Charas 3.0

[coreystranick]

I support this all the way. I'd even donate if I could.

[Tomi]

I agree with the others; post counts should stay.  Otherwise, it looks good to me! SUPPORT'D

[Cosmos]

Stupid question... would this mean.. ie ppl will finally see the main page?   and.. I dun think alex will go but I like it.

[Omega Weapon]

I don't know if a similar thought has been mentioned, but:

No amount of software changes are going to magically solve apathy towards the gaming aspect of Charas, IMMHO.

[Cosmos]

Messie has a point.. It's really up to the older members and they know who they are. Going off on new members whether they be newb or n00b is only gonna keep people away. <<

[Shady Ultima]

Originally posted by Midnight
Messie has a point.. It's really up to the older members and they know who they are. Going off on new members whether they be newb or n00b is only gonna keep people away. <<

But that is the point of making the forum be more game-oriented. Right now, people come here, and want to show off their games, and get requests, and nobody helps them. Thus, they leave. And if they don't leave right away, then they get snapped at by some of the other members because they didn't read the rules.

[Cosmos]

How does getting a new layout for the site change the way members act? It doesn't. I'm all for the new look, but people need to change their attitudes. Myself included. No matter how awsome a site looks, people aren't gonna deal with having an older member telling them, "You suck, gtfo biotch and take your shitty cliche game with you" just for showing off their games. And then they'll think it's unfair when someone like meiscool or dragonblaze (Just throwing out names) puts up a half finished game and get nothing but praise just because they happen to be older members.

It really comes down to giving a bit of respect to the newbies/n00bs the same respect you would give an oldie even if ya don't like'em.

[Blue_Strife]

Originally posted by Midnight
It really comes down to giving a bit of respect to the newbies/n00bs the same respect you would give an oldie even if ya don't like'em.

Aww, but where's the fun in that?

Nah, in all seriousness, Tiff's got a point.

[Meiscool-2]

Originally posted by Shady Ultima
And if they don't leave right away, then they get snapped at by some of the other members because they didn't read the rules.

What a fantastic point. The next time a n00b breaks a rule because they clearly didn't read the rules, we just won't tell them.

Awesome.

Also Tiff, games get praise when they are GOOD. It's only irony that n00bs make crappy games, or is it? Hell, when I was a n00b, I had a game called Pact that several people considered to be good.

[Dragonium]

For once I agree with Meis. The problems come when someone who is new to RPG Maker makes a game thread. At the end of the day, we're just not going to give them praise if we don't like the game.

The general consensus is that we should give them encouragement when they post a game thread, and give only constructive criticism. But the fact of the matter is that everyone's perception of "constructive criticism" and "insulting spam" is different. Some members try to give what they see as constructive criticism, but the member making the game takes it the wrong way.

We have to admit that sometimes our older members' criticism is anything but sensitive, but it's not always our fault.

Also, about reminding n00bs of the rules, it's a necessary evil. It says all over the forums that you should read the rules before posting. If they didn't do that, they deserve to be told off for it.

[Osmose]

Older members being dicks is why I really liked the Fool feature. It allows a mod to make someone who bashes a newbie a fool until they get the idea.

The problem with constructive criticism and flaming is this: Different people have different opinions. I can't for the life of me see why anyone likes Meiscool's maps: They're overcrowded and are all Rudra (The second point I may be wrong on, as I'm not a chipset expert, but they all look sickeningly similar), and not as a single style of chipset, but the same chips with different colors for different areas, which, to me, looks bad. Most successful and commercial games are much less crowded, and I think they look way better than his style. And yet a lot of other people on Charas think he's a great mapper.

Now this in itself is nothing bad, but it doesn't get people off the hook. I don't like Meiscool's maps: I explained why in a generally objective member, and even mentioned that I may be wrong in one of my assumptions. More and more members, however, would've said, "Meiscool's maps suck, there should be less stuff. Try looking at something better, because right now they look horrible." They focus more on the negative aspect, which is ridiculous.

People these days don't appreciate that making a game may lead to later on making a better game, or the fact that encouraging someone instead of simply pointing out bluntly that their current work is bad compared to something else. But before we can start trying to make insulting members into more constructive members (And it doesn't help that I don't use RPG Maker, but the fact is that criticism is hardly something unique to RPG Maker) we should re-focus the site on the games themselves.

Also, here's a few things I'm proposing that just occured to me:

-Global Mods have power to ban accounts (Or SiteMod level above Global Mod that has this power).
-Head Admin has power to ban IPs
-Temporary Ban ability (Set time for ban).

[Meiscool-2]

Originally posted by Osmose
The problem with constructive criticism and flaming is this: Different people have different opinions. I can't for the life of me see why anyone likes Meiscool's maps: They're overcrowded and are all Rudra (The second point I may be wrong on, as I'm not a chipset expert, but they all look sickeningly similar), and not as a single style of chipset, but the same chips with different colors for different areas, which, to me, looks bad. Most successful and commercial games are much less crowded, and I think they look way better than his style. And yet a lot of other people on Charas think he's a great mapper.

Now this in itself is nothing bad, but it doesn't get people off the hook. I don't like Meiscool's maps: I explained why in a generally objective member, and even mentioned that I may be wrong in one of my assumptions. More and more members, however, would've said, "Meiscool's maps suck, there should be less stuff. Try looking at something better, because right now they look horrible." They focus more on the negative aspect, which is ridiculous.

Originally posted by Osmose
If anyone is entering, here's a tip: Stuff as many random objects (leaves, stumps, bushes, animals) as possible into your map, and you'll get a 10. If there's a single space without something on top of it, you get bumped down to an 8 automatically.

LOL hypocrite.

EDIT:

Originally posted by Dragonium
Also, about reminding n00bs of the rules, it's a necessary evil. It says all over the forums that you should read the rules before posting. If they didn't do that, they deserve to be told off for it.

I would like to note that this thread already has 562 views.
Do you know how many views the All of All forum rules thread has?
609.
Wow. That means that the number of people that have looked over the All of All forum rules is less than or equal to 609. That means that the number of members that has actually bothered to read the forum rules is, at MAX, 3%.
We need stricter enforcement on reading the rules. I might not always follow the rules, but at least I know them. Even though I've visited other forums before and knew that this forum would probally have the same (if not, then similar) rules, I still took the time to read them.

[A Forgotten Legend]

BURN!!!!!... sorry, random outburst...

[SaiKar]

Originally posted by Osmose
Older members being dicks is why I really liked the Fool feature. It allows a mod to make someone who bashes a newbie a fool until they get the idea.

Try as you like, you can't have moderators threaten people until they change. It always ends poorly. Trust me, I know.

Unfortunately, and as usual, Mid's right; no amount of website upgrades can make people be less of a jerk. But consider that not everyone that comes to the site now leaves. If we make the site more attractive in general to newcomers, more of them should stay, so even if the jerks are still out there we'll have more newcomers around. That's a good thing.

I highly am against formal veteran and noob categories for members with different privledges. The only time I've seen that work is with Sanctuary, and even that didn't work all that well. Just giving it to people that have been around a long time or have a lot of posts creates ANOTHER way to seperate the newbies and make them seem like less of members.

The only sort of distinction that might be good is giving people that donate actual money some sort of bonus. Because if you're directly paying to help keep Charas afloat, you're cool, no questions asked.

Originally posted by Meiscool
We need stricter enforcement on reading the rules. I might not always follow the rules, but at least I know them.

Then what in the farking hell is the point of you knowing the rules if you don't follow them! You yourself prove there's no reason to make people read the rules; even the people that DO claim to know them don't care!

Honestly, about the rules, the main point of posting them is so that moderators can say smug things like "Well if you would have read the clearly-posted rules, you'd know that..." Nobody reads the rules. I sure didn't read the rules when I started here. But it really doesn't matter. Those rules weren't decided by lawyers; they were written by normal people. If you have any scrap of common sense it's very easy to follow 90% of them, with the few exceptions being about double posting and bumping topics.

[Bluhman]

Originally posted by A Forgotten Legend
BURN!!!!!

Sarcasm, man. Both MIC and Ozzy's quote about placing stuff everywhere are just jests.