New Scaratings

Welcome to the new Scaratings
It is currently Mon Jul 21, 2025 12:20 pm

All times are UTC - 5 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 19 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:07 am 
Offline
Lord or Lady Postsalot

Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:30 pm
Posts: 558
We noticed last night that BT had implemented some beneficial changes to the way badges are being treated during play.

First, the previously annoying announcement on the playmaker that a badge had been won now appears only for a few seconds, to be replaced by the normal information re: total score and ranking. At the same time this replacement occurs, the television screen appears showing both updated player scores and whether players earned a badge for the question. During the breaks, the screen shows total badge count per player for the game.

So it's nice to get the info re: score and rank back on the playmaker, and I can see how giving people a second way other than point score to be competitive at their location could be a draw. Plus the player information has now been enlarged on the screen, so between the avatars and the pictures of the badges, there's a lot there to draw people's attention and hopefully interest them in joining the game.

There were a few glitches last night re: the playmakers, as one time none of our boxes reverted to the score/rank screen, and other times only some of the boxes would do it. But it was working most of the time.

Brooke/AARDVK


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:16 am 
Offline
King or Queen Postsalot
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jan 17, 2010 10:10 pm
Posts: 1267
Location: Las Vegas
AARDVK wrote:
We noticed last night that BT had implemented some beneficial changes to the way badges are being treated during play.

First, the previously annoying announcement on the playmaker that a badge had been won now appears only for a few seconds, to be replaced by the normal information re: total score and ranking. At the same time this replacement occurs, the television screen appears showing both updated player scores and whether players earned a badge for the question. During the breaks, the screen shows total badge count per player for the game.

So it's nice to get the info re: score and rank back on the playmaker, and I can see how giving people a second way other than point score to be competitive at their location could be a draw. Plus the player information has now been enlarged on the screen, so between the avatars and the pictures of the badges, there's a lot there to draw people's attention and hopefully interest them in joining the game.

There were a few glitches last night re: the playmakers, as one time none of our boxes reverted to the score/rank screen, and other times only some of the boxes would do it. But it was working most of the time.

Brooke/AARDVK


Forgive me if this has been addressed somewhere else (or if Buzztime sent it in an email), but what are these badges good for? Can they dance? Can they sing? Do we get real prizes?

_________________
Malort. It's not just for breakfast anymore.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:27 am 
Offline
King or Queen Postsalot
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:41 pm
Posts: 2497
Well, as noted in another thread, the downside to the new displays for Countdown, Lunchtime and (presumably) Night Shift is that only the five highest scores at the sites are shown. That may not be an issue if five or less Playmakers are in use, but IMO it becomes a problem if more than five are, as there is no way to find out the scores of the others (other than asking :roll:). IIRC the only time that all Playmakers' scores are shown is after the game is over. Also, the unfortunate players that aren't included in the top five don't get to see how many badges (if any) they earned.

<--yet another wonderful example of the indefinite wisdom of NTN Buzztime... :cry:

_________________
liljol, still residing in a humble lil abode in Buzztime's Backyard, San Diego County, in The Horribly Site-Poor Golden State, California...

<--805 NTN Buzztime sites visited as of 11/13/2018...

F CUBS!!!!! FBOSOX!!!!!

FPDRES!!!!! FCHGRS!!!!!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:48 am 
Offline
King or Queen Postsalot
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:42 pm
Posts: 1635
Location: Connecticut
The score display for Night Shift is now the same as for Countdown. Except for the number of badges in the game, the new scoreboard display is not very useful. And in a busy bar, with the limitation of five displayed scores with everyone winning the same badge, the display will look rather stupid. Bring back the previous scoreboard display.

-- RWM

_________________
"...It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED...."


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 1:32 pm 
Offline
King or Queen Postsalot
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:41 am
Posts: 1938
Location: Gaithersburg MD (suburb NW of DC)
Countdown is terrible now. Only showing 5 players on screen turned lots of players off. Even the end of game screen only showed the top 5. True, the badge won was only shown on the playmaker for 10 seconds but this fix is WAY worse than the problem.

Another FUCKED UP, STUPID Buzztime decision.

_________________
BUD - Stained Glass Pub Silver Spring MD
OC BUD - Grotto Pizza DE near Ocean City MD

LET'S GO ....Orioles and the 9 and 5!!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:53 pm 
Offline
Lord of Scaratings
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:57 pm
Posts: 2218
Hadn't noticed these changes and I played last night.

Of course in Atlanta 90% of the time you have less than 5 players anyway.....


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 4:00 pm 
Offline
Sir or Dame Postalot

Joined: Sun Jan 17, 2010 8:02 pm
Posts: 484
Location: Groton, CT
scar wrote:
Hadn't noticed these changes and I played last night.

Of course in Atlanta 90% of the time you have less than 5 players anyway.....

Hate them. Much too busy.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 4:53 pm 
Offline
Lord or Lady Postsalot

Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:30 pm
Posts: 558
liljol wrote:
Well, as noted in another thread, the downside to the new displays for Countdown, Lunchtime and (presumably) Night Shift is that only the five highest scores at the sites are shown. That may not be an issue if five or less Playmakers are in use, but IMO it becomes a problem if more than five are, as there is no way to find out the scores of the others (other than asking :roll:). IIRC the only time that all Playmakers' scores are shown is after the game is over. Also, the unfortunate players that aren't included in the top five don't get to see how many badges (if any) they earned.

<--yet another wonderful example of the indefinite wisdom of NTN Buzztime... :cry:


We were the only ones playing last night, so we didn't realize it would cut out box 6 and below. I agree that's the opposite of an improvement for any place where there are more than 5 boxes in play as people like seeing their handle on the big screen. Also it's easier to see how much you're behind someone if both scores appear reasonably together rather than having to be calculated by looking at the playmaker and comparing your score to a higher score on the screen.

Is BT's assumption that the average location has fewer than five boxes going? My experience going to new places has usually been either than no one is playing (and we have to jump through hoops to get it turned on, and to get boxes) or a whole bunch of folks are.

Brooke/AARDVK


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:05 pm 
Offline
King or Queen Postsalot
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:27 pm
Posts: 1558
Played at 86th St today and our screens were normal top ten scoreboards all day without any badge info up there.
Did we get special dispensation?
Sweet!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:51 pm 
Offline
Centenarian
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 9:30 pm
Posts: 189
Spotes, I was wondering the same thing. We had the regular leaderboards for all players and no badges showing on the tv, and thought it might be because we're a one channel site with no Poker.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:05 pm 
Offline
King or Queen Postsalot
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:41 pm
Posts: 2497
Sorry to say this, but IMO the new godawful, horrible displays will be rolled out to every site before too much longer. :cry: FWIW, I saw the former displays at another site in The (Still) Site-Poor Backyard. :roll:

_________________
liljol, still residing in a humble lil abode in Buzztime's Backyard, San Diego County, in The Horribly Site-Poor Golden State, California...

<--805 NTN Buzztime sites visited as of 11/13/2018...

F CUBS!!!!! FBOSOX!!!!!

FPDRES!!!!! FCHGRS!!!!!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:16 pm 
Offline
King or Queen Postsalot

Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2010 12:17 am
Posts: 1140
Location: Northwest Chicagoland
Brandyb wrote:
Spotes, I was wondering the same thing. We had the regular leaderboards for all players and no badges showing on the tv, and thought it might be because we're a one channel site with no Poker.


I played at Time Out West last night. I noticed the changes showing badges. Since, only two of us were playing I did not notice the five player limitation. Nowadays Time out is having a good night if two people are playing trivia.

_________________
"Truth Like Football. Gets kicked around much, before reaching goal." - Charlie Chan

" Don't look back, The bastards might be gaining on you." - Satchel Paige

Frank


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:18 pm 
Offline
Sir or Dame Postsalot
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 9:12 pm
Posts: 225
Location: Baytown, TX and Coaches Pub
It hasnt showed up yet for me, but it is just a matter of time.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:30 am 
Offline
Lord of Scaratings
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:57 pm
Posts: 2218
tchoiniere wrote:
scar wrote:
Hadn't noticed these changes and I played last night.

Of course in Atlanta 90% of the time you have less than 5 players anyway.....

Hate them. Much too busy.


:)


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:31 am 
Offline
Lord of Scaratings
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:57 pm
Posts: 2218
Played last night and no new screens.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:28 pm 
Offline
King or Queen Postsalot
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:41 am
Posts: 1938
Location: Gaithersburg MD (suburb NW of DC)
Hardtimes Germantown has the new CD screens and we usually have between 8 & 18 boxes in play. (2 boxes were stolen years ago and BT won't send replacements) Everyone hates the new CD screens, there is no need for the badges and avatars to be so big. Shrink them down and you could scroll through 20 lines instead of 5. Which brings up the point of why the scroll? Just put all the damn scores up there at once instead of the slow ass scroll through the top 5.

Will this foolishness never end? It's been one bad idea after the next for the last 3 weeks.

_________________
BUD - Stained Glass Pub Silver Spring MD
OC BUD - Grotto Pizza DE near Ocean City MD

LET'S GO ....Orioles and the 9 and 5!!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 1:31 pm 
Offline
King or Queen Postalot
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2010 2:30 pm
Posts: 1451
Location: Calgary, Canuckistan
I played with the new Countdown display last night. Not at all impressed by how much screen space they waste with the giant-size avatars and badges. However, between the new colours and layout, Countdown definitely looks different and eye-catching. I know most of us old guard don't like these kind of changes, but if Buzztime's going to be successful in attracting new players, periodically altering the screen display to keep their product looking fresh is one of the better opportunities for them to seize upon. They would be better off making regular display tweaks one game at a time, though, rather than renovating the whole damn thing every 3-4 years

That said, the way I feel the CD scoreboard should have been designed is to have the left third read "Perfect score badge" and to show it in large size for detail there, then have the right two thirds display rank, avatar (at half the new size), handle, question score (with miniature badge), total score. If nobody at the site qualifies for a badge on a given question, then the large icon could be replaced with a big red X or something. The best part is the screen could go back to 5 or more lines of scores at once, and scroll through at least the top 10 before the next question

They do need to show the badge - or absence of one - for each player in order to entice new and casual people to register for P+, so that column's not entirely useless. I just doubt it warrants the space presently allotted, and I know the avatars shouldn't get that much room. Let the game winner have a giant avatar displayed in their honour at the end, that's quite enough!

_________________
/°v°\ • Every time Linux boots, a penguin gets its wings
I'm a solipsistic conspiracy theorist. I'm sure I must be up to something, and I won't stop until I find out what
Why not downgrade Plutonium to a dwarf element?


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:17 pm 
Offline
Lord or Lady Postsalot

Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:27 am
Posts: 630
Saw the new display today when playing Lunchtime. I actually prefer it to what it replaced. Of course, I was the only one playing. One other thing. When they display your score on the box, they have eliminated the question number. I found that useful.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Badges Improvement re: Boxes and Screens
PostPosted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 12:26 am 
Offline
Lord or Lady Postsalot

Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:30 pm
Posts: 558
BUD wrote:
Will this foolishness never end? It's been one bad idea after the next for the last 3 weeks.


That's for sure. Obviously despite having numerous opportunities to find out from the people that do so, ndobody at BT really understands why people start playing their games in the first place, and then continue on.

Whoever at NTN invented the original system had it right. People like positive reinforcement, instant feedback, and competition against the entire continent. The changes since February 28 have significantly compromised all of these elements.

Brooke/AARDVK


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 19 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group