"Date and time are placeholder" has ruined gaming sessions

[NMErickson]

18 minutes ago, Sendai-Horatio said:

I've used date and time are a place holder sessions a few times myself. People log in at different times and sometimes we get them done earlier, sometimes we get them done later. But everyone who signs up gets their trophies and for the people who don't log on, I try to contact them again to make sure they're at least still interested.

That’s awesome and you sound like a diamond in the rough type of host. More times than not, once the host has gotten the trophies, the session is essentially dead from my experience. The host has messaged early joiners, they got the trophies, and everyone else that joined after fend for themselves, usually sending random messages to others asking to boost. It’s a free-for-all and not fun. All depends on what host you have. Placeholder sessions can be good when your host is organized and devoted.

 

 

@Kcrack_Km“Placeholder is fine. A lot of us are in our 30's with kids and other commitments that can ruin a strict boosting session time due to unforeseen priorities.”

 

I fit that category (well 40’s) and I’d argue the opposite. Set times for a session would allow me to knock it out then and not interfere with my other commitments the following weeks. Can see it both ways though.

Edited July 26, 2022 by NMErickson

[Kcrack_Km]

38 minutes ago, NMErickson said:

That’s awesome and you sound like a diamond in the rough type of host. More times than not, once the host has gotten the trophies, the session is essentially dead from my experience. The host has messaged early joiners, they got the trophies, and everyone else that joined after fend for themselves, usually sending random messages to others asking to boost. It’s a free-for-all and not fun. All depends on what host you have. Placeholder sessions can be good when your host is organized and devoted.

 

 

@Kcrack_Km“Placeholder is fine. A lot of us are in our 30's with kids and other commitments that can ruin a strict boosting session time due to unforeseen priorities.”

 

I fit that category (well 40’s) and I’d argue the opposite. Set times for a session would allow me to knock it out then and not interfere with my other commitments the following weeks. Can see it both ways though.

 

I don't know if you misread my post but if my child becomes sick, I'd be taking them straight to hospital. Not continue boosting. 

[CptToffer]

My recent (and overall limited) experience has been mixed. I had two loads of sessions lined up for Battlefield V that I joined and zero people, including the creator showed up. Frustrating but ultimately I just played something else. That had a set date and time on both occasions 

 

On the flip side, someone created a open-ended "No time and date" for AC Unity and within 24 hours we had a PS Party/Group chat going and I got the trophies I wanted. That did involve pairing up with someone more communication and so forth. 

 

I can see it from both point of views but for me the flexibility of no time/date is better for my commitments as a Dad of a small goblin who likes to wake randomly in the night. 

 

I always think of it like trying to organise a D&D session - communicate, communicate, communicate. End of the day, people have lives, things come up. It isn't a question around how important trophy hunting is to them - I doubt we'd not be having this conversation if people weren't invested - but sometime shit happens and letting a stranger know they can't fly a computer generated plane, bombing manned stationary gun emplacments with two other strangers, won't be the first thing on everyone's mind. But it might factor into their thought process if you've reached out before hand and been like "Hello my dude/dudette, thanks for signing up, let's go get'um" 

[JunkSkelington]

There's a lot of "but time zones or people are busy" ... then don't join a session scheduled at a time that doesnt work for you? You can make your own and scheduled it when its convenient for you. Dont join a session scheduled at a time you cant make and ghost everyone. 

[AJ_Radio]

1 hour ago, CptToffer said:

My recent (and overall limited) experience has been mixed. I had two loads of sessions lined up for Battlefield V that I joined and zero people, including the creator showed up. Frustrating but ultimately I just played something else. That had a set date and time on both occasions 

 

On the flip side, someone created a open-ended "No time and date" for AC Unity and within 24 hours we had a PS Party/Group chat going and I got the trophies I wanted. That did involve pairing up with someone more communication and so forth. 

 

I can see it from both point of views but for me the flexibility of no time/date is better for my commitments as a Dad of a small goblin who likes to wake randomly in the night. 

 

I always think of it like trying to organise a D&D session - communicate, communicate, communicate. End of the day, people have lives, things come up. It isn't a question around how important trophy hunting is to them - I doubt we'd not be having this conversation if people weren't invested - but sometime shit happens and letting a stranger know they can't fly a computer generated plane, bombing manned stationary gun emplacments with two other strangers, won't be the first thing on everyone's mind. But it might factor into their thought process if you've reached out before hand and been like "Hello my dude/dudette, thanks for signing up, let's go get'um" 

 

Assassin's Creed Unity only needs two players. You can do the co-op missions on your own but they're a bit hard, having that second player helps tremendously.

 

It really just depends on the people you're with. When I did Red Dead Redemption 1 early last year we had a couple groups going where everybody was communicating. I had to get up at a hour that I'm normally asleep for Kingpin, where you need nine people participating. The host leader did a great job keeping everybody in line, and once somebody said their turn was up, the next person had their turn and so forth.

 

Unfortunately this hasn't been the same experience for Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. The online is god awful, because you need six players who can rotate. AEOTM (Abstergo Employee of the Month) has a couple feats that require no less than five players. The servers are wonky and have been for years, meaning that one person may not join the session.

 

Both Assassin's Creed Revelations and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag both only needed four players, which made them far more doable. It's why I tend to absolutely despise games from 2008 - 2010ish in regards to online because those trophies are absolutely brutal. I cannot blame people for giving up on those platinum trophies, because they demand a great deal out of you.

[Mina]

Hrm, some of these responses might explain why I’m seeing a lot of people creating their own tight knit groups of boosters. It seems most of the organised people are hiding away in their private groups and I guess I don’t blame them at this rate.

 

Personal preference would have to be people I’ve boosted with previously but I also don’t mind the challenge of randoms. I don’t really know how else I’d have gotten some games done if it weren’t for PSNP sessions. Admittedly some were horrid, some people equally so, but most have been great. The bad sessions simply taught me how to pull the finger out of my behind and actually host for once. The first time I tried it, I realised that I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. I love the organisation, the people I get to network with, the satisfaction of others succeeding. It’s become one of my favourite things to do and I encourage anyone to try it especially if you’ve had little luck with other hosts. It does come with a heap of responsibility but it’s doable with some trial and error. Start small and see how you go.
 

To address the concern in this thread, I also use that phrase “time and date are placeholders” when I’m trying to collect bodies for a future boost - usually for larger boosts. In my experience I find the key to success is transparency in the session description. If the host can be detailed in what/how they will achieve things, they will likely avoid bloating groups with no shows/dormant people. Overall however I do prefer to use specific times and dates as I don’t always have that flexibility in life. It’s actually a really important feature that would be illogical to remove.

[NMErickson]

2 hours ago, Kcrack_Km said:

 

I don't know if you misread my post but if my child becomes sick, I'd be taking them straight to hospital. Not continue boosting. 

Of course. Emergencies happen. Just saying in general, I would have planned, had free time then, and set that time aside for the session. In the end, one’s preference doesn’t matter because one can just make their own but BlindMango’s earlier post said it best-have it differentiated by it’s anytime start time and avoid that type if wanted.

[ObsiEez]

2 hours ago, JunkSkelington said:

There's a lot of "but time zones or people are busy" ... then don't join a session scheduled at a time that doesnt work for you? You can make your own and scheduled it when its convenient for you. Dont join a session scheduled at a time you cant make and ghost everyone. 

The problem with this is that people don't follow this, so you're pretty much forced to have placeholders and then organize it in a group chat later. I can't tell you how many times I've made sessions (For Assassin's Creed Brotherhood in particular a few years ago) where I'd have a set time & everyone was to show up at a specific time & all agreed to show up at that specific time. Half of them would never show & would stop messaging, including the back up members. Hell, sometimes literally everyone wouldn't show. This has happened several times. I have never once had a session with a set time that was actually successful & everyone showed up. But placeholders and organizing later on has worked 9/10 times for me, so I will use that method & that's exactly why most people will keep using that method. 

[fbdbh]

It is absolutely fantastic that placeholder sessions exist. With jobs, kids and other stuff it's really not a viable thing to expect me to be there EXACTLY when somebody has their entire day off for that session, but since you're not allowed to go to the forum to wave your hand and say "add me as a friend", this is the closest thing you can do. We can figure shit out within the placeholder session, we're not morons.

[DrBloodmoney]

For my two cents - the "Placeholder sessions" are the only thing that makes the PSNP Boosting Sessions function work at all, as far as I'm concerned.

I won't join any session where the host is being snooty about times/ dates - as even if I work to their schedule, dollars to doughnuts someone else won't, ans the whole session will fall apart anyways.

 

If someone is creating a session, they are doing so because they want help with a trophy, the same as everyone else.

 

Setting a specific time and place is fine - we all have schedules and commitments - but being completely inflexible and obstinately stubborn about it - about when they want to receive that help they are asking for - is a staggeringly entitled and unbecoming look.

 

You're asking for help - so don't be snotty about it. Set the session as open, let people tell you when they have time available, and work with people. Come up with a reasonable timeframe, and reasonable schedules that work for everyone, and hopefully enough people will join that shifts can be worked out across different timezones, so everyone gets a chance to get the trophies in a timely manner. 

 

You get more bees with honey.

 

 

[running_Amok_86]

The vast majority of the time I can find a session or create one very easily to get the trophies I need - I love this feature of the site.  However I have had a few experiences where the date is a placeholder or whatever and it is constantly being shifted, even though there is enough interest from players joining.  This is annoying and I end up leaving.  I think at the very least people who organise sessions should state a date they can commit to.

[You]

I just remembered another small gripe, and that is with stacks / cross play.

 

Like if someone is wanting to boost on Elden Ring and they make a PS5 session, I won't be able to join the session because I have the PS4 version and because I don't have the PS5 version it will say "Oh sorry you don't even own the game", of course you can still post but it doesn't even show up in my feed as upcoming games so I probably wouldn't even notice a session was there to help someone out.

Edited July 26, 2022 by enaysoft

[secretthriller]

not really the same issue but maybe it would be good to limit how many sessions someone can create at one time.  I guess a report function would be great to  

[Johambubger]

From personal experience, if you require more than 3 people, setting a time and date and sticking to it is the only thing that works on this site. For example, I recently hosted a session for Red Dead Redemption that focused on the Kingpin trophy, which is a bit of a pain in the ass as it requires 9 people. I created a session where I stated the time and date that the boosting was going to take place, and added whoever showed interest to a PSN group chat. The days leading up to the session I kept sending messages reminding people of when the boosting was going to happen. I felt like I was being a bit annoying doing this, but when the time of the session finally came, there were nearly 30 people in the group chat, and so many active players that we had to split into two groups. A bunch of people got the trophy, and chose to stick around after to go for some other trophies as well.

If I had just said ''time and date are placeholders, just let me know what time works for you'' the group chat would have turned into a frustrating mess of people not committing to anything or people joining and then not saying anything, and I highly doubt we would have been able to get even 9 people together, let alone 18+. 

 

A set time and date weeds out the people who are in completely inconvenient time-zones to you, and while it may cause less people to join the session, it ensures that the people who do join are actually available at the time that works for you. If that makes me entitled and snotty, so be it, because it works.

Edited July 27, 2022 by BEARDLESSVlKlNG

[AJ_-_808]

23 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

For my two cents - the "Placeholder sessions" are the only thing that makes the PSNP Boosting Sessions function work at all, as far as I'm concerned.

I won't join any session where the host is being snooty about times/ dates - as even if I work to their schedule, dollars to doughnuts someone else won't, ans the whole session will fall apart anyways.

 

 

So... not everyone has a flexible schedule.  If someone is setting a specific day/time, it's not because theyre being snooty, it's because that's a time they're available and they're throwing it out there to see if anyone is.

 

It's kindof expected that if you know the day/time beforehand, and sign up for that, it's because you're aware of the day/time and it's agreeable to you.  Means better chance (on paper anyway) the people that sign up actually show up

[DrBloodmoney]

12 minutes ago, AJ_-_808 said:

 

So... not everyone has a flexible schedule.  If someone is setting a specific day/time, it's not because theyre being snooty, it's because that's a time they're available and they're throwing it out there to see if anyone is.

 

It's kindof expected that if you know the day/time beforehand, and sign up for that, it's because you're aware of the day/time and it's agreeable to you.  Means better chance (on paper anyway) the people that sign up actually show up

 

On paper sure, but the proof is in the pudding - any time I've seen a session where the host is rigid about times / dates, it's a waste of time, and falls apart before it even gets off the ground.

 

Sessions where the host just acts as a lighthouse, pulling people together using the Sessions thing, then figuring out a schedule that works for everyone separate to that, the sessions have worked... (or at least, have a better success rate.)

 

The fastest I've ever seen sessions fall apart, is when the host gets snarky with people about being on time, or not being ready, or having emergencies come up - and where the host failed to factor those things in, and only invited the bare minimum of people.

 

If the site ever got any updates, I'd suggest that the Sessions remove the time/ date thing entirely, and instead just act as "pools" - people sign up to them to show their interest, their name is added to a list that others can use as a quick reference to add everyone else on PSN, and a separate discord (or similar) hub is created, where people can organise into smaller groups with parallel availability.

Trying to be prescriptive simply doesn't work, in my experience.

Edited July 27, 2022 by DrBloodmoney

[AJ_-_808]

45 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Snip

 

And the opposite is true for me, but i usually host, assist, or take over if needbe.  Having clear guidelines up front usually reduces the headaches.

Agree to disagree I suppose.

 

I will say though, having it's own category separate of each day would be an excellent idea.

[Vault-TecPhantom]

6 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

 

On paper sure, but the proof is in the pudding - any time I've seen a session where the host is rigid about times / dates, it's a waste of time, and falls apart before it even gets off the ground.

 

Sessions where the host just acts as a lighthouse, pulling people together using the Sessions thing, then figuring out a schedule that works for everyone separate to that, the sessions have worked... (or at least, have a better success rate.)

 

The fastest I've ever seen sessions fall apart, is when the host gets snarky with people about being on time, or not being ready, or having emergencies come up - and where the host failed to factor those things in, and only invited the bare minimum of people.

 

If the site ever got any updates, I'd suggest that the Sessions remove the time/ date thing entirely, and instead just act as "pools" - people sign up to them to show their interest, their name is added to a list that others can use as a quick reference to add everyone else on PSN, and a separate discord (or similar) hub is created, where people can organise into smaller groups with parallel availability.

Trying to be prescriptive simply doesn't work, in my experience.

 

This. I always put time and date as a placeholder, especially when dealing with different timezones. Having a set time/date just limits potential joinees. One has to factor in that people have different lifestyles and commitments outside of video games. If a player is flaky the host will figure that out very quickly which is why adding one or two extra slots than needed helps as well.

[LegendExeter]

I've not really had issues with this.  It also depends on the game and the number of players needed, as well as trophy lenght...quick one or a long grind.  I like bigger groups because it simply gives you more probability to start a session on your own terms or your own timeframe that works for you.  However I have joined and will meet at specific times if needed.  I also usually don't have a problem being flexible, so if we need to change or adjust I can do that, and if I can't...or at work, then I can't.  

 

I've usually had good luck, there has been a few people who I remember if they weren't as fair or legit.  I would just create my own session as others have suggested, if no one joins, try another one.  Try to be flexible to work with other people's times.  Who knows if you join a group of gamers because of one game, you may end up playing other games and other trophies with them, so who knows.

[Mellenthin]

The effectiveness of boosting sessions have always been a mixture of various things. During the golden days of PST, a single post was often more than enough to get you going - being up front and taking command also often work wonders, which has already been pointed out.

 

I've only set up a single session on PSNP so far so I probably shouldn't make too many assumptions, but the signs are somewhat telling in my opinion and also reflect my experiences to a large degree.

 

Just like here as on PST, if you advertise and don't follow up, nothing will likely occur - people can be unbelievable lazy. In this case, I have had a far better response from asking questions on the specific game's forum and sending random messages to recent players than after sending FR's and creating a chatgroup for the sessions participants.

 

Then again, my experience and common sense also tells me that accepting people with too wide of a view concerning trophies in general - especially when it comes to low population games - will usually be a fruitless endeavour unless you already know the right people. That, or if you're willing to fork up money and pay people - which I'm not.?

 

 

Edited July 27, 2022 by Mellenthin

[z99f]

Well, I have boosted many games over my 12 or so years of trophy hunting and I for one believe removing the "time and date are placeholders" would be a great disservice to many of us. I would say 90% of the boosting sessions I have participated in have taken place under this banner. Only a handful of them have ever had a strict time and date. With my work schedule being all over the place at times, this option for flexibility really is beneficial. 

 

I guess my issue really isn't with what is being said here (because I do agree that there are some improvements that could be made to this system), but rather how it's being said. I feel like it isn't accurate to label all "time and date are placeholder" sessions as being "the problem". As others have pointed out, this may actually be an issue with the session's host or even those that the host has recruited (manual approval of members is still a thing for a reason...). Sure, there will always be anomalies when boosting with complete strangers (it comes with the territory), but I think there is still an abundance of evidence here that suggests "time and date are placeholders" isn't the primary culprit for disorganized sessions. 

 

 

[JackyIsMad]

Setting exact times rarely works, you end up having to reschedule and then people who were only available for the time you put in the session get all pissy. Much easier to say, hey times are flexible, find a few people who are looking to get some trophies and then create a group chat somewhere and figure out the best time for everyone. 

 

Also some people REALLY hate placeholders, its just silly, you don't have to join. no need to comment on the session. 

 

[Aluminium_Sirius]

13 hours ago, JackyIsMad said:

Setting exact times rarely works, you end up having to reschedule and then people who were only available for the time you put in the session get all pissy. Much easier to say, hey times are flexible, find a few people who are looking to get some trophies and then create a group chat somewhere and figure out the best time for everyone. 

 

Also some people REALLY hate placeholders, its just silly, you don't have to join. no need to comment on the session. 

 

Well, they invented time zones for that, right? You don’t have to let every single player who owns the same game join your session. Just those that live in your time zone is sufficient.

 

 

People who place a „holder” instead of time frame does not want to do the task in any nearest future. They will just belabour the issue until they get famous about it. They seek attention while not having an idea what thay want to achieve.
Oddly, this weird word was previously used in HTML only - but in playstation it means „I don‘t know wtf I want, so deal with it, or stay in line. I’m here so I can get more views.”
If you see a session like this better give it the widest berth possible. It won’t yield anything. My two cents on the issue.

[JackyIsMad]

1 hour ago, Aluminium_Sirius said:

Well, they invented time zones for that, right? You don’t have to let every single player who owns the same game join your session. Just those that live in your time zone is sufficient.

 

 

People who place a „holder” instead of time frame does not want to do the task in any nearest future. They will just belabour the issue until they get famous about it. They seek attention while not having an idea what thay want to achieve.
Oddly, this weird word was previously used in HTML only - but in playstation it means „I don‘t know wtf I want, so deal with it, or stay in line. I’m here so I can get more views.”
If you see a session like this better give it the widest berth possible. It won’t yield anything. My two cents on the issue.

bruh chill, its a video game, also time zones dont mean shit, i often play at 3 am to play with people in different time zones, or im getting up at 10 am, its almost like just because you live within the same time zone doesn't mean you can play at the same time. and yeah i dont have to allow everyone to join the session, but instead of combing though recent players, its handy to have an area to find people that would be willing to cooperate and find a time that works for everyone. not everyone who owns re5 joined my session, and look even with by placeholder session, already found someone to play, and we already started playing

[Burgins]

the placeholders are because of people having limited time and needing to sync up schedules. dumb nitpick