It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
General discussionMy Account - big changes on the horizon(779 posts)(779 posts)
(779 posts)
Pages:
1
10
11
12
13
14
15
30
40
52
This is my favourite topic
Posted May 08, 2015
high rated
[UPDATE: 15.05.2015]
We've started importing the old Private Messages into Chat. :) It's a process so you will see them gradually being added to your conversations.

[ORIGINAL]

Hi all,

Many of you probably already know this - from the various hints we dropped here and there - but for quite some time now we have been hard at work on the brand new My Account section.

Since this is a very vital part of your experience at GOG.com (basically the one place that's 100% yours), and its release day is approaching pretty fast, I wanted to give you some heads-up and a brief overview of the changes that we have in store for you. Read on! :)

New things dedicated to your games:
-- Shared user wishlist. Yes, this highly requested feature will finally make its debut along with the new My Account. With just a few clicks, you will be able to decide whether your wishlist is private (viewable only by you), shared with friends (viewable only by you and people from your friends list, which is the default setting) or shared with everyone (because why not? ;)). You will get a handy link to your wishlist that you can share wherever and with whomever you like (a GOG.com Account is not required to view a wishlist shared with everyone). :)
-- Advanced filtering. We decided that, since your collections are getting bigger and bigger with each passing day, this is the perfect time to introduce some robust filtering options to both the Library AND Wishlist. Now, finding all your RPGs with Polish localization and co-op will be… well... finally possible. ;) It’s worth noting that the filtering options are based on your collection (so if you have no games with a Polish localization, you will not see the Polish option in the language filter).
-- User tags for the Library. With the new My Account, you will be able to create your own tags (up to 50), assign them to your games and movies and later use them to even better navigate and filter your collection. You will be able to assign multiple tags to each item in your collection and doing so will be possible from both your shelf/list directly or from the game/movie details.
-- Orders history. As part of the transition into the new My Account, we are retiring the "gifts" section, but in its place we are giving you a list of ALL your past orders and ALL your gifts, including the ones that have been given to you (finally). The orders history can be tailored and adjusted to your liking with a few clicks (for example, you can change it to list gifts only).
-- Changelogs. You will be able to view game changelogs directly on the new My Account page within the game details overlay. Of course, not every game will have it, but we will be keeping the changelogs up to date for the most popular, latest titles the same way we are doing right now on the forums.
-- Better organization of the downloads list. We improved the way downloads are organized on the game/movie details overlay. It will be easier to download the correct OS and language version of our installers and see which goodies are part of which DLC.

New things dedicated to communication:
-- Friends list. Already introduced in GOG Galaxy, the friends system is making its way to the GOG.com website as part of the new My Account section.
-- Chat. Old and weary private messages are retiring and are transformed into a new, live chat system. Chat will be available from both GOG Galaxy and My Account. Don't worry, all your past conversations that were conducted via private messages will be imported and preserved in the chat (and you will now be able to continue them live!).

Smaller but notable improvements:
-- Proper game versioning. With the new My Account, we will start to display the actual game version in the downloads on the game details overlay, so you will be able to easily identify if the version you have on your computer is the latest one, or it needs updating.
-- Improved navigation. Now it will be easier to jump straight into the store page, support, and forums relevant to each item in your collection.
-- Locale settings. Change your preferred currency and website / newsletter language directly on My Account to have them stored within your profile.
-- Pagination. We brought back the much requested, tried-and-true pagination view to the new My Account. This change is dictated mostly by your convenience but also by performance / stability for accounts with bigger collections (and with better performance, we are improving your convenience at the same time:)). The default size of each page is 100 items, but we believe that with the myriad of new filtering options it won't be a problem.
-- Text titles. The new My Account will display game/movie titles in text form, both on the list and shelf views. No more deciphering the logos on small boxes! :)
-- Mobile device support. Yes, viewing My Account on your mobile device will no longer be a chore.
-- COMING SOON: Proper graphics and links for all titles. We are conducting a little clean up in this area. Pretty sooan all games should have proper graphics and links in place.
-- COMING SOON: 5 new shelf skins. We are starting with only 1 skin (the classic wood), but soon after release we will add a bunch of new styles. It's purely a visual thing, so we didn't want to focus on that before release. Since many of you requested new styles, we will be introducing them pretty soon.
-- COMING SOON: Improved searching. Soon, finding desired titles will be easier thanks to the search improvements that we'll be implementing on the new My Account. Also, as part of the solution, we will be changing the way that titles from a series are ordered (i.e. Broken Sword should always show up before Broken Sword 2).

Of course the full list of changes and improvements is much longer, but highlights should give you a nice overview of what is coming. Hope you like it already, and that you will love it when we release it in just a few days. :)

Lastly, I wanted to point out the two important things that all of you should keep in mind:
-- The change is mandatory. We love freedom of choice, and we love giving it to you whenever it's possible, but unfortunately in this case it's not possible. Maintaining two, completely separate products dedicated to the same things would negatively impact both of them on all fronts. Performance, scalability, our ability to improve and expand them, but most importantly your convenience - as some of the new features were not possible to implement on the old My Account - would all be impacted.
-- Manual sorting is no more. We have decided to skip this functionality because it was beyond our reach to deliver the quality we wanted to. We decided it would be better if we were focused on the numerous other options requested by you.

Hope all of this gives you a clear vision what to expect in the coming days. Also please rest assured that we already have plans on how to develop the My Account section in the near and distant future: what to add, what should be changed a bit, etc., but we are always open to your feedback - so jump in and share your opinion. :)

Take care,
Chamb & The Website Team
Post edited May 15, 2015 by Chamb
Posted May 09, 2015
high rated
Hi all,

Thanks for all the feeback and keep it coming! We are carefully reading every post in this topic and making some notes (but please understand we cannot respond to each of you ;)).

As for the chat replacing PMs - which seems to be to most hot topic - here are few more details:
-- By default you will be able chat with everyone on GOG.com - they don't have to be your friends.
-- You will be able to change you default privacy settings to "friends only" or block it completely.
-- You will be able to start conversation the same way you did with PMs - by finding specific user on GOG.com. Previously it was limited only to the forums, but with the new My Account we will be extending that to product reviews, community wishlist, GOGmixes (basically to every place user avatar and name appears on GOG.com).
-- You can chat with multiple people at the same time, but each conversation is 1:1. There are no rooms and/or group conversations.
-- The new chat interface look a lot like the PMs, so it will feel pretty familiar.
Post edited May 09, 2015 by Chamb
Posted May 09, 2015
avatar
Austrobogulator: I'm not really sure how I feel about 'live chat' replacing PMs.
Why can't they keep the PMs and have a 'live chat' feature? =/
Posted May 09, 2015
avatar
Geralt_of_Rivia: Oh no, that needs to be changed because it's terrible user interface design. If there is no option to filter for a specific language any reasonable person will think that it is not possible to filter for that language, not that the result of the filter would be empty and that the possibility to filter will automagically show up as soon as you have at least one game in that language.

Offer all languages that you support for filtering and let the user decide what to filter for. If the result is empty if the user doesn't have any games in that language that would be expected behaviour, don't you think? An empty result list is not an error that needs to be caught and prevented but also a legitimate and correct result.


Other than that this sounds pretty good.
This. People will assume it doesn't exist at all, not that it would return empty.

Manual sorting being gone doesn't bother me with the filter system. I'd prefer the ability to filter what I want. But some people are gonna be PIIIIIIISSSSED. I feel bad for them. I just hope this doesn't become another half-assed roll out.
Posted May 09, 2015
high rated
I'm sorry, but I have to express my firm displeasure with your decision to scrap manual sorting. You might very well be able to improve the alphabetising, or sorting by genre, or even by tags, but that can't at all compensate for the ability to properly arrange one's shelf. Suppose I want to keep Deus Ex prominently at the top of my shelf, but not be constantly reminded that I also own its "sequel". I don't want that, hidden, though - just stowed away down below, with the other "misfits". Then, I also want System Shock 2, right next to Deus Ex, and perhaps Commandos together with those two - just because I like them so much. Fine, call those my favourites, but what comes below those? Alphabetical? Genre? Publisher? I like none of those - my collection is far too eclectic and sparse to make any of these coherent and pleasing. Much better, I'd like to have my sci-fi games flow into my space games, flow into Star Wars, flow into fantasy. Historical titles might come at either end of that, I can't be sure until I see it. After that, maybe some coherent genres. Then the aforementioned misfits. Or something else. So, dear GOG, what sorting tools could you possibly offer me to compensate for my ability to manually achieve that neat arrangement?

Also, forgive me for not buying the "beyond our reach" excuse. The functionality would, quite literally, be accommodated by a text file. Permit me to demonstrate:

I am user with unique id 12345678. The GOG server contains a text file 12345678.shelf, and my Galaxy client has a local copy that can be synched. I have these games on my shelf, in the following order: Ultima IV, The Witcher, Torchlight, Warsow
The text file contains their unique id numbers, in the corresponding order:
1207658962 1207658924 1207659069 1207659121
My shelf, if set to manual, will then be populated from this file. The first 10 digits uniquely define the first game on my shelf. The next 10 - the same for the second one. Etcetera.
If I were to reorder my shelf, dragging Torchlight to the front, the file will be changed accordingly:
1207659069 1207658962 1207658924 1207659121
Save. Done. Next time I access my shelf, the file is sequentially read, the table populated accordingly.

Of course, if every user has an SQL table associated with their games, this could all be simplified further, into a single extra column. Any database structure should be able to accommodate a similar extra dimension for manual sorting. So what exactly is the issue? Is it the dragging animation that's the problem? The pagination? Of all the things that may prove impractical to implement in your new system, manual sorting has no right being one. Please, take your time, do what testing you need to, regale us with new and improbable site bugs. Just don't crap up my shelf!
Post edited May 09, 2015 by Spinorial
Posted May 09, 2015
I think the functionality of finding titles is more their focus than the aesthetic of how it looks. I agree with this. Substance over style. As long as they do it correctly, people will be able to quickly find any title they own and access pertinent information and files. In short, there is simply no need for manual sorting. You may say "But I want it." and that's perfectly fine. But I, for one won't miss it, and will gladly accept that they worked on making the whole thing far more accessible rather than just being able to put my games where I want manually.
Posted May 09, 2015
avatar
Chamb: -- Manual sorting is no more. We have decided to skip this functionality because it was beyond our reach to deliver the quality we wanted to. We decided it would be better if we were focused on the numerous other options requested by you.
I liked the manual sorting, let's hope the other options are good enough
Posted May 09, 2015
avatar
HypersomniacLive: But that's not actual sorting, is it now? Filtering cuts out anything that doesn't fall within the chosen filter.
I suppose it depends on what one expects it to do and whether it meets one's personal expectations. When I choose one or more genres of games, I see a list of games from those genres below which are sorted alphabetically or by the purchase date depending on which options I choose. Skimming over the alphabetic list I don't see anything out of order in the alphabetization so it seems sorted to me. For the purchase date view I couldn't really judge either way because I can't remember what order I bought stuff in with which to compare what they're showing me so I have to kind of rely that their sort order is the correct order in which games were added to my library. To be certain would take a lot of research through email receipts and whatnot to determine so I'll just trust it is correct without being able to actually verify it. There is one other assumption though to for the accuracy and that is that I assume all of the games have proper genre tags without any bugs/glitches in them. Can't verify that without a lot of work either, but that's something I'd want to get paid for to do. :)

I think the filtering and sorting options present currently are useful but that there are other options that could further enhance it as well. I'm sure they're likely to add more options in the future though as well, and customer feedback will probably help to shape that. A lot of what is there are things that people have previously suggested in the unbundling thread or other feedback threads, so it's good to see that they've tried to add some requested features. Hopefully they'll add more later too.
Posted May 09, 2015
high rated
Nice! Well, mostly nice...
avatar
Chamb: -- Changelogs. You will be able to view game changelogs directly on the new My Account page within the game details overlay. Of course, not every game will have it, but we will be keeping the changelogs up to date for the most popular, latest titles the same way we are doing right now on the forums.
"Of course" my ass. Is it really so hard to do, that you can only do it with the "most popular" titles?

-- Pagination. We brought back the much requested, tried-and-true pagination view to the new My Account. This change is dictated mostly by your convenience but also by performance / stability for accounts with bigger collections (and with better performance, we are improving your convenience at the same time:)). The default size of each page is 100 items, but we believe that with the myriad of new filtering options it won't be a problem.
Ah. So this (together with your horrible unbundling) is why I have to click through seven pages if I want to browse my library on Galaxy. Trust me, it's a problem. Since there's a greyed out" "all my games" options in the left-hand column, I assume I'm supposed to be able to see a list at some point, although thanks to your decision to put a giant damn picture next to every one of those seven hundred items, such a list would be approximately twenty miles long.

-- Manual sorting is no more. We have decided to skip this functionality because it was beyond our reach to deliver the quality we wanted to. We decided it would be better if we were focused on the numerous other options requested by you.
Beyond your reach? You already had manual sorting until you broke it! You click things and move them up and down a list! Why is that beyond your reach? What "quality" are you striving for?

-- The change is mandatory. We love freedom of choice, and we love giving it to you whenever it's possible, but unfortunately in this case it's not possible. Maintaining two, completely separate products dedicated to the same things would negatively impact both of them on all fronts. Performance, scalability, our ability to improve and expand them, but most importantly your convenience
Of course we know that maintaining two products is impracticable, which is why we always knew that guff about Galaxy not impacting people who didn't want to use it was a ridiculous lie, so it's not like I'm surprised, but ... "for my convenience?" That's the card you're playing here? I like most of these changes, and then you had to go and do a thing like that.
Post edited May 09, 2015 by BadDecissions
Posted May 09, 2015
avatar
snowkatt: and what if i dont want to chat and prefer private messages ?
Use telepathy. :)
avatar
Chamb: Chat in current form is limited to 1:1 conversations... so basically it's a lot like the PM system. The difference is that you will not have to refresh the page to see new message from the person you are talking with. :)
I would actually like to see the system be expanded to perhaps 'rooms' for specific games where more than one person could chat, almost like an IRC channel.
avatar
paladin181: I think the functionality of finding titles is more their focus than the aesthetic of how it looks. I agree with this. Substance over style. As long as they do it correctly, people will be able to quickly find any title they own and access pertinent information and files. In short, there is simply no need for manual sorting. You may say "But I want it." and that's perfectly fine. But I, for one won't miss it, and will gladly accept that they worked on making the whole thing far more accessible rather than just being able to put my games where I want manually.
I agree with you --maintaining per-user sorting is somewhat resource intensive, when you can just store the relevant data for the games and provide them the sorting, filtering and grouping options that make sense for the games you want to see or play. Sometimes having too much to 'manually' do is a chore and by the time you're done with it, you're ready to move onto something else than play a game.

I'm willing to give it a good old college try.
Post edited May 09, 2015 by JDelekto
Posted May 09, 2015
avatar
Chamb: Hi all,

Many of you probably already know this - from the various hints we dropped here and there - but for quite some time now we have been hard at work on the brand new My Account section.

Since this is a very vital part of your experience at GOG.com (basically the one place that's 100% yours), and its release day is approaching pretty fast, I wanted to give you some heads-up and a brief overview of the changes that we have in store for you. Read on! :)

New things dedicated to your games:
-- Shared user wishlist. Yes, this highly requested feature will finally make its debut along with the new My Account. With just a few clicks, you will be able to decide whether your wishlist is private (viewable only by you), shared with friends (viewable only by you and people from your friends list, which is the default setting) or shared with everyone (because why not? ;)). You will get a handy link to your wishlist that you can share wherever and with whomever you like (a GOG.com Account is not required to view a wishlist shared with everyone). :)
-- Advanced filtering. We decided that, since your collections are getting bigger and bigger with each passing day, this is the perfect time to introduce some robust filtering options to both the Library AND Wishlist. Now, finding all your RPGs with Polish localization and co-op will be… well... finally possible. ;) It’s worth noting that the filtering options are based on your collection (so if you have no games with a Polish localization, you will not see the Polish option in the language filter).
-- User tags for the Library. With the new My Account, you will be able to create your own tags (up to 50), assign them to your games and movies and later use them to even better navigate and filter your collection. You will be able to assign multiple tags to each item in your collection and doing so will be possible from both your shelf/list directly or from the game/movie details.
-- Orders history. As part of the transition into the new My Account, we are retiring the "gifts" section, but in its place we are giving you a list of ALL your past orders and ALL your gifts, including the ones that have been given to you (finally). The orders history can be tailored and adjusted to your liking with a few clicks (for example, you can change it to list gifts only).
-- Changelogs. You will be able to view game changelogs directly on the new My Account page within the game details overlay. Of course, not every game will have it, but we will be keeping the changelogs up to date for the most popular, latest titles the same way we are doing right now on the forums.
-- Better organization of the downloads list. We improved the way downloads are organized on the game/movie details overlay. It will be easier to download the correct OS and language version of our installers and see which goodies are part of which DLC.

New things dedicated to communication:
-- Friends list. Already introduced in GOG Galaxy, the friends system is making its way to the GOG.com website as part of the new My Account section.
-- Chat. Old and weary private messages are retiring and are transformed into a new, live chat system. Chat will be available from both GOG Galaxy and My Account. Don't worry, all your past conversations that were conducted via private messages will be imported and preserved in the chat (and you will now be able to continue them live!).

Smaller but notable improvements:
-- Proper game versioning. With the new My Account, we will start to display the actual game version in the downloads on the game details overlay, so you will be able to easily identify if the version you have on your computer is the latest one, or it needs updating.
-- Improved navigation. Now it will be easier to jump straight into the store page, support, and forums relevant to each item in your collection.
-- Locale settings. Change your preferred currency and website / newsletter language directly on My Account to have them stored within your profile.
-- Pagination. We brought back the much requested, tried-and-true pagination view to the new My Account. This change is dictated mostly by your convenience but also by performance / stability for accounts with bigger collections (and with better performance, we are improving your convenience at the same time:)). The default size of each page is 100 items, but we believe that with the myriad of new filtering options it won't be a problem.
-- Text titles. The new My Account will display game/movie titles in text form, both on the list and shelf views. No more deciphering the logos on small boxes! :)
-- Mobile device support. Yes, viewing My Account on your mobile device will no longer be a chore.
-- COMING SOON: Proper graphics and links for all titles. We are conducting a little clean up in this area. Pretty sooan all games should have proper graphics and links in place.
-- COMING SOON: 5 new shelf skins. We are starting with only 1 skin (the classic wood), but soon after release we will add a bunch of new styles. It's purely a visual thing, so we didn't want to focus on that before release. Since many of you requested new styles, we will be introducing them pretty soon.
-- COMING SOON: Improved searching. Soon, finding desired titles will be easier thanks to the search improvements that we'll be implementing on the new My Account. Also, as part of the solution, we will be changing the way that titles from a series are ordered (i.e. Broken Sword should always show up before Broken Sword 2).

Of course the full list of changes and improvements is much longer, but highlights should give you a nice overview of what is coming. Hope you like it already, and that you will love it when we release it in just a few days. :)

Lastly, I wanted to point out the two important things that all of you should keep in mind:
-- The change is mandatory. We love freedom of choice, and we love giving it to you whenever it's possible, but unfortunately in this case it's not possible. Maintaining two, completely separate products dedicated to the same things would negatively impact both of them on all fronts. Performance, scalability, our ability to improve and expand them, but most importantly your convenience - as some of the new features were not possible to implement on the old My Account - would all be impacted.
-- Manual sorting is no more. We have decided to skip this functionality because it was beyond our reach to deliver the quality we wanted to. We decided it would be better if we were focused on the numerous other options requested by you.

Hope all of this gives you a clear vision what to expect in the coming days. Also please rest assured that we already have plans on how to develop the My Account section in the near and distant future: what to add, what should be changed a bit, etc., but we are always open to your feedback - so jump in and share your opinion. :)

Take care,
Chamb & The Website Team
What permission status does the shared wishlist default to? I'm guessing it wouldn't be everyone, but am not so confident it wouldn't be friends. Make private the default, at least in the early goings.
Posted May 09, 2015
--- snip ---

Of course, if every user has an SQL table associated with their games, this could all be simplified further, into a single extra column. Any database structure should be able to accommodate a similar extra dimension for manual sorting. So what exactly is the issue?
OK, I was trying to follow your post until I got to this little gem. You are kidding right? It already sounds like they were trying to free up storage and database resources, not cause more. Do you realize in SQL Server there is a 1000 table limit in your database? Now multiply that per user --should each user have their own database too? Wow, oh wow.
Posted May 09, 2015
If you remove manual sorting, fix at least alphabetical sorting. Thanks.

PS: Some series starts with roman numbers and ends with arab numbers. Ultima, for example: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, 8(VIII), 9(IX).
Posted May 09, 2015
Shared user wishlist - Neat! Not sure if I'll use it, but neat!

Advanced filtering - As long as it is something you can set and clear as need be.

User tags for the Library - Personal only? If so, that'll keep the abuse potential down.

Orders history - That'll help things, but I'm still keeping my order emails.

Changelogs - And there was much rejoicing! Hurrah!

Better organization of the downloads list. - I had noticed that I was being offered the wrong languages lately.

Friends list - Okay. :V Once I have use for this, I'll have use for it.

Chat - Chat! But I'm a loner.

Proper Game Versioning - Yay! But how does it go? Will it be a string of numbers, or 'First release, second release, patch...'

Improved Navigation - I'll need to see this in action.

Locale settings - Neat!

Pagination - I joined after this was taken out, so...okay. :>

Text Titles - Useful! Utilitarian!

Mobile device support - Never tried! Does this involve an app?

Proper graphics and links for all titles - Okay! But there were only so few in my library that had the same graphic anyway!

5 new shelf skins - Neat! What are they?

Improved searching - Okay!

Manual Sort is gone - Whatever! Never used it!
Posted May 09, 2015
avatar
Chamb: shared with friends (viewable only by you and people from your friends list, which is the default setting)
avatar
johnnygoging: What permission status does the shared wishlist default to? I'm guessing it wouldn't be everyone, but am not so confident it wouldn't be friends. Make private the default, at least in the early goings.
See answer in the text you quoted.
Posted May 09, 2015
avatar
Chamb:
Sounds good, apart from three (quite serious) drawbacks:

- The pagination: I'm with skeletonbow on this one; if it's necessary to use pagination at all instead of displaying the full shelf, please at least add an option to jump directly to page X, instead of just offering a "Next" button, otherwise this is no improvement but a hassle.

- The chat: Is it true what Starmaker said that you can only chat with friends? Because that would be a pretty significant difference to the current PM system. I've often used that to contact users that weren't on my radar before, for gifts, trade offers, discussions etc. (Btw, is there or will there be an option to send a message along with a friend request? A friend request without accompanying message bears the risk of looking like spam if the user is not that well known to you.) And if, on the other hand, you can chat with anyone, what measures are in place to prevent aggressive real-time spamming? Is there a Block function in the chat window?

- The manual sorting: This is a huge letdown and not that respectful towards people who've spent much time and care to manually sort their huge collection (while dealing with the system's insufficiencies), only to realize now it was all for naught. Hopefully it's going to be offset a bit by the new option to create tags, but it still seems like a big step back in terms of customization instead of an improvement. Personally, I'd have prefered an option for creating categories, different sections on the shelf, but we'll see.
Post edited May 09, 2015 by Leroux
Posted May 09, 2015
avatar
Gearmos: If you remove manual sorting, fix at least alphabetical sorting. Thanks.
From the OP:
"Also, as part of the solution, we will be changing the way that titles from a series are ordered (i.e. Broken Sword should always show up before Broken Sword 2)."

Not necessarily exactly what you ask for, but might be.
Pages:
1
10
11
12
13
14
15
30
40
52
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionMy Account - big changes on the horizon(779 posts)(779 posts)
(779 posts)