SShortSingh.
Back to feed

Game portal ranks titles by finished plays instead of page views

0
·2 views

A portal running 56,000 browser games found that page views were a misleading success measure, since curiosity-driven clicks often came from misleading thumbnails or games that failed to load. It began tracking finished games, meaning sessions where players reached an ending and chose what to do next. Under the new approach, ranking weights completion, new games receive a fixed trial period before placement, and developers focus on fixing early-game problems that cause players to quit. The team also retired several categories that appeared popular by views but had low completion rates, leaving a smaller and higher-quality library. The authors argue that any platform should identify a similar metric that reflects genuine satisfaction rather than mere arrival.

Read the full story at DEV Community

This is an AI-generated summary. ShortSingh links to the original source for the complete article.

Discussion (0)

Log in to join the discussion and vote.

Log in

Related stories

0
ProgrammingDEV Community ·

Startups Must Rethink Marketing in 2026 as AI Search and Buyer Habits Shift

The growth playbook that powered earlier tech startups is losing effectiveness, with outbound lists, automated email sequences, and generic ad traffic often driving acquisition costs above customer lifetime value. Search is increasingly delivered as AI-generated answers, so the article argues companies should pursue Generative Engine Optimization to be cited within those summaries rather than only ranking as blue links. It also recommends replacing gated whitepapers with interactive, product-led tools that prove value before requesting contact details. The piece further highlights a move toward subject-matter creators, since social algorithms reportedly favor individual profiles over corporate accounts. Together, these five trends are presented as ways for early-stage companies to attract high-intent buyers while controlling spending.

0
ProgrammingDEV Community ·

Spring Boot Field-Level Encryption: How AES-256-GCM Protects Sensitive Data

The article explains why insurance applications storing driver details such as date of birth and license numbers need protection beyond database access controls, since a stolen database dump could expose them. It argues that encryption rather than hashing is required when the original values must later be recovered for tasks like age calculation or underwriting, while passwords should use a dedicated hashing algorithm like Argon2id. It describes AES-256-GCM as a symmetric, authenticated encryption method that provides both confidentiality and tamper detection. The walkthrough covers how a random 12-byte initialization vector is generated per encryption so identical values produce different ciphertext, and how the algorithm outputs ciphertext plus an authentication tag. The piece indicates it will go on to show how to implement this field-level encryption in a Spring Boot application.

0
ProgrammingDEV Community ·

Moving firm's calculator publishes 27,854 city-to-city cost estimates openly

A moving cost calculator operator says the moving industry rarely publishes clear pricing, leaving customers with inconsistent and hard-to-compare quotes. To address this, the company released estimates for 27,854 city-to-city routes, each built from distance, home size, and pricing patterns drawn from long-distance quotes. Visitors reportedly responded by asking more specific questions about why routes cost differently rather than what a move generally costs. The company labels its figures as estimates rather than binding quotes, noting that season, fuel, access, and belongings all affect final prices. It argues that publishing inputs makes estimates easier to scrutinize and holds the publisher accountable.

0
ProgrammingDEV Community ·

Windows' built-in OCR engine used to parse an options broker's position grid into a workbook

A developer built nifty-desk, an MIT-licensed Python tool for Windows that turns a broker position screenshot into an Excel workbook with live premiums and P&L. It relies on Windows.Media.Ocr, the engine used by the Photos app, called through a short PowerShell script to avoid cloud OCR costs and privacy concerns. Upscaling the image before recognition was described as the largest single accuracy improvement. The tool reads column headers to map values, recovers dropped option-type labels from sibling legs or live prices, and infers lot sizes from quantities. It also adopts a sign convention for short and buy positions, documented in the README and printed in the sheet, to keep P&L formulas correct.