[Pcgen-team-code] [JIRA] Resolved: (CODE-107) Don't force user to select Align before Race before Class

[James D. (JIRA) <ji...@pc...>]

     [ http://jira.pcgen.org/browse/CODE-107?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:all-tabpanel ]

James Dempsey resolved CODE-107.
--------------------------------

    Resolution: Fixed

Fixed in new UI

> Don't force user to select Align before Race before Class
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: CODE-107
>                 URL: http://jira.pcgen.org/browse/CODE-107
>             Project: Code
>          Issue Type: New Feature
>          Components: UI
>    Affects Versions: 5.16.2
>            Reporter: David R. Bender
>            Assignee: James Dempsey
>             Fix For: CDOM UI
>
>
> SourceForge ID: 1244889
> New summary: Don't force user to select Align before Race before Class
> Type: New Feature
> Priority: Minor
> ======
> Details:
> FEATURE REQUEST:
> Make it possible for users of PCGen to create a character
> without forcing them to select an alignment before they
> select a race or forcing them to select an alignment and
> race before they select a class.
> The SUMMARY TAB should:
> [[alignment]]
> * Allow users to select any Alignment value without having
> selected a value for Race or Class
> * When no Alignment is selected, the user must be allowed
> to select from all Races and all Classes that have not been
> restricted by a different attribute of the character.
> * Changing the alignment from one value to another must
> update the list of Races and the list of Classes available to
> the user
> * Changing the alignment from one value to another must
> not change Race or Class selections made before the
> alignment change but the UI should indicate any Race or
> Class selections that are no longer valid.
> [[race]]
> * Allow users to select a value for Race without having
> selected a value for Alignment or Class
> * When no Race is selected, the user must be allowed to
> select from all Alignment and all Classes that have not been
> restricted by a different attribute of the character.
> * Selecting a Race with alignment or class prerequisites
> must restrict the user from selecting otherwise legal
> Alginment or Class values that the selected Race is
> restricted from having.
> * When a Race with no alignment or class prerequisites is
> selected, the user must be allowed to select from all
> Alignments and all Classes that are not restricted by some
> other variable.
> * Changing the Race from one value to another must
> update the list of Alignments and the list of Classes
> available to the user
> * Changing the Race from one value to another must not
> change Alignment or Class selections made before the
> Race change but the UI should indicate any Alignment or
> Class selections that are no longer valid.
> [[class]]
> * Allow users to select a value for Class without having
> selected a value for Alignment or Race
> * When no Class is selected, the user must be allowed to
> select from all Alignment and all Races that have not been
> restricted by a different attribute of the character.
> * Selecting a Class with alignment or race prerequisites
> must restrict the user from selecting otherwise legal
> Alignment or Race values that the selected Class is
> restricted from having.
> * When a Class with no alignment or race prerequisites is
> selected, the user must be allowed to select from all
> Alignments and all Races that are not restricted by some
> other variable.
> * Changing the Class from one value to another must
> update the list of Alignments and the list of Races available
> to the user
> * Changing the Class from one value to another must not
> change Alignment or Race selections made before the
> Class change but the UI should indicate any Alignment or
> Race selections that are no longer valid.
> The RACE TAB should
> * Enforce the same behaviour with respect to RACE as the
> SUMMARY TAB.
> The CLASS TAB should
> * Enforce the same behaviour with respect to CLASS as
> the SUMMARY TAB.
> ----------
> CURRENT SYSTEM BEHAVIOUR:
> * The Summary tab restricts users from selecting a Race
> until after an Alignment has been specified and also
> restricts the selection of Class levels until after a Race has
> been specified.
> * The Race tab allows the user to select a race from the list
> even when alignment has not been specified , but blocks
> the user from selecting races with alignment prerequisites
> of any kind.
> * The Class tab allows the user to select a class from the list
> even when alignment and race have not been specified ,
> but blocks the user from selecting classes with alignment
> prerequisites of any kind.
> ----------
> COMMENTS
> The experience of using PCGen to create new characters
> can be improved and made more consistent by allowing
> users to enter character creation data in a more natural
> order.
> According to some user feedback data I collected[1], the
> majority of RPG'ers (whether DM or Player):
> * Usually begin developing a character concept starting
> from a particular class
> * Occasionally begin developing a character concept
> starting from a particular race
> * Rarely begin developing a character concept starting with
> a particular alignment.
> * Most often choose a race after picking a class (or choose
> a class after picking a race), and then choose an alignment.
> There are two exceptions to the previous point:
> * If the selected race (or class) has a single alignment
> prerequisite (like the Paladin's LG), the alignment is self-
> selected by the chosen race (class).
> * If the selected race (or class) has a prerequisite that
> allows multiple alignments (like the Bard's "Any non-
> Lawful"), the player may pick a valid alignment before
> picking a valid race (or class).
> Given the above, the current implementation is forcing the
> majority of users to follow the least common thought
> process path for character creation every time a new
> character is created (That is the path of Alignment, then
> Race, followed by Class.)
> The exception to that is those few users who leave the
> Summary tab and use the Class and/or Race tab to define
> these character attributes. Nevertheless, if the Alginment is
> not yet set, the current implementation will restrict users
> taking this route through the UI from selecting classes and
> races that have alignment prerequisites of any kind .
> By accepting this FREQ, these inconsistencies and poor
> user experience issues can be mitigated.
> ----------
> [1] About a 12 to 18 months ago I offered to help with the
> UI Design of PCGen and, to that end, I created a survey to
> get some user feedback about the UI. Unfortunately, real
> life reared it's ugly head a few months after I started that
> effort and so I was never able to bring the results back to
> the project. I still have the data of course, and even though
> I have never been able to do an indepth analysis, there are
> a few trends that are fairly obvious.
> Submitted:
> Jenni Merrifield ( strawberryjamm ) - 2005-07-25 21:15:15 EDT 
> ====
>  Date: 2006-01-21 19:58:01 EST
> Sender: jdempseyProject Admin & Donor
> Hide
> Logged In: YES
> user_id=558288
> Jenni, the reminders feature flags things that the user has
> left to do such as select languages or spend skill points.
> It already has a 'You must select an alignment' reminder
> configured.
> This feature would end up being part of the solution in that
> it would stand as a prompt to select the alignment, but it
> is not directly related. The basic issue still remains we
> are forcing a somewhat unintuitive order of character
> creation on people.
> With a default alignment from preferences, implementing this
> would not be too difficult. Coding it to have an
> 'unselected' alignment would be more difficult not so much
> for class selection, but for class feature selection. Cleric
> turning options are a good example - they rely on the
> alignment already being set.
> Date: 2005-09-30 23:06:03 EDT
> Sender: strawberryjamm
> Hide
> Logged In: YES
> user_id=931361
> I am not familiar with what James' "reminders GUI" is about.
> However, it sounds like it might be something that
> raises "reminder" message dialogs whenever the user has left
> some important value unset when trying to set something that
> does or could require it.
> If this is being done in conjunction with relaxing the current
> restrictions on when and which class, race and alignment
> settings can be chosen in each of the Summary, Race and Class
> tabs, then it should meet the requirements of this FREQ.
> If, however, these restrictions are not being relaxed it would not
> address the main issue which is that users are forced to deviate
> from their natural thought processes when creating a new
> character.
> If, on the other hand, the "reminders GUI" is something else
> altogether I would need to see an explanation of it to know
> whether or not it would satisfy this FREQ.
> Date: 2005-09-27 08:15:24 EDT
> Sender: kariannaSourceForge.net DonorProject Admin & DonorAccepting Donations
> Hide
> Logged In: YES
> user_id=252169
> James, this is related to your cool new reminders GUI
> implementation, can this be closed in favour of your stuff? - K

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