Charas 3.0

[SaiKar]

If it's a choice between Gaming World and a forum with no purpose, give me Gaming World.

The changes wouldn't be for us. We're already here. The changes would be for newcomers, because frankly there isn't any point coming to Charas's forums if you want to work on your game. The social chat aspect of Charas is pitiful - we get like one new topic a week in All of All. Requests are very rarely answered, there's no way to promote your game, and even if you do release something you can't host it here and most people don't care anyway. A lot of newbies are criticized by older members that shoot down their ideas as "doesn't look good" or "cliched" even though these hotshots rarely, if ever, release their own work.

The bottom line is that a lot of the creative spirit has been beaten out of Charas. Enthusiasm and encouragement has been replaced by mockery and near-impossible standards to impress people. That  is why I resigned; the poisonous atmosphere that Charas's game support community has become, in conjuction with the fact that Alex will never give us code access to fix it, made me wonder what I was spending my personal time on to defend. And that's a very general statement that is unfair to certain people, but I'm not an admin anymore and I don't really see any reason to be nice about it. Because a lot of people that aren't part of the solution are definately part of the problem.

Eventually the social regulars of Charas will fade away, and unless something is done to steer the main part of the site back towards game creation, nobody new will replace them. Osmose has ideasl; I say let's give it a shot.

[ZeroKirbyX]

I will admit, it has gone down from even when I joined. Anything to give it direction and get more than one topic a week in AoA is good with me.

EDIT: Three more days til I've been here 2 years! Not sure if I should celebrate or cry...

[Dominicy]

It sounds cool.   it'll be nice to be able to save generated things.

[Meiscool-2]

Well, I'm for this. I don't really care if the forum changes, as long as it stays.

However, I want to know: A, will things like our post count and already colored names carry over to the new sever? And B: will there be quality controll for the resources now? Also, if this gets off, can I be in charge of making the screenshot threads?

[Osmose]

Hum..... we would have a metric ****load off bandwidth, wouldn't we? I didn't even notice that. Although we'd almost certainly have to switch to the more expensive plan for space.

As for Gaming World, no we wouldn't have a Gaming World as much as we'd have a Toolkit Zone, which was the major inspiration of the games section idea and the proposition in general. Toolkit Zone has been around for nearly ten years and is home to some of the most amazing games I've seen, especially amateur games. The community has never stopped focusing on game making for as long as I've been visiting (Roughly five or six years by now I'd wager, considering I first found the site when I was around 12).

I'm relieved at the generally positive response, though. If there's any other improvement you think would help benefit the site, no matter how small it is, suggest it! This is one of the best chances we'll have to get our voices heard.

PS: Oh yeah, having multiple choices for site themes is a great idea. Why we don't have it already is beyond me. :

PPS: I'm fairly sure a simple transfer of the database files would preserve post counts and such. As for, er, screenshot threads... um, what? What I meant for screenshots and stuff was a more integrated feature rather than just threads on the forum - more like parts of the site instead of just a bunch of topics attempting to emulate the process.

[ZeroKirbyX]

More mods. I don't mean global, but it's just charas has a history of mods going on long stints with no reason.

[aboutasoandthis]

 Originally Posted by Osmose
 

I'm relieved at the generally positive response, though.

I love this.

I never said I hated the idea. I actually like it. :p I want to see this place have games as much as the next guy.

I still like my team idea, or a "For Hire" topic. I'd even be willing to work on someone else's game. Having say a

 Aboutasoandthis
Willing to Offer: blah blah blah
Abilities: . . .
Experience: Do I need to explain this?
What Must Be Considered: . . .

would shut me up.

Oh, and can we have a spoiler option? You know...where your text can be hidden in a little box or something?

[Meiscool-2]

Oh. I thought you ment there would be a topic in the games thread where people would post shots, then after so much time has passed, it would be unstickied and a new topic would be created. I wanted to be the guy that made those

Much like gamingw's current system.

[Osmose]

Originally posted by aboutasoandthis
Originally Posted by Osmose
 

I'm relieved at the generally positive response, though.

I love this.

I never said I hated the idea. I actually like it. :p I want to see this place have games as much as the next guy.

I still like my team idea, or a "For Hire" topic. I'd even be willing to work on someone else's game. Having say a

 Aboutasoandthis
Willing to Offer: blah blah blah
Abilities: . . .
Experience: Do I need to explain this?
What Must Be Considered: . . .

would shut me up.

Oh, and can we have a spoiler option? You know...where your text can be hidden in a little box or something?[/B]

Spoiler option seems reasonable. The for hire thing is also done on TKZone, actually. It could easily be added as a profile option. (List as for hire, type in what you do, and then a larger description of what you do, and a special list of who has this option set on would be made).

Proposed Additions that aren't "More Mods!" because I'm partially unsure as to whether that was sarcastic, and if it wasn't, could use a bit more specificity, such as what needs modding:

-Spoiler tags
-Profile Option (For Hire) and page that displays all users for hire.

[ZeroKirbyX]

By, more mods, I was a bit sarcastic and serious at the same time. Sarcasm by partially suggesting myself, and serious in a sense of people whose aurthority is genrally taken seriously. No actual power, but people that will hold more legitamacy when they say something like no double posts or what not. They can't issue any repercussion, but it's a "You should take them seriously" thing, because then people with actual power can do things that need to be done.

[Meiscool-2]

I agree with ZKX.

Also, I wouldn't mind being the moderator of the would-be contest thread; that is if you deside to have one. I like teh contesties.

[WarxePB]

Alright, time for a motivational speech.


As it stands now, Charas is dying. The game-making aspect of the site is nearly nonexistent, and the little islands of life that exist outside of the Off-Topic section are few and far between. Even mainstays like AoA and Forum Gaming are not nearly as active as they used to be. If we continue down this path, Charas will be consumed by the Internet void. 5 years of hard work, gone to waste. The Generators, a tool that has helped countless RPG Makers, gone. The Charas Forums, a vibrant and fun community, dead in the water. We need to do something about it - I care too much about this community to let it accept the fate of countless other websites. Even after everything I've done to the detriment of Charas, I still want to see it survive.
I haven't given up hope yet. In the Sanctuary forum a while back, I stated my ultimate dream for this place - for Charas to transcend RPG Maker, and become a place where all forms of art - drawings, video games, writing - were accepted, nourished and encouraged. Unfortunately, Charas isn't mine, so I can't make that decision. But I do like Osmose's vision of a Charas 3.0 - a site focused on RPG Maker, with extensive coverage of all aspects of the program. We'll need to keep our social forums (I expect to see All of All make a comeback), but I would be immensely pleased if Games was much larger.
My point? Adapt or die. Such is the rule of nature, and Charas will need to conform to it. Hopefully, our resurrection/evolution will be superior to the old form in every way, and if the vision is only as good as the final product, we will all benefit.

EDIT: Looks like I'm a bit late. Meh, I wanted to say it anyways.

Also, I think we should integrate the Wiki with the site - in addition to a profile page, we could have a link to a person's CWiki page which would detail anything they like. As I recall, the MediaWiki software is downloadable for free off of Wikipedia, and it would be a bit of copying and pasting to get all of the articles from EditThis to CWiki.

EDIT2: Actually, that seems to be the major point of C3 - integration of the various elements of Charas into a cohesive database. Saved charsets, submitted resources, game info and screenshots, and a Wiki page should all be accessible from a person's profile.

[Daetyrnis]

Similar to what ZeroKirbyX is saying, I think we should have a member group that designates a certain authority.  They wouldn't be moderators, but they would be people who deserve a general respect.  A forum I used to frequent (which I still lurk) did this, and it worked well: Fire Emblem Sanctuary of Strategy.

In that forum, there is a member group called Veterans.  They are people who obey the rules, know what they are talking about, have been with the site for a considerable amount of time, and are generally cool people.  People respect and listen to them.

This group, if made, could have certain perks.  They wouldn't be restricted by flood control, and perhaps they could use HTML in their posts.

Building on this, that forum has another member group called GEOS (Grand Example of Stupidity).  It's a punishment group that has few restrictions (can't make new topics, heavy flood control, etc.).  Moderators/Administrators put people in this group when they deserve it and, if they proove themselves worthy, remove them from it.

Charas, due to being focused on RPGMaker (and inherently Fantasy RPGs) could have different member group names.  Perhaps Noble and Fool could fit, it's just an idea.

[ZeroKirbyX]

Yeah, Darky pretty much has the gist of what I'm talkin about. But titles could be anything from "Freed man" to "Butt slave."

[WarxePB]

Observe newest crappy edit for propaganda purposes! If you don't go through with this, Osmose, I'm gonna shove that image down your throat.

I like the Veteran idea, although I don't know about a n00b group - it seems too arbitrary, and potentially easy to abuse.