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You love your site and we love your site, but there is a whole world of people out there who might not even know it exists. When they do find it, their first impression will either scare them away or keep them around. Given this, let's take a hard look at the questions and answers here and make sure newcomers see the site at its best!

Below you'll find ten questions randomly selected from this site. What do you think about each of them and their answers? Are they the best they can be or can they be improved? Would they look interesting and inviting to an outsider or are they a little embarrassing?

Upvote the corresponding post here on meta when we're awesome. Downvote when our content just isn't quite up to par.

Oh, and do comment to let everyone know your thoughts and take part in this conversation. :D

1
  • Thanks for all your help, everyone! :D
    – Aarthi
    Commented Jun 29, 2012 at 16:27

10 Answers 10

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12

What is a Gateway Game?

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

3
  • 3
    +1, good example of a terminology/lingo question. Maybe a little open-ended, but otherwise nice.
    – Hal
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 23:42
  • 1
    +1 A useful, well-phrased question, and a well-researched, complete answer with examples and clarifications. Great.
    – Johno
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 13:05
  • Note that the original Q I wrote for this produced a pretty good answer but not a great answer - so I had to work a bit to reword the Q (and unaccept the old answer). The work paid off as I got a great answer. I then revised the Q yet again to make it more like a reference rather than a work in progress. I say all this just to indicate that this Q took a bit of work.
    – Joe Golton
    Commented Jun 24, 2012 at 3:52
10

Maximum attainable points for a single player in a two player game of Carcassonne

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

7
  • 1
    +1 Fascinating, in-depth, and decidedly on-topic.
    – Hal
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 23:41
  • 2
    Assuming it's correct (I have no idea!) this is a well-calculated and explained answer. My only criticism of this question is: how useful is it REALLY? It's an incredibly specialist question for only hardcore Carcassone players.
    – Johno
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 13:08
  • 1
    @Johno I'm sure Pat or mafu or ire_and_curses could provide more insight here, but I'll say this much: questions like these (which only pertain to like 1% of people) have massive amounts of value for us. Often, they are the way people find our site in the first place!
    – Aarthi
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 14:55
  • 1
    @Aarthi Agreed! I'm sure there are users that would find this question interesting and thought-provoking, but from the point of view of new users and beginner gamers, it would probably rank low on a "usefulness" scale. I'm not saying (nor did I) that this question has no place here, I'm just trying to provide an alternative point of view for the sake of criticism.
    – Johno
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 15:03
  • 1
    @Johno Ahhhh. Okay! Well, my perspective is: a beginner wouldn't likely be looking for/at such a question, and a question like this would attract a new user to our site. Mind, I'm not an expert in (or even really familiar with) this field, but if it's as excellent a question/answer as you say, as a n00b I'd be inclined to poke around the site more, perhaps even join -- especially if excellent, deep-engagement questions and answers like this one are present here.
    – Aarthi
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 15:14
  • I love this kind of questions: turning a game into a puzzle that an algorithm can solve. I think it helps an experienced player look into a game in a different way. When I wrote this question, although it seemed solvable, I was hoping for answers that would provide insight into the solution. It blew me away how fast someone got to a well researched definitive answer. I think this speaks a lot for the people on this site!
    – rahzark
    Commented Jun 26, 2012 at 8:10
  • I found this very interesting, but I'm fairly sure the selected answer is not actually achievable. I tried messing around with the tiles for a while, and I couldn't construct the farming layout required while maintaining all the completed roads.
    – tttppp
    Commented Jun 29, 2012 at 12:34
8

"Brigand Attack" (when upgrading Settlement --> City)

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

1
  • 2
    A little terse, but a straightforward request for rules clarification and a (well-sourced) answer explaining it. No more is needed!
    – Johno
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 13:11
7

Constantinopolis Taberna Building

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

1
  • Question is very good, and the answer covers everything.
    – gbianchi
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 14:59
4

What happens if a blocking creature with flying loses flying?

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

1
  • 1
    +1 Overall, I think the site is very good at rules questions (for all games, not just Magic). We tend to be accurate, detailed, and timely.
    – Alex P
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 23:09
4

When should you side lands in and out?

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

1
3

How can I play around graveyard hate?

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

4
  • 1
    +1 I found the answers to be terse but functional.
    – Alex P
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 23:06
  • I don't know what to think about this questions. This get a lot of Q about magic, and sure the traffic is good. But all of them that are not rule related seems to ask about strategies. Are there any good answer for that?? My fear is that tomorrow a new set of card negates that strategy.
    – gbianchi
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 15:01
  • 1
    @gbianchi This answer would have been relevant in 1993 (when Tormod's Crypt was first printed), and I can assure you it will still be relevant in 2013. That's not a bad lifetime for a question!
    – Alex P
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 17:44
  • Also, I'm pretty sure that questions about rules and questions about strategy will make up the bulk of questions about any game. Those are, like, the two essential parts of playing a board game.
    – Alex P
    Commented Jun 27, 2012 at 5:49
3

Computer Scrabble UI & communication protocol?

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

7
  • +1 I think this is good for being the top answer on Google.
    – Alex P
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 23:19
  • 1
    I'm not sure if this Q is for this site. It cover all problems about algorithm and computers, not the game itself.
    – gbianchi
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 12:28
  • 1
    I'm also not sure if this belongs here, but I'm not sure where else it should go! The asker specifies that they couldn't find anything on Google and since there's no Scrabble.SE (as far as I know), maybe the question should be here. Given the ill fit for this site, I still think the answers were decent, though by no means great.
    – Johno
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 13:16
  • There's sort of a weird line between board-game-based video games and computers-playing-board-games in a more academic sense. My general feeling is that the second class of questions has a good home here, though I'm finding it hard to articulate why.
    – Alex P
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 17:40
  • 1
    @AlexP stackoverflow has a game-development tag. OP is asking about the protocol to comunicate the UI with the engine. Is asking about development, not the game. This case is borderline, but still not related to gaming. Could confuse new users to think that the site is computer development related instead of focusing on the game aspect.
    – gbianchi
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 19:07
  • @gbianchi Well, he's basically asking about designing a computer player rather than a computer game (the goal of the question is to avoid redoing the game stuff). Is there a dedicated AI Stack Exchange?
    – Alex P
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 19:24
  • 1
    @AlexP Not anymore; we closed that site a very long time ago because it wasn't working. I think building characters/players is on-topic here, though this feels like a gray area. Maybe it deserves a meta post?
    – Aarthi
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 19:32
-3

How to describe the strengths and weaknesses of white to a new mtg player?

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

1
  • 1
    -1 I think we tried pretty hard, but overall it's kinda meandering and unfocused. Reminds me a bit of a forum.
    – Alex P
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 23:05
-6

What happens when a piece is kinged in checkers?

What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

4
  • -1 Other sites seemed to cover it better.
    – Alex P
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 23:15
  • 1
    If the answer is an exact extract of a wikipedia page, we are not getting a good answer. Also the Q is bad, since wikipedia answer it!. Can't vote down (below 125)
    – gbianchi
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 12:25
  • 3
    I also think it's not a great question (poorly researched). I'm not sure what more you could expect from the answer in this case...
    – Johno
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 15:06
  • It's not so much that other sites cover the question; it's that ANY amount of research would have produced the answer post haste.
    – The Chaz 2.0
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 19:02

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