[als]

What is going on everyone? Im glad to see a project I was involved in come back to life. I did some searching and didn't see many threads about what is happening with UA and what the plans are. So I figured I would start one and add my own ideas based off of some of the info from the IRC channel.

Site Design:

Looks nice, someone did a great job with the layout and overall design of the site. Seemed i had an issue registering, no idea if anyone else is having that problem therefore it may need to be tested. Also the resend validation e-mail was sent however didn't resolve the registration issue.

So at work im stuck using IE6 SP1 R2, and let me tell ya.... There are a ton of errors on the page that makes the forums look really messed up. However at home using firefox it seems to be fine. Again someone may want to test. (May just be the messed up security settings on the network i am on.)

Last night we were talking about a few ideas for the site. Such as a integrating IRC on the site.


UA Community Direction:

In the past we focused on game server applications (HLGuard, Statsme, ClanMOD, CD, PHPUA). Im not sure how many application developers we have that are active however I would like to know if that’s a direction UA is going to pick up again. My suggestions are as followed.... Start some polls and see what games people in this current community are playing, then see about getting some volunteers to work on that area. Ex. Im a big fan of world of warcraft, i know i know keep your comments to yourself hehe. So maybe I would start a new forum category called World Of Warcraft and in it have guides, class info, latest patches, and whatever else. Maybe have a section for creating your own private WoW network (no idea if thats legal so im assuming it is) Anyways the point is we get volunteers to take on different categories. Basically that will spawn new topics and start new discussions.

"By empowering people to get involved in a community it encourages growth, team development, and networking." -als


So one of the biggest questions I am asking myself as a gamer.

Why would I come to UA?

I use Google to research the things I want to know, game changes; walk thurs, add-ons, and how to become a l33t level 80 blood elv. HAHA

If other gamers are even some what like me, chances are they are doing the same. So again why would I (the gamer who uses Google for everything) come to UA?



Would love to hear some feed back on this.....



Thanks....



Glad to be back

[ColdSun]

Unfortunately Blizzard is against emulated servers, and has in the past squashed such projects with their legal might (BnetD in particular). As far as the rest, it sounds like a great idea and I'd love to see UA get some application developers under its tag once again.


As far as the theme and such, alot of it I think has to do with the core theme provided by ipb and I would imagine a majority of the issue(s) would be fixed when in future release candidates. Assuming they don't, I personally have no problem setting time aside and correcting them myself =).


Added:
http://en.wikipedia....izzard_v._BnetD has a rough summary

[als]

Wow thats a crazy story....

[SirSquidness]

als, on 27 June 2009 - 04:28 PM, said:

So one of the biggest questions I am asking myself as a gamer.

Why would I come to UA?

Because, often when searching for remotely obscure information on Google (such as the sort that appears on UA), you have to trawl through 5-10 results before finding anything remotely useful. UA will/does provide a resource where it's easy to find, and well thought out.

[Verin]

SirSquidness, on 28 June 2009 - 03:40 AM, said:

Because, often when searching for remotely obscure information on Google (such as the sort that appears on UA), you have to trawl through 5-10 results before finding anything remotely useful. UA will/does provide a resource where it's easy to find, and well thought out.

I would have to say that as of now, UA isn't active enough to be more helpful than a google search. I posted a question here on MySQL and Eventscripts and the only reply was just a question. 3 days later I still had no more replies but had found the problem after painstaking google searching >.<
I'm not saying that UA is a horrible idea I'm just saying we need to work on our activeness.

[ColdSun]

Starting a site as ambitious as UA take a lot of effort and most noticeably, a lot of time. The wiki is still being updated with tutorials and the like. Once the wiki is presentable and has a solid foundation of content, I wouldn't be surpised to see UA gearing up other sections of the site. It's rather silly to expect UA's activity to be as prominent as it once was when this is a rebirth (fresh start).

In the mean time, asking questions in IRC is perhaps the better alternative as there seems to be much more activity there.

[Banana]

Verin, on 28 June 2009 - 01:48 PM, said:

I would have to say that as of now, UA isn't active enough to be more helpful than a google search. I posted a question here on MySQL and Eventscripts and the only reply was just a question. 3 days later I still had no more replies but had found the problem after painstaking google searching >.<
I'm not saying that UA is a horrible idea I'm just saying we need to work on our activeness.

but without asking questions, there will be no activity. So asking questions will keep it rollling.

[als]

What do you mean by keeping it rolling ?

Do you mean we are like rats in a cage that keep the server online ?

Or are you refering to keepin it rolln` as in gansta talk ?


No no your talking about the snow ball effect to where we are going to take over the world ?

[Banana]

als, on 29 June 2009 - 09:24 AM, said:

No no your talking about the snow ball effect to where we are going to take over the world ?

yep ;-)




No.... we either start developing new software or rebuild old ones (the phpUA project will be next) or we keep the community alive and active and make this place here attractive for everybody whe seeks help.

Those are our options right now.

[als]

Yea, we just need some way to advertise. That also reminds we are we using google ad words ?


Before we had all the advertising we needed in the software we devloped. Since most of that software is out dated and no longer used it serves us no purpose.

[Banana]

well phpUA is a start and some are still using it ..!

since we do not have anythin "better" we should stikc to this and get the things working again.

[HoundDawg]

There's no point in having UA exist without fulfilling a need that will draw others to it. I've put a lot of time and work into building up the resources needed to start building up content. New projects, like phpUA, will take time. Especially if we want it done right.

So, if you want to help out right now, the best thing is to poke around the wiki and fill in the missing pieces. Troll the steam forums and valve mailing lists to see what questions admins are asking. Then, check to see if you can find the answer in the UA wiki (even if you know the answer already). If not, then create a page there. Then, reply back with a link to that article in the wiki.

It's not hard, you don't need amazing access. Anyone can do this at any time. It will help both UA and the admins with questions now.

[Mordak]

HoundDawg, on 03 July 2009 - 08:16 PM, said:

So, if you want to help out right now, the best thing is to poke around the wiki and fill in the missing pieces. Troll the steam forums and valve mailing lists to see what questions admins are asking. Then, check to see if you can find the answer in the UA wiki (even if you know the answer already). If not, then create a page there. Then, reply back with a link to that article in the wiki.

Is that the purpose UA will serve? Isn't that what the steam forums are for? I don't feel as though that's fulfilling any needs that the admin community doesn't already have filled.

Do you have other projects in mind, whether now or down the road?

[HoundDawg]

Mordak, on 03 July 2009 - 06:32 PM, said:

Is that the purpose UA will serve? Isn't that what the steam forums are for? I don't feel as though that's fulfilling any needs that the admin community doesn't already have filled.

Do you have other projects in mind, whether now or down the road?

It's been, what? 7 years and Valve still has failed to provide a good admin resource. At least they have built and maintained a rather nice wiki for MOD develoepers and mappers to use. It's a rather packed information warehouse. UA having a wiki for admins to find the information they need is ideal and extremely fulfilling, as long as the content exists in there.

Maybe I'm missing something here though, perhaps you can provide a link to where this admin information is already easily accessible?

Also, I'll point out, that the UA wiki isn't going to be limited to just Valve's camp either.

As for other projects, the first one we're working towards, is a new phpUA. Let's get through this ambitious project before thinking about pursuing others at this point.