Help

Hopefully this page will give you all the information you need to set up and use TopSpot. If you have any other questions, email metagnome@gmail.com and I'll do my best to come up with a useful answer.

Getting Started

Well, the instructions for getting and installing TopSpot are on the home page, but I'll repeat them here. Firstly, get a GameSpot account (it's free). Secondly, install the add-on using the link on the home page. To do this, you must be using Firefox or maybe one of its close relatives like Seamonkey. If you prefer IE, or Safari or Opera that's fine, but TopSpot won't work.

To use TopSpot, go to GameSpot, make sure you're logged in and head to your user profile page. If all has gone well there should be a new tab there.

Quick Tour

Below is a screenshot showing the basic layout of the TopSpot tab. Please note the Add/Edit and Bucket functionality is only available on your own profile page.

1. This is the default view displayed when you go to the TopSpot tab. It shows a summary of all top five lists the user has created. To view a specific top 5 list, simply click on the title.
2. The bucket view shows all of the games currently in your bucket, and allows you to remove individual games or clear the bucket altogether. For the purpose of the bucket, see the next help section.
3. The add/edit view is where you add a new list or edit an existing top five list. As described in the bucket section, make sure the games you want in your top 5 in the bucket before you start working on a list. For each game in a top 5 list, you can add up to 2000 character's worth of reason, which should be more than enough. Please keep language within the parameters GameSpot uses.
4. The recent view will show a list of the most recent lists added or edited by this user. I say will because it doesn't work at the moment.
5. Pick an option from the dropdown, and only lists of the selected type will be shown. This is fairly obvious, but five seemed like a good number of points to have.

The Bucket

Because TopSpot is an add-on to GameSpot, not an actual part of the site, picking a game for your top five is a little bit more complicated. When you create a top 5 list, the drop down lists will be populated by the games in your bucket. So, how do you add a game to the bucket? Fair question. On any game space you visit, you should see the addition of a new button on the right hand side as shown below:

To add the game just click on the button, and you should get a message saying it has been successfully added. For the sake of making the add/edit page sensible, you are limited to a total of 25 games in your bucket at a time. In the end this means that you should decide what games are going to be in your top 5 beforehand, and empty the bucket when you're done.

Removing Lists

Currently, it is not possible to remove a list that you have added in TopSpot. This is definitely a feature I plan to add at some point in the future.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Add a New Top 5?

Depends what you mean. If you mean "once I pick a category, how do I add my choices?" then the answer is use the add/edit button, fill in the dropdowns and fields, and click on the submit link. If you mean "I want to make a Top 5 Games Featuring Hummingbirds, how do I do that?" then the answer is you don't, I do. Email me your suggestion for a new category and I'll arbitrarily decide whether or not it should be added.

What's stopping me from putting a PC game in my top 5 XBox games?

Nothing at all. Currently, TopSpot relies on people using it because they want to, and assumes they'll pick games of the right type for their lists.

What About if I want to put the same game in my list 5 times?

Yes you could do that, see the answer to the previous question.