Author Topic: We need idea reduction for forum posters  (Read 1202 times)

Rageburst

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We need idea reduction for forum posters
« on: February 17, 2004, 05:53:08 am »
I\'ve seen so many ideas from this forum, and new ones just pop up so others become buried. While this would serve as some form of entertainment for those anticipating the game, having new posts all the time undermines the process of brainstorming (two phases: idea generation and idea reduction.)

The problem is that we have nothing for idea reduction.  Ideas just keep getting buried, uncategorized, and forgotten.

My suggesstion are a few sticky posts (for each category) where interesting ideas can be grouped together to be put into some form of a configuration baseline. These ideas should be categorized (combat skills, spell skills, crafting skills, monsters, locations, guild system, partying system, experience/looting system, chatting/communication interface, and so on).

Ideas can only be put into the thread if they have decent grammar and spelling. Another thing they must have are few suggestions about how you would design this idea to work in a game context.

For example, an idea such as, \"Let\'s have a martial arts skill!\"

This alone is useless unless you expand upon it. For example, this skill allows you to make better efficient use of weapons (Faster attack? More damage? Which weapons?), and unlocking more advanced combat skills related to martial arts and so forth.

Although I am against calling ideas useless, I\'ve seen so many that look that they were written by 10-year-olds, and others that don\'t describe enough to give a sense of how it works.

Now what we need are a few people to organize these ideas, build on them, and reduce them!

Otherwise, the ideas are just gonna build. At this point, I don\'t even think the devs care anymore about the wish list. It\'s a friggin\' mountain of unorganized words.

I\'ve made a search on google as well, and decided to post this link on the brainstorming process (common knowledge in many software engineering management books):
http://www.ogc.gov.uk/sdtkdev/examples/HMCE/Guidance/RequirementsManagement/brainstorming.htm
« Last Edit: February 26, 2004, 02:58:01 am by Rageburst »

Deddarus

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« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2004, 04:31:24 pm »
a valid point...

i think the mods of the forum should collate any reasonable ideas (im assuming the mods have enough insight into the game to be able to decide which ideas are pheasable) into stickys as you say

this would mean that they would have to translate some of the poorly written ideas (due to speedy typing or poor english - we do have players whos 1st language isnt english dont forget).. but it would also reduce the amount of times they have to respond to posts with \"that has been mentioned several times b4!!! use the search button!!\" due to the fact that many of the ideas mentioned would be in 1 place and easy to find :)

acraig

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« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2004, 10:26:03 pm »
Quote
Originally posted by Deddarus
a valid point...

i think the mods of the forum should collate any reasonable ideas (im assuming the mods have enough insight into the game to be able to decide which ideas are pheasable) into stickys as you say

this would mean that they would have to translate some of the poorly written ideas (due to speedy typing or poor english - we do have players whos 1st language isnt english dont forget).. but it would also reduce the amount of times they have to respond to posts with \"that has been mentioned several times b4!!! use the search button!!\" due to the fact that many of the ideas mentioned would be in 1 place and easy to find :)


Well, I think that would help out a lot since it would be a nice storage place of what ideas have been talked about and why they have been rejeceted or accepted or there current status, etc.  However, I don\'t think that is something that we have time to set up and maintain.  It would be a community run project that we can contribute to.

What you may want to look into is setting up a wiki.  That is like an online whiteboard where people can add/remove/update pseudo web pages.  That way many people can contribute the ideas.  The rest of the team can then look over various ones and give their thoughts on it.

Again this is a good idea but there has to be people willing to stick with it even when the times are lean or it starts getting hard.  Look at the Laanx Wheel of  Wishes site by Orogor.  That took a lot of work to setup and will be a very valuable source of stuff once we get good documentation on how players can help create content.  I hope he sticks with it as it is just growing in popularity now.  I use it to look for any graphics I might need as I implement new stuff.

Working on PS related stuff only has a little to do with talent and a lot with commitment and dedication.  Take Mogura as an example ( not to say she doesn\'t have any talent :) ) , she had found what she is good at and sticks with it and does a good job.  Even when things became a little difficult she still does her job.  Same with Kada and a few other guilds.  Even though we don\'t have much in the way to offer as guilds at the moment they continue to work on them and their sites and they are looking at the \'big picture\' here.  

We all want to make PlaneShift a great game and really want to make a good name for ourselves in the online community.  A lot of that is fun but a lot of that is just plain hard work.   Those that step up and say \"This part of the development/website/model/map/whatever sucks but it has to be done and *I* am willing to do it because I have the knowledge to do it.\" gain a lot of brownie points in my book.  

Hmm, this went a bit of track :) but I think the last point is the strongest as to why the PlaneShift team can be successful.  We have people that are willing to take on hard/thankless/crappy jobs because it has to be done to get to the fun stuff :) I hope I can expect the same from more of the playing community ( as some have already shown ).
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Deddarus

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« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2004, 10:38:10 pm »
if i get time i\'ll look into the scripting setup u have and see if i can be of any use.  During my time as a GM on a free ultima online server (using sphere) i did a lot of scripting... however RL does take up a lot of my time at the moment... also i might look into modelling as well.... what proggy are u using?.... i work with 3dsmax5 if u can implement .max files i may be able to sort u out with some stuff.. tho admitedly i tend to be more of a high poly cg artist

acraig

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« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2004, 10:40:32 pm »
Quote
Originally posted by Deddarus
 i work with 3dsmax5 if u can implement .max files i may be able to sort u out with some stuff.. tho admitedly i tend to be more of a high poly cg artist


Talad uses 3dsmax and he has a whole mess of scripts. We can take pretty much any format I think.  The secret is in how the models are built and not the tools used to build them.  You should try to catch him on IRC if you can ( irc.freenode.net in #planeshift ) since info@planeshift.it is a big hole that mail has to climb out of :)
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SnowWolf

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« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2004, 04:18:11 pm »
Perhaps LWW will watch the forums and harvest ideas....


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footpunker60

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« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2004, 08:03:29 pm »
got an idea.... we should create sub forum for wish list. Like wish list for weapon,for building, for combat ...something like this.

Kiva

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« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2004, 09:26:53 pm »
We just need a mod that exclusively takes care of the wishlist, and who has a resonable sense of organisation. :)

None of the current mods take care of the list anyways.
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Vengeance

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« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2004, 06:33:45 am »
I don\'t look at this forum as a structured database of plans, but a shoebox full of scraps of paper scribbles.
The devs don\'t use this forum as a direct planning aid but as a resource to make plans around and see what interests people.

If someone wants something more structured, someone should add a wiki to their website for it.  (Kada?)  :)

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zedd_owd

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« Reply #9 on: February 23, 2004, 12:35:35 am »
Quote
Originally posted by Gronomist
We just need a mod that exclusively takes care of the wishlist, and who has a resonable sense of organisation. :)

None of the current mods take care of the list anyways.


i would be more than willing to help u and the other guys out if u want. but what form will this be in ? website or database.
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Killabazilla

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« Reply #10 on: February 23, 2004, 12:48:45 am »
Quote
Perhaps LWW will watch the forums and harvest ideas....

LWW doesn\'t have a \"general ideas about Planshift\" section yet, it\'s more artwork-oriented. But it\'s a pretty neat place to put up any idea that can be visualized (maps, artwork, meshes etc.). It might be a good idea(!) to add some \"ideas\"-section to it, though. The integrated voting system there would ensure ongoing popularity for especially good ones.
« Last Edit: February 23, 2004, 12:49:05 am by Killabazilla »
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Xanaroth

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« Reply #11 on: February 26, 2004, 08:46:28 am »
*yawn* you people suck. This forum is supposed to be used  as brainstorming for the devs, so they can look for new ideas. We dont need detailed info, we just need to give them ideas for the game. And if the devs like it, then they can work things out further.

Samoth

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« Reply #12 on: February 29, 2004, 04:48:14 am »
Can somebody please set up some more sub forums in this list?

A Wish list forum is too general!

Footpunker60 is right.  Besides \"PvP,PK and Thieving\" there should at least be sub forums for combat, skills, places, and magic.  There might be a couple of more, but many of the posts should fall into those categories of otherwise be left in the general wish list.

This would cut down on all the duplicate post and allow everybody to find stuff that they want.

This would be very little maintenance since it would only require someone setting it up.

... unless the devs are really not that interested in what we have to say ...