OKg Archive

General and OKgamers.com => Site Improvements & News => : X_A February 25, 2009, 01:50:28 PM

: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: X_A February 25, 2009, 01:50:28 PM

So, I'm going to get some time to put into OKgamers soon, and revamp the front / main pages.  Other than a FAQ, and new photos in the header - that are guaranteed to happen, what else would you like to see?

FEEL FREE TO GO WILD - however realize not everything is doable :)

Flash Chat = NO.  However, perhaps a javachat?  We have a IRC chat that no one uses lol.

Anyway - let your idea's fly - and discussion follow.  Please remember this is NOT the chat forum, so let's stay on topic.



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: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Rislone February 26, 2009, 01:22:34 AM
Javachat is okay for the most part but gets blocked by tons of proxys, so our school friends and work friends may not be able to access easily.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Furyswrath February 26, 2009, 01:47:31 AM
heres what id like to see (and you know I will help ya)

1. Photo Gallery With Moderated uploads to allow members to upload their own gamer pics.
2. YouTube / Vimeo / Facebook / MySpace Video support in the BBCode
3. Gamertags / PSN / Wii  information in user profiles (i played with this and kinda had it working pretty good)
4. Forums Tags (but as we know we cant do this with SMF version 1, has to be version too. But just to throw that idea out)
5. Interactive Event Calendar. Say you Post a Event in the Calendar it Makes an automated forum post (or that deal I was working on for ya. Definitely need to at least do that for Form I Was working on atleast where you fill it out and it posts to the forums.)
6. Front Page Blog.  Need a way to jump out at people on whats going on with OkGamers.  Rather than have people browse the forums and hunt for upcoming events. i.e.  it was really hard to find out about OkGamer Meetings with out really searching and looking for it.  I Think a front page Blog will help this out.  Just need something where you (or staff) can post something of significance that happens here in Oklahoma for gamers.   Thats what I try to do with Plasma Burn, but I tend to do more National Gamer news and information.  But I really think we need something on the front page that can be dynamically updated and changed on a regular basis.
7. Let me put more emphasis on getting YouTube support and Photo Gallery Support.

Thats all I had on my Mind at the moment.  I know I had a ton of other ideas, I need to write them down.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: ezknight.okceca February 28, 2009, 12:59:23 PM
The Calendar is a great idea. That would be the first thing I would put up. It would be nice to look at a calendar see what is going on and then click on an event to be taken to the forum discussion for it. It would also help to be able to view regional calendars as well. So you can look at events only for OKC or Tulsa or whatever.

Photo galleries and gamertag friendcode etc would also be nice.

Aside from that and everything else Sammy mentioned, I can't think of anything else.

If need be, I can help.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: X_A February 28, 2009, 04:13:47 PM

Sammy - you and I have had some pretty indepth talks about changes - as you are a programmer, and I can come up with ideas :)  lol

But as you may recall - we HAVE a calendar - http://www.okgamers.com/forums/index.php?action=calendar

The problem is ADDING to it is so 'out of the way' and hard for people to do - thus yes, wanting to get your form working.  More so for the tags, but definitely for that.  How is SMF 2.0 coming along?!@



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: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Furyswrath February 28, 2009, 08:22:50 PM
My oklahomawow.com site is running SMF 2.0RC1 , So far so good. I havent had any major issues.

Check it out, I will even give you admin access so you can see how it all works.  Im using an addon with it called portamax. Turns SMF into a Blog / Portal Style Forum.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: X_A March 03, 2009, 12:16:07 AM

You've got broken images heh.

Anyway - so we can start the whole tag / tracker thing we discussed?!@  Or am I missing something, and 2.0 doesn't have it yet?



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: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Furyswrath March 04, 2009, 12:38:22 AM

You've got broken images heh.

Anyway - so we can start the whole tag / tracker thing we discussed?!@  Or am I missing something, and 2.0 doesn't have it yet?



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Yea I dont have it turned on right now.    As for the Images.  LOL you wouldnt see the broken images if you wouldnt use IE  lol    I Despise IE.  Ive come to terms that i dont care if 1/2 the US uses it lol   So far stat wise I only see 2 people that use it on okwow.  But yea its a crap theme I downloaded, and I Haven't edited fully yet. haven't had time quite yet.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: ezknight.okceca March 04, 2009, 09:25:43 AM
Yea I dont have it turned on right now.    As for the Images.  LOL you wouldnt see the broken images if you wouldnt use IE  lol    I Despise IE.  Ive come to terms that i dont care if 1/2 the US uses it lol   So far stat wise I only see 2 people that use it on okwow.  But yea its a crap theme I downloaded, and I Haven't edited fully yet. haven't had time quite yet.

You and me both. Unfortunately, my current job requires us to support IE6+. But any personal projects, no way.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: X_A March 04, 2009, 12:49:12 PM

Well, for the alerts / subscription system we talked about - tags seemed MUCHO importante.  If your not going to mess things up, I'd love to see tags working, and then review how / if we can still do that.   Are you still up for the form / system / yea?

Also - should I perhaps enable galleries / work with one - http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=1

That site is running SMF - and I thought about it after seeing it.  Course, I think putting them up on Facebook might be a better system heh, dunno.



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: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Furyswrath March 04, 2009, 03:13:19 PM

That site is running SMF - and I thought about it after seeing it.  Course, I think putting them up on Facebook might be a better system heh, dunno.


Might be able to do both at the same time. Ever heard of  Windows Live Photo Gallery?   Its a awesome program.   But  The development group I work with, we are working on a plugin that will tie a online photo gallery(we are trying to find the most common one used) with. Reason why is alot of Websites have a facebook group with a photo gallery tied to it.  and most people vist one or the other, so most webmaster want both.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Furyswrath March 06, 2009, 12:12:21 PM
Saif

I almost have Tags enabled on Oklahomawow.com    its a little buggy but I think most of the bugs where self induced, because I didnt read the install proceedures.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: X_A March 06, 2009, 02:28:15 PM

Well, I really feel that tag system is our biggest hurtle to getting the systems together; as you've said heh.  So, once we've got that upgrade we can proceed towards making OKgamers really really useful.  Let me know how your testing goes!



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: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: X_A March 10, 2009, 12:26:11 PM
Bump?

Surely the 4 of us aren't the only one with opinions lol.



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: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Animefreak6969 March 10, 2009, 05:29:56 PM
uhh........lets get some boobs up in this joint
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Furyswrath March 11, 2009, 12:56:05 AM
Add to the list.  a Favicon
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Rislone March 11, 2009, 03:58:27 AM
Add to the list.  a Favicon

Yeah, totally missed that one.

Took the liberty of making these two favicons if we want to use them.

(http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/Cmdrkeen123/favicon_sample.png)

We can have a vote and whichever one you guys want (if you want either of them) I will email the .ico file/s
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Furyswrath March 11, 2009, 08:04:16 AM
I like the OK

Can you Make one White Letter Black Background?  I Think that'd look better for a Favicon.  But Yea we tottaly need one. My Books look odd they all have one till i get to Okgamers ;)
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: ezknight.okceca March 11, 2009, 10:54:26 AM
I like the OK

Can you Make one White Letter Black Background?  I Think that'd look better for a Favicon.  But Yea we tottaly need one. My Books look odd they all have one till i get to Okgamers ;)

Yes, Favicons are great. But have you noticed that Firefox's bookmarks mix up favicons occasionally?
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: X_A March 11, 2009, 01:36:04 PM
I'd like to get a lower case g in there, and if you can email me the .ico file, I'll throw it up now lol.



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: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Furyswrath March 11, 2009, 06:43:25 PM
I like the OK

Can you Make one White Letter Black Background?  I Think that'd look better for a Favicon.  But Yea we tottaly need one. My Books look odd they all have one till i get to Okgamers ;)

Yes, Favicons are great. But have you noticed that Firefox's bookmarks mix up favicons occasionally?

Havent had that issue since 3.0.1.



And XA good Idea on the little g  I Like! Cant wait to see
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Rislone March 11, 2009, 10:42:29 PM
I like the OK

Can you Make one White Letter Black Background?  I Think that'd look better for a Favicon.  But Yea we tottaly need one. My Books look odd they all have one till i get to Okgamers ;)

Yes, Favicons are great. But have you noticed that Firefox's bookmarks mix up favicons occasionally?

Havent had that issue since 3.0.1.



And XA good Idea on the little g  I Like! Cant wait to see

I went with both suggestions and made a black background and a crimson background with OKG in them. I tried with the lowercase "g" but design-wise I didn't like it and used a capital instead. It's a pain when working with something that is only 16 x 16 pixels and trying to make it look good XD
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Furyswrath March 11, 2009, 11:30:54 PM
Been Playing around with a Free program called IcoFX

ehh. It looks ok.. Just need to play with it some more.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Timmy Skorcher March 12, 2009, 07:22:58 AM
Saif I think Fury was meaning a calendar with actual okgamers/members events on the calendar. Example: it would be great to actually look at the calendar and see the funhouse monthly or Hybrids Halo 3 tournament on the calendar.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Rislone March 12, 2009, 09:56:40 PM
Saif I think Fury was meaning a calendar with actual okgamers/members events on the calendar. Example: it would be great to actually look at the calendar and see the funhouse monthly or Hybrids Halo 3 tournament on the calendar.

We have that, just very few use it. Just click on calendar and it will show you everyone's birthdays and events if someone puts one in (i.e. the Stillcon event this month is on the 20th and you can click it and it takes you right to the post. It all just relies on the person and linking their event to the calendar.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Furyswrath March 12, 2009, 10:21:20 PM
Saif I think Fury was meaning a calendar with actual okgamers/members events on the calendar. Example: it would be great to actually look at the calendar and see the funhouse monthly or Hybrids Halo 3 tournament on the calendar.

We have that, just very few use it. Just click on calendar and it will show you everyone's birthdays and events if someone puts one in (i.e. the Stillcon event this month is on the 20th and you can click it and it takes you right to the post. It all just relies on the person and linking their event to the calendar.

Im working with the calendar deal off and on this week.  Im trying to see if i can get it to have additional "required" fields. Seeing how the Calendar API in SMF already has forum posting capabilities. So give me a little time and I bet i get it working with out error-ing out on me.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Rislone March 14, 2009, 04:26:54 AM
Saif I think Fury was meaning a calendar with actual okgamers/members events on the calendar. Example: it would be great to actually look at the calendar and see the funhouse monthly or Hybrids Halo 3 tournament on the calendar.

We have that, just very few use it. Just click on calendar and it will show you everyone's birthdays and events if someone puts one in (i.e. the Stillcon event this month is on the 20th and you can click it and it takes you right to the post. It all just relies on the person and linking their event to the calendar.

Im working with the calendar deal off and on this week.  Im trying to see if i can get it to have additional "required" fields. Seeing how the Calendar API in SMF already has forum posting capabilities. So give me a little time and I bet i get it working with out error-ing out on me.

Holy mutha freakin sweetness Batman. So what sort of fields are you wanting to add? I have never used the calendar function myself so I don't know all of what it can do.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: ezknight.okceca March 14, 2009, 09:43:41 AM
Thinking about the calendar, I think the reason so few people use it is because it is not accessible through a post to the forum.

If you actually go to the calendar and post the event, you can have it posted to the forums, but you cannot do it the other way.

Perhaps we can set that up.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: X_A March 16, 2009, 03:23:58 PM

Another thing I am going to do with the site - front page variation testing.

Some people have expressed the fact I should push the Tourny links down, others say higher, etc.

So - I'm going come up with 3 versions of the front page for testing, etc - that will be swapped out and studied.

If anyone would like to specifically make suggestions on what I should do / cut / etc - post them for that discussion to be had as well.



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: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Timmy Skorcher March 16, 2009, 04:36:51 PM

Another thing I am going to do with the site - front page variation testing.

Some people have expressed the fact I should push the Tourny links down, others say higher, etc.

So - I'm going come up with 3 versions of the front page for testing, etc - that will be swapped out and studied.

If anyone would like to specifically make suggestions on what I should do / cut / etc - post them for that discussion to be had as well.



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Or just one straight post for upcoming tournaments then click and it shows all local events
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Rislone March 16, 2009, 05:46:33 PM
Or it would be cool if you had like an applet that runs on the front page that detects their IP and gives them tourneys that are close to them. That would be nice but require loads of work I'm sure. And some people are at school and on other computers or using proxys or what have you but it would still be pretty cool IMO.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Furyswrath March 17, 2009, 06:33:14 PM
Or it would be cool if you had like an applet that runs on the front page that detects their IP and gives them tourneys that are close to them. That would be nice but require loads of work I'm sure. And some people are at school and on other computers or using proxys or what have you but it would still be pretty cool IMO.

Unfortunately that wouldn't work for every person.  Like say me.  Im on ATT UVERSE but if you did an IP trace it'd say I was somewhere in Missouri?   so it'd have it oddities.   But we can however (time being a factor here) make something that would search say a 100mile radius of a zip code they put in.   It would just take alot of time and planning to make a database searchable like that.  But its just a cool Gewhiz thing.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Rislone March 18, 2009, 12:18:17 AM
Or it would be cool if you had like an applet that runs on the front page that detects their IP and gives them tourneys that are close to them. That would be nice but require loads of work I'm sure. And some people are at school and on other computers or using proxys or what have you but it would still be pretty cool IMO.

Unfortunately that wouldn't work for every person.  Like say me.  Im on ATT UVERSE but if you did an IP trace it'd say I was somewhere in Missouri?   so it'd have it oddities.   But we can however (time being a factor here) make something that would search say a 100mile radius of a zip code they put in.   It would just take alot of time and planning to make a database searchable like that.  But its just a cool Gewhiz thing.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I figured. Otherwise I can't think of much else right now.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: X_A March 18, 2009, 02:14:09 AM

 What about any Facebook interaction with that?  Perhaps there is a usage of FB to indentify where they are at, and use that, and/or zips?



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: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Furyswrath March 18, 2009, 03:15:59 PM

 What about any Facebook interaction with that?  Perhaps there is a usage of FB to indentify where they are at, and use that, and/or zips?



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Yep Im sure between Lorien and Myself we can show you the facebook Connect API way.  Pretty fun stuff. I just converted Plasma Burn over to Facebook Integration,  Lorien is way better at it than I am. Im still learning the API.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: loriencfau March 23, 2009, 04:47:15 AM

 What about any Facebook interaction with that?  Perhaps there is a usage of FB to indentify where they are at, and use that, and/or zips?

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We can totally do that, my man.  As soon as I get this one thing (http://metroglow.com) off the ground (April 1) I should have more free time.  We will code, and perhaps make-out.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: loriencfau March 23, 2009, 04:49:26 AM
Or it would be cool if you had like an applet that runs on the front page that detects their IP and gives them tourneys that are close to them. That would be nice but require loads of work I'm sure. And some people are at school and on other computers or using proxys or what have you but it would still be pretty cool IMO.

Unfortunately that wouldn't work for every person.  Like say me.  Im on ATT UVERSE but if you did an IP trace it'd say I was somewhere in Missouri?   so it'd have it oddities.   But we can however (time being a factor here) make something that would search say a 100mile radius of a zip code they put in.   It would just take alot of time and planning to make a database searchable like that.  But its just a cool Gewhiz thing.

There are a number of PHP classes designed to do this very thing.  It's a easy hack for most geo data, if you're so inclined.  We used it on our movie database to present the closest theaters to our readers, automagically.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: loriencfau March 23, 2009, 04:51:00 AM
Or it would be cool if you had like an applet that runs on the front page that detects their IP and gives them tourneys that are close to them. That would be nice but require loads of work I'm sure. And some people are at school and on other computers or using proxys or what have you but it would still be pretty cool IMO.

I'm apparently working backwards!

If we could include a ZIP code as a data point, it would be easy (read: the wheel has already been invented) to show people the nearest within an x mile radius.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: loriencfau March 23, 2009, 04:54:46 AM

Another thing I am going to do with the site - front page variation testing.

Some people have expressed the fact I should push the Tourny links down, others say higher, etc.

So - I'm going come up with 3 versions of the front page for testing, etc - that will be swapped out and studied.

If anyone would like to specifically make suggestions on what I should do / cut / etc - post them for that discussion to be had as well.

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We've been using Google Website Optimizer (http://www.google.com/websiteoptimizer/) to test different designs.  It's an easy way to gather metrics on what people click between designs.  Not just for ads, but emphasizing them.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: loriencfau March 23, 2009, 04:57:45 AM
Saif I think Fury was meaning a calendar with actual okgamers/members events on the calendar. Example: it would be great to actually look at the calendar and see the funhouse monthly or Hybrids Halo 3 tournament on the calendar.

We have that, just very few use it. Just click on calendar and it will show you everyone's birthdays and events if someone puts one in (i.e. the Stillcon event this month is on the 20th and you can click it and it takes you right to the post. It all just relies on the person and linking their event to the calendar.

Im working with the calendar deal off and on this week.  Im trying to see if i can get it to have additional "required" fields. Seeing how the Calendar API in SMF already has forum posting capabilities. So give me a little time and I bet i get it working with out error-ing out on me.

If we can get a .ICS file out of this API, I would be happy to include the cal data on our Mg calendars.  Let me know if I can dedicate a few cycles to this project, Sammy.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: loriencfau March 23, 2009, 05:11:05 AM

Well, for the alerts / subscription system we talked about - tags seemed MUCHO importante.  If your not going to mess things up, I'd love to see tags working, and then review how / if we can still do that.   Are you still up for the form / system / yea?

Also - should I perhaps enable galleries / work with one - http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=1

That site is running SMF - and I thought about it after seeing it.  Course, I think putting them up on Facebook might be a better system heh, dunno.

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Here's what we need, people.

a.) A requirements doc.  What are the top ten reasons people come to OKG, and what are the top ten reasons they should come to OKG. Take those 20 things, prioritize them through a series of round tables with the users, drop the bottom 10, and writer your requirement doc.

b.) Code versioning and a build system.  As any project gets larger (especially with multi-personed teams) version control and build systems become more important.  Would it be nice to have a sandbox environment on your laptop, a staging server that mirrors production, and a production server that only gets updated when it's been vetted?  The answer is yes.

c.) Reboot OKG.  I'm not saying we don't use SMF for the forum, but I think it's time to run the core site on a more robust engine.  I'm platform agnostic, so it's definitely something we can talk about.

d.) More cookies.  We need them.

That's my summary of this thread, and I think if we even just build a requirements doc we'd be a long way to saving us a huge amount of hassle in the next 6 months.  Scope creep is evil, and a requirement doc will help us keep on track.

Or maybe I'm crazy!
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Furyswrath March 24, 2009, 01:00:51 AM
Saif I think Fury was meaning a calendar with actual okgamers/members events on the calendar. Example: it would be great to actually look at the calendar and see the funhouse monthly or Hybrids Halo 3 tournament on the calendar.

We have that, just very few use it. Just click on calendar and it will show you everyone's birthdays and events if someone puts one in (i.e. the Stillcon event this month is on the 20th and you can click it and it takes you right to the post. It all just relies on the person and linking their event to the calendar.

Im working with the calendar deal off and on this week.  Im trying to see if i can get it to have additional "required" fields. Seeing how the Calendar API in SMF already has forum posting capabilities. So give me a little time and I bet i get it working with out error-ing out on me.

If we can get a .ICS file out of this API, I would be happy to include the cal data on our Mg calendars.  Let me know if I can dedicate a few cycles to this project, Sammy.

funny you say that, I was reading up on a deal I read about in SMF that would allow for ICS.  I will look at it more indepth.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: Furyswrath March 24, 2009, 01:08:01 AM

Here's what we need, people.

a.) A requirements doc.  What are the top ten reasons people come to OKG, and what are the top ten reasons they should come to OKG. Take those 20 things, prioritize them through a series of round tables with the users, drop the bottom 10, and writer your requirement doc.

b.) Code versioning and a build system.  As any project gets larger (especially with multi-personed teams) version control and build systems become more important.  Would it be nice to have a sandbox environment on your laptop, a staging server that mirrors production, and a production server that only gets updated when it's been vetted?  The answer is yes.

c.) Reboot OKG.  I'm not saying we don't use SMF for the forum, but I think it's time to run the core site on a more robust engine.  I'm platform agnostic, so it's definitely something we can talk about.

d.) More cookies.  We need them.

That's my summary of this thread, and I think if we even just build a requirements doc we'd be a long way to saving us a huge amount of hassle in the next 6 months.  Scope creep is evil, and a requirement doc will help us keep on track.

Or maybe I'm crazy!

Exactly,  Saif maybe we can have a sit down with all the people that can help you and those who have some good ideas sometime?   Im all for like ive suggested before doing some sort of integration with some blogging software for a front end to manage the front page, that way its not so "static" I think the site needs to be more dynamic. Change is always good.
: Re: Revamping OKgamers.com - What do you want to see?
: loriencfau March 24, 2009, 01:30:56 PM
Saif I think Fury was meaning a calendar with actual okgamers/members events on the calendar. Example: it would be great to actually look at the calendar and see the funhouse monthly or Hybrids Halo 3 tournament on the calendar.

We have that, just very few use it. Just click on calendar and it will show you everyone's birthdays and events if someone puts one in (i.e. the Stillcon event this month is on the 20th and you can click it and it takes you right to the post. It all just relies on the person and linking their event to the calendar.

Im working with the calendar deal off and on this week.  Im trying to see if i can get it to have additional "required" fields. Seeing how the Calendar API in SMF already has forum posting capabilities. So give me a little time and I bet i get it working with out error-ing out on me.

If we can get a .ICS file out of this API, I would be happy to include the cal data on our Mg calendars.  Let me know if I can dedicate a few cycles to this project, Sammy.

funny you say that, I was reading up on a deal I read about in SMF that would allow for ICS.  I will look at it more indepth.

Great!  Let me know if I can pitch in.