"There's a Jeopardy command?" -everyone reading this, 2020
Not many people use the Jeopardy command, so it makes sense that it has a number of things that could be improved on. Or maybe people don't use it because there's a number of things that could be improved on. Regardless, I've used the command in a private room before- it was a lot of fun for me to host, and (hopefully) it was fun for the players as well. I was thinking that it could, with a few adjustments, become just as popular in public rooms- I'm mainly thinking about Trivia here, but there's nothing stopping other rooms from using it too.
N. B. I have next to no knowledge when it comes to coding, so I have no idea how easy or difficult any of these changes would be to implement.
Problem #1: Format for importing questions. When you import questions into the Jeopardy game, you can add questions for an entire category at once. Each question is separated from its respective answer by a vertical bar- which is fine- but the answer is separated from the next question by a comma. Not only does this seem inconsistent, but it also means that the questions themselves can't contain commas, which leads to slightly clunky wording or alternative punctuation. Imagine if I'd written this entire post with semicolons instead of commas. The simple solution to this would be to replace this comma with another vertical bar (à la Scavengers).
Problem #2: Limited number of players. This would probably be my most wanted change if the command was to be renovated; I think it would be the most important alteration if the Jeopardy command was to be used in public rooms. Currently, only three players (plus the host) can interact with the Jeopardy game, which would obviously be undesirable in an active public room. I can think of a couple of ways around this: firstly, simply increase the number of possible players and/or allow the host to set a player cap. The downside of this is that in a game with too many people, the points could be too spread out and it wouldn't be a very interesting game. Alternatively, allow for teams of players- two or more players can buzz in for a question individually and have their points added (or subtracted) from the same total. Of course, it would also work to implement both of these changes.
Problem #3: Adding players. A player can only join the Jeopardy game by being added by the host. This requires users to ask the host to add them, which can be a hassle for both the player and the host. My suggestion here would be to add either a "join" command, a "join waiting list" command (which would allow the host to see a list of users who want to play and then add them from there), or both.
Problem #4: Buzzer timer. After a question is selected, a blue box appears and turns green after a set amount of time. Players can only buzz in when this box is green. I don't have any problems with this (partly due to the fact that I don't know exactly how long the period of time is), but it might be worth considering changing the timer such that it automatically increases with the length of the question. I don't know how easy this is to do, and I also don't know if it's done already. In addition, I wouldn't mind seeing a penalty of some sort introduced if a player buzzes before the box turns green, whether this be a loss of points or a "cooldown" on the buzzer. The other, probably more important, change to the buzzer timer that I would implement is that I would have it skip the question after a certain amount of time has elapsed. It's possible to do this manually, but I think it would be more consistent (and more faithful to the original show) if it was timed automatically.
Problem #5: Category display. When a player selects a category and point value for the question, the question is shown instantly and nobody is told what the category is. This disadvantages the players who don't pick the category, since it's not always obvious what to do with the question. The fix for this would simply be to put the category and point value at the top of the box that contains the question, although it would also work to transfer the question selecting command from the player to the host, so the host has time to tell everyone what the category is in chat.
I really like the concept of the Jeopardy command and would love to see it used more, but I appreciate that there's probably a reason why it isn't as popular as I want it to be. I won't be surprised if the suggestion is rejected on the grounds of "nobody cares about Jeopardy." That said, I think it could be a nice addition to some rooms, and I might well continue using it in private rooms even if it isn't changed. At the very least, this post should raise awareness of the Jeopardy command, which is good enough for me.
Not many people use the Jeopardy command, so it makes sense that it has a number of things that could be improved on. Or maybe people don't use it because there's a number of things that could be improved on. Regardless, I've used the command in a private room before- it was a lot of fun for me to host, and (hopefully) it was fun for the players as well. I was thinking that it could, with a few adjustments, become just as popular in public rooms- I'm mainly thinking about Trivia here, but there's nothing stopping other rooms from using it too.
N. B. I have next to no knowledge when it comes to coding, so I have no idea how easy or difficult any of these changes would be to implement.
Problem #1: Format for importing questions. When you import questions into the Jeopardy game, you can add questions for an entire category at once. Each question is separated from its respective answer by a vertical bar- which is fine- but the answer is separated from the next question by a comma. Not only does this seem inconsistent, but it also means that the questions themselves can't contain commas, which leads to slightly clunky wording or alternative punctuation. Imagine if I'd written this entire post with semicolons instead of commas. The simple solution to this would be to replace this comma with another vertical bar (à la Scavengers).
Problem #2: Limited number of players. This would probably be my most wanted change if the command was to be renovated; I think it would be the most important alteration if the Jeopardy command was to be used in public rooms. Currently, only three players (plus the host) can interact with the Jeopardy game, which would obviously be undesirable in an active public room. I can think of a couple of ways around this: firstly, simply increase the number of possible players and/or allow the host to set a player cap. The downside of this is that in a game with too many people, the points could be too spread out and it wouldn't be a very interesting game. Alternatively, allow for teams of players- two or more players can buzz in for a question individually and have their points added (or subtracted) from the same total. Of course, it would also work to implement both of these changes.
Problem #3: Adding players. A player can only join the Jeopardy game by being added by the host. This requires users to ask the host to add them, which can be a hassle for both the player and the host. My suggestion here would be to add either a "join" command, a "join waiting list" command (which would allow the host to see a list of users who want to play and then add them from there), or both.
Problem #4: Buzzer timer. After a question is selected, a blue box appears and turns green after a set amount of time. Players can only buzz in when this box is green. I don't have any problems with this (partly due to the fact that I don't know exactly how long the period of time is), but it might be worth considering changing the timer such that it automatically increases with the length of the question. I don't know how easy this is to do, and I also don't know if it's done already. In addition, I wouldn't mind seeing a penalty of some sort introduced if a player buzzes before the box turns green, whether this be a loss of points or a "cooldown" on the buzzer. The other, probably more important, change to the buzzer timer that I would implement is that I would have it skip the question after a certain amount of time has elapsed. It's possible to do this manually, but I think it would be more consistent (and more faithful to the original show) if it was timed automatically.
Problem #5: Category display. When a player selects a category and point value for the question, the question is shown instantly and nobody is told what the category is. This disadvantages the players who don't pick the category, since it's not always obvious what to do with the question. The fix for this would simply be to put the category and point value at the top of the box that contains the question, although it would also work to transfer the question selecting command from the player to the host, so the host has time to tell everyone what the category is in chat.
I really like the concept of the Jeopardy command and would love to see it used more, but I appreciate that there's probably a reason why it isn't as popular as I want it to be. I won't be surprised if the suggestion is rejected on the grounds of "nobody cares about Jeopardy." That said, I think it could be a nice addition to some rooms, and I might well continue using it in private rooms even if it isn't changed. At the very least, this post should raise awareness of the Jeopardy command, which is good enough for me.
