Game scheduling update

[Venture]

(From the front page):

If you've tried to schedule a game, or read the instructions on scheduling a game, you've realized that the scheduling functionality is lacking right now in some glaring ways. This site was never planned to be a scheduling site, so what you see now is just a band-aid. However, with Neverwinter Connections still having trouble, a better scheduler may be needed.

With that in mind, I do have a few irons in the fire. There are a couple of features I'm trying out that are much better than what we have now, including invite and application functionality, and I've also made some starting inquiries to get price quotes for someone to design a scheduler. I won't have anything firm to show anyone for several days at best, but I wanted to give you all an update on what was going on.

[Venture]

Latest update: I don't want to get everyone's hopes up or have to eat my words later, but I was exploring a new plan for setting up a scheduling system, and it is REALLY promising - invitations, open events, applications, etc., along with all the input fields we've grown accustomed to. It will require me to do some considerable tweaking (and will take some time), but I am increasingly hopeful that I can get it to do what we need it to do. *knocks on wood*

[LIONofHUME]

This might be premature or even unwanted, but if the NWC site is going the way of the Dodo bird, and you are spending a lot of time, effort and money on this project, I would advise starting a method of giving us a way to contribute funds to the cause. Just a thought…LION

ps. Awesome job so far Venture, you should be applauded for your efforts…LION

[Venture]

Yea, good point. I think I should first see what might be involved getting the scheduler up and running, so I can give people an idea as to what they are supporting. If I can turn something out "in-house" (i.e. me), then the only thing it will have cost me is my time and the hosting costs that I pay. On the other hand, if I can't get a good scheduling system up on my own and have to hire somebody, then we could be looking at a much higher cost.

The third variable is the hosting cost if this place ever starts to see more traffic. Right now, this is on a shared host (i.e. its with a company that puts several servers on one machine), which has sufficed so far and isn't too expensive. I'd love to know what kind of bandwidth NWC used, to see if I need to think about hosting alternatives should NWC never come back. For something like the Con, I imagine it would be quite a load. I remember one of the first Cons, where parts of NWC were knocked offline.

I have had worries about the future cost of this site if it actually is needed for more than what I initially had planned for it (a simple list of ongoing campaigns), but I didn't want to be viewed as "the guy who put up a new site, and is already taking donations." If our bandwidth stays the same, and I can get the scheduler running in house, I am willing and able to absorb the costs, at least in my current situation. But, we'll have to see if any of those variables change.

Oh, and thanks for the nice words, Lion.

[Dane Bramage]

hey LION... thanks for the input. I agree with you on all counts. We have even batted around some Google Ads like NWC has, but as Venture says, we are taking is slowly and will wait to see how much traffic we actually get.

but, with NWC being down for almost a week now, i'm starting to push Venture to be more aggressive. as we have seen this week the community needs us. we are getting new members every day. the long NWC is down, the more we need to be ready.

anyway... we appreciate veterans like yourself showing your support for us. you are the people that we don't want to alienate. it's important that the community sees us as providing a service and not trying to steal the spotlight from NWC.

[Gulfwulf]

I like NWC, but as long as this place suits my needs, I don't mind changing. It's refreshing to see Venture trying to get everything up and running properly and I appreciate that.

[Urk]

Outstanding work Venture. Thanks.

[NWN DM]

Once you have an idea of the costs involved, please let us know... I for one will contribute.

How much depends on whether or not my wife finds out....