Charas 3.0

[Osmose]

Roughly a week or two ago I was talking with Sai and he was being his normal, depressed self. Charas has definitely changed since its early days, and although it could simply be nostalgia, a lot of members who registered back in the day (And even I saw some of it, although it was more the tail end of it) say that Charas was better mainly because it focused more on the games than it does now.

I can see where they get this from: How many new users actually stay nowadays? Very few, if any. Our community rotates around two groups of members who joined either before two years ago or before a year ago. And nearly all of the feedback to anyone who doesn't fit into these categories is negative. Early on, Charas was the source of a lot of positive criticism, but over time we've come to insult anything that doesn't satisfy our near impossible standards (And when those standards are challenged, the person doing so is an idiot who doesn't have good taste, rather than someone with a different taste).

We can't change assholes into Barney. But we can attempt to refocus the site back to our roots. That's what Charas 3.0 is. It's largley the work of myself, although Sai pointed out and approved of/disapproved of various points. Moosetroop also threw something in there as well, but  other than that there's been no help in it because even the mod team doesn't feel that the site needs their attention, apparently, whether it be out of boredom, frustration, or lazyness.

Charas 3.0 was an aid in pushing Sai'Kar to resign for good. One of the biggest things that kept him as admin over all this time was the dim hope that eventually the mod team would receive access to code for Charas so we could improve the site on our own finally. I had been told long ago by Alex that this was impossible when asking for it myself, but Sai thought that it was simply because of my bad record (Wahba, fighting with Carmen, general troublemaking, etc.). In actuality, even if I had been a perfect member we wouldn't have gotten it because Charas is on the Ombra server, which is assumedly run by Alex, and has a bunch of other websites on it, including some with sensitive information that code access would involve access to, like credit card numbers, and Alex didn't have the authority to give that to us.

Once I explained that to him he basically had no reason to keep being admin if he was never going to be able to improve the site. There's a myriad of other reasons that built it up, but that was the one that triggered it. As for what this has to do with Charas 3.0, I think that, if most of the requests are fulfilled, it can help change the site dramatically and improve the site as well as give us the ability to continue improving it.

Lastly, this proposition is supposed to be a community thing. If an overwhelming majority hate an idea, it can easily be struck out. If the people want something else, it can be added in. The idea is that the community needs to agree on something and then get Alex to do it. Feel free to express your opinion (Unless your opinion is that I should go die) about any of the ideas, or any ideas you yourself have. I'm not going to be the 1 final approver or disapprover, but rather everyone else is.

ALSO: One tidbit I left out that I later suggested is a switch of host: Dreamhost is an amazing host. They give way more bandwidth then we'd ever need (Using their current numbers, our site needs 1/10th of what they give), and possibly more than enough space, depending. Paying for it would be easy - I'm willing to donate money to the cause, and I'm sure there are others around here who would help out too. The site would still be under Alex's name, as well - it'd simply be on a different server where we can actually be given code access so people like Gary or myself could add in new features over time. Plus, OCRemix uses them as one of their HTTP mirrors, AKA they're a good host. Opinions on this would definitely be appreciated. Oh, and they host Editthis, which hosts the Charas Wiki.

Charas 3.0 Proposal

Unified Site Strcuture
-Global Navigation Bar
>Easy access to any section of the site; as of now forums are seperate from rest of site, as is Complete Resources and Generators.
-Integration of sections
>User profile can lead to lists of contributed resources and a person's saved generated sprites.
>Single login carries over to generators, forums, and complete resources (As in one time login rather than having to log into the generators after logging into the forums - same account functionality already exists)

New Interface design
-Lower contrast
>Easier to read than current theme
-Investigation of SVG format
>Incredibly smaller file sizes
>Layer capabilities could be integrated into generators
>Quicker generation than current system?

Update of Technology
-Better filters against malicious code (IE the Javascript bug)
-Support for 24-bit images (RMXP generators)
-General code sprucing up.
>Maintenance is gewd.
>After posting in a topic, user is taken to last page of topic rather than the first.
-New sections
>Detailed below

Games Section
-General Game Bios & Specific System Descriptions
-User ratings and reviews
>Ability to rate screenshots, overall game, files uploaded, etc.
>Ability to comment on items.
>Section for user reviews of game.
-Screenshots section
>10 Screenshot Limit and No Game Uploading (Can link to outside source from news or articles, though)
>Can be deleted/replaced.
-News updates
-Files
>Trailers, demos, System previews, etc.
>Trailers can be linked to rather than uploaded (Recommend Youtube), but still be rated and commented.
>All rateable and commentable.
>Any text article can display screenshots from screenshot section.
>Space limit to reduce bandwidth/storage usage.
-Media
>Site awards, user awards, interviews, etc.
-Integrated with user accounts.

Revamped Complete Resources
-Better Categories
>More specific and consistent
>RMXP sections?
-Code Examples
>Both RM2k/2k3 and RXMP examples
-Articles on Game Improvment
>Composing music, tutorials, etc.

User Profile Improvements
-User Awards
>Could show both specific user awards and awards for their games.
>Award ranking on post-side profile for added presteige?
>Users can create their own awards and give them to others.
>Mods can add "award levels" to awards if they are a good award (IE not a fake meaningless one, one the reequires merit). Each mod can add one level, up to a max of three levels.
-Site Awards
>Official awards given by staff for various things (Site contests, etc)

Donation Incentives
-Single Donation Award
>Various levels of award for amount donated.
>Award, Colored name, other goodies?
-Subscription Donation Award
>Award, Profile symbol (On side of posts), colored name?
>Monthly/Yearly Payments
>$1, $2 monthly?
>$25 a year?
>Unlimited screenshots and hosting game demos.
>Front page game advertising?

[WarxePB]

An interesting proposal, no doubt. I definitely would be willing to donate a few bucks to switch servers.

So, would we use the same generator/forum code we have now, then add on a bunch of stuff? Or would we start from scratch?

EDIT: Also, we need a merchandise store. I would SO buy a shirt that said "Sexy boot" or "i can shoot missiles lol".

[Omega Weapon]

Originally posted by Osmose
Roughly a week or two ago I was talking with Sai and he was being his normal, depressed self. Charas has definitely changed since its early days, and although it could simply be nostalgia, a lot of members who registered back in the day (And even I saw some of it, although it was more the tail end of it) say that Charas was better mainly because it focused more on the games than it does now.

I can see where they get this from: How many new users actually stay nowadays? Very few, if any. Our community rotates around two groups of members who joined either before two years ago or before a year ago. And nearly all of the feedback to anyone who doesn't fit into these categories is negative. Early on, Charas was the source of a lot of positive criticism, but over time we've come to insult anything that doesn't satisfy our near impossible standards (And when those standards are challenged, the person doing so is an idiot who doesn't have good taste, rather than someone with a different taste).

Speaking for an Internetz oldie perspective and not someone who pretends to know the detailed Charas mechanics:

Charas shouldn't ever lose it's core, it's purpose, to socializing. I can go to any forum to talk. I come here for the game-related content.

Getting into little competitions about who can pull off making a minuscule aspect of a game without it being "cliched" in order to impress others doesn't make for a good game. And you won't be able to change people who do not want to participate in an open atmosphere which encourages experimentation and creativity. But you can reward those who do.

My 2 cents.

[Archem]

If it's good for Charas, it's good by me.

Also, YES TO WHAT WARXE SAID!!!

[Daetyrnis]

This seems like a good idea.

Also, w00t for the 2004 Charas generation!
EDIT: Woah, I just realised I predate a large chunk of current members.  Specially because I joined in February, thus predating a majority of 2004ers as well. o_O

[Archem]

Wo0t for '05ers. A lot of the well known members are '05ers. Take a look, it'll surprise you when you see how many there are.

[MrMister]

04 sux
osmose ya know my opinion
so I ain't gonna start no gangsta **** up in this bitch

[Djanki]

I'm an 06--what's wrong with me/us?

Anyway, I think maybe it'd be good that we go to Dreamhost.

Also, I'd be more than happy to wear a shirt that says 'Meiscool', lol.

[Moosetroop11]

Change can be good, providing that we don't go overboard and completely eradicate what charas was before. I still like the colour scheme for instance, so if you change the colour maybe you should still make dark blue an option.

Things like colour are pretty artificial but they do alter the atmosphere of a forum.

[FFL2and3rocks]

Originally posted by Osmose
Dreamhost is an amazing host. They give way more bandwidth then we'd ever need (Using their current numbers, our site needs 1/10th of what they give)

Originally posted by Osmose
No Game Uploading (Can link to outside source from news or articles, though)

With the new host and extra bandwidth, would games still take too much bandwidth to upload here?

[aboutasoandthis]

You want a Gaming World?

BTW, since I'm part of the newer generation (06'!!!), I've noticed one thing, except for a certain few members, it's mostly the 16-17 year olds who are still makinging games while the more prominent members are not. I haven't really seen a complete game here without it being from somewhere else.

What this place could use is some non-demanding game teams. Have a group of maybe four or so guys work on one game. They all get involvement with the game, especially including the plot, but each with a different field like mapping and programming.

I've been asked to work on a team before. My main problem with the request came from my time. I couldn't meet on MSN with other people to discuss ideas in time with others. This is what I mean by non-demanding. Maybe exclusive C-Boxes or something will fix this.

If you really want this place to become a prominent game making service, my one piece of advice would be to not make the idea too big.

For me, this place is a hobby. You should take this to heart as I'm part of the group who is still making the games.

[Rowan]

Haha! '03 owns all of y'all.

Besides that, I agree with this proposition 100%. I'm really looking forward for a games section that is WAY more focused then it currently is now (no offense.)

[Emerates]

Das ist gut.

I wouldn't be able to donate any money, but I still think it's a good idea.  Go for it, ja.

(I've noticed there are only about 3-4 '06 members who are regulars, myself included....  *Rocks*)

[A Forgotten Legend]

i like the game team thing.  although, if that was stared right now, i doubt anyone would join...
I better be one of those 3-4 of the '06's!  I'm on a lot recently...

[Meiscool-2]

Originally posted by aboutasoandthis
You want a Gaming World?

I was going to post this exact same thing.