Steam-exclusive AGAIN?

[crazyroosterman]

jezze I remember when I heard about steam making a cu ration system and actually being rather exited about then well I completely forgot it was even a thing in till you folks started talking about it here.

[Aklyon]

Maybe the answer would be a curator curator system?

[chemical_art]

I need a freaking curator for the curators.

But who will curate the curators of curators? Is it curators all the way down?

[TheVampire100]

Curatception.

[x4000]

...leads to Curatopia.

[Draco18s]

Actually, I was figuring Big Data would do it.

"I own X games (you have the list already, it's part of my steam profile).  Show my curators that have these titles in their recommendations."  Followed by an up/down rating system ("Yes I own that game, I thought it was terrible, bias against") and so on.

[x4000]

Yeah -- the netflix approach.  It works well there.

[Draco18s]

Pretty much anywhere.  Youtube, Amazon, Netflix...

Usually those go by some kind of genre/director/tagging system and "people who X also Y."  What I was thinking here was more along the lines of "this curator has recommended every game you like, maybe take a look?"  Rather than recommending individual games, it would be recommending curators which would be for the benefit of finding a likeminded individual to match opinions on titles.

As an example, I know exactly where I stand with what Total Biscuit reviews. If I watch one of his reviews I know within a few minutes whether or not I'd like the game.  Our interests do not overlap, but I can generally take 15 minutes of game and form a reasonably accurate opinion.

So assume that I've never heard of him, but the curator-curator algorithm figures out "hey, you and Total Biscuit like the same stuff" and I take a look and go "sure do, followed!" and I'd have a known trusted channel of recommendations.

(The flaw here is that I know that TB's curator list won't be good for me because we like different things, so a "TB likes this game" isn't enough, I actually need to watch the gameplay and listen to the commentary, but you get the idea.  With TB there's too much friction between the +recommend and my desire to +purchase, but if there was a curator out there that matched my interests I'd absolutely follow them, my problem is finding them).

[x4000]

Right, I'm the same with TB and Penny Arcade.  Cross reference their recommendations and anything they both like is probably something I should take a close look at.

Youtube in my opinion has a fairly limited way of introducing me to new creators; it's better at finding me more relevant content about something I already like.  Most of the new creators I find on youtube come from someone mentioning them on reddit.

Amazon is really good at getting me to see all of the options in a given classification, and it can be helpful if I'm trying to find certain things in specific categories.  But there have been a lot of times where I'm trying to find all the Transformers in a product line and that's next to impossible in Amazon.  I have to use a wiki and then cross-search on eBay and Amazon.

Don't even get me started on eBay, of course.  If you know a specific thing you want to look for, then great.  But I've never been introduced to a new concept from there.

Hell, finding out about new boardgames is a real challenge.  You can find award-winners and certain best-of lists, but otherwise it's mostly word of mouth.  Boardgamegeek is amazing for finding out more about a game and if I really want it, but when trying to find new things or things kind of like a game I already like (or better yet just something completely fresh), it wasn't much of a help last time I tried it (granted, that was a few years ago that I used it like that).  Just going to a local hobby shop and browsing their board games is a lot more effective.  That plus using the often-encyclopedic knowledge of their staff when looking for something new.

[Hearteater]

Netflix is actually ditching their star rating approach because they don't like it. It has the flaw that people don't rate it properly. Some people rate with stars as: "I like this movie" and others as: "This is a good movie, regardless of whether I personally liked it." You are supposed to do the former, but because people do both, the algorithms get messed up and it has trouble finding thing you like because some people rated movies they don't like highly because they were good movies, just not to their taste.

For board games, I find The Dice Tower on YouTube and their website pretty good at keeping me up to date. Certainly there are more board games I want as a result of watching them than I have time to play.

[x4000]

Very interesting on Netflix.  I wonder how on earth they'll replace that.

And thanks on Dice Tower!

[ptarth]

re: Board Game Suggestions
That's actually simple.
Ask us about what kind of lawn mower you should buy, but then also casually mention that you tried Eclipse a few weeks ago, and wish there was a game like it, but a little different. You will then be given reviews and links to over 200 games that share some/none/all features with Eclipse of which some/none/everyone agrees is a good game. Replace Eclipse with a game you are currently having feelings about. Don't worry about getting information about lawnmowers though, the unasked question will dominate the responses.

[x4000]

Hahaha, you crack me up.  You know, I have actually been thinking about cheap online university solutions lately.

*waits*

[Draco18s]

Unfortunately I don't have a good recommendation.

Re board games:
I picked up Space Alert via Christmas gift exchange with my local board game group and it's fisking awesome.

[ptarth]

*psst* you missed saying something casual about board games, unless you went with "really, really, casual, so casual it was in a private email to a group of freaking volunteers". Also, we aren't sure where your tastes are, so now just random shots.

Oh, "cheap online university solutions" you say? Well, I think you are going to be in a poor situation there, you can have cheap, online, and good, but you only get to pick 2.

I'm not getting a good vibe on what type of things you are wanting in boardgames, so I'll through out a couple of ideas.

• Broom Service - 4 player light-weight 45 minute game about role selection in a very clever competitive environment.
• Stronghold - 2 player middle-weight 1.5 hour castle siege wherein one player is defending a castle (it will fall) and the other attacks it with orcs, trolls, catapults, and a battering ram. Super thematic.
• Twilight Struggle - Top of the BGG charts for a reason. Strong tactical and strategic play in a card heavy game about the Cold War it takes around 3 hours.
• Terra Mystica - On of the newer middle-heavy weight Euros. Races construct civilizations in a magical world. Replayability comes from the interaction of the multiple different races and their abilities.
• Eclipse - Its been a while, but this Euro-Space 4x is still holding its own. A lighter weight Twilight Imperium II.
• The Fury of Dracula 2nd Edition - The 3rd Edition was released recently, but I haven't played it. tFoD is an amazing game of stealth and deduction. One player takes the role of Dracula skulking through Europe trying to raise his vampire horde, the others take on the roles of Vampire Hunters. During the day Dracula is very weak, at night his is a dominant force. His movement is restricted to certain paths (i.e., roads and specific shipping lanes) but is hidden from the Hunters. He places his current and past locations on the board as facedown cards, leaving a trail that the Hunters can discover and follow. A tension filled game of cat and mouse as the Hunter try to piece together enough information to track Dracula down, while remaining at a same distance during the night. It plays in 90 minutes for 2-5 players, best with 3 or 4.
• Net Runner - The next development of MtG-like games (players familiar with the genre will find this funny). A 2 player LCG deck building game with a cyber-punk theme. There are no random expansion packs to buy, you know exactly what cards are in every set. Design your deck to go head to head with your opponent as either the plucky adventuring Runner or the massive Corporate Corporation.
• War of the Ring - One of the best games you'll own and never play. Take sides in Tolkien's Middle Earth as the Dark Lord Sauron or the Free People's of middle earth. Weigh your resources carefully and choose how to split them between your military forces for direct conflict or the journey of the Ring.  Reminiscent of Axis and Allies, but with Elephants, Elves, and Ents. It weighs in with a 3 hour playing time and 6.5 pounds.
• Battlestart Galactica - King of the Traitor Games. You play as the crew of the Battlestar Galatica trying to make your way to safety through the Cylon menace. One, or more, of your colleagues may be Cylons. In fact, it might even be you. It plays a little long at 1.5-2+ hours, but it the most tension filled traitor game out there.
• Robinson Crusoe - Cooperative Game where you are shipwrecked on a deserted (or not) island. A series of hard choices await you in a number of different scenarios requiring you to work towards a goal while avoiding disaster. Not for the light hearted.

Again, if you can put forward some direction on number of players, length, theme, themes to avoid, mechanics, mechanics to avoid, and favorite color, that would help.