feel that it would improve the experience for all users.
At the very least, a feature of this website that is obvious to find at the top of every page that tells what servers are available would be nice.
I've tried to provide an idea of what could be done along with how I feel so that it's easy for any interested developers to satisfy the problem. Thanks for reading!
The reason I suggest this is because the amount of people who play online has shrunk significantly since the official server has not been up. I find myself not enjoying the game as much without the lively online environment. I blame the sharp online player decrease on the transition from having a reliable server automatically registered in the servers list to having to dig through the forums to find one. I haven't played much at all since the official server has not been available. I've been patiently waiting for the memory leakage problem to be resolved so that the official server can return. Of course, playing on an unofficial server allows all of the same gameplay, but the existence of these servers is not obvious enough to many users and it results in there not being many people to play with.
To give an idea of a solution:
(To make this simple to read, I'm describing the creation of an automated list of the top most reliable servers that is obvious to find for users)
I suggest that every time a connection to a server is successful, the server information is collected and and a corresponding tally is kept of the number of successful connections. Perhaps the client could count backwards from 5 minutes when a user connects to a server, and if they're still connected at the end, then it sends the information to +1 tally. When the user leaves a server, the countdown is abandoned and nothing further is done. There should be an upper limit on the tally because there is no use for an infinite tally and it could complicate things later. There would need to be a way for server owners to opt out of this for privacy purposes. The server could tell the user's client upon connection as per whether it should start the 5 minute countdown that leads to the tally. This will prevent a tally from being made for a server that wishes to be private.
Then, the top 5 servers (using the tallies as criteria) are updated and displayed on a list that is accessible on the server selection page of the client via a labeled button (preferable,) on the launcher (less preferred,) and/or on the servers page of this website (least preferred.) It would be helpful although optional to keep track of who is sending the information to protect against spamming. Every 12 hours, if a server has not had a successful connection, the tally decreases by 2^n, n starting at 0 for the first tic and increasing by 1 for every cycle in which no connections have been made. When a server has a tally of -10 or less, it's removed from the list. This makes it fair for newer servers. If the tally is not decreased after a cycle, then the value of n decreases by 1 (if n is greater than 0) and no tally is deducted.
I think this solution is good because it maintains itself automatically on an official server unlike the server page which no one has been motivated to update. It's also efficient (if the dynamic data is handled properly,) user friendly, and gives clear options to the user. I feel that it would improve the experience for all users.
At the very least, a feature of this website that is obvious to find at the top of every page that tells what servers are available would be nice.
I've tried to provide an idea of what could be done along with how I feel so that it's easy for any interested developers to satisfy the problem. Thanks for reading!
