Increased Personalizing Of Our PSN Profiles?

[Dreakon13]

Let's face it... the reason we have trophy cards, profile pages, personalized banners, avatars, custom colors... is to make our profile ours.  We want people to click our names and look over our profiles, get a general idea of who we are, what we care about and how we game.  What I wouldn't mind is taking another step towards this.

 

The first idea that comes to mind for me is a spot on our profile pages just to write a paragraph or two about whatever our little hearts desire.  Could use it as a little place to write up a quick gaming biography, say "Hey, my names Bob, 35 years old, been playing games since I was a baby, etc".  Could use it as a little place to promote Twitter feeds, Youtube channels, Steam/Xbox/Nintendo id's, etc.  Not unlike the "About Me" section of the forum... but... the trophy cards don't link to the forum profiles, right?

 

Also, not to rip off Steam... but I love their modulized approach to profile layouts.  The user can add multiple boxes of information at their discretion (limited by what "level" your account is) on top of the basic stuff, including items like a "Custom Info Box" (a box where you can do a small writeup like what I suggested above) and a "Achievement/Trophy Showcase" (user can pick their favorite trophies to show on their page) and a "Favorite Guide" (where a stylish box promoting the users favorite guide on the site).  I'm sure if something like this were implemented, we could come up with creative ideas for informational "boxes"/"modules" people could add to their profiles.  To avoid things getting too cluttered, maybe limit all users to two or so of these modules added to their profiles, or maybe reward additional boxes (ie. increased personalization) for site participation or trophy levels.

 

Just a thought anyways.

Edited February 16, 2015 by Dreakon13

[antithesis]

Solid idea. I've often considered migrating my Trophy Checklist from .com over to here at PSNP, but the Profile covers much of that turf anyway, so I haven't bothered. A simple "About Me" section would solve the last piece of the puzzle.

[The Chosen Undead]

Interesting. This should be a thing.

[Karnacharya]

Personally, I don't see the need for it. The current layout is clean and fairly minimal, and I'm a huge fan of it for that reason. The availability of trophy cabinets and personalized milestones already ensure that profile pages are going to be unique to each user.

[Dreakon13]

Personally, I don't see the need for it. The current layout is clean and fairly minimal, and I'm a huge fan of it for that reason. The availability of trophy cabinets and personalized milestones already ensure that profile pages are going to be unique to each user.

 

Of course, the section would be optional if you prefer a more minimal look for your profile.

[ExHaseo]

One of the big pulls for PSNP is how simple, elegant, and easy to use it is. Adding a wall of text and a bunch of shameless self promotion would take away from that image considerably.

 

You can say it's optional to do it, but that won't change the fact that you have to see it on other people's profiles. More importantly, it won't keep new people from seeing it. If someone who's never seen PSNP before happens to stumble upon a profile that has a wall of obnoxious text, a bunch of icons, gifs, and links to different pages and what-not, they're more likely to just leave, because they don't care to sift through it to see what the site actually is. Unless they just want to use the site for shameless self promotion, and I don't think anyone wants the site to turn into a place filled with people like that.

 

More importantly than all of that, and I'm not saying this to be mean, but the harsh reality of it is that, very few people are going to care what you write anyway. It will mostly be ignored, and it will ultimately just add unnecessary clutter to the main site. If you really want to display that kind of thing, that's what your forum profile and the trophy checklist section is for. If anyone really cares about your twitter, about you, or whatever they can look at it there. That's what people do now, and it works out great. The people who care can get the info, and people who don't aren't bombarded with it.

[Dreakon13]

One of the big pulls for PSNP is how simple, elegant, and easy to use it is. Adding a wall of text and a bunch of shameless self promotion would take away from that image considerably.

 

You can say it's optional to do it, but that won't change the fact that you have to see it on other people's profiles. More importantly, it won't keep new people from seeing it. If someone who's never seen PSNP before happens to stumble upon a profile that has a wall of obnoxious text, a bunch of icons, gifs, and links to different pages and what-not, they're more likely to just leave, because they don't care to sift through it to see what the site actually is. Unless they just want to use the site for shameless self promotion, and I don't think anyone wants the site to turn into a place filled with people like that.

 

More importantly than all of that, and I'm not saying this to be mean, but the harsh reality of it is that, very few people are going to care what you write anyway. It will mostly be ignored, and it will ultimately just add unnecessary clutter to the main site. If you really want to display that kind of thing, that's what your forum profile and the trophy checklist section is for. If anyone really cares about your twitter, about you, or whatever they can look at it there. That's what people do now, and it works out great. The people who care can get the info, and people who don't aren't bombarded with it.

 

I have to take a little offense to this because you've just made the most ludicrous bastardization of my idea that I could've possibly imagined when posting this.  Character limits, image limits (I really don't see a reason to allow images at all to be honest) can and should be systemically enforced with an idea like this.

 

If someone is interested in you, they came to your profile through your trophy card afterall... (and I'm not following your logic behind why someone is scouring your gaming profile, enough to be turned off by the hypothetical wall of text, but ISN'T interested in anything about you whatsoever)... having a reasonably sized blurb about yourself, what you do or something you think would be valuable information is not a bad thing at all.  New users wouldn't think to look at your forum profile, or the trophy checklist forum.  I'd wager a lot of users ignore the forums altogether.  As a long time Steam user, having my PC specs easily accessible on my profile has come in handy on more than a few occasions when talking to people... both on my end and theirs... for just one example.

 

If you don't find this particularly useful for your purposes, that's fine... but call an apple an apple.  It's just your opinion, you wouldn't use it, leave it at that.  What an ego to think that your tastes are the only reason a website might have value.

Edited February 16, 2015 by Dreakon13

[Kittet3]

Ouch

 

Some type of personalization would be nice! Minus the trophy cabinet, our profiles are basically just a bunch of information and seem disconnected by our actual presence on the site. You can't even really tell whether the person's profile that you are looking at is a member of the site or a random name that was thrown in the generator. A simple intro would be nice, maybe colour schemes? and some type of linkage to what we actually do on the site (Is this person a forumer, a chatter, a guider, a statisticer, or a stalker (Yes I made a majority of those words up ) )

[Dreakon13]

You can't even really tell whether the person's profile that you are looking at is a member of the site or a random name that was thrown in the generator.

 

One might even say, that's sort of the point.  Everyone looks like a member of the site!

Edited February 16, 2015 by Dreakon13

[D-Tron]

Personally, I don't see the need for it. The current layout is clean and fairly minimal, and I'm a huge fan of it for that reason. The availability of trophy cabinets and personalized milestones already ensure that profile pages are going to be unique to each user.

Not to mention you can use custom images for your banners and/or cards.

 

 

maybe colour schemes?

This is the only thing I would approve. No extra customizations like adding images and whatnot.

 

 

Whether it's implemented or not, I would prefer that profile customization be a lesser priority. The idea is nice, but Sly is just one man (not sure if he has others helping him or not). Besides, there are other things that can prove to be beneficial to other users that I would prefer be implemented first. Like that reputation system for gaming sessions.

 

[antithesis]

One of the big pulls for PSNP is how simple, elegant, and easy to use it is. Adding a wall of text and a bunch of shameless self promotion would take away from that image considerably.

 

You can say it's optional to do it, but that won't change the fact that you have to see it on other people's profiles. More importantly, it won't keep new people from seeing it. If someone who's never seen PSNP before happens to stumble upon a profile that has a wall of obnoxious text, a bunch of icons, gifs, and links to different pages and what-not, they're more likely to just leave, because they don't care to sift through it to see what the site actually is. Unless they just want to use the site for shameless self promotion, and I don't think anyone wants the site to turn into a place filled with people like that.

 

More importantly than all of that, and I'm not saying this to be mean, but the harsh reality of it is that, very few people are going to care what you write anyway. It will mostly be ignored, and it will ultimately just add unnecessary clutter to the main site. If you really want to display that kind of thing, that's what your forum profile and the trophy checklist section is for. If anyone really cares about your twitter, about you, or whatever they can look at it there. That's what people do now, and it works out great. The people who care can get the info, and people who don't aren't bombarded with it.

 

1. Your example is extreme, but that's why limitations could be placed upon the contents of that field or fields. About Me could toggle open / closed, closed by default. Problem meet solution.

 

2. Steam provides the option for a quick intro, there's no reason to believe the feature would be widely abused. Do you see many, if any, offensive background images on PSNP? The same logic applies - there's nothing to stop me uploading a dick pic, but I choose not to.

3. Who cares if "very few people are going to care what your write anyway"...it's not their profile. Your profile is YOUR profile...that's kinda Dreakon's point.

 

I'd personally like to see Trophy Checklists as a pre-formatted extension of Profile with the customisation options Dreakon is talking about. Most checklists look like shit - let's tart them up. Slot an intro at the top of a Profile, add slide-outs with Difficulty, Rating, Best / Worst / Hardest etc trophy, a mini-review and / or pros (+) / cons (-) below the games and you've got yourself a Checklist.

Edited February 16, 2015 by ant1th3s1s

[BlindMango]

So I'm also sort of with the people that say to keep walls of text and gifs and stuff off of main profiles and keep that to forum profiles as I like to visit people's PSN Profile just to see their trophies (and that's mainly it). That being said, a bit more personalization wouldn't hurt, what I liked about last years PrincessProfiles April Fools joke was that the module headings, percent bars, link colors were pink! Lol that was pretty cool - I think giving people the option to choose a color scheme for their profile would be kinda neat. I'm not too sure what else could be added in a clean way, but that's a good start

 

[Doom]

The "color scheme" is based on your PSN color.

And if you want more info on someone you just need to press the "forum profile" button. The forum profile is the place where you should write down whatever you feel like.

The trophy page is only for trophies.

[Xxleonardo97xX]

ExHaseo said it all. This website thrived because how professional an simple it looked, if everyone adds a wall of text and gifs it would hurt the site reputation.

This site is to compare trophies, if you want to talk about yourself, use the FORUMS.

[Saltyie]

What about a blog area or friend feed like Truetrophies?

[Dreakon13]

This site is to compare trophies

 

And read/make trophy guides, and start/join gaming sessions, and chat with other gamers, and view detailed statistics of your gaming habits (based on trophies).

 

I guess part of my problem is when I see "PSN Profiles", I've always felt like there's potential for so much more than a simple trophy checking site.  It's not "PS3Trophies" or "PlaystationTrophies" or "TrueTrophies".  It's PSN Profiles, a website for all things related to your PSN profile.  Sly probably doesn't see it that way, and a lot of users don't either... as can be seen by the wild disinterest in user reviews/ratings on games and other non-trophy, community-driven activities.  I understand I'm kind of alone in this thought.

 

That being said, a blurb on your main profile page isn't exactly falling off the deep end.  Like ant1th3s1s pointed out, there could very well be trophy related uses for something like this.  There could and should be limitations to avoid abuse.  Heck... at the end of the day, it might even make the profiles look even nicer... and be more informative for yourself and even others.  Which is clearly viewed by some as a slippery slope, but I don't think so.

Edited February 16, 2015 by Dreakon13

[ExHaseo]

I have to take a little offense to this because you've just made the most ludicrous bastardization of my idea that I could've possibly imagined when posting this.  Character limits, image limits (I really don't see a reason to allow images at all to be honest) can and should be systemically enforced with an idea like this.

 

If someone is interested in you, they came to your profile through your trophy card afterall... (and I'm not following your logic behind why someone is scouring your gaming profile, enough to be turned off by the hypothetical wall of text, but ISN'T interested in anything about you whatsoever)... having a reasonably sized blurb about yourself, what you do or something you think would be valuable information is not a bad thing at all.  New users wouldn't think to look at your forum profile, or the trophy checklist forum.  I'd wager a lot of users ignore the forums altogether.  As a long time Steam user, having my PC specs easily accessible on my profile has come in handy on more than a few occasions when talking to people... both on my end and theirs... for just one example.

 

If you don't find this particularly useful for your purposes, that's fine... but call an apple an apple.  It's just your opinion, you wouldn't use it, leave it at that.  What an ego to think that your tastes are the only reason a website might have value.

 

I've seen it happen before, and there absolutely will be people that take it to the extreme. I'm not saying everyone will, but it will definitely happen. When implementing any kind of new idea, you have to take the extreme into account. If you don't account for the possible scenario, the whole thing could blow up in your face unexpectedly. I've run websites and forums before (none near as big as this one though), and I've seen it happen. You have to take abuse into account, or it could hurt, or even kill, the site. I've also seen many forum profiles here that are absolute messes with giant walls of text and the like. From my understanding, you're basically asking for those sections to be on the main profile, and it will absolutely clutter the page and make it a mess.

 

You can have character limits, but if it's too small to add a relevant amount of info, then what's even the point? And if it's too big, you're going to get that wall of text. You mentioned adding multiple boxes. But at that point, it wouldn't matter what kind of character limit you had, because you could just add more boxes and line them up, making the whole section even bigger.

As for images, I'll admit this was an assumption that people would be able to add images. Because you mentioned adding in links to other pages, which generally means image icons.

 

That's not always the case. I discovered the site because I thought the trophy card looked cool, and I wanted to check out the site where it came from. I didn't care at all about the actual profile. I just liked the design and the stats and thought I'd check out the site. Had there been a wall of text, or had the website been cluttered or confusing (like TrueTrophies for example) I would've left immediately. The profile is more than likely the first thing possible new members see, because the trophy cards fairly are widespread throughout other sites. 

I can't believe that a person wouldn't think to check forum profiles for an about me section if they really cared to find one. I don't believe anyone is that dumb. I can't believe that if someone is interested in another's trophy endeavors that they wouldn't check the trophy checklists either. That's what those sections are for, and it's not too difficult to figure out. And if they're ignoring the forums altogether, then they really must not care about anyone else here.

 

By that logic, your post should've just said, I disagree, and left it at that.

I believe in giving reasoning with opinions, because without it, there's no point in saying anything. I gave my opinion, and I explained why. I'm also obviously not the only one that's of the opinion that, as you've explained it, it's not something that should be implemented. This is judging from other people who have said as much, and the people that liked the post. I also never said I wouldn't use it, I outlined how it would be abused. If everyone was the same, there'd be no reason to worry, but they're not. There are obnoxious people out there who would abuse it. And there's no reason to get personal, so I'm not going to address that last part.

 

 

1. Your example is extreme, but that's why limitations could be placed upon the contents of that field or fields. About Me could toggle open / closed, closed by default. Problem meet solution.

 

2. Steam provides the option for a quick intro, there's no reason to believe the feature would be widely abused. Do you see many, if any, offensive background images on PSNP? The same logic applies - there's nothing to stop me uploading a dick pic, but I choose not to.

3. Who cares if "very few people are going to care what your write anyway"...it's not their profile. Your profile is YOUR profile...that's kinda Dreakon's point.

 

I'd personally like to see Trophy Checklists as a pre-formatted extension of Profile with the customisation options Dreakon is talking about. Most checklists look like shit - let's tart them up. Slot an intro at the top of a Profile, add slide-outs with Difficulty, Rating, Best / Worst / Hardest etc trophy, a mini-review and / or pros (+) / cons (-) below the games and you've got yourself a Checklist.

 

1. I think extremes need to be taken into account. If you can't predict abuse, and do something to stop it, it could easily hurt the site. I know that not everyone would abuse it, I'm sure there would be plenty that use it in a way that's totally fine, but those aren't the people that anyone needs to worry about. We need to worry about those that don't, and plan for the worst possible scenario. Which is why I brought up the point.

Something like a toggle feature would be a decent work around. But instead of a toggle, I think it'd be better to just add a new tab, and make it it's own page entirely. Alongside the statistics and trophy log tabs. That way, people can do whatever they want without bombarding random people with whatever it is they put, but still have free reign to do whatever they want. Even at that point, it seems a bit pointless to me, as you can already do that on your forum profile, but I think it'd be a decent compromise.

 

2. Looking at people's forum profiles, there's plenty of reason to believe it will be abused. I've seen some that have huge walls of text (most notably, long lists of games) and obnoxious images. I also never said anything about offensive images, I'm not worried about that, I just talked about obnoxious ones. Like giant images or gifs with a lot of movement. Which I've seen on this site. 

 

3. If we're working with the stance of, "your profile is for you", then why would you need an about me section? You should already know yourself pretty well.

 

I actually like that idea. Add trophy checklists as a new section. It shouldn't be abused since there's a focused point to it, and would be in a different section. Instead of just a, "do whatever you want" box on your main profile page. That's my real issue, that it's a free-for-all. I know that plenty of people wouldn't abuse the box, and would just add a line or two about who they are what they like to play. However, I know that there are some people that won't be like that. As I've said, those are the people that we should be worried about.

[ShogunCroCop]

And read/make trophy guides, and start/join gaming sessions, and chat with other gamers, and view detailed statistics of your gaming habits (based on trophies).

 

I guess part of my problem is when I see "PSN Profiles", I've always felt like there's potential for so much more than a simple trophy checking site.  It's not "PS3Trophies" or "PlaystationTrophies" or "TrueTrophies".  It's PSN Profiles, a website for all things related to your PSN profile.  Sly probably doesn't see it that way, and a lot of users don't either... as can be seen by the wild disinterest in user reviews/ratings on games and other non-trophy, community-driven activities.  I understand I'm kind of alone in this thought.

 

That being said, a blurb on your main profile page isn't exactly falling off the deep end.  Like ant1th3s1s pointed out, there could very well be trophy related uses for something like this.  There could and should be limitations to avoid abuse.  Heck... at the end of the day, it might even make the profiles look even nicer... and be more informative for yourself and even others.  Which is clearly viewed by some as a slippery slope, but I don't think so.

 

After reading all of the posts, I do feel this is a good idea.

 

However, I feel it would take away from a huge part of this site: the forums. By putting personal information, or trophy checklist information, as some have mentioned, on the profile page, in my opinion, it would render the forums useless except for asking game/trophy related questions. People can just visit the trophy page, get all the info they need on that person, and never visit the forums.

 

The forums keep everyone interconnected, and it gives it a nice feel of general camaraderie. You lose that by putting just enough on the trophy pages to prevent users interacting with each other.

 

I like how it is now. If you want to read someone's About Me, you click Forum profile on the trophy page and it takes you to there.

 

So while I think this is a solid idea in theory and concept, it might take away from the practicality of many areas of the site.

 

Just my opinion.

Edited February 16, 2015 by ShogunCroCop

[Dreakon13]

By that logic, your post should've just said, I disagree, and left it at that.

I believe in giving reasoning with opinions, because without it, there's no point in saying anything. I gave my opinion, and I explained why. I'm also obviously not the only one that's of the opinion that, as you've explained it, it's not something that should be implemented. This is judging from other people who have said as much, and the people that liked the post. I also never said I wouldn't use it, I outlined how it would be abused. If everyone was the same, there'd be no reason to worry, but they're not. There are obnoxious people out there who would abuse it. And there's no reason to get personal, so I'm not going to address that last part.

 

There's a difference between reasonably expressing your concerns, and saying what essentially amounts to "this idea would ruin the site, new members and everyone but you would immediately turn away because of it, and no one really gives a shit about you anyways".  Believe it or not, you made it personal.

 

Not to mention most of your concerns are extreme exaggerations that can easily be resolved with limitations, instead you disregard the idea altogether as blasphemy.  For what it's worth, when I suggested "multiple boxes", I didn't mean inviting people to string together a giant wall of text... I meant the modularized approach from the OP.  You wouldn't get two About Me boxes, you would have one About Me box and be able to add something else as well.  Like a "trophy checklist" box, let's say.  But just another example of trying to discredit me instead of giving the idea a fair shake.

 

And you don't need a ton of space to add something useful, once again I refer you to my "system specs" I added to my Steam profile that have come in handy on more than a few occasions.  Obviously that wouldn't apply on a Playstation profile, but something like it.

[Sikatiiker]

Personally I'm not into this kind of customization, I'm only visiting the PSNP to keep record of my trophy stats and the forum to get and spread information. Just saying, no offense. Other people spend more time here and may like the idea.

[ExHaseo]

There's a difference between reasonably expressing your concerns, and saying what essentially amounts to "this idea would ruin the site, new members and everyone but you would immediately turn away because of it, and no one really gives a shit about you anyways".  Believe it or not, you made it personal.

 

Not to mention most of your concerns are extreme exaggerations that can easily be resolved with limitations, instead you disregard the idea altogether as blasphemy.  For what it's worth, when I suggested "multiple boxes", I didn't mean inviting people to string together a giant wall of text... I meant the modularized approach from the OP.  You wouldn't get two About Me boxes, you would have one About Me box and be able to add something else as well.  Like a "trophy checklist" box, let's say.  But just another example of trying to discredit me instead of giving the idea a fair shake.

 

And you don't need a ton of space to add something useful, once again I refer you to my "system specs" I added to my Steam profile that have come in handy on more than a few occasions.  Obviously that wouldn't apply on a Playstation profile, but something like it.

Up until this point, I haven't said anything about you personally. You're being ridiculously irrational and taking things personally that aren't as a defense, instead of being rational and considering something that's against your point of view. You obviously didn't even read my whole post. I don't care to deal with people like you, so I'm just going to ignore you from now on. That was personal.

 

Just one more thing, and this is an important lesson for you kid, just because someone doesn't share your point of view, doesn't mean what they're saying is an attack on you. 

[Dreakon13]

Just one more thing, and this is an important lesson for you kid, just because someone doesn't share your point of view, doesn't mean what they're saying is an attack on you. 

 

"More importantly than all of that, and I'm not saying this to be mean, but the harsh reality of it is that, very few people are going to care what you write anyway."

 

This is the part that really got to me.  Not because I'm concerned how many people care about what I write.  That was NEVER the intention of my idea (which just means you didn't even get it from the start).  But because you felt it necessary to grace me with your life lessons and harsh realities for no other reason than me suggesting something you didn't like.  And you're still doing it.  Kid?  Really?  Seriously, get over yourself.  For crying out loud.  Find some other way to stroke your ego, take up a hobby.

 

EDIT: Ah!  Just found this ignore user feature.  That'll be a time-saver going forward.

Edited February 16, 2015 by Dreakon13

[Xxleonardo97xX]

ahhhh... okay, you two really didn't understand eachother

 

Anyways, I think that each PSN profile page should stay as it is, only to compare trophies. To know more about everyone else use the forum board. Tbh I don't think this will ever be implemented.

[Dreakon13]

Tbh I don't think this will ever be implemented.

 

No harm in trying, right?

[antithesis]

Anyways, I think that each PSN profile page should stay as it is, only to compare trophies. To know more about everyone else use the forum board. Tbh I don't think this will ever be implemented.

I never compare trophies. I use it as a journal and a bookmark, not a pissing contest.

I don't think it'll be implemented either, but I would like to see some sort of Trophy Checklist template that integrates Dreakon's suggestions. The forums aren't particularly well suited to that kind of thing, with very limited formatting. Spoiler tags look fucking awful too - they could use some CSS love.