Starting a project

General debates and discussion about the Guild of Writers and Age creation

Re: Starting a project

Postby Lehm » Mon Oct 01, 2007 6:34 am

Exactly Dovahn. What I've been petitioning, is that only ages that have come up through the phase process and have a proper design document and approved by the group. Now how the approval process would work is up in the air. This would help weed out those want to 'try' making an age for fun, and have no idea what's involved. These efforts usually fail. That's totally fine, people need to get their feet wet somehow to see what's involved. We just shouldn't commit resources to someones personal project if they haven't proven they are dedicated to seeing it all the way through. It's easy to start an age or any type of game level. Our resources should be dedicated to those that can finish.

Just had a thought on the approval process. The idea of a council is intriging. But that could be abused quickly. But if there was one. What if there were like 4 council member each got a vote. Then the community concensus would be a fifth tie breaking vote. This way the community isn't completely taken out of it.
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Re: Starting a project

Postby belford » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:37 am

*Is* it impractical to have fifty private subforums? Will the BB system explode if we try it? Will it take 500 subforums?

(Maybe we should be thinking of forums as free, and worrying instead about a policy for cleaning up forums that have gone dead.)

The point is to provide people what they need to build an Age. At what point does a group of people need a forum? I should think the answer is, when there are a lot of messages going around *and* they include private development content (storylines, puzzle plans, spoilers).

If it's me working by myself, I don't need anything. If it's two people working together, private messages or email should work. Same is probably true for three, maybe four. Above four or five people, I'd want a shared communication space. (Mind you, my assumptions of what's a comfortable work space are not everybody's.)

But there's a big space between "six people working on a plan" and "the whole group is involved". I hope there is room for subforums in that space.

In other words: if I want to steer the entire Guild into working on an Age idea, the Guild can reasonably ask for a formal process, design document, vote on it, etc, etc. But if I've got a small bunch of people together, I shouldn't have to convince *you* that I know what I'm doing. It's up to the team members to agree -- that may or may not mean a design document. From the forum's point of view, it should only matter that (A) we're doing Writing work and (B) a dedicated forum would help us work.
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Re: Starting a project

Postby Dovahn » Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:46 pm

(Maybe we should be thinking of forums as free, and worrying instead about a policy for cleaning up forums that have gone dead.)


That's a valid point, and also another way of looking at the problem. If this is the case, however, what if someone says that they are going to work on an age, a year goes by, they still claim that? Or does it matter?

How about if someone things, "I wonder what the GoW is cooking up," heads to the website, and finds no "active age" lists. "Okay," they say, "I'll check the forum." They are then confronted with a hundred dead ages that still claim to be alive, and to find the two that are being actively worked on is a huge feat (assuming, of course, that they aren't private).

But does that matter? I know it seems like a pointed question, but I'm actually asking it.

I shouldn't have to convince *you* that I know what I'm doing.


But is it unfair to ask, in exchange for server space in a forum, for a description of what you're doing? Or an assurance that the space won't be wasted? (Unless, of course, space is immaterial).

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Re: Starting a project

Postby belford » Mon Oct 01, 2007 2:56 pm

Space is awfully cheap these days, when you're talking about text messages. Blender files and textures (and working renders) are going to be a lot more of a load.

(But then, people might want to work on a forum without using this site for their data storage. And it's hypothetical for the moment, anyhow, since the forum is all that exists yet.)

As to cleaning up forums: if the point of a forum is to contain private (spoiler) information, then it's not unreasonable to make it completely invisible. That is, there's no reason for a visitor to see a list of fifty team forums that he can't access -- but there's no reason for him to see *five* of them, either.

(If you want to track all the progress of teams working privately, they'd have to post progress reports. If you want to join a particular team... I guess that's better on a single "recruitment" or "wanted" forum.)

Off the cuff suggestion for forum cleanup: if there's no activity for six weeks, take it down. "Activity" being, hopefully, people talking about actual progress rather than "bumping the forum" posts. :) But save all the posts, and reinstate the forum if two people come back and say "Okay, I'm working on this again." (Two because, if it's just one person, why does he need a forum?)
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Re: Starting a project

Postby Owehn » Mon Oct 01, 2007 3:05 pm

Perhaps there's a setting so that forums (like posts) disappear off the lists after a certain amount of time, and re-arrange themselves according to recent activity?

Sorry, I don't know anything about the forum software.
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