Follow This Easy Process To Get Started Playing Alamaze
Step #1 - Register for Forum Account
Step #2 - Create New Player Account
Step #3 - Sign In (to issue turn orders and join games) ATTENTION: After Creating Player Account and Signing In, select the GAME QUEUE link in the Order System screen to Create or Join games.
08-15-2023, 11:41 PM (This post was last modified: 08-16-2023, 12:03 AM by unclemike.)
Thanks for finding the new forum's Order Entry Instruction thread. I'll change the Help Guides web page to point to that location. If you can find the UncleMike's Corner thread, that would be awesome. It contains all of my release notes over the years that players may need to reference.
About bookmarking being common on the internet, what is unusual, is for people to bypass a login procedure. Not just here, but for any website. Doing such will only lead to problems.
Anyway, I'll see what I can do from the server side to disallow Nobody's from signing up for games in the future...
Found a possible problem. Please remove the, Step #3 - Join Game, link on this forum (see attachment). It's trying to access the Game Queue web page by avoiding the login procedure.
I'm aware that displaying the available games of Alamaze to the general public is an attempt to be helpful, but by doing so, this link may cause problems of people signing up as Nobody. Never a good idea to bypass login credentials.
Rick originally wanted the Game Queue to behave similar to his Fall of Rome game. That too, required a login before signing up for a game.
If Brek wants, I could create a new read-only web page that displays the Game Queue contents of available games, but the above link that bypasses the login will only cause trouble. Please remove it.
(08-15-2023, 11:41 PM)unclemike Wrote: If you can find the UncleMike's Corner thread, that would be awesome. It contains all of my release notes over the years that players may need to reference.
(08-15-2023, 11:41 PM)unclemike Wrote: Found a possible problem. Please remove the, Step #3 - Join Game, link on this forum (see attachment). It's trying to access the Game Queue web page by avoiding the login procedure.
I'm aware that displaying the available games of Alamaze to the general public is an attempt to be helpful, but by doing so, this link may cause problems of people signing up as Nobody. Never a good idea to bypass login credentials.
Rick originally wanted the Game Queue to behave similar to his Fall of Rome game. That too, required a login before signing up for a game.
If Brek wants, I could create a new read-only web page that displays the Game Queue contents of available games, but the above link that bypasses the login will only cause trouble. Please remove it.
The last direction/instruction that I received from John about that link was in an e-mail from two days ago, where he said, "Hold up on removing having a buddy look at it for me."
I can certainly delete it. It's located in the header template of the Duende V3 forum theme. I should probably also eliminate the Easy 4-Step Process part, also.
As for Rick originally wanting the Game Queue to behave similar to his Fall of Rome game, the process for new players getting started playing Alamaze was one of the primary things in need of improving upon. A mass of confusion has long been part of the Alamaze process.
Give me a little bit of time, and I'll see what I can do.
The process that's outlined doesn't actually get one started playing Alamaze. After all, newcomers have to also join one or more games of Alamaze. Otherwise their not actually playing Alamaze.
Joining Games is now separate and apart from this process listed in the header of the forum site. More verbiage could be added, a longer explanation, of sorts.
08-16-2023, 12:47 AM (This post was last modified: 08-16-2023, 12:52 AM by unclemike.)
(08-16-2023, 12:40 AM)Maximus Dominus Wrote:
(08-15-2023, 11:41 PM)unclemike Wrote: Found a possible problem. Please remove the, Step #3 - Join Game, link on this forum (see attachment). It's trying to access the Game Queue web page by avoiding the login procedure.
I'm aware that displaying the available games of Alamaze to the general public is an attempt to be helpful, but by doing so, this link may cause problems of people signing up as Nobody. Never a good idea to bypass login credentials.
Rick originally wanted the Game Queue to behave similar to his Fall of Rome game. That too, required a login before signing up for a game.
If Brek wants, I could create a new read-only web page that displays the Game Queue contents of available games, but the above link that bypasses the login will only cause trouble. Please remove it.
The last direction/instruction that I received from John about that link was in an e-mail from two days ago, where he said, "Hold up on removing having a buddy look at it for me."
I can certainly delete it. It's located in the header template of the Duende V3 forum theme. I should probably also eliminate the Easy 4-Step Process part, also.
As for Rick originally wanting the Game Queue to behave similar to his Fall of Rome game, the process for new players getting started playing Alamaze was one of the primary things in need of improving upon. A mass of confusion has long been part of the Alamaze process.
Give me a little bit of time, and I'll see what I can do.
If you're inclined to have a link to assist new players on how to join a game, rather than the link above to the Game Queue, direct them to the Help Guides link instead, which is named the same (How To Join A Game). See attachment.
(08-16-2023, 12:31 AM)Maximus Dominus Wrote:
(08-15-2023, 11:41 PM)unclemike Wrote: If you can find the UncleMike's Corner thread, that would be awesome. It contains all of my release notes over the years that players may need to reference.
I can't say how long I spent trying to find that thread. Good job!
Now, with Brek's permission, please set it up to display towards the main forum page for easy access to everyone. Whenever there's a new release made for Alamaze, it's notes will be posted in that thread.
(08-15-2023, 09:53 PM)unclemike Wrote: I think the problem of a "Nobody" signing up for a game is from someone who bookmarked the Game Queue page in order to bypass the login page. Please don't do that. You need to login at the initial login page for the server to know who you are. If you bypass the login, you're considered to be a "Nobody" from that point onward.
If I had to venture a guess, it's probably due to a link that I used. I don't have any pages from the Alamaze site bookmarked, though. I rarely ever use the bookmarks function of my web browser.
Since I have spread the word about Alamaze for many months on end, now and again, I am curious. If a person doesn't have an Alamaze player account , how would they be able to see the list of games forming? Or wouldn't they? If people who are new and not familiar with Alamaze, but they can't view the games that are forming, then that effectively removes one of the most persuasive options that exist for persuading newcomers to take a closer look at Alamaze.
I have mentioned in the past not to bookmark web pages (other than the initial login web page). It's stated in the rulebook, and also on the forum listing on how to use the order entry website.
unclemike
14) If you wish to bookmark or make this site a favorite, do so at the Alamaze Login page that requests your username/password. Do NOT bookmark any subsequent page(s) after the login page in an attempt to bypass it since the login procedure looks up your current game/kingdom information that is registered under your account. If you try to bypass this step, the subsequent pages may not load correctly, and you'll eventually have problems entering your orders.
It likely wasn't Rellgar's fault, as all of his bookmarks were gone, at one point in time.
(12-15-2020, 10:09 PM)RELLGAR Wrote: All my bookmarks are gone. I know what I'm looking for. Yet I can't find the order input page link. I can only imagine what new players go through.
Here you are, again, warning others of the evil of bookmarking:
(04-21-2018, 02:31 AM)unclemike Wrote: I don't know what would cause this problem other than possibly bookmarking the site to bypass the login which may cause it to load an older account (some players have multiple accounts so if you bookmark the site or don't close the browser completely as stated in the order entry instructions and then later reference it, results may be screwy where you think you're logged in as one account but you're actually using the other). Anyway, I substituted Sinestro as the Black Dragon in this game. Also, when you have a chance Sinestro, click on the Home page's link to the Game Queue and sign up for a free tutorial game. I want to see if the solo game will be created in your account or another.
(10-09-2014, 10:49 PM)Mauler Wrote: Had the same issue. It's was because I saved the order entry page in my bookmarks. If you go to the login page and log back in, it will show the updated list.
Perhaps your most detailed post on the problem at issue can be found here, Mike:
(10-10-2014, 12:24 PM)unclemike Wrote: The login page (where you enter your username/password) goes thru the security process of approving your login credentials and looks up what games/kingdoms that you're registered for. You need to login every time to approve your credentials and other information. This is by design and prevents a stranger from accessing your order entry page and entering orders for your position.
So don't try to bypass the security protocol (by bookmarking/setting favorites) that we have setup or the server won't accept your orders. Our software does not save cookies or other information on your client (other than what your browser caches by default) which is done intentionally to prevent people from hacking our security protocol.
We have plans of moving towards SSL (better security) and making other improvements to the online system so you need to login every time to access your account (like just about everything else that you do on the internet requires a login).
The Fall of Rome links continue to utilize http://, rather than https://, to this very day, approximately nine years later. http://fallofromegame.com/alamazeorders/
So, while blaming bookmarks is all fine and dandy, bookmarks have been commonly in use on a variety of web browsers for a long while, now. As far as posting several ties on the forum, down through the years, not everyone is going to read all forum postings, and may simply end up missing your postings on the subject. Or if they have read your postings on the subject, that doesn't mean that they will remember those postings, week, months, or even years later.
The bookmarks issue is a symptom of a deeper problem. The plans to move towards better security seem to have fallen by the wayside, from the looks of it. Most likely, people just got busy with other things, and lost sight of it.
(08-15-2023, 09:53 PM)unclemike Wrote: Somehow, the posts that I had for the order entry website (and UncleMike's Corner) are missing from this new forum. I'll attach my saved copy of the order entry website in case anyone is interested. It has some helpful hints on how to use the order entry website.
Old links can probably be recovered from the wayback machine, if necessary. The old Alamaze forum that Brekk inherited from Rick had been neglected for a long time. There revamp of the forum likely resulted in the loss/absence of whichever links that you are referring to here, Mike.
(08-15-2023, 09:53 PM)unclemike Wrote: The new rulebook also informs players not to bookmark a page on page 22 (see attachment). Step #14 in the Word document from the former forum post says the same thing (see 2nd attachment).
It certainly does. I double-checked it, just now, and I can confirm that it says that. Of course, it's doubtful that everyone who has read the entire rulebook, or just that one portion among many others, likely remembers it all. Reading a rulebook is no guarantee of remembering what all that one has read. Human beings sometimes forget stuff, even stuff that might be important.
(08-15-2023, 09:53 PM)unclemike Wrote: Anyway, to prevent something like this from happening again, I could put a check in if the account holder is a "Nobody" and prevent them from joining a game in the Game Queue. It'll be a while though until I can get to it and will need an ok from Brek on the code change.
That sounds good.
(08-15-2023, 09:53 PM)unclemike Wrote: For the current game with only 11 players, please do NOT drop out of the game. I recommend Brek to Concede the Game by assigning someone as being a fake winner. That way, it's easier for me to clean up the server afterwards since it'll only be a Valhalla record that I would have to delete.
So, do we need to play both that game,and the remake of that game?
(08-15-2023, 09:53 PM)unclemike Wrote: Otherwise, if everyone drops out of the game and the processing stalls on the server (since the game no longer has any players in it), I'll have to dig around multiple directories on the server to remove the players' orders, kingdom turn results, etc., along with multiple tables in the database that would have to be cleaned out. It'll be much easier for me going the route of players not dropping out and Brek assigning a fake winner through the concede game function that Brek has access to on the Alamaze Admin website.
Understood. I'm fine with dumping the remake, and just playing the game that only ended up having 11 players in it, instead of 12.
(08-15-2023, 09:53 PM)unclemike Wrote: Lastly, I would appreciate it if my forum posts from UncleMike's Corner and the Online Order Entry instructions threads were re-added to this new forum. Those two threads of my notes have some important caveats that may be helpful for the newer players. Also, the attached Word document may be out of date, because I only had it around for my archive from long ago.
Anyway, have fun in the next game folks!
I can try to track down those threads. I didn't delete them, as far as I know.
Sorry, didn't notice the request not to drop the old game until now, but already did. Hope it doesn't cause problems.
(08-16-2023, 12:47 AM)unclemike Wrote: If you're inclined to have a link to assist new players on how to join a game, rather than the link above to the Game Queue, direct them to the Help Guides link instead, which is named the same (How To Join A Game). See attachment.
I'm inclined find a better way. Directing newcomers to the Help Guides, which is another way of telling them to read a bunch of stuff, is NOT a better way.
(08-16-2023, 12:47 AM)unclemike Wrote: You found it!
I can't say how long I spent trying to find that thread. Good job!
I did a search for the phrase "Unclemike's Corner" in the title of threads, and it came right up.
(08-16-2023, 12:47 AM)unclemike Wrote: Now, with Brek's permission, please set it up to display towards the main forum page for easy access to everyone. Whenever there's a new release made for Alamaze, it's notes will be posted in that thread.
Not sure, exactly, what you mean by this.
Separate from that, I have added some additional text fro clarification under the 3-Steps listed in the header area. See what you think.
08-16-2023, 01:17 AM (This post was last modified: 08-16-2023, 01:18 AM by Maximus Dominus.)
That so called Help Guide is out of date and 4 pages long.
As I said 5 days ago in the discussion thread titled A Diary of Scattered Thoughts, "Though it may at first seem counterintuitive, what if I were to tell you that explanations are not always the quickest and easiest way to "explain" things?"
Newcomers to Alamaze should need to read multiple pages of stuff, just to create a player account, sign in, and join games of Alamaze that are forming. If you go that route, then you're doing it wrong. Not all documentation and explanations are equal.
I have created a remake of this game. Rejoin using the same kingdoms and starting regions!
Communications: Full Diplomacy
Kingdoms/Acct: AL : Pine Needle) - Signed up, again! AT : (Rellgar) - Signed up, again! DE : (GrimFinger) - Signed up, again! DK : (Wookie Panz) - Signed up, again! DU : (Jon Deaux) - Signed up, again! DW : (Milo007) - Signed up, again! FT : (Zarashand) - Signed up, again! GI : (Glowamane) - Signed up, again! GN : (Windstar) - Signed up, again! RD : (Alexicles) - Signed up, again! LI : (Brek) - Signed up, again! SA : (Morgan Kane) - Hasn't yet signed up, again.
NOTE:I do not have e-mail contact information to notify Morgan Kane that he needs to sign up, again. I did not find his moniker in the Alamaze forum member list. We are only waiting on Morgan Kane.
08-16-2023, 01:59 AM (This post was last modified: 08-16-2023, 02:03 AM by Maximus Dominus.)
(08-15-2023, 11:41 PM)unclemike Wrote: I'm aware that displaying the available games of Alamaze to the general public is an attempt to be helpful, but by doing so, this link may cause problems of people signing up as Nobody. Never a good idea to bypass login credentials.
You mean don't be like Brekk, as in the example of him sharing that link, below, to help others to see current games forming?
Buddy/Ignore List
