Question for a future post

I’m curious about the influence of Let’s Plays on someone’s decision whether or not to buy a game. If you have the time, please answer the following poll.

Filed under: Gaming, game, poll

Ending the Nonsense Part Two

When lunanne was effectively banned from the MOULa forums (by way of removing her from the group that allows people to post on the forum) I was immediately asked to make an Ending the Nonsense Part Two. I was initially hesitant because I didn’t really care about that forum’s drama and I doubted I could be effective. In reflection, however, I realize that this doubt is what has caused these problems to persist for so long and why I must at least try to make a difference.

Let’s start with the obvious: the moderator responsible for this (veralun) should be removed from his moderating privileges. This is the most recent of a long history of veralun and other MOUL forum moderators abusing their powers. This is an abuse of the moderator’s powers to silence individuals because of their views. This is furthermore an abuse without a warning or a notice. This kind of abuse does not reflect well on Cyan and Cyan should, for its own sake, end this nonsense. If Cyan continues to allow this kind of behavior, however infrequent or isolated, it will tarnish Cyan’s reputation in the gaming community. No matter if this is just one “bad apple” the effects will be enormous. This must end now.

Furthermore, this abuseable power should be removed. Hoikas suggested a better anti-spam solution: When you register in the forum, your name could be checked against the spammer database. This system has been used successfully by the GoW and should be used on the MOULa forums. It is time that Cyan joins this noble and comprehensive program.

Finally, and most importantly, Cyan must expend some energy to collaborate with its community. What we have at present is moderators and others picked by Cyan to act in their stead. I still remember Rand’s reaction to “hacks” that opened the door to the “grey hats” keeping the cavern alive. If the good people at Cyan were able to see what good has come from this hacking, perhaps we would see more collaboration and shared growth. Instead we have a new D’ni word… and everyone who cares has either lost interest or has been “banned” in the most shameful, hurtful, and cowardly way possible.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Future Development

With Open Source now a (semi) reality, I feel it’s time I got back to age development. The problem I’ve always had is deciding what I want to work on. As a result, I have a few ideas which never really go far. Right now I’m torn between expanding Ages like Fens or Toroolbah and developing brand new Ages like Fasek or Tharel. So help me out here. Vote in the poll below and/or leave a comment on what I should tackle next. I promise I’ll release something <valvetime> soon. </valvetime>

Filed under: Ages, cyan, myst, open source, uru

Learning from Others: Left 4 Dead Cold Stream

With the source for Uru newly released, it made me think about other fan content I’ve seen and the potential pitfalls involved. In short: Fans should have the rights to download the fan ages they choose to include in their experience.

For those who don’t know, Cold Stream is a custom fan-created map for the Left 4 Dead 2 game. There are lots of fan-created campaings and maps for the game, but what stands out to me is the fact that Valve included the Cold Stream beta map as a small downloadable update. What I dislike about this, and where I see this as a problem for Cyan, is that Cold Stream is not as good (in my opinion) as other maps available. However, Valve has nonetheless included it in an update.

The issue for Cyan is this: Fans are not going to be happy when the ages they want to play are not included in the game. Left 4 Dead solves this by letting anyone add campaigns at will, but Cyan has said that “As new writers arise with new books, the books are tested and documented – and books that are approved by some new kind of maintainers guild will (hopefully) find their way to the MOULa server where the public can enjoy new worlds once again.” This implies strongly that fan content will be vetted and added to the MOULa server (which is great). The problem that I see is that there’s no alternate way (at least for now) for fans to still explore the Ages not yet released on the MOULa server.

Filed under: Learning from Others, Uncategorized, cyan, guilds, left4dead, myst, open source, uru, valve

The Guilds Part 2: The Guild of Cartographers

Of all the Guilds I analyzed previously, the Cartographers have changed the least. Sadly, that means they are still a Guild in name only. The Guild does not exist, plain and simple. This is disheartening to me because the GoC is one of two Guilds which require no input from Cyan to reach their full potential (Messengers is the other one). The point is, the GoC could be the most successful Guild, instead of the least.

The major problem is a lack of organization. People can make maps on their own, sure, but people don’t necessarily have the skills to do a full map. Perhaps someone can do the lineart, someone colors it, someone checks to make sure it’s to scale, etc. There’s no structure right now around which interested people can find others who can help them. As such, the few maps that have been released are primarily solo projects which, while they are stunning, are not sustainable.

A second problem is a lack of advertising. This is no scientific thesis, but I would be willing to bet most in the Uru community (such that it is) has no idea what the GoC is or where to get involved. There needs to be an easy and attractive way for people to get involved in the Guild. More importantly, there needs to be a passionate person directing the Guild who can inspire and attract people to the group. The question is: Will it be you, reader?

This gets to the core of what needs to happen to get this Guild functioning again.

First, the Guild needs to be replaced/remade. A dedicated site (rather than being hosted on another domain name) would help promote a solid, professional air to the group. A clean, easy-to-use site with an equally-easy uploading system would help encourage new members to create maps. With this also comes the need for a charismatic leader.

Second, the Guild needs to work with the other Guilds. I imagine a day when I (or anyone else) release an Age and include a map with it the day of release. I imagine when I can have a pod-age-style map in the Age itself. Not only that, but the Greeters get a copy to distribute to lost players, the Messengers have a copy to put in their news post, and the Maintainers have a copy to use in their inspections.

This is all easily possible and all incredibly beneficial to Uru as a whole, the fuel for gaining interest in Uru. Right now, I see no one doing any work in the GoC, so it is ready for someone to come in and work on re-building it. The question, as always, is: Will that someone be you?

Filed under: The Guilds, community, cyan, guilds, myst, open source, uru