Guild Launch News
2.6 Sneak Peak - Guild Launch Deals w/ Time
In 2.6 we are going to be wrangling some of the date and time inconsistencies in the system as well as giving you, the user, more control over how the times are displayed and factored in on your guild site.
For an understanding of our model of time and how we employ it on your guild site you need to understand two concepts. This discussion will get slightly more complicated before I, hopefully , bring it in for a soft landing. The two concepts are:
1. Real Time
2. Guild Time
Real Time
Real time means the time when you do something in the system, like make a post, update a profile, etc.
Guild Time (or Game Time)
Guild (or Game) Time is different from Real Time, it's a a time that is agreed upon by the guild members as a reference point. Most of us use GMT for this reference point in the real world, but games aren't the real world. For most of us the reference time for our guild is "Server Time" or "Game Time" or "Whatever the hell it shows on the top right, bottom left, or wherever" on your game client screen.
Why two types of time?
Well, when you need to know when something happened real time makes sense, but when you want to coordinate alot of people in different timezones to be somewhere at once a referential time is far more workable.
How does this effect me?
Well, in some ways, I'm giving you a long winded explanation in hopes you guys will just drink the koolaid I'm offering, because it really will work better when we're done.
The net effect is that the concept of Guild Time (which we've been using all along but it's been fixed to U.S. Central time) will be better communicated to you and your guild mates so you can use it to your advantage instead of it being a mystery concept. Also, the time you use as the reference point will be configurable. Woot!
Get to the point!
Ok, ok. In 2.6 we will be adding 3 guild settings:
1. A Guild Timezone. This will designate Guild (or Game) time.
2. A Date format string. Meaning: You can make your dates like 2007/05/06 or 05/06/2007 or 05/06 if you don't care about years or 05/2007 if you're really zany.
3. A Time format string. Meaning: You can now show things in 12 hour times with AM and PM, or leave it in the far more sane but incomprehensible for some 24 hour format.
These three settings will be used everywhere outside the forums to format dates and display dates in "Guild Time".
We will show guild time under the calendar widget so people also know what time it is in "Guild Time" and this is the cool part, if the user hovers any time in the system (outside the forums) some hover text will popup with the time converted to their local time.
Our hope is that this will make scheduling events and enforcing things like "must sign up for a raid 6 hours beforehand" easier to implement and to help you herd the cats in your guild.
What about the forums?
The forum times are in Real Time and are effected by your current Timezone settings on your profile and will be unchanged except that the date and time format will be applied.
Enjoy!
Stephen
For an understanding of our model of time and how we employ it on your guild site you need to understand two concepts. This discussion will get slightly more complicated before I, hopefully , bring it in for a soft landing. The two concepts are:
1. Real Time
2. Guild Time
Real Time
Real time means the time when you do something in the system, like make a post, update a profile, etc.
Guild Time (or Game Time)
Guild (or Game) Time is different from Real Time, it's a a time that is agreed upon by the guild members as a reference point. Most of us use GMT for this reference point in the real world, but games aren't the real world. For most of us the reference time for our guild is "Server Time" or "Game Time" or "Whatever the hell it shows on the top right, bottom left, or wherever" on your game client screen.
Why two types of time?
Well, when you need to know when something happened real time makes sense, but when you want to coordinate alot of people in different timezones to be somewhere at once a referential time is far more workable.
How does this effect me?
Well, in some ways, I'm giving you a long winded explanation in hopes you guys will just drink the koolaid I'm offering, because it really will work better when we're done.
The net effect is that the concept of Guild Time (which we've been using all along but it's been fixed to U.S. Central time) will be better communicated to you and your guild mates so you can use it to your advantage instead of it being a mystery concept. Also, the time you use as the reference point will be configurable. Woot!
Get to the point!
Ok, ok. In 2.6 we will be adding 3 guild settings:
1. A Guild Timezone. This will designate Guild (or Game) time.
2. A Date format string. Meaning: You can make your dates like 2007/05/06 or 05/06/2007 or 05/06 if you don't care about years or 05/2007 if you're really zany.
3. A Time format string. Meaning: You can now show things in 12 hour times with AM and PM, or leave it in the far more sane but incomprehensible for some 24 hour format.
These three settings will be used everywhere outside the forums to format dates and display dates in "Guild Time".
We will show guild time under the calendar widget so people also know what time it is in "Guild Time" and this is the cool part, if the user hovers any time in the system (outside the forums) some hover text will popup with the time converted to their local time.
Our hope is that this will make scheduling events and enforcing things like "must sign up for a raid 6 hours beforehand" easier to implement and to help you herd the cats in your guild.
What about the forums?
The forum times are in Real Time and are effected by your current Timezone settings on your profile and will be unchanged except that the date and time format will be applied.
Enjoy!
Stephen
Last edited by GL_Support on Tue Sep 11, 2007 1:41 pm; edited 1 time in total
Great news to hear...definitely will make things a bit easier when we can go by "Guild/Server" time and avoid some of the confusion.
Also LOVE the ability to change from 24-hour format to 12-hour AM/PM format!
Now to get the other sign-up features needed like showing who unsigned, being able to lock sign-ups/removals at a certain time and I'll be in heaven!
Also LOVE the ability to change from 24-hour format to 12-hour AM/PM format!
Now to get the other sign-up features needed like showing who unsigned, being able to lock sign-ups/removals at a certain time and I'll be in heaven!
Mithoron wrote:
Thief! Thief! Mithoron's trying to steal my thunder!
Great news to hear...definitely will make things a bit easier when we can go by "Guild/Server" time and avoid some of the confusion.
Also LOVE the ability to change from 24-hour format to 12-hour AM/PM format!
Now to get the other sign-up features needed like showing who unsigned, being able to lock sign-ups/removals at a certain time and I'll be in heaven!
Also LOVE the ability to change from 24-hour format to 12-hour AM/PM format!
Now to get the other sign-up features needed like showing who unsigned, being able to lock sign-ups/removals at a certain time and I'll be in heaven!
Thief! Thief! Mithoron's trying to steal my thunder!
GL_Support wrote:
Bah, you tease! Now I'm going to be refreshing the site for the next big announcement! ;)
Thief! Thief! Mithoron's trying to steal my thunder!
Bah, you tease! Now I'm going to be refreshing the site for the next big announcement! ;)
Sweet! another feature i request. Woot Woot! Hey Mithoron looks like my requests are better then yours. neiner neiner.
Dreadguard wrote:
Hehehe, we need to put up a tally board!
Sweet! another feature i request. Woot Woot! Hey Mithoron looks like my requests are better then yours. neiner neiner.
Hehehe, we need to put up a tally board!
Dunnar wrote:
Eastern timezones GMT "modifier" actually changes with the DST. So, right now you're actually GMT -4. People often refer to it still as "GMT -5" but GMT times are always relative.
-Stephen
Hmm...how is daylight savings time handled? My guild is in the Eastern Timezone (GMT - 5) and with DST, it's 1:20 PM. The calendar widget, however, shows our guild time to be 12:20 PM.
Eastern timezones GMT "modifier" actually changes with the DST. So, right now you're actually GMT -4. People often refer to it still as "GMT -5" but GMT times are always relative.
-Stephen
GL_Support wrote:
Yeah, this kind of messed me up when setting our guild's time. Had to go into my account setting and change it to -4...which means come November will have to remember to change it back, LOL...
Dunnar wrote:
Eastern timezones GMT "modifier" actually changes with the DST. So, right now you're actually GMT -4. People often refer to it still as "GMT -5" but GMT times are always relative.
-Stephen
Hmm...how is daylight savings time handled? My guild is in the Eastern Timezone (GMT - 5) and with DST, it's 1:20 PM. The calendar widget, however, shows our guild time to be 12:20 PM.
Eastern timezones GMT "modifier" actually changes with the DST. So, right now you're actually GMT -4. People often refer to it still as "GMT -5" but GMT times are always relative.
-Stephen
Yeah, this kind of messed me up when setting our guild's time. Had to go into my account setting and change it to -4...which means come November will have to remember to change it back, LOL...
Dunnar wrote:
Unfortunately, you'll need to change it... UNLESS you make it game time and then your game time may never change. I've forgotten if WoW In-Game time follows DST or not?
-Stephen
Ok, I changed my guild's setting to be "GMT - 4". When I come back after Daylight Savings Time has changed, will my settings be automatically updated to show "GMT - 5"? Or do I have to keep changing it based on whether or not we're in DST? Or am I just confused?
Unfortunately, you'll need to change it... UNLESS you make it game time and then your game time may never change. I've forgotten if WoW In-Game time follows DST or not?
-Stephen
GL_Support wrote:
It follows whatever the local time zone for that server is, so yes, it would follow DST as well...
Unfortunately, you'll need to change it... UNLESS you make it game time and then your game time may never change. I've forgotten if WoW In-Game time follows DST or not?
It follows whatever the local time zone for that server is, so yes, it would follow DST as well...
GL_Support wrote:
WoW follows DST so I think you still need to manually change your settings every time DST changes. It's only twice a year, but the chances of me remembering to do it are very slim.
Unfortunately, you'll need to change it... UNLESS you make it game time and then your game time may never change. I've forgotten if WoW In-Game time follows DST or not?
-Stephen
-Stephen
WoW follows DST so I think you still need to manually change your settings every time DST changes. It's only twice a year, but the chances of me remembering to do it are very slim.
Dunnar wrote:
Ditto, can't even remember what I had for breakfast today, let alone something twice a year (and yes, I forget my anniversary too...good thing I'm divorced, saves an argument each year!).
GL_Support wrote:
WoW follows DST so I think you still need to manually change your settings every time DST changes. It's only twice a year, but the chances of me remembering to do it are very slim.
Unfortunately, you'll need to change it... UNLESS you make it game time and then your game time may never change. I've forgotten if WoW In-Game time follows DST or not?
-Stephen
-Stephen
WoW follows DST so I think you still need to manually change your settings every time DST changes. It's only twice a year, but the chances of me remembering to do it are very slim.
Ditto, can't even remember what I had for breakfast today, let alone something twice a year (and yes, I forget my anniversary too...good thing I'm divorced, saves an argument each year!).