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Does anyone have any pet peeves related to Roadmaps & Trophy Guides?


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This can be either from the guide writer's perspective and/or the guide user's perspective. You can list more than 1 if you have more than 1.

 

NOTE: This is not to be used to point fingers at certain guide writers. This is speaking in general. Regardless of the little things that annoy us they all put work and effort into helping the community with their guides. I still appreciate the work they do regardless of my pet peeves. Remember, pet peeves are not things that anger us or make us bitter, but rather minor annoyances.

 

Here are mine. I know I'm not alone as I have talked to others with their own pet peeves related to guides.

 

1. As a guide writer, my main pet peeve is more related to the title of a guide. I can't stand seeing guide titles that list Trophy Guide before Roadmap, such as Trophy Guide & Roadmap. The reason this bothers me is because the Roadmap comes before the Trophy Guide, so it makes more sense to say Roadmap & Trophy Guide. Listing Trophy Guide first just doesn't make sense and seems so wrong to me. :p

 

2. As a guide writer, another pet peeve of mine is when a guide writer treats the Roadmap as though it is separate from things like Introduction, Walkthrough, etc. This bothers me because the Overview, Introduction, Walkthrough, and whatever else you have there are all parts that make up the Roadmap. So when I see stickied guides that list Roadmap after the Overview or somewhere else that is not before it and/or with the same header size as the Roadmap sub-headers, it drives me nuts, lol.

 

3. As a guide user, I find guides that are less streamlined and send you back and forth bouncing all over the place in the Trophy Guide to be very annoying when they could of listed all related or similar trophies together.

Edited by StarlightDoll
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1. Will effect google searches... Just look at your LBP guide. It doesn't even come up because you named it differently. People search for "trophy guide" and the roadmap is just a bonus.

 

2. Roadmap needs to be listed at the top, Guide team will make you change this.

 

3. XMB order is always the best way, or hidden trophies at the bottom. People can easily find stuff then as you'll think "Ah, the one I need help on is near the top of the list so i'll look there". When it's all messed up, can be harder to find things. Plus, main site guides are all in XMB order and they get used a lot.

 

and nope, people spend a lot of time writing guides and effort goes into them. If people want to do it a certain way, let them. As long as it helps people that is what matters here.

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When people Google Trophy guides, they don't really care for the Roadmap, so they search "Said game Trophy Guide". That brings in more traffic than Roadmap & Trophy Guide.

 

As for pet peeves? I didn't even think there was such a thing for this kind of tropic. Everyone has their own style and format of writing guides.

Edited by Warbear
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No I don't, if somebody wants to take their free time to write a guide then I'm not going to nitpick little things that bother me about it. Thanks guide writers! :D

 

Well I am a guide writer and user, and I like hearing what people think as I strive to make my guides the best they can be. People will always have pet peeves, and I don't take offense to them.

 

1. Will effect google searches... Just look at your LBP guide. It doesn't even come up because you named it differently. People search for "trophy guide" and the roadmap is just a bonus.

 

2. Roadmap needs to be listed at the top, Guide team will make you change this.

 

3. XMB order is always the best way, or hidden trophies at the bottom. People can easily find stuff then as you'll think "Ah, the one I need help on is near the top of the list so i'll look there". When it's all messed up, can be harder to find things. Plus, main site guides are all in XMB order and they get used a lot.

 

and nope, people spend a lot of time writing guides and effort goes into them. If people want to do it a certain way, let them. As long as it helps people that is what matters here.

 

1. Odd, because I search all of my guides on google by searching the name of the game followed by roadmap and only roadmap. My guides are always top result.

 

2. I've seen some stickied guides with Roadmap after Overview time to time.

 

3. I disagree. As a guide user I have always been bothered when people follow XMB order rather than grouping the trophies into type, especially when that type is for certain steps in a walkthrough. To each their own though. :)

 

When people Google Trophy guides, they don't really care for the Roadmap, so they search "Said game Trophy Guide". That brings in more traffic than Roadmap & Trophy Guide.

 

As for pet peeves? I didn't even think there was such a thing for this kind of tropic. Everyone has their own style and format of writing guides.

 

Odd, because I have tested this myself. Whether you type in Roadmap or Trophy Guide, the same thing will pop up in the same result. For every guide I have ever looked up on google, not just my own, I have typed in the name of game followed by Roadmap and the guides are usually the top result. If they are anything but the top result, whichever result they are is the same regardless of whether I use Roadmap or Trophy Guide because both words are part of the same link since both are in the title.

Edited by StarlightDoll
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If you are not into trophy hunting, you don't even know of the term "roadmap". When you name your guide "Game name + Trophy Guide", it will always get more hits through searching, because the term "Trophy Guide" is more natural when you search for how to unlock trophies.

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Yeah, it might be now but it did take a while for it to be there because of how you named it.

 

I check same day I pub guides. I always make sure because I like to share links to my guides with other gamers, hunters, and friends I have on other sites, but just in case no one trusts the link I give them the google search to type in on google, so I make sure I get the same results. Not sure why it gives you different results. That's bizarre. :think:

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1. Odd, because I search all of my guides on google by searching the name of the game followed by roadmap and only roadmap. My guides are always top result.

 

Google tailors your search results based on where you visit, so it will more than likely always show yours as the first result since you are going to visit the forum page a lot. Try searching it on a different computer you don't normally use or using incognito mode on chrome. If it's been up a bit it might go to the forum thread, or more likely the main site guide if it's been stuck, but I guarantee unless it's a small game without a lot of info out about it it won't show up as first result on google immediately.

Edited by Gage
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Personally I'm not a fan of when guides group the trophies into their own sections, e.g. all the Single Player trophies in one post, all the Multiplayer trophies in another, etc. for the very reason Harry explained...

 

3. XMB order is always the best way, or hidden trophies at the bottom. People can easily find stuff then as you'll think "Ah, the one I need help on is near the top of the list so i'll look there". When it's all messed up, can be harder to find things. Plus, main site guides are all in XMB order and they get used a lot.

 

It's odd, since normally the perfectionist in me would categorise them, but I think because they already have a set order (the trophy list) then we don't need to further break it down. f I'm having trouble with a trophy or just want some more deets on it, I'll quickly check the XMB, and try to find it in a similar fashion in the guide. Of course it only takes a second to CTRL + F it, but hence why it's a pet peeve - it's minor.

 

My major pet peeve however is when the guide is just riddled with links to other guides. One guide I saw had 20+ links to other peoples' videos/GameFAQs guides... :facepalm: Um, I asked for a trophy guide, not a fucking link hub to other people's work who actually bothered putting in effort. There's nothing wrong with a video and/or link to a FAQ that adds to what the author wrote, but when they just take the lazy option and just link someone else's effort when they realise "well shit now I'm gonna have to actually do some work", it's almost an insult to think how it got a sticky in the first place. Personally I think there should be some sort of limit on how many external links there are allowed in a guide, but perhaps this one example was just an extreme.

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If you are not into trophy hunting, you don't even know of the term "roadmap". When you name your guide "Game name + Trophy Guide", it will always get more hits through searching, because the term "Trophy Guide" is more natural when you search for how to unlock trophies.

 

True, but as I mentioned in a post before you, which word you use shouldn't matter if both words are in the title of the same thread. Results are based on the popularity of what you searched for. Any key words related to the topic will pull up the results. If there are a bunch of other links out there with the same title, it might not be the top result if another is more popular, but if your roadmap & trophy guide happen to be the only one for the game or the most visited, it will be top result since there are no others.

 

Google tailors your search results based on where you visit, so it will more than likely always show yours as the first result since you are going to visit the forum page a lot. Try searching it on a different computer you don't normally use or using incognito mode on chrome. If it's been up a bit it might go to the forum thread, or more likely the main site guide if it's been stuck, but I guarantee unless it's a small game without a lot of info out about it it won't show up as first result on google immediately.

 

Okay, I'll try that, but when I google the results are based on the most popular (visited) link related to what I searched for. I thought for tailoring it would have to be set to do that. On my PC the only tailoring google does is when I open a new tab it lists multiple mini windows showing sites I visit a lot, but never tailors my searches.

Edited by StarlightDoll
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True, but as I mentioned in a post before you, which word you use shouldn't matter if both words are in the title of the same thread. Results are based on the popularity of what you searched for. Any key words related to the topic will pull up the results. If there are a bunch of other links out there with the same title, it might not be the top result if another is more popular, but if your roadmap & trophy guide happen to be the only one for the game or the most visited, it will be top result since there are no others.

 

That is true when a certain amount of time passed, but it will definitely be indexed faster by search engines if you name it like I mentioned.

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Okay, I'll try that, but when I google the results are based on the most popular (visited) link related to what I searched for. I thought for tailoring it would have to be set to do that. On my PC the only tailoring google does is when I open a new tab it lists multiple mini windows showing sites I visit a lot, but never tailors my searches.

 

Oh no it's still doing it in searches, whether you know about it or not. :p

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That is true when a certain amount of time passed, but it will definitely be indexed faster by search engines if you name it like I mentioned.

 

Well I search mine same day I put them up and always have same results, and not all of my guides are for a popular game, plus guides not by me that I've waited until they were up. I'm not saying you're wrong as you have clearly tried this yourself. Just saying I have also tried and have yet to run into a difference. Maybe it depends on what you mean by amount of time passed. I usually check within the hour after publish, but not right away. Maybe certain amount of time means at least 30 mins or less after publish. Next time I pub a guide for a popular and unpopular game, I will check right away before 5 minutes even pass.

 

Oh no it's still doing it in searches, whether you know about it or not. :p

 

I know it's not because google tells you how it is doing the search based on what it is set to, which includes total number of results, and even my most used and visited sites related to said topic will not show as top result or even less unless it really is among most popular. :p This is why official sites related to the topic, or wikipedia page, or other most popular web searches are usually at the top.

Edited by StarlightDoll
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One issue I have comes from Guides for games that have no need for them (ex: The Walking Dead). If you can explain the entire process of 100%'ng a game in less than five words, a guide is unnecessary. I also sometimes wish they could be more informative, but that's case-by-case. Both things a very minor in the grand scope of trophy guides. I'm very thankful they exist and the people who take the time to put them together :) And, honestly, I prefer the trophies being split up into sections (if applicable). I find it easier to follow especially if there are missables.

 

My one Guide is Uncharted: Fight for Fortune. Might not be the model Guide and Roadmap, but I'm pretty proud of it myself :)

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Unless you clean your cookies after every site you visit, google knows what you're doing. ;)

 

Yeah I know google knows what I'm doing which is why when I open a new tab it shows the mini windows with the sites I visit the most. But it does not tailor my searches as gg said. In example, PST is the trophy related site I visit the most by far, but when I search anything trophy related it is never top result. I have been a part of a fan site for games where I visit that site more than other sites related to said game, but when I search for name of game the official website and wikipedia, plus other pages more popular show up first, not ones I visit the most.

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2. As a guide writer, another pet peeve of mine is when a guide writer treats the Roadmap as though it is separate from things like Introduction, Walkthrough, etc. This bothers me because the Overview, Introduction, Walkthrough, and whatever else you have there are all parts that make up the Roadmap. So when I see stickied guides that list Roadmap after the Overview or somewhere else that is not before it and/or with the same header size as the Roadmap sub-headers, it drives me nuts, lol.

 

Personally I'm not a fan of when guides group the trophies into their own sections, e.g. all the Single Player trophies in one post, all the Multiplayer trophies in another, etc. for the very reason Harry explained...

 

This and this, especially what Furuba pointed out.

 

Also, I know it's not required or anything and it's not really a pet peeve, but I'd find it super useful if guide writers put whether a game has collectibles or the number of collectibles a game has in the roadmap.

Edited by Ryukori
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This and this, especially what Furuba pointed out.

 

Also, I know it's not required or anything and it's not really a pet peeve, but I'd find it super useful if guide writers put whether a game has collectibles or the number of collectibles a game has in the roadmap.

 

Aren't the two of those posts quite the opposite? Stilettos prefers them grouped together, and I prefer them in XMB order? :think:

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XMB isn't always a practical order of a guide 100% of the time. Some developers apparently did progression by trophy weight, game progress, or they were drunk behind the keyboard.

 

Linking to other supplements I'm fine with if the game isn't that big to warrant the effort internally here. Or maybe its ever-evolving data. I once did a guide for a Day-0 release game and actually helped build up a game's Wiki site along with my trophy guide. That also made it adamantly clear who the source of the information was from, myself. Then later on even more tactics by the community. That is a result of my passion for that game, which obviously goes beyond trophy walls which can result in a way better guide.

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