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Forums » Suggestions & Development Discussion » Random Character Browse Button

Sanne Moderator

I demand (well, I'd really like) a button/link to be implemented on the Browse Chars page that says RANDOMIZE.

If you click it, the Epic Dice of Roll will randomly pick a character for your viewing pleasure!

I like random stuff.

Do you?
Yuka

This idea, I like <w<
Sounds like it would be fun to play with. I think it would be a great feature, so long as its not difficult to implement
Sanne Topic Starter Moderator

Zhi wrote:
Sounds like it would be fun to play with. I think it would be a great feature, so long as its not difficult to implement

It shouldn't be. It's a little maths check with a coded dice roll and checking if the character ID exists (to avoid ending up on an ID that is no longer there due to character deletion) between the lowest and highest existing ID, then an automatic redirect to that page... At least in my logics/theory it works like this, but it may be a bit different :P

Let me put it like this; with all the stuff Kim's coded, this shouldn't be too hard to do!
Kim Site Admin

Sanne wrote:
Let me put it like this; with all the stuff Kim's coded, this shouldn't be too hard to do!

Only hard if you don't say please. *trembling lower lip* :(
I really like this idea!
If I hadn't already looked through all the 200 some pages of the chars here already, I would have epic fun with this feature.
Sanne Topic Starter Moderator

But of course Kim, darling!! Every time I ask you something there is always pretty pretty please with a chocolate cherry on top with a sprinkle of epic love. :3
Maybe an option to disable showing profiles with the mature content flag set? When browsing normally, we can see this in advance, but with a random character button, you'll need a checkbox of some kind to avoid having to use an annoying warning every time the rng hits a mature flag.

(I don't actually use the browse feature since I'm only usually on here for the time it takes to skim the forums and check for fresh posts in rp's I participate in, so I leave it to others to decide if that's worth it)
Sanne Topic Starter Moderator

mross wrote:
Maybe an option to disable showing profiles with the mature content flag set? When browsing normally, we can see this in advance, but with a random character button, you'll need a checkbox of some kind to avoid having to use an annoying warning every time the rng hits a mature flag.

Not necessary. The warning for language/sexual/violent content will display no matter how the random browse button fetches the ID.

See, when you go to... let's say, character ID 1, which is Kim's character Safiye.

The Random Browse button will always load this URL:

http://www.rprepository.com/site.php?char=1

(Or uses /c/Safiye/, but they both work exactly the same)

It's the same URL people click when you post the link to another site. Or when you click on a regular character from the list of characters. The Random Browse button will only change the ID (in this case it's 1, but it can be anything since we have 3800+ character profile IDs), so a warning will still always pop up if it loads the page.

It's good you brought it up! But it's not necessary to worry about since the system works well by default. :3

This is assuming the idea I have on how Kim can implement this feature will actually be done this way too. She didn't confirm it but also didn't deny it, so I'll stick to my theory. :P
Sanne wrote:
mross wrote:
Maybe an option to disable showing profiles with the mature content flag set? When browsing normally, we can see this in advance, but with a random character button, you'll need a checkbox of some kind to avoid having to use an annoying warning every time the rng hits a mature flag.

Not necessary. The warning for language/sexual/violent content will display no matter how the random browse button fetches the ID.

See, when you go to... let's say, character ID 1, which is Kim's character Safiye.

The Random Browse button will always load this URL:

http://www.rprepository.com/site.php?char=1

(Or uses /c/Safiye/, but they both work exactly the same)

It's the same URL people click when you post the link to another site. Or when you click on a regular character from the list of characters. The Random Browse button will only change the ID (in this case it's 1, but it can be anything since we have 3800+ character profile IDs), so a warning will still always pop up if it loads the page.

It's good you brought it up! But it's not necessary to worry about since the system works well by default. :3

This is assuming the idea I have on how Kim can implement this feature will actually be done this way too. She didn't confirm it but also didn't deny it, so I'll stick to my theory. :P

I think I worded that poorly. What I meant was, it would be nifty to not have to have a warning at all, as you would have indicated beforehand whether you wanted violence/sexuality or not - a "This page is flagged for mature content, continue?" message on every flagged profile would double the number of clicks required for a random browse.

To clarify: the character browser http://www.rprepository.com/community/browsechar.php shows warning icons in advance, that's great. However a random search function would directly return the character's profile (for example, http://www.rprepository.com/c/caltha). Notice that the linked profile has the warning marked clearly in the browser, but on the profile page itself, there is nothing to indicate that the profile is flagged for content.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just think I didn't communicate very effectively the first time. However let's wait and see what Kim does, I'm sure it will be amazing wizardry as usual.
Sanne Topic Starter Moderator

Silly you! That's already implemented. :3 Clicky clicky!
Sanne wrote:
Silly you! That's already implemented. :3 Clicky clicky!

Ha ha, I'm dumb. Maybe I should actually research things before commenting on them!
Sanne Topic Starter Moderator

mross wrote:
Sanne wrote:
Silly you! That's already implemented. :3 Clicky clicky!

Ha ha, I'm dumb. Maybe I should actually research things before commenting on them!

If you didn't find an option, it can also mean that it's not visible in the right place. :P If we have good ideas we're more inclined to instantly suggest it than to research if it exists already though, so maybe a little bit of both? :3 Hehe.
Kim Site Admin

I actually wrote the feature without checking back here after my last post... The way I implemented it is that the random browse button will only send you to profiles in keeping with your predefined comfort levels, to minimize lots of clicking backarrows for people who DON'T want to see violence/sexuality/language. It will also skip over characters that haven't added any widgets to their pages yet so as not to bore you with unfinished or abandoned characters.

Unfortunately, the button is currently trapped behind a development freeze and won't be making an appearance until that's over with -- probably in a few days. I'm working out some major infrastructure changes (you won't notice anything, it's just stronger back bone for better security and more features) and while that's being tested, nothing is allowed to move from the test server to the live one.
Sanne Topic Starter Moderator

I like that, though.. I usually have the option boxes unchecked. Mostly because I read profiles everywhere I go and I don't want unexpected sexy pics to show up etc.

It's a minor inconvenience for me due to my own wants, so I'm definitely not asking to have it adapted jsst for me. Your system probably works best, but if there is ever a need to develop the system further perhaps this can be kept in mind? Seeing profiles with warnings even if you have the option unchecked. :)
Darth_Angelus Moderator

What about having the boxes next to the random button, which will temporarily override your regular settings?
Sanne Topic Starter Moderator

That woukd feel redundant (having to check it every time) unless the profiles open in a new window?
Kim Site Admin

Random button is in now. :)

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