central command

[Orwell]

I see what they wanted to do, but I think they missed it by a long shot. It's a complete counter-intuitive layout with everything having the same value.

The best fix (if they are really committed to keeping this) is to grey down or to darken games that are not ready so that the games that are pop.

my 2 cents.

[enjoycocacola]

Yeah, it sucks.

[riskllama]

2 thumbs down, in a circle. if they're gonna run with it, i sure hope they'll give us the option of "the old, outdated version"(for the over 30 crowd...)
BOO
HISS
BOO

[macbone]

It feels like this entire site is in perpetual beta.

That is kind of the point.

Name a website you visit regularly that hasn't changed in 8 years.

I can think of 1.

I can think of three that I use regularly that haven't made significant changes.

Google.com
The Drudge Report
Rpol.net

All three of these sites focus on utility and minimalism, and they work. =)

I do like pretty webpages, but I appreciated the ease of scanning the old My Games. There was a lot more white space then. Now, the page is cluttered, and I can't easily see which game is which.

Change is inevitable. I don't have a problem with changes that update the interface, but an option to use the old format would be outstanding.

Hm. It's disappointing that the suggestion to revert to the old interface was locked due to "bashing."

[riskllama]

thank you, sir.

[DaGip]

Click image to enlarge.

[Bellman1010]

Hate it

[Nailsale]

bad design...kinda like going from windows 7 to windows 8. it sucks. change it back or give us an option so we can change it ourselves

[ooge]

At the very least put back at what time of day your next game is due before you miss your turn.central command? Why? thats better than My games?

[dollarsnosense]

Horrific

[Doc_Brown]

What the new interface improves:

• More games fit on the screen at once. (If you actually consider this an improvement, which I don't. Scrolling down a list of neatly arranged games was never a problem.)

What the new interface loses:

• Map name is no longer listed (map icons aren't always easy to see).
• Full tournament title no longer shows.
• Time remaining for turns is tougher to see (white text on dark background vs. black text on light background).
• Games are now cluttered together instead of being presented in a neat clean list.
• Less white space around text may allow it take a smaller footprint, but it also means the text is less readable.
• Interface looks terrible with chatglove (new chat indicator is nearly the same shade of red as the highlighting indicating the player's turn is waiting, and the reduced horizontal space makes the chat indicator wrap poorly).
• Settings are now cluttered together rather than separated neatly into a couple categories (it's much tougher to find which games have round limits than it was before).
• Much tougher to jump around all over the page to figure out which games have teammates awaiting turns (scrolling down a single vertical list is much easier than running back and forth along rows).
• Tournament tab is completely broken now (not that it was really functional before).

[instigator]

This new central command thing terrible, please give us the option to change it back. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

It is so slow to understand.

It is confusing, it is much more difficult to get an overview of the status of your games. Before, one look and your knew the status of all of your games. Now, all of the boxes look the same with a quick look. Now you have to move your eyes around and figure out which game is which and then examine the details of each box. This process takes so much longer than before.

Before, the relevant information was quick and easy to see. Now it takes so much work to figure out the same thing. In particular, the map is so small. Seeing the map is an important way to identify which game is which.
There is nothing better then the table format to understand information quickly. Now the view is dominated by the lines of the boxes, but these all look the same.
Please give us the option to change it back.

[lokisgal]

and now my forum topic was changed /censored? is doo doo a forbidden term in cc now?

On another note there are lots of designers here in CC - why not get their advice before changing the site to something clunky?
I can understand you wanting to "improve things" but so far things keep looking like they are designed for a 12 year old boy. Im pretty sure most of us on cc are not 12 and a lot of us are not boys

[JamesKer1]

and now my forum topic was changed /censored? is doo doo a forbidden term in cc now?

A mod merged a topic into yours that was about Central Command as well. (Wasn't me ) The topic title fromthe other one stuck

[DoomYoshi]

It feels like this entire site is in perpetual beta.

That is kind of the point.

Name a website you visit regularly that hasn't changed in 8 years.

I can think of 1.

I can think of three that I use regularly that haven't made significant changes.

Google.com
The Drudge Report
Rpol.net

Google changes like every fucking day.

The main interface stays basic, but the way to get to say, Google Scholar or Google News is constantly changing. It bugs me since I use Google Scholar a lot, I always have to relearn it.

[hmsps]

Love it

The events section is an improvement
but, what if you have 50 + active games ...
you have to scroll for 2 weeks to see all your games

totally agree. This is change for change sake. What with the constant lag, this wil more likely lose users than gain them

[stringybeany]

It's ok.

My eyeballs have retrained themselves already. If yours haven't you need to be more adaptive.

The design is moving towards tablet/phablet play, which they have to do if they want to stay alive!

Doing so on this platform is f*cking hard beyond belief, so kudos to the staff for pushing the envelope.

The other option is to let the site die.

I hate to be so blunt with the "change sucks" crowd, but that's what life is all about.

Have a Happy New Year!

[Lord Arioch]

Man it would be awesome if u could add win/loss percentage on the maps ... so u can see if u suck at a map or not:) and if u could do it for all players u play vs well wicked good!

[_sabotage_]

This invites all kinds of opportunities to be a "command center". There could be a click info tab providing an equal size box. An all checked search provides info on win percentages of the all checked settings on this map. The player can uncheck boxes to find percentages under similar situations. Another option is a point calculator for and against. An odds calculator would be cool as well.

And maybe a request for a strategic suggestion. A lot of this could help new recruits (and players who don't really make good use of the available info). For example, if a new recruit goes haywire and thinks, wow look at how active my turn was, they may be enlightened to find they may have greatly decreased their chance and others in favour of another player. They could then hit a strategic request button.

A team/clan tab could be placed at the top of all games to help with some issues brought up. A person could switch between team and regular games with a click.

Maybe a reviewed icon, or review required icon can highlight boxes. This can be done for the individual as well as teammates.

Anyways haters, before you lodge a complaint, at least come up with a single productive use that can be made with the space.

[BoganGod]

What the new interface improves:

• More games fit on the screen at once. (If you actually consider this an improvement, which I don't. Scrolling down a list of neatly arranged games was never a problem.)

What the new interface loses:

• Map name is no longer listed (map icons aren't always easy to see).
• Full tournament title no longer shows.
• Time remaining for turns is tougher to see (white text on dark background vs. black text on light background).
• Games are now cluttered together instead of being presented in a neat clean list.
• Less white space around text may allow it take a smaller footprint, but it also means the text is less readable.
• Interface looks terrible with chatglove (new chat indicator is nearly the same shade of red as the highlighting indicating the player's turn is waiting, and the reduced horizontal space makes the chat indicator wrap poorly).
• Settings are now cluttered together rather than separated neatly into a couple categories (it's much tougher to find which games have round limits than it was before).
• Much tougher to jump around all over the page to figure out which games have teammates awaiting turns (scrolling down a single vertical list is much easier than running back and forth along rows).
• Tournament tab is completely broken now (not that it was really functional before).

+1
Seems to take more than it gives.

[updalions]

Don't think its quite as awful as a lot of people are saying, will obviously take time to get used to but thats the same for all cosmetic changes. Virtually every site I've ever been on has prompted similar uproar when they make a change such as this. Give it a couple of weeks to a month and see how it feels then.

Two things I would like tweaked though
- Make the map name more prominent (even if just bolding it or something like that)
- Create some sort of distinction between different teams in team games, at the moment its impossible to tell at a glance whether a game is quads, 4 dubs or just an 8 player.

[kalishnikov]

It's really not terrible but it does look kinda amatuer and there's tons of wasted space. Seems crazy that during a trend back to minimalist design elements and UI that you guys would choose a layout that looks copy/pasted from some 1999 version of a military Club Penguin and really adds nothing new except for rows of empty pixels and border elements that do nothing but serve to clutter up the screen.

What's the point? It won't draw in new players, it doesn't make the tenured ones happy, it doesn't make games start quicker and it doesn't make the site easier to navigate or add new user interface options. It looks different for the sake of looking different, that's it, it brings nothing new to the table and that seems like a waste when the site has some serious issues that need addressed to make games start quicker and to make some game types viable again.

Please please please work on the game engine/dice/game options before you make any more extraneous changes to things that don't improve the gameplay- that's why we are here, the core game mechanics, not some flashy UI (lol).

[macbone]

It feels like this entire site is in perpetual beta.

That is kind of the point.

Name a website you visit regularly that hasn't changed in 8 years.

I can think of 1.

I can think of three that I use regularly that haven't made significant changes.

Google.com
The Drudge Report
Rpol.net

Google changes like every fucking day.

The main interface stays basic, but the way to get to say, Google Scholar or Google News is constantly changing. It bugs me since I use Google Scholar a lot, I always have to relearn it.

Check it, Doom: http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2006-04-21-n63.html

Sure, it changes, but the basic layout is the same. It's like McDonald's, man. When someone walks into the restaurant, they don't have to hunt around for the menu. The eyes automatically go up, and all the info they need is right there.

On a counterpoint, though, Yahoo continually changes up its homepage, and it still attracts a ton of viewers.

[JOHNNYROCKET24]

Here's a random thought, let's change accounts. Tomorrow when you log in you will be automatically assigned someone else's account. Can I have Blitzaholic ?

[Momo33]

What the new interface improves:

• More games fit on the screen at once. (If you actually consider this an improvement, which I don't. Scrolling down a list of neatly arranged games was never a problem.)

What the new interface loses:

• Map name is no longer listed (map icons aren't always easy to see).
• Full tournament title no longer shows.
• Time remaining for turns is tougher to see (white text on dark background vs. black text on light background).
• Games are now cluttered together instead of being presented in a neat clean list.
• Less white space around text may allow it take a smaller footprint, but it also means the text is less readable.
• Interface looks terrible with chatglove (new chat indicator is nearly the same shade of red as the highlighting indicating the player's turn is waiting, and the reduced horizontal space makes the chat indicator wrap poorly).
• Settings are now cluttered together rather than separated neatly into a couple categories (it's much tougher to find which games have round limits than it was before).
• Much tougher to jump around all over the page to figure out which games have teammates awaiting turns (scrolling down a single vertical list is much easier than running back and forth along rows).
• Tournament tab is completely broken now (not that it was really functional before).

+1
Seems to take more than it gives.

+1 for me too!

What a joke this site is becoming since lackattack left. Alway trying to make "what they call improvements" but every "what-so-called improvements" is awful. Does anyone still ask himself why this site is still declyning?

You know, I totally agree with you Robes, change is inevitable, but changing things to make it worst simply doesn't help. How can you find this interface better (EVEN FOR PHONES!!!!!!!!). Map is like freaking too small (can't even know wich map I'm playing if I'm scrolling my games (oh no sorry, my central command..... ). I have to stop to all my games to know wich map I'm playing for every game!

I understand that you had to make a change for the tablets/phone devices, but can we have the IMPORTANT informations (like the map) taking a bigger space!

Oh and by the way, scenarios are a great idea (1st in a long time), but I have to mention it. Nice job for that!