I'm curious... the AGS games page has the "most popular games last week" section. Now usually the most popular game has anything between 500 and 2000 hits. This week, all of a sudden, "Bog's adventures in the underworld" has almost thirty thousand? Not that he doesn't deserve it, but is this for real? For a game released over a year ago? Without any recent comments on its game page? And without causing its server to burn down to a crisp? This number just seemed so far off that I figured there might be something wrong with the php script.
Well I know for sure that I DID download it last week. But the number's really a bit far-fetched...
Maybe somebody had a dodgy internet connection and STARTED the download loads of times.
I have also noticed that sometimes out of the blue a random game (usually really old) will get 10,000+ downloads in one week while the other games get 0-1000.
I've always wondered why...
Quote from: SSH on Sat 01/09/2007 17:17:08
Maybe somebody had a dodgy internet connection and STARTED the download loads of times.
Like 20,000 times? Boy, this guy sure has patience.
I've noticed that too--Common Cold got 8000+ downloads in one week last month according to the counter. My bandwidth usage did go up during that time period, so while the number might still be a bit dodgy, there was an significant number of downloads during that time. I have no idea why :)
Quote from: MashPotato on Sat 01/09/2007 18:31:22
I have no idea why :)
Then let me tell you: Because it IS a fun game!
Plus, it is a small game with a small file size. I bet people are more inclined to download if there's a small file. So maybe the number of dloads wasn't even wrong!
Bog's, on the other hand, is quite a large file.
Oh, I know! An infinite number of monkey siting in front of an infinite number of computers, starting an almost infinite number of downloads!
From time to time the games page gets abused. I haven't investigated this latest incident yet, but there have been cases where people have written a program to request the download link tons of times, to up their download count.
I really don't know why, because the download count serves no purpose other than for you as the game author to know how many people have downloaded it.
It's sad that people are doing this, I may end up needing to only register one download per IP ... evidently a cookie check isn't enough ... but I really can't be bothered with the hassle. This gains people nothing, and I'm just disappointed that it's come to this.
QuoteI've noticed that too--Common Cold got 8000+ downloads in one week last month according to the counter.
I investigated that one and it seemed to be genuine, because the game was featured on www.gamershood.com and got a lot of clicks from there.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 02/09/2007 17:26:00
I really don't know why, because the download count serves no purpose other than for you as the game author to know how many people have downloaded it.
I do. There are, presently, three ways to get your game listed on the front game page. The first involves getting the pick of the month, which authors have no control over. The second involves having had message posted about it last, but that is tedious work, and such listings don't last for long. The third means getting the most downloads in the last week. That one is easy to influence, and nets you a top place for seven days.
So, remove the 'most popular last week' top-5 and you'll probably get rid of the spam scripts. Or, if you want to bug them, reset their download count to zero :) For instance, you could replace it with the "newest five games".
If it turns out to be the game author abusing their game's entry on the page, I give them one warning followed by a permanent ban from the games page if they do it again.
As for whether "most popular last week" is a useful feature or not, I'm not sure. Any feedback?
Also, I'm moving this to AGS Talk because it's not a technical question.
I think maybe a top games by rating would be better.
Quote from: Radiant on Sun 02/09/2007 22:10:57
The first involves getting the pick of the month, which authors have no control over.
Unless, of course, they are willing to spend some money :=
Quote from: Vel on Sun 02/09/2007 23:01:06
I think maybe a top games by rating would be better.
Not really, because that's similarly spammable. Unless you refer to the Panel's ratings.
Quote from: SSH on Sun 02/09/2007 23:09:06
Unless, of course, they are willing to spend some money :=
Or got certain... compromising... photos from the last Mittens :)
Quote from: Radiant on Sun 02/09/2007 23:16:02
Or got certain... compromising... photos from the last Mittens :)
Well this should boost Mittens attendance! ;D
I like the system as it is, its actually something I look at quite frequently to see which games are proving to be popular. But I really do think system abusers should be kicked out without question. There's just no need for it, and there shouldn't even be a first warning tolerance IMO. I think those that do it should at least have their "times downloaded" count reset, and perhaps have their counter frozen for half a year - though that probably isn't something easily doable.
Quote from: m0ds on Sun 02/09/2007 23:55:06
though that probably isn't something easily doable.
Actually that's very easy. Modify the PHP so that a negative value gets printed as zero, and not incremented. That's all. It's also a good idea. I know several forums that will reset your post count to zero when you are spamming to get a "better" title; same thing.
Quote from: Vel on Sun 02/09/2007 23:01:06
I think maybe a top games by rating would be better.
We've been through this a few times, and it still wouldn't be a good idea.
And I think the panel ratings might get a bit too static, no?
I think there'll be quite a few four- and five-star games, and a random selection of those would be perfect, in my opinion.
I've always liked the most popular downloads feature on the games page, and it usually fairly trustworthy. This is only the second time, in recent memory, that it's been abused to this extent; so to remove it because of this situation seems a little over the top.
Actually, I'd like to see it expanded to list the top 10 downloads, with a little pin/flag beside newly released games so we can see which games have made the list because a surge of downloads right after release, and those whose popularity goes comes and goes in cycles.
As for the security of the system, multiple downloads from the same IP could be filtered out, removed, etc.
I don't think getting rid of it is that necessary. Just place a largeish warning on the Add game -page that clearly says that anyone confirmed for having upped their download counter by illegit means will be permanently banned without warning, as it's rather easy to investigate if the hits are genuine or not.
Also, Fish's suggestion doesn't sound too bad to me. And any sane person should be able to smell the rat in 13.000 downloads in AGS' scale.
Well, if people like the "most popular" list, I have no real objection to keeping it. But I concur that people who artificially increase such counters deserve to have them reduced to zero.
As long as there isn't the chance that somebody else abuses the system with the purpose of having your stats reset. I think overall a download count system must be quite lenient - and the numbers should of course not be read uncritically. It's pretty easy to triple your download count by releasing a buggy game and then 2 or 3 subsequent updates.
How about if the download count was only visible to the user who posted the game/the users listed in the credits? But then the Most downloaded list wouldn't have said numbers either, and the temptation to thrust the download count would go up a notch again... Would need harsh counter-measures, I reckon.