[Community] Neverwinter UGC, Foundry Database (Fan Site)

zbkolde

Hello foundry friends!

After several discussions with fellow foundry authors, i decided to move forward with another idea we've talked about... a place for foundry authors to list their quests.

Now, this site isn't perfect, it doesn't have a search function. But, it does have categories, lots of categories, where authors can list their quests, and players can browse what they like to find new quests to play.

Sample of our catalog:

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

The four biggest advantages to the Neverwinter UGC site are these:

1. Categorized browsing: Players can look for what they like to play.

2. Authors choose the categories: You designed the quest for a certain purpose, you should decide how to promote it.

3. Exposure: The lists are not cut off, every quest will be visible where the author posted it.

4. Out-of-game listing: Players can browse the forum from work, school, mobile devices, wherever. They can choose what to play before they ever log in to the game.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

How it works:
To post your quest, you will need a free GuildLaunch user account. You are not required to register on the Neverwinter UGC site, but registering will allow you to bypass the human test questions for easier posting.

I recommend posting one informational thread about your quest, quest line, or campaign, in our library, but it is not required. You can also include a link to your threads here on the official forums.

1. Post your quest in the categories it falls under, as many as you like.

2. It stays there, always, unless someone points out that it is no longer available in the in-game catalog.

3. As long as you only post the basic information, i.e. title, author, code, and a brief summary, there is no need to return to make edits. Link your posts to these official forums or wherever you keep your quest information updated, and just let it ride.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

This site is open to the public, anyone can post or browse. However, no one can reply to the quest threads, it is a listing only, there is no feedback or discussion on the forums. Although, you may send messages via GuildLaunch PMs if you like.

Take a look for yourself!

Neverwinter UGC

zbkolde

Erm... free public categorized quest listing... no takers?

reiwulf

I like the idea, and the community isn 't dead... just taking a nap XD
anyway I'll post my quests when I get home. I already have a SE account anyway

zbkolde

After so much discussion about this, i'm surprised at the lack of response. I know some of the people i discussed it with before aren't active now, but other people have still mentioned this sort of idea.

The biggest complaint from authors right now is lack of exposure, the broken tabs in the in-game catalog. The lists in-game are cut off, so that many quests are never seen. While they did add a search feature, it's not very specific, not tagged by the author based on their own design, and still cuts off the lists.

The four biggest advantages to the Neverwinter UGC site are these:

1. Categorized browsing: Players can look for what they like to play.

2. Authors choose the categories: You designed the quest for a certain purpose, you should decide how to promote it.

3. Exposure: The lists are not cut off, every quest will be visible where the author posted it.

4. Out-of-game listing: Players can browse the forum from work, school, mobile devices, wherever. They can choose what to play before they ever log in to the game.

It needs quests for players to browse, and then we can start to attract players to it. All i'm gaining from this is more workload on top of my guild site, other guilds, and that other home-life stuff. I'm offering this to the foundry community, to boost morale and activity.

zbkolde

Also, as of now this is a free site, meaning i am not paying GuildLaunch for it. This means i am very limited on customization and other features. If the community were to use the site and it becomes beneficial, i may be willing to pay to have some of the extra features and remove the ads.

melinden

I appreciate all the effort that you and several other people have put forth to make additional Foundry sites. However (and I can only speak for myself) I think for me the problem is that it becomes something else I need to update and keep up with. As much as I might want to be active, I would end up letting it sit there and forget about it. For an example I would point you to my completely useless Twitter account or the Gmail that I forget to log into for weeks on end.

These forums are messy but most people are here already. Hardly a great reason to stay but inertia is hard to overcome.

zbkolde

melinden wrote: »

I appreciate all the effort that you and several other people have put forth to make additional Foundry sites. However (and I can only speak for myself) I think for me the problem is that it becomes something else I need to update and keep up with. As much as I might want to be active, I would end up letting it sit there and forget about it. For an example I would point you to my completely useless Twitter account or the Gmail that I forget to log into for weeks on end.

These forums are messy but most people are here already. Hardly a great reason to stay but inertia is hard to overcome.

Thank you for your comments melinden, and i understand what you're saying. The Neverwinter UGC site is not a forum for discussion or information, it's only a categorized list of quests.

I don't mean to keep bothering everyone here, but just wanted to say, that the Neverwinter UGC site has gotten a lot of hits, a lot of people are looking at it. Sadly, when they look at it, there aren't many quests for them to find. It's not meant to replace these forums, it's meant to let players browse to find the quests they want to play, and it can link them back to your quest threads here if you want. It appears that players are looking at it... it needs your quests there for them to find.

zbkolde

Ehem...

1. Post your quest in the categories it falls under, as many as you like.

2. Instead of being mixed in with a hodge-podge random list of quests, it's posted in a category specific to your quest, where players can easily spot it while looking for quests they like to play.

3. It stays there, always, unless someone points out that it is no longer available in the in-game catalog.

As long as you only post the basic information, i.e. title, author, code, and a brief summary, there is no need to return to make edits. Link your posts to these official forums or wherever you keep your quest information updated, and just let it ride.

mokah

You should add a Foundry Leveling Plan category that lists quests in a play list format for people leveling alts or wanting to not replay content. It would be interesting to see several lists surface that cater to particular flavor of player. Wizard lists, rogue lists, party lists, etc.

say1o

I like the idea too, but the first thing that popped into mind was the player or target viewer. Most of them aren't planning to play a foundry before they log in. They search for it on the spur of the moment in game from the catalog.

Main issue, getting them to go there and browse. We can't advertise this in game unless everyone listing adds it in their description as well, first line. AS SEEN ON TV! Type tag.

zbkolde

say1o wrote: »

I like the idea too, but the first thing that popped into mind was the player or target viewer. Most of them aren't planning to play a foundry before they log in. They search for it on the spur of the moment in game from the catalog.

Main issue, getting them to go there and browse. We can't advertise this in game unless everyone listing adds it in their description as well, first line. AS SEEN ON TV! Type tag.

Hmm, not sure i'd agree. Since launch, i've always browsed the forums for quests to play before logging on to the game, or tabbed out to browse. Not sure i've ever picked a quest from the in-game catalog. Not saying that everyone does it that way, but i know i'm not the only one. The site lets people browse from any device that has a browser and internet access, from anywhere.

It's had a ton of hits, just there aren't many quests listed there yet. This has been an idea tossed around on these and other forums for months, i'm surprised at the lack of response. Although, i think many of the authors who discussed it have just walked away, either temporarily or permanently, and don't care anymore.

To add: The reasons i didn't do this sooner...

For one, we chose to wait and see what the new in-game tagging system would bring before investing in an out-of-game catalog. While the in-game tagging system helps a little, it has very few categories, and it doesn't let the author present their own quest as it was intended. The Neverwinter UGC site has tons of categories, and i'm open to adding more if needed, and the author chooses how to promote their own quest.

For two, one of my colleagues was building a searchable database on another site. That application would have been far more advanced and useful than my site. However, real life events halted the completion of that database. So, i chose to move forward with this, at least for now.

If someone creates something better, or if Cryptic/PWE does something more advanced with their own resources, then i can step down. But until then, this site lets us do what we've been talking about for months.

zbkolde

There may have been a little confusion over the Neverwinter UGC site. I've received some blank applications, not even sure how that happened as i don't have an application or link set up.

There is no membership to the Neverwinter UGC site, it's open to the public. Anyone with internet access can see the listings, and anyone with a GuildLaunch account can post their quest. (It is a forum site, after all, and any forum on the planet requires some sort of user account, not my rule.)

zbkolde

Which category does your quest fall under? To see the rest of the current categories, visit the Neverwinter UGC site.

zbkolde

It's been brought to my attention that the Neverwinter UGC site has bot-preventive "human test" questions, that don't work correctly, making it near impossible to post. I was unaware of the tests, and have no control over them. I've now added a "Registration" application. Registering with the site should allow users to bypass the test questions, but it is optional.

zebular

. . . Thanks for this! I'm stickying this and while the original database thread in this forum is no longer maintained, I am redirecting users to have a look here from that thread.

zbkolde

Thank you Archmage Zebular of Mystryl.

hirjus

:)bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

zbkolde

Guess i better keep this thread from going into necro status just in case anyone comes up with questions. There is still plenty of room for more quests to be listed on the site. I recently figured out that GuildLaunch has all these annoying "guest posting" things to prevent bots, i apologize for those, i have no control over them. However, i did add a very simple "application" to the site so anyone can join the site to bypass all that stuff.

zbkolde

Just added quick links to all of the categories on the Neverwinter UGC site to make it easier to navigate and browse for quests!

Plenty of room for all of your quests to be added to our catalog!

zbkolde

Just a note that the Neverwinter UGC site is still up and going. Haven't had any new quests added in quite awhile, but anyone and everyone are welcome to browse or post their quests.

zbkolde

I've added a new category for "Role-Playing" maps, under Miscellaneous. All suggestions are welcome.

zbkolde

This site is now closed. Please remove the "Sticky" status of this thread, and lock it.

zebular

zbkolde wrote: »

This site is now closed. Please remove the "Sticky" status of this thread, and lock it.

All done!
/10char