This thread is for ideas to improve the site, I know I'm not the right person for making this thread, but I share the same thoughts as you, this site is sinking, and we need to make it like it was!

So bring your ideas here, it's not for questioning other peoples ideas, and telling them whether they will work or not, any idea is welcome, because when nick is notified about this thread, and hopefully he reads through it, he may implement this idea.

Come on guys and gals, lets get the ball rolling!

I'll start...

A lot of people, I've noticed, gets pretty annoyed about the ranking system. so heres a thought.

Why not, when in tournaments, you only lose/gain rank, after the game has finished, not frames, that way, the better player doesn't get stung, like a lot of people have been.

However, in a ranked friendly game, that should be every frame!

Also, new people that come on here, play experienced people, they normally don't win, and get put off by the massive rank loss, so newbies should not get any rank taken off them, that would also stop people resetting for rank and taking advantage of the rank increase.

I've just thought of this from the top of my head, I'll go into more detail when I've recovered

- A thought of mine which has been mentioned is that the non-newbie shouldn't lose/gain any rank from newbies but the newbie does.

This way you can play Newbies without fear as many avoid them due to the cap on the ranking.

- Random Balls on practice which means you can scatter them by a button like on isnooker which means you can challenge yourself

- Move Ball in practice, good for practicing a particular shot

- Group Messaging is good for clan captains or good for league organisers

- Sticky Messages - nothing worse than a message you want to keep get deleted after 6 months

- Snooker Plus (Original) - May not be in mind to add new types but this may just bring older players back as new achievements to add.

Doubles/Free Ball/Touching ball would be awesome but may not be able to do it.

Personally I have no issue with the ranking system and I don't think it's one of the issues on the site that urgently need addressing, as there are many of those.
Fact is, there is always the option to play friendlies, and it's personal choice to enter tournaments. Regarding newbies.. If a non-newbie wins or loses against a newbie they win/lose 0.2 or 0.3 .. Nothing to get in a twist about. As for losing 7 or 8 ranking points against a lower ranked player, it's a risk people choose to take. It's more a risk in Arcade, as it's so easy to take a frame .. But the other games like reg/orig it's much harder to fluke your way into a win therefore the better player usually comes out ontop. That being said, rank really is no true reflection of a players ability as so many players struggle with consistency.
My personal opinion is that rank really means nothing in the grand scheme of things and it certainly doesn't pay anyone's bills so is it really that important? The worst thing about the ranking system to me is that so many people will become rude and/or abusive over losing a few points, so again it's a good thing there is an option to play friendlies.
The underlying problem with the site is that there is no means of advertising so no new players to replace the older ones that are fizzling out are being attracted. Until something is done about that then this site will never reach the potential it truly has.

Plus, I think a few people have said that Nick has stated he will not be adding to the site any longer, he will only be doing maintenance. So is there really any point in making huge lists of things we all want to see added? Staff are working hard to try different things but until more new players are attracted the numbers won't really differ regardless of which tournaments etc are occuring. It's really only Nick who can make the differences here.
I agree that if Nick doesn't want to make any improvements to the site then it should be passed on to someone else for a while who perhaps does have an interest in making improvements and what not, as he is clearly incredibly busy. However, I'm happy with the amount of different games there are, and the tournaments, tournapoints etc, the only thing I wish was different is the amount of players, then if it were booming like it apparently used to be the smaller tweaks could be implemented and it wouldn't be a waste of time.

So lets try and get some ideas in, and hopefully mods and admin can implement some ideas and try to improve

All ideas above is for nick alone but some ideas Staff could do.

Site Ideas:

- Bring back Newsletter (Already told flapjack i can help if he gets it working)
- Use social media to promote funky (Of course members can do it too)

Personal Idea:

- A Tournament every 2-3 hours, this way people may be forced to play normal games as well which helps guest cause for possible registration.

Not sure what else they can do really.

I dont play as a guest, but there needs to be an incentive for guests to sign up

Might sound harsh, but give them 1 hours game time before they are booted, and on the way out, tell them they can sign up to keep playing, cutting back guest times to get players online fully

They can play as a guest again, but the repetitive strain of logging back on might persuade them to join

or drive them away

The majority of guests are people who already have an account anyway, as having more than one account is not allowed so it's the only way some people feel they can have a time out and just knock around a few balls in peace and quiet, or as a means to be disgusting and abusive without anybody knowing who they really are (or atleast what their known account name is)

Fair point...

The 2 problems are advertising and keeping people on here, like dgen said, making a new game up would be ideal for new people and for old leg-ends, but nick won't do it, it's all about if nick can give this sort of access to admins/mods.

Perhaps we need to create different style tournaments, topsy turvy tournament worked, so how about a new style of tournament, with a different reward?

Bud is trying to do a Cross-Server Tournament so its a start. Nick can't give access to staff that as they need to be able to code Java (Python would be a start).

in my opion the problem with the site is the fact that its got abusive and nout gets done about it maney times I play and be polite and no response .in the old days if you sent a proper complaint the prob was sorted now with this muted thing they don't stop they just post on their profile page. I have played maney games wear I start with gl mate . don't no them but its called manners sorry just the way I was bought up u get no response even after ul v ul ul pos and so on then someome will come into the game and say gl both then they say ty. lol you no who you are. I have been lucky enoth to meet some real nice people on here and made good friendships with them in real life . ie going away and meeting up with them and having a great time. anyone can be a keyboard worrier but if you cant stand up for your self in real life and find it fun to be rube and abusive behind a keyboard and its not delt with quickly the site will continue to fall

I like you too rob

im the nices person on here. ask the mods lol

ps I like u 2 :] x

Am trying my best to improve this site/game and restore it back to been busy.

Also tournaments i have said less per day, to try and fill them. Simple maths really

Thats why i said micro tournaments, as once 8 has joined they start.

There is no I in team!!! each and every member comment is welcome! Bud is making some great ideas but unless you guys support it they will only last so far like all tournament changes. Every time there is a change it will upset some members so we need a balance! The bigger tourns will hopefully attract numbers but I think it's existing but we can monitor stats! As for abusive members the site has always dealt with this, I think we need to educate new members to the forums and maybe promote the site in game for guests even thou I agree a lot will be members not logging in. The fact who uses laptops and PCs these days? I said this on another thread? It's true :)

I personally think its all about promotion of the site.

Even with the guests added (if they are real guests) I can hardly see more than maybe 20-30 people online. So I dont think it would really change if they were membered.

If I remember my own there was no choice for me if I wanna be a guest or a member. I had just seen all the seans, sebs, jacks and james and on with ranking points like hell and a gameplay which made me say: Wooow!
I think atm there are no real heros anymore who can attract the people like the above mentioned did with me.

So in my opinion we all have to be more online and play that wonderful game on this wonderful site.

Tournament changes are nice but it wont work as well as the ranking system development into sth wont work. Both is ok so far and dont need any major changes.

and.........



cheers

I've applied for a Mod place, and hope to get it (*with a few good references Bud hint hint.

The point of making this thread wasn't just to create ideas, but to try and improve the site, it has and will be my intention. I'm not deluded, not all ideas will be put into action, but it makes people think of ideas that necessarily wouldn't just in a conversation