problem with IGN gaming list

[devils advocate]

Does anybody know how to list their collection by system and alphabetically?
Their default seems to list my collection 100% alpha regardless of platform.

[gjb-sensei]

There's a row that has options like "Title, Platform, ...". Click on "Platform" and it will list it by platform and in alphabetical order.

[devils advocate]

Yeah, I found that. But, every time I add a title, or leave and come back, it seems to revert to the 100% alph order. Any way to make the change the default? Thanks for the help by the way.

[Kamino]

ZoMG iGN iS TeH SuXXoRZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gjb-sensei]

ZoMG iGN iS the SuXXoRZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We already know that. ;)

[devils advocate]

ZoMG iGN iS the SuXXoRZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


If I could decipher "Idiot", I might respond.

[Kamino]

ZoMG iGN iS the SuXXoRZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I could decipher "Idiot", I might respond.
JIHAD!!

[PapaStu]

Yeah, I found that. But, every time I add a title, or leave and come back, it seems to revert to the 100% alph order. Any way to make the change the default? Thanks for the help by the way.

Not that i've seen, cause its doing it to my list too. I think we're just stuck looking at it like that unless we click on the Alpha link.

[scorch56]

When IGN switched to that Club IGN format about 6 months ago.. it went to crap. There used to be a thread in their forum shortly thereafter where they asked for suggestions to improve.. 90% of us said "bring back the old format". It recently took me 3 all-nighters to make up a list of my PC games (barely over 200). That would have taken me about 2 hours using the old format. It's all about money and advertising.. it's now set up to where you have to click through about 3 pages just to enter one game and there's a LOT more ads on all those pages.. so you can see where this is going. On top of that.. now, if you don't let all the pages load up in their entirity (as in said ads) BEFORE you click buttons to the next page.. the whole sequence will error out and you're back at square one.

They DID take some of our suggestions to heart though. The mods and I went round and round over them. At first when the new lists came online.. you couldn't alphabetize them and they were in no set order.. not even the mods could figure out HOW the lists were being generated. We all were complaining to them how we wanted alphabetization.. and within each format too. One night while looking at my list.. I figured it out.. the list was being generated in the chronological order that I originally added my games to it. It was quite apparent by looking at one of my smaller groups (32X for example). I hadn't bought a 32X game in years.. but the title at the bottom of my 32X category was the last one I bought. The title at the top was the first I ever had, or added to the list. Anyways.. they fixed that and a few other things.

Some of us even offered to pay for the old listing format.. we said they could make it an "Insider" feature and many of us (me included) would pay for more than 1 year in advance if they would just bring back the old format because it was so much quicker to edit, and also "printed up" on about 1/5th the pages it takes now. Nobody ever got "nasty" with the mods.. but they pulled the entire thread one day.. and it's been missing ever since. Couldn't take criticism I guess.. nothing I haven't seen before.

So.. to answer your question.. here's the way it works now. If you are the owner of the list and you log in to edit the list.. YOU yourself may sort any column the way you see fit. You may also choose WHAT columns are displayed (as in "no box art") this makes list loading faster as well.. HOWEVER.. the lists will revert back to their default and "bloated" state on your next visit.. ESPECIALLY.. if you have deleted your IGN "cookies" from your browser cache. If you DON'T delete your cookies.. you WILL see your preferred set-up 90% of the time.. provided you don't have to "log back in" when you return (again.. a function of your cookies).

I asked for a feature to be able to "lock-in" a preferred view sate for visitors (as in the "public" lists). The closest thing they gave us is what you see in my sig.. look at the URL and you'll see: http://club.ign.com/b/list/custom?lid=100018&owner=scorch56&mode=vown&sortC=4
The C=4 at the end tells IGN to sort the list by console category. The fact that my nym is also in the URL not only tells IGN whose list it is because actually it's the 100018# that does that.. but it also tells them that they should set it to MY preference. In other words.. the URL you're looking at right now is the one I copied from my own owner's view when I set it up the way I wanted it. People are looking at MY view.. not the "public" one. You don't have to worry about other people editing your lists or changing it's setup.. because they don't have the owner's cookie; nor know the password if they tried.

One last thing.. no cookie for the public means though that the categories WILL revert back to their default colums and things such as "box art" will be displayed for them as well; and they CAN'T try and edit out what colums THEY want to see either. I've tried.. believe me. Why did IGN do this? Simple.. while they wanted to appease the owner by giving the owner the choice as to the verboseness of the lists.. they wanted you.. the public and the owner's guests.. to experience the whole enchilada.. meaning longer load times for the entire experience which also means longer time to download the ads. Get it? IGN is a very sneaky assed bunch when it comes to "forcing" all that advertising down our throats. The ads generate revenue for them and may possibly disgust some into subscribing to "Insider"; which also generates revenue for them directly; either way.. it's a win-win situation for IGN. When I pointed this out in the forums (I didn't even wail on them for doing it though.. I merely stated that I understood "why") is about the time they pulled the entire thread.

To simplify this.. if YOU (or anybody else) were to click on the link in my sig that says "My games collection" you will see my games sorted by format & alpha order within each format (which is coded into the URL). You'll also see 7 or 8 colums (including the bloated box art feature). IF I click on my same sig link, provided I haven't deleted my IGN/ClubIGN cookie and I'm still "logged on"; I will see the same thing.. minus box art and only the two or three columns I want to see (namely genre, platform, publisher & developer). I WISH there was some way I could link to as verbose a list as I see.. for the public to view, but IGN just won't make that possible. What a nice bunch of guys 'eh? Oh well.. beggars can't be choosers.. I guess (meaning "ALL of us".. I'm not flaming the public). ;)

BTW.. about the reverting to overall alpha order everytime you add a game.. it does that for everyone and you can't change that as well. When I'm making an "addition run" (as in adding several titles.. I simply ignore sorting by column until I'm finished.. it saves an extra step and makes the painful process of adding items a little less time consuming. If you're the kind of person who just has to "check" after each game is added to see if it's there.. just look for it in the BIG alphabetized list. IGN would probably tell you THAT was a convenience feature as well.. yeah right. They've got some great spin doctors working for them.