Messages

I'm currently working refactoring the website.  I'll try to take your requests into account!

There are more than enough nominations in almost every category every year.  And yes, it's almost always been that it's five votes minimum.  If fewer people than that nominate a game, is it really deserving of being called award winning, or just the best of a bad bunch?

We're paying for the accommodation, not the company, so if you don't use a bed I don't think there's any need to pay...  Please try to work out ASAP whether you'll want a bed though!

Okay, I've booked Large spacious 6 bedroom house, from 15-22 September.  I noticed that Airbnb will refund 100% of the fees if you cancel within 48 hours, so it seemed a good idea.

Sorry for all the high speed and chaos today and yesterday, but I really wasn't expecting stuff to book up this quickly!

Oh btw, if you look at the photos of the second place there's a huge attic we could easily use for later night drinking, game playing, noise making.  There's very little chance the owner would be able to hear us from his basement apartment.  To me, that basically removes my main concern...

Count me in!
I live in Boston! September is a great month, fall foliage is amazing here.

Never went to a Mittens before. How the housing works? I have an apartment here so I can return home at night.
Is this doable? The problem is that I have a wife and a 1-month-old baby that will be around 9-month-old in September...

The way it usually works is you pay your share, you stay at the chosen house for the week.  We hang out for the week, and do nerd stuff (not always AGS related).  Usually at least one day involves getting out of the house and seeing the local attractions/history.

However, I will warn you that both options we're looking at say no children under 2 are allowed on site (for safety reasons).  If you wanted, you could probably work out some way of doing it though.  You visit us during the day, then go home to your family at night, or you stay with us and visit them every day or two.  Whatever you feel comfortable with!  Of course if you didn't sleep at the house you wouldn't need to pay a full share of the costs.

Unfortunately we're seriously running out of valid options.  Both those options have their plus sides and their negatives, but I'm not sure we can afford to be fussy anymore.  We really need to book something today.  As Esseb says, if it comes to it I might be forced to just pick a place and book.

To make it easier though, here's a summary of the two current options:

The Wheatland	Large spacious 6 bedroom house
16-45 people Up to 22 separate beds Up to 5 unshared rooms (only one bed) $5925.55 total / $370.35 each Not suitable for under 2s Around 1hr from Boston by car and public transport Potentially a shared space, if other people book at the same time as us Quiet Hours 10:30PM - 6:30AM Clean up after yourselves in common areas Please note that personal items cannot be left in the common areas	16 people 10 separate beds 4 unshared rooms (only one bed) 30 minutes' drive from Boston, but public transport is barely available $6197.40 total / $387.34 each No food in any of the bedrooms No loud music No loud conversations or music after 10pm Owner lives on site, but with separate entrance

Overall I'd say the second option is more like a traditional Mittens house, while the first is more like staying in a B&B.  The main downside is the lack of noise after 22:00, and need for a car/Uber, but I think we can probably cope better with that than the other place's rules.  It's not like loud noises are much of a Mittens thing, and we can always go upstairs into one of the bedrooms if we really need to make more noise!  According to scotch, who lives locally, it's also better situated for Boston and the local history.

Okay, this place also looks nice: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/17364158?location=Boston%2C%20MA&adults=16&children=0&infants=0&guests=16&check_in=2018-09-15&check_out=2018-09-22&s=Zc-bWzqM / https://www.google.nl/maps/place/Prospect+St,+Peabody,+MA+01960,+USA/@42.5413464,-70.9527657,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89e313b5ec9b769b:0xaa3062c898067f9e!8m2!3d42.5413464!4d-70.950577?hl=en.  Around $300 per person, huge place that can house loads of people.  Again, around an hour from Boston.

Nevermind, that house is taken!  Owner apparently doesn't update the calendar.

There's a map.  As I said, it's around an hour's drive, same by public transport, from Boston.  That's pretty standard for Mittens, I think.  We're usually a medium journey from the nearest big city, and it's never been a problem before!

Hull / Nantasket Beach, since I know you know Boston.  Here's a Google Maps link to the exactish location.

We're running out of options rapidly, as places are booking up.  What about this place: https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p492936vb?  It sleeps 16, seems well equipped, and the ocean location could be great!  Around an hour's drive or public transport from Boston.  It's about $400 per person, but the larger, cheaper places are running out!

If we can agree on a place quickly, I'll make the booking ASAP.  Everyone please respond to confirm if this place would be good, from 15-22 September.  If people don't at least respond with a yes or a no, I'll have to assume you're no longer interested.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=55673.msg636580840#msg636580840

Is there really no way to put the categories on different pages?

"Really no way"?  Of course it's possible, but I've never seen anyone even suggest it before!

However, I think people would find clicking through 20 pages to vote just as annoying...

Oh, and click 'stay logged in indefinitely' or somesuch when you log in to stay logged in.

I've nominated, but I'm still being told I haven't. When I open the nomination form, my previous entries are all filled out, so I assume something's been saved.

Should be fixed now?

And DKH is now causing this too: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=1513

Fixed!

[Link]

Okay, so housing options...

There are quite a lot of options, in a variety of locations and styles.  A few choices below:

Link	Beds	Total Cost	Cost Each
https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p417583vb	12	$4,028.00	$335.67
https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p4755753	12	$7,769.50	$647.46
https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p1186801vb	15	$5,306.00	$353.73
https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p8564962	16	$8,042.04	$502.63
https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p1186801vb	20	$6,148.00	$307.40

Just some ideas, please feel free to suggest anywhere else you see that might be suitable.

Unticking all of the checkboxes under one of the first four headings on the game search page and performing a search gives you an SQL error:

Couldn't connect to database: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'AND (committeeRating >= 2) AND (isCommercial = 0) AND (dl_url_broken = 0)' at line 1

Unticking all checkboxes under two headings will give you "AND AND (committeeRating...", three, "AND AND AND..." and four, "AND AND AND AND...".

Interesting!  I've already completely rewritten the search page, which will be released soonish.  Thanks for the report though.

Is there a technical reason why some games don't show the picture when selected, even though they do have pictures uploaded into the database?
I thought I would use the feature to quickly remind me of the game and BGs, but noticed that a lot don't show the picture. Oh well, at there's the link.

The images were marked as broken by some naughty people.  I have fixed the 'broken' images, so the thumbnails now load.

We can't do the first week, but the third is fine.  Weekend to weekend is of course always preferable for a Mittens, so does 15-22 September work for everyone?

Got the access, thanks.  I'll try to work out how to handle the importing soon.

I think we'll need to use REST/SOAP to do this.  Does that need to be turn on, or access granted, or is it accessible by default?