Sticky Date Discussion and Poll

[mking55]

I have been pushing for a sticky date in the game since day one. And now that one has been added which is good, it does not totally satisfy me.

I have discussed this thru messages with Andreas and he doesn't agree with my reasoning, and I don't agree with is. That is fine. This is boxing. We should fight!

In true democratic fashion, he suggested I bring up a discussion on the board, and a poll, and see if a consensus can be reached.

A Brief History of fight dates in the game:
When the game was first released, the date of the fight would always default to today's date. This was a problem for me, and I assume others, as we did not always remember to change the date. The other problem was, if I changed a date and went in later to schedule another fight, I could never remember the last date used.

Then Year Offset Was Added:
In the first patch you could input a number in the game options which would be added or subtracted from the current year. So for example, if you input -50, your default date was 1954-01-27 (if the date is today). This was nice, but the date when staging a fight was always this date unless you changed it.

Then a 'Partial' Sticky Date Solution Appeared
With the next patch came 'sticky date'. If I scheduled a fight for 1937-05-12, then that date would remain in the date field for all fights until I changed it. This helped me because I could easily see just how much to increment the date, or, if I forgot to change it, at least I wasn't back in 2004.

And Now My Issue For Discussion:
When you close the game, the stickiness disappears. When you re-enter the game, the default date is back to today's date until you change it again. Then it stays sticky for the rest of your session. I would like to see the date remain sticky regardless of whether or not you close the game and re-enter. If my last date used when I staged a fight today is 1926-09-29, then I don't want the date reset to 2004-01-28 when I enter the game tomorrow.

Andreas argument is I understand it correctly, is that tomorrow is another day. Therefore the fights that you stage tomorrow will probably have tomorrow's date.

I disagree with this as those of us who use dates would tend to use them in an historical fashion and not in a real-life way.

So, this long story is about this little issue. Comments and opinions and votes (only if you care) would be appreciated.

[darthpb]

mking,

I'm still a newbie even though I've been playing the crap out of the game and posting frequently so enlighten me.
The exporting from previous games doesn't affect me as I hadn't played them but this sticky date thing, do you mean if you are accurately reliving boxing history and you are using the same dates? Is there more to it? Other than historical accuracy and aesthetics does changing the date have an impact? I ask because I use the current? There seems to be a lot of depth here that I am, I guess, glossing over. Some of these posts are a little over my head as far features and ideas... Maybe I can IM you with a question or two as you seem pretty cool and seem to be a veteran of the game...thanks

[mking55]

Me? A veteran? No.

I never had the board game but I always wanted it. I had TF2001 and hated it, but decided to give this one a try.

Now I have become obsessed with it. It's a good thing my kids are older now, or they would think they were orphans.

Anyhow, the date serves no purpose in the game other than for aesthetic reasons. And, in a fighter's record you can sort on date. If my dates are screwed up, which they usually are, then sorting by date becomes useless.

So, in a nutshell, date doesn't matter in gameplay. It is just a case of what is in the beholder's eye.

[darthpb]

Okay, that's what I thought. Since you're online right now if I were to make a new group of fighters, a sub-group if you will, whomever they might be, are their records changed in my main grouping or universe?

[vyshka]

I don't have the game on this pc at work, but I am
guessing that they will appear the same in whatever
groups you have them in. Most likely there is 1 record
in the database for a fighter, and that record can be
associated with multiple groups.

[cainkevt]

With the way I use the game it would help me too, But I think there are some other glaring weeknesses sic I wish they would work on first. But i agree it would hewlp to have it stay each time you start game.
Kevin

[GeorgeT]

Hi Mking,

I like the offset year feature, but I'd also like to have the option to manually set the date on startup (it could default to the last used date from the previous time TBCB was played).

So, when you launch the program, before you can start playing, you have to "OK" a box with the default date (whatever that is) OR input a new date and then "OK" it, before you can start playing. All fights during that session will then use the date set at startup (unless you manually change it for a fight, in which case, this becomes the new default).

George

[Bonedwarf]

I think the date should remain sticky so when you next open the game, you can pick up where you left off.

[wildhawke11]

Well, my thoughts
It is possible in your game world, that 50 fights or more happen all over the world on the same day, I think all must agree on that.

Now suppose in your game you want to watch live about 30 of the fights. You might not finish watching them all on the day your playing the game. So next day in real life maybe another has gone by. But in your game world this is not the case, it is still the same day there are still 20 or more of the fights to finish off.

So the date you leave the game at, should be the same date you rejoin it.

[GeorgeT]

Agreed. By prompting the user at startup to confirm the date to be used for that session (as opposed to auto setting to the current day/ month) the scenario you describe can be achieved. the current "default date" would be the one where you last left off.

George

[Gunsmoke]

Or maybe have a "current date" on the main screen, or even on the options screen, though on the main screen would be better. That way the user will be easily able to maintain the date at their own leisure.

Well that's my 2 cents anyway.

Mark

[kcjoe]

I would be in favor of a sticky date that would remaun as set until the next bout.

[jayt]

I would agree that the date should remain sticky. Good idea.

[PyroFalkon]

I personally would not like sticky dates between sessions. I agree with Andreas's reasoning, because, for me, that's one less thing I have to worry about from session to session. That also gives me a small record of how much I play the game, which I like. (In the latest run of PS2 EA Sports games, it records the last date you play a particular game. I love that.)

Now, here's an idea. The usual disclaimer of "I don't know how hard it would be to program, but..." stands. I base this on reading everyone's opinions in this thread.

First, all date functions should be put on a separate page of the options. This makes it a little easier to see, and everything will be in one place.

Second, in that date option screen, we need a simple check box. "Confirm date on startup?" If checked, a pop up box asks us for the date when the game is booted. I personally would leave this unchecked.

Third, also in the date option screen, a drop down box should give us a few options on date stickiness. Never, Only For Current Session, or All Sessions. I personally would set this to "Never."

Fourth, we need another drop down box to give options on default dates. Current, Current with Year Offset, or Manual (to set the date every single time). I would set this Current. This drop down box would become irrelevant if the Sticky Date option was set to "All Sessions," and the Sticky Date would take precedence over it. (So, if I set Sticky to All Sessions, then no matter what I set this one to, the default date is whatever is stickied.)

Of course, all of it can be over-ridden by the pop-up box, assuming the user has it set to pop up.

This would probably make everyone happy.