Charas Minecraft Server and Youtubz channel

[fruckert]

If we're going to pull this off, we need to plan a bit more.
Right now, we're doing the same mistake we always do...bring up a really cool idea without doing any sort of big thinking about it.
That is what causes us to fail as consistently as we do.

A big problem is that none of us really have the skill or experience to make good game reviews that will keep people coming.
Let's Plays are a little easier, as long as you put a lot of personality into it.
Game reviews, however, need you to really know what you're talking about in order to make it engaging.
All the humor in the world won't help if all that you're saying is "This game sucks/rocks and you should/n't play it".
And, well, no offence to us all, but we aren't exactly the best at that.
After we get a little more experience actually making games, and maybe when we have some cool stuff to showcase, sure, but at present...I don't think this is going to work.

The server is fine, though, I think that'd be fun.
If people would be willing to keep it up and make cool ****, that is.

[drenrin2120]

If we're going to pull this off, we need to plan a bit more.
Right now, we're doing the same mistake we always do...bring up a really cool idea without doing any sort of big thinking about it.
That is what causes us to fail as consistently as we do.

A big problem is that none of us really have the skill or experience to make good game reviews that will keep people coming.
Let's Plays are a little easier, as long as you put a lot of personality into it.
Game reviews, however, need you to really know what you're talking about in order to make it engaging.
All the humor in the world won't help if all that you're saying is "This game sucks/rocks and you should/n't play it".
And, well, no offence to us all, but we aren't exactly the best at that.
After we get a little more experience actually making games, and maybe when we have some cool stuff to showcase, sure, but at present...I don't think this is going to work.

The server is fine, though, I think that'd be fun.
If people would be willing to keep it up and make cool ****, that is.

I get what you're saying about reviews, but I don't really agree either. Doing reviews isn't easy, but I think it's quite obvious that there's more to it than just "this game sucks and is stupid." That's why I suggested criterion for reviews, for consistency and a level playing field for reviewing games. Also, if anyone wants to do reviews, it's not hard to watch or read other people's reviews, take some cues from them, read up on a few tutorials for recording videos and watch your bias. I've actually already done all that. I'm not saying I'll be the best, but I get the concerns and I don't see how hard it'll be to keep a lid on all that as long as you're conscious of it.

That said, I don't think reviews are for everyone. Who knows, if I try my hand at reviewing a game, maybe I'll suck balls at it. There is a lot to know and there are a lot of angles, but I think we deserve a little more credit than we give ourselves. So, if people are afraid of reviews, I wouldn't object and would understand wanting to put off doing that kind of video for a while. LPs, video tuts, etc., in that case, are still fair game.

On the note of bigger planning, I agree we should do a lot of that. I think Natako was more or less saying that.

We can start planning by deciding how we want to organize this all. Example, Natako suggested roles. That means, what kind of roles are available? Off the top of my head, someone has to edit each video (whether original creator or not), someone/people have to update/maintain youtube page, someone/people have to create various kinds of videos, someone has to make banner art for the page(do we want banner art? Do we want an opening music theme? An opening title?) After that, we should consider a way of deciding what makes it on to the youtube page and what doesn't. Also, are we creating one single page where all videos are uploaded to one central location? Or are we creating different linked youtube accounts for different kinds of videos? Let's decide on these basic things before worrying about anything else.

[Bluhman]

Well I think we're doing plenty of planning. If two pages of discussing vocal qualities of members counts as planning.

Yes, minecraft server is fine. So long as you've got a standalone computer that is alright running near-constantly with net access, or otherwise is able to post messages to warn people when said server is going up/down.

Then there's the youtube channel.

Charas might have a lot to offer to a youtube account.

Am I right to say that charas might have little to offer as a game-making community? For one, there's only 16 threads in the finished games section. 6 of them have been posted in in the last year, and one is only that recent due to a bumping bot. So that's 5 effective games that still apparently have any development still going on them available to you. Give or take some material other members might be sneaking in here and there.

Of course, that's just the section for finished games. If you want to get technical, there's also the RPGMaker game section, which actually has a sizable number of threads that have been active recently.  Sort of moot when you consider:
A: Not all of them are actually threads about games in progress.
B: Threads that are about games in progress might very well be far too early in development to be in any sort of displayable form
C: RPGMaker is niche. Like, ultra-super niche. Even moreso when considering that perhaps the most preferred creator around here, RPGMaker2003, is literally almost a decade old.

So yes, you could might make a youtube channel, and you might get some people to put out finished games or presentable demos that are longer than 15 minutes, and you might make videos of them, and people on youtube that aren't necessarily part of the Charas community or know what RPGMaker is might watch them. The reason one would go about making a youtube channel would be to get some sort of publicity or popularity _{(I guess, I don't study youtuber psychology unfortunately)}. What I'm trying to say is who outside of this community is going to watch this. And if your answer to that question is "probably nobody", then why bother with a dedicated Youtube channel at all?

Again, this is all assuming that we even manage to get some finished and presentable games up and available. I'd also cite Drakhan's Crappy Game Reviews as an almost counterpoint to all this, except I can't seem to find his channel, and I can't exactly gauge how many of his ratings/comments were from outside or inside Charas. He also seemed to have his own posse of separate people who were watching his development of Ruins of Azagale or whatever it was called.

[fruckert]

If I recall Drak baleeted his channel due to drama.

[Bluhman]

Yeah, that's right, something to do with hacking and all that.

At least my voice-acted game can't be used against me now.

[drenrin2120]

Well, I do recall suggesting reviewing/LPing games outside of the community. And no, I don't think the youtube channel would be only about getting publicity for charas.

I personally just want to give this a go. Reviewing, LPing games or yes, making video tutorials on some aspects of rm2k3 was something I had in mind. This is just an experiment and if it's successful, then I get to do some cool stuff with my favesies internet community like maybe hosting a minecraft server, or whatever else we decide to do. Which for that, there are ways to do it without actually buying a separate computer and leaving it on. I don't have any grandiose ideas of this blowing up into a big thing, it just sounds like fun.

So, thanks for the criticism, but you're not saying anything I wasn't already aware of.

[Meiscool]

It would be a good way to promote demos and sites. Youtube receives a lot of traffic after all.

I'll try to do my best to provide something to be reviewed. As far as video editing goes, I won't be able to help there.
Another way to add content is to put trailers of games up. These trailers would of course be made by the game makers themselves.

As for the reviewing angle and considering bias and whatnot... I think that could easier be fixed if you make a little rule or code stating that any game that is reviewed, must have a second person reviewing it. Two people reviewing one project... bound to cover all the bases and counter bias outlooks (if they even exist).

As a last little note... anyone here ever play League of Legends? I started a few days ago and it is kind of fun. Oh, and free. Anyways, huge multiplayer RPG, and we love rpgs.
It is free, fun, and easy to get into, and might make decent videos too. Just an idea.

[Natako]

I'd like to try my hand at some regular reviews sometime. I frequent That Guy with the Glasses so I've seen a lot of good...and not-so-good reviews, and perhaps I'll create one of my own in the future.

Having more than one person review a game is a great idea. I can think of a million cases where my personal opinion of a game did not seem to match up with everyone else's (*coughFFXIIcough*) and I think it would be great to have two different angles independent of one another.

Lucas has a good point about creating a bunch of videos before we release anything. Not only will this allow us to update during slower times, but it will help us work things out between ourselves as far as how the project will work. After we've completed a few reviews, we should have a good idea of whether this is something that we'll be able to continue or not.

I can't really help with the video editing much as all I have is Windows Movie Maker...need I say more? At some point I may download some better software (I've been toying with the idea of trying to review a game for a while now), but even then I'll lack experience with the program. It would be better left to someone else.

This is purely idealistic, but imagine that we did get the ball rolling on this and gained some viewers (after all, Drak did with his Crappy Game Reviews, and those were in fact what brought me to this forum). If we can present ourselves as a credible reviewing source, we'll probably receive submissions and recommendations from people who either want to improve their games or see how they stand up to a more critical eye. Yeah, that would be an outcome far in the future, but the best part about what we're doing is that it involves games that people create instead of commercial colossi. It's sort of like free quality checking plus shameless promotion of the game you've devoted so much time and effort into creating. Kind of an appealing idea for anyone who is serious about their project, no? I'd just like to point out though that if you choose to make a simple review, you should be required to check for bugs (run into walls for passability issues, try abilities in scenarios where they shouldn't be used, etc.). It's a grand viewpoint, but...hey, you never know. Isn't worth thinking about for the time being, of course.

[Cerebus]

If anything gets done, I demand that Sarah C. appears somewhere!

[drenrin2120]

I agree with Lucas's point. I'm not so sure how important weekly updates would be starting out, but having back ups sounds like a good idea no matter what point we find ourselves at.

As for associating Charas name with this all, I may or may not have already talked about this, but I actually understand that. This project could just be based out of Charas forums. For example, we could ask that anyone who wants to request we review or LP a game send us a message on youtube or more preferably contact us on Charas forum.

Also, desktop computer update, I'll hopefully be getting it fixed tomorrow. It seems the power supply fried.