I was just commenting in a recent game that there are a lot of players who do not read the descriptions of boards, even those with more complex machinations - the result of ever more powerful game-altering factories. Some claim that they prefer to figure them out organically.  I even suspect most of us have fallen into this category of player with one map or another over time.  Let me share my excuse.

The descriptions are just plain hard to read.  Including mine - and I'm not just talking about the verbiage. I'm talking mostly about the formatting.  I often wish I could put an image in the description. There are just some things that are incredibly hard to describe.  A good number of players on this site do not consider English as their first language. A picture is easily worth a thousand words when you consider how many languages it instantly translates into.

Using the Wiki is one solution. I have used the Wiki to better communicate how War of the Roses works (with lots of images), and even posted a bit of analysis on game play, but I can't even put a link to it in the board description.  Players have to cut and paste or navigate to get to the Wiki.  From board to a decent description is just too many clicks using either of these methods.

I actually like the idea of using the Wiki - for instance having the descriptions auto copy over to it for each board. Then there could be a direct link from the View and Game pages.

All too pie in the sky?  I would be thrilled if we could put images in the description.  Images would be huge.

M57 wrote:

but I can't even put a link to it in the board description. 

Your link in the War of Roses Board Description is clickable for me...

I like the idea of the Wiki and I would think that does fill the need really well, and its really only one more click.

Yertle wrote:

M57 wrote:

but I can't even put a link to it in the board description. 

Your link in the War of Roses Board Description is clickable for me...

I like the idea of the Wiki and I would think that does fill the need really well, and its really only one more click.

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/War+Of+The+Roses

The link in the description on the doesn't work for me.  I have to copy and paste it.

M57 wrote:

I was just commenting in a recent game that there are a lot of players who do not read the descriptions of boards, even those with more complex machinations - the result of ever more powerful game-altering factories. Some claim that they prefer to figure them out organically.  I even suspect most of us have fallen into this category of player with one map or another over time.  Let me share my excuse.

The descriptions are just plain hard to read.  Including mine - and I'm not just talking about the verbiage. I'm talking mostly about the formatting.  I often wish I could put an image in the description. There are just some things that are incredibly hard to describe.  A good number of players on this site do not consider English as their first language. A picture is easily worth a thousand words when you consider how many languages it instantly translates into.

Using the Wiki is one solution. I have used the Wiki to better communicate how War of the Roses works (with lots of images), and even posted a bit of analysis on game play, but I can't even put a link to it in the board description.  Players have to cut and paste or navigate to get to the Wiki.  From board to a decent description is just too many clicks using either of these methods.

I actually like the idea of using the Wiki - for instance having the descriptions auto copy over to it for each board. Then there could be a direct link from the View and Game pages.

All too pie in the sky?  I would be thrilled if we could put images in the description.  Images would be huge.

Good idea of linking the Wiki into the main site but it's going to be really tricky to engineer any automation because the Wiki is static html pages whereas the rest of the site is generated from a database. The only real way to add content from the Wiki would be to upload an image, get the URL and paste that into the description. I can add image support to the descriptions to facilitate this if you like.

In the absence of direct Site -> Wiki  auto-linkage. I think having image support in the description would be very helpful.  I can't say that many designers would use it, but I certainly would, especially for more complicated boards. 

That said, the view page has a lot of information already and care would need to be taken (by the designer) to make sure the description doesn't clutter things.  Best would be to somehow force/entice designers to migrate some or all description info over to the Wiki, where they would discover that they have more control over its formatting.

Is this a possible solution?  If in the designer there could be a check box on the Settings tab page:

Include Link to dedicated Wiki Page

This would  auto-create the wiki page (can you do that?) and insert buttons with links to the board's wiki page on the board's View page, Game pages, and even in the designer to make it turn-key for the designer as well.

M57 wrote:

That said, the view page has a lot of information already and care would need to be taken (by the designer) to make sure the description doesn't clutter things.  Best would be to somehow force/entice designers to migrate some or all description info over to the Wiki, where they would discover that they have more control over its formatting.

I wouldn't force all Designers over to the Wiki, as a significant number of the boards do not require a complicated description.

Additionally, I would suggest being careful with even trying to pull the full info in the Description even if it could be expanded with images and more formatting.  It's one of the first things players would probably look at if they are searching for a new board and seeing a complicated description may actually shy them away from playing as opposed to trying it out.  If players want to know how to play it better then I think they would follow a Wiki link, I would say the same goes for Board Designers that want a more complete Description and that they would create a Wiki page.  I'm not sure adding another setting would help or change much...just my opinion and thoughts though.

In regards to the hyperlink, it's possibly a Browser setting, so you may check into that.  Or also there is the WG Preference "Autolinking automatically converts website addresses, emails and file links in your forum messages into links" but I assume that is specific to the Forums (and still not sure if that overrides or changes potential browser settings).

Yertle wrote:

M57 wrote:

That said, the view page has a lot of information already and care would need to be taken (by the designer) to make sure the description doesn't clutter things.  Best would be to somehow force/entice designers to migrate some or all description info over to the Wiki, where they would discover that they have more control over its formatting.

I wouldn't force all Designers over to the Wiki, as a significant number of the boards do not require a complicated description.

Additionally, I would suggest being careful with even trying to pull the full info in the Description even if it could be expanded with images and more formatting.  It's one of the first things players would probably look at if they are searching for a new board and seeing a complicated description may actually shy them away from playing as opposed to trying it out.  If players want to know how to play it better then I think they would follow a Wiki link, I would say the same goes for Board Designers that want a more complete Description and that they would create a Wiki page.  I'm not sure adding another setting would help or change much...just my opinion and thoughts though.

I think all your points are valid, and I don't necessarily disagree with your conclusions either.

Regarding your statement that the description shouldn't be too confusing, I would say that especially with more complicated boards, that's exactly the problem.   I think that the description should be more of an overview - more about backstory, and used to broadly describe mechanics - The Wiki could be used for specifics, analysis, etc.. Currently descriptions are too exacting and convoluted, and very few people are willing to take the time to read them.  I have a board under review currently and I've put a lot of though into keeping my description simple.  The reviewers on the other hand are requesting that I add details for any kind of minutia that is out of the ordinary.. for instance ..reduced starting bonuses for early players in the first round, etc.  I'm not blaming or criticizing them - that's their job, but I'm concerned that in the end an abundance of information does more harm than good.

Summarizing: I think 'descriptions' should be short, entertaining (if possible), and basically an ad/overview - a way of enticing players to try out the board.  The Wiki pages are a much better vehicle for specifics and detailed explanation of mechanics, etc.

I agree that all (or even most board) don't require Wiki pages - though it certainly wouldn't hurt.

The link on this description:

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/War+Of+The+Roses

is not clickable for me either, and I have autolinking enabled.

I tried chrome & firefox.  I think if we could get those links clickable, it would get us most of the way there.

Other than that, I basically agree with both of you.  So far, I've always put full details in the description, but I've also considered going with M57s approach of leaving them for the wiki, and I think this is what I will do in the future, for complicated boards.

I've also started including a 'quick start guide' for newbs that basically tells them exactly what to do for the first few turns & then some basic goals for mid & end game.  Here's the one I have for Invention:

http://www.wargear.net/wiki/doku.php?id=boards:invention:invention#quick_start_guide

tom wrote:

M57 wrote:

I was just commenting in a recent game that there are a lot of players who do not read the descriptions of boards, even those with more complex machinations - the result of ever more powerful game-altering factories. Some claim that they prefer to figure them out organically.  I even suspect most of us have fallen into this category of player with one map or another over time.  Let me share my excuse.

The descriptions are just plain hard to read.  Including mine - and I'm not just talking about the verbiage. I'm talking mostly about the formatting.  I often wish I could put an image in the description. There are just some things that are incredibly hard to describe.  A good number of players on this site do not consider English as their first language. A picture is easily worth a thousand words when you consider how many languages it instantly translates into.

Using the Wiki is one solution. I have used the Wiki to better communicate how War of the Roses works (with lots of images), and even posted a bit of analysis on game play, but I can't even put a link to it in the board description.  Players have to cut and paste or navigate to get to the Wiki.  From board to a decent description is just too many clicks using either of these methods.

I actually like the idea of using the Wiki - for instance having the descriptions auto copy over to it for each board. Then there could be a direct link from the View and Game pages.

All too pie in the sky?  I would be thrilled if we could put images in the description.  Images would be huge.

Good idea of linking the Wiki into the main site but it's going to be really tricky to engineer any automation because the Wiki is static html pages whereas the rest of the site is generated from a database. The only real way to add content from the Wiki would be to upload an image, get the URL and paste that into the description. I can add image support to the descriptions to facilitate this if you like.

btw - We have agreed upon a standard for board page locations in the wiki.  For any board with $NAME:

www.wargear.net/wiki/doku.php?id=boards:$NAME:$NAME

Could you put a link to that on the main board view page (e.g. add link from http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/War+Of+The+Roses to http://www.wargear.net/wiki/doku.php?id=boards:war_of_the_roses:war_of_the_roses).  Maybe between the "board explorer" and "rankings" tabs?  Or all the way at the right.

Ozyman wrote:

The link on this description:

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/War+Of+The+Roses

is not clickable for me either, and I have autolinking enabled.

I tried chrome & firefox.  I think if we could get those links clickable, it would get us most of the way there.

I clicked, it took me there. I'm using Chrome on a PC.