Castle Paradox

Leo · Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2005 11:27 pm Post subject:

I think the gamelist should work like the hamsterrepublic gamelist. With the newest additions at the first page instead of in alphabetic order...
_________________
"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."
-Douglas Adams

Download Zander (Swedish)

or Zander (English)

Shadowiii · **It's been real.** Joined: 14 Feb 2003 Posts: 2460

One really can't determine game quality from that list...(the grades one is more accurate) Plus download accelerators count as like 100 downloads for every actual 1 download, so it really doesn't matter.
_________________
But enough talk, have at you!

Cube · **Dimensional Traveller** Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 294

Yeah, you can't really trust that list anymore.

But yeah, long ago, we determined that some games were recieving so many hits thanks to download accellerators. The way the hit script works is that after you click the download link, it connects to the database and simply increments the number. At the same time, also sends you a file in a specific location on the server (The zip) that you can't find out without a lot of trouble OR having direct access to the file system.

Now, download accellerators work by requesting chunks of data and recieving said data, but before said data is finished downloading, it requests the next set of data chunks from the server. However, since the program doesn't have the actual URL of the .zip, it uses the URL from the gamelist instead and thus runs the script over and over, increasing the download number each time.

I think that was the gist of it. This info is like, months old so I don't really remember the specifics very well.

Komera · Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 711

it's not strictly games starting with "A" that are getting unusual amounts of downloads. i haven't been keeping track of games starting with symbols (3m strip's file, for example), but those begining with numbers are suffering the same fate. 10/5/1998 game.exe is in the top 25 list, and i'm pretty sure there aren't THAT many people in need of the outdated game engine. phc's right, the download accelerator excuse doesn't cut it for me because even without an accelerator, it takes maybe... one minute? to download that file. it's not listed on any other page (except for my profile page, obviously). i'm really starting to wonder if simply LOOKING at the first page ups the download count.
_________________
LJ .Art

SD - Ten creatures remaining.

LeRoy_Leo · Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 7:43 pm Post subject:

*Thinks for a long time* Our audience is just too lazy to search for something that really catches their eyes. I spend hours surfing pornography looking for the perfect specimens and that is half the enjoyment for me, but the hard truth is that not everyone has the time or will to do that... Hence the reason why I choose late at night when I should be asleep. What a waste of time sleep is. ^-~
_________________
Planning Project Blood Summons, an MMORPG which will incinerate all of the others with it's sheer brilliance...

---msw188 ---
"Seriously James, you keep rolling out the awesome like gingerbread men on a horror-movie assembly line. "

Setu_Firestorm · Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:00 am Post subject:

3m and PHC, knock off the fighting and stay on topic. If you two have a personal problem, please restrict it to PMs.
_________________

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/georgerpowell
Newgrounds: http://setu-firestorm.newgrounds.com

rpgspotKahn · Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:03 am Post subject:

Im terribly sorry that winterfold is there, but I think people liked the plotscripts and the new feel and somehow... people downloaded it... weird!?

I agree with PHC though. The list is highly unreliable and doesnt reflect any sense of quality that it should give to deserving games.

Someone ought to click 100 times on the game they love or something... Big grin

_________________

2nd Edition out now!

Leo · Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:05 am Post subject:

Who loves Adventures of Billy the Gnome?
_________________
"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."
-Douglas Adams

Download Zander (Swedish)

or Zander (English)

Operation Freedom · Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:16 am Post subject:

DonÂ´t you ever disrespect, Billy the Gnome!!! Pissed off!

_________________
Georgie, am i right to think, that electric chairs now bores you?
Oh show me, the american way of armageddon.

Raekuul · Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 11:45 am Post subject:

It still dosen't explain the phenomenon (did I spell that right? my spelling's been worse than $hit this past week) of the first four pages getting the most DLs... Maybe we should ask IM if he'll set the Gamelist to show newest additions/updates at the top of the list.
_________________
A broken clock is still right twice a day.

zetes · Joined: 03 Feb 2003 Posts: 71

914? man thats fuckin sad. That game was a piece of shit.

Cube · **Dimensional Traveller** Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 294

Fenrir-Lunaris · **WUT** Joined: 03 Feb 2003 Posts: 1747

loop
If (tag:Idiot) == on, then
click link
cancel download
end
else, none
end

...something. The point is, clicking the link is what increaces the tally, and not actually completing the download.

Cube · **Dimensional Traveller** Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 294

Yeah, that's what I said Raspberry!

But you know, I'd rather just reset all the download hits to 0 myself. >.>

In fact, I think a better system would be to just have the hits reset weekly. This would do a couple things:

Because the the hit numbers can only go up, games never lose their "popularity". That is to say, once it is high in the list, it stays there permanently because it's noticed more easily by the vast majority of people, thus they keep downloading it more and more making it solidify it's position. This makes it so that games that may be better, or at least the same in quality will never surpass a game that came out previously to it. I mean, you all know OHR House will never get a higher hit count than FFH right? This is what I'm talking about.

Also, resetting the hits on a regular basis will keep the list a little more in touch with present day, if you will. Say, someone releases a game on a Wednesday, and everyone absolutely loves it. It quickly gets hits, and let's say it has about 150 by Saturday, 11:00 PM. 150 happens to be #3 on the current list. At midnight though, it gets reset.

But people keep downloading it. By noon Sunday, it has, say, 40 downloads. This happens to be the #1 spot so far. The games in the previous list at 1 and 2 are now in 2nd and 3rd, since they're still getting hits as well, just not as many as this recently released game of goodness.

So really, it still serves it's purpose with being a top 25 list. It's just a little more consistant with present day rather than an overall thing. Don't forget we can still keep a total hits too, but if this were to be implemented we'd make sure it was just for informative purposes, and so games would never be listed by total hits.

Yay, nay? I had this idea a while back (Talked to Fenrir and IM about it a year or so ago, although I can't remember what brought it up or what happened to the idea). I think it would be nice to implement this system, and if everyone else thinks it'd be much better than what we have now as well then I'm sure it'll be added right away.

*shrugs*

Iblis · Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 7:09 pm Post subject:

I like the idea of having a monthly/weekly/whatever download count. That'd be a better basis of the top 25 list, I think. Also it'd mean the top 5 list would actually change ocassionally instead of always staying the same.