Unique Words

[eqaeqa]

Does anyone else sometimes wish that a record was kept of how many unique words you've got?

It makes me happy to see words in green when I've finished a board :)
Especially when the board's been played a fair few times.

But of course if you're one of the first to play the board you'll get loads, and there's a few other problems I can think of.

I still think it'd be nice though..what does anyone else think?

[jillhasskills]

I think that is a great idea! I agree it's not a big deal if you're the first to play, but maybe put a condition with it, like only track unique words if over 50 people have played that puzzle, or something like that. I,too, love those green words when a puzzle has been played by all the best! On the other hand, sometimes I come up with a super unique word, and then there are no greens, and I realize that maybe it's not so unique after all! You are all word geniuses, and I bow down to you!

[Crovax]

I think that is a great idea! I agree it's not a big deal if you're the first to play, but maybe put a condition with it, like only track unique words if over 50 people have played that puzzle, or something like that. I,too, love those green words when a puzzle has been played by all the best! On the other hand, sometimes I come up with a super unique word, and then there are no greens, and I realize that maybe it's not so unique after all! You are all word geniuses, and I bow down to you!

I agree with this completely.

And perhaps there could be another statistic for the most-played puzzle you've ever found a unique word on.

[eqaeqa]

Yeah I was thinking along the same lines, like you got points for unique words once a certain percentage of words has been found, or like jillhasskills said once a certain number of people have played.

And maybe you could get more points per unique word as percentage of words found/ number of people increases?

[Cheddar]

I love this idea! Those green words are sometimes what keeps me playing LOL I don't always have a chance at finding the most words on a board, but one green word makes my day.

[admin]

Thanks everyone for the suggestion! This might be a little tricky to implement but I'll give it some thought and see if I can work it in somehow.

- Stephen

[Joesgirl]

I agree with all of you about getting unique words. The best is when a puzzle has been played over 100 times and you still find the longest or most points per word--and it still unique!

Does anybody notice that there are very few new puzzles lately? I used to run across them all of the time but it seems like all of them are well played. I have played hundreds of games and found only one 5 x 5 in all those games.

[OpenYourMind]

if the board-retiring function still isn't working, that may be preventing new boards form generating. the system may think it already has plenty.

just a guess, but seems possible.

[admin]

Apologies for the lack of new games - I had to temporarily shut off the board creator for a while as we were running low on system resources. I'm at work currently on a new method of generation that should be a bit less resource-hungry.

[hollygolfs]

I am wondering what happens when you play a board that you have already played? I know if you beat your old score the new score appears; but what if you don't, does it count just as another game or does that new score "x" out your old score in the average? Perhaps that is just way to complicated and I am overthinking.................:confused:

[AdamsMuse]

I think it just counts as another game as I have played games that I had the highest points per word and longest word and didn't beat them. My name remained in the record and it didn't seem to change. As a matter of fact, I saw the same game about a month later and the score was still there...hope this helps.

I see you in the stats all of the time! Wish I could play as well as you.

[hollygolfs]

Thanks I think that makes the most sense. I am not often sure how to go about getting an answer to a question, I think it is hit and miss.

I appreciate the reply!

[OpenYourMind]

howdy...i was just wondering if there is any ETA for when the board generating function will be reinstated. (i'm assuming it's not, since it's still been ages since i saw a new or hardly played board.)

i was also wondering if board retiring is working again yet.

thx!

[Nafets]

I've thought about that too ... I do love my green words :D
Never thought about suggesting it, but if there could be a tally of unique words, I would certainly appreciate it. Of course, some sort of new board exclusion system would have to be in place, so that maybe 60% (I have no idea if that's a good number) of words on the board have to be found, or perhaps 40+ or 50+ people have played it. The latter alternative would perhaps be better, as it reflects general shifts in difficulty from one board to the next, and the threshold would be easier to find.
Just throwing in my support

[Q-skooled]

Thanks everyone for the suggestion! This might be a little tricky to implement but I'll give it some thought and see if I can work it in somehow.

- Stephen

You might check with Conrad, the admin/creator for netfrolic.jumbalaya.org for ideas on some of these new features (e.g. unique word lists for every player and all time uniqueness).

[Crofty]

I wonder which would be more resource-friendly:

making a new section in each member's stats for their average percentages of unique words

or

having a cursor-activated box over each word that says who got the word first when the cursor is dragged over it

Personally, I prefer the box idea...what do you think, admins?

[admin]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm still working on code that will be able to better track unique words, but its still got a ways to go before it will be ready to go live. I'll keep these suggestions in mind as the build continues.

Thanks!

[MadSlantedPowers]

I'm not sure how the previous suggestions would work. Perhaps it would be easier to treat the unique words like the section on your profile where it has number of records held. If you find a unique word, it is added to your total, and once that word is no longer unique for that puzzle, your total would decrease.

[chiman]

On the results page, to the right of the graph, is there room for a top ten of best contribution of new words ? It could come into place after a certain number of games. Would this be easy enough to implement?

Also , to have the number of times the game had been played at that time.

[Biloxidebbie]

I love it when a game has been played over 75 times and I still find a unique word or beat the record for the most letters or points. I love getting that 7 letter word when the record has been 6 for all those games! Makes me feel smart for a few minutes...

[paigle]

I think the point at which a unique word becomes noteworthy on a given board is a function of the percent of possible words that have already been found. Since each board differs in word richness, 'percent words found' might be a better metric than number of people having already played a particular board. What that percent should be (50%? 75%) I have no idea.