Moderation or no moderation?

WIP games, tools & toy projects Archived Projects
#1

Here’s my plan.

  • Games Showcase will be renamed Works in Progress and the old WIPs forum will be merged with it.
  • A new subforum, just called Showcase, so that it can be used for demos as well. Only mods will be able to post new topics there.
  • There will be a clear list of guidelines posted in Showcase as a sticky so you can all see what you need to satisfy to get your game there.
  • I will probably decide on two mods specifically for the Showcase section. If you’re interested in the job, please let me know.
#2

Nominate 3 forum members to do the deciding.

#3

[quote=“Demonpants,post:1,topic:33911”]
Seems simple to me - leave all as is but add a new section called ‘Admin’s Choice Games’ (or something) and stick the good stuff in there. Users could apply to have their game added or the mods could choose the ones they liked. No-one can really argue as it’s the mods personal choice.

#4

Nominate 3 users, splendid Idear!

#5

I like this idea. Maybe we could combine it with having some users nominated, as I don’t want to be responsible for playing every single game and deciding whether it goes in there. :stuck_out_tongue:

#6

I’d say choose 3 judges and create a set of guidelines which they should follow.

something like

  1. reasonably finished
  2. playable
  3. polished to an extent
  4. can be showcased - meaning it has a decent host, working link, suitable content (e.g nsfw, morally, legal, etc)

its up to the judges how they interpret the guidelines but will give programmers some clarity as to what they need to hit in order to get in the showcase.

#7

my game has to permantely stop win WIP because my game is based on constantly evolving hence the name kickassevolution
my game is designed to grow as new content is added giving the players more things to do.

From what some of you have seen of my game you would not know this as ive only just started to implement the data structures to allow for unlimited growth(hard drive space permiting). You basically download new data as you require it.
OH GOD i cant wait to show it to someone ;D.

i think developers should choose if they want to put there game in WIP but then again if i wanted to play a game in showcase i would expect it to be finished(bar a few minor tweeks,thats allowed).
Or would it be classed as finished when it doesnt crash or throw errors and is fully playable ??
I think moderators should use thier god like powers and AUTHORATAR to remove games or at least tell the user they are going to remove a game from showcase if it is proven that its not finished.

Heres a thought…
say you put a game in showcase and it fully works no crashes fully playable…
then you decide to add a new feature to it like chat or new levels or different entities etc etc that also works ok .
should you be beaten with a blunt object for posting the first version? NO the game worked ok the new game is just a different version.
I think leave it up to moderators to remove games if they arnt fully complete.

#8

I do not accept that 3 guys could move any game into the WIP section without the prior consent of the author.

#9

Is the showcase section intended to be a community showcase or a personal showcase? If it is a place for the Java community to showcase complete games, then some kind of moderation seems necessary. If it is just a place for game developers to show off their work, then each person can decide for themselves when a game is “finished enough”.

To me a community showcase seems more useful, so I’d give moderation a vote.

#10

Allow regular JGO moderators to move whatever they want. No need for democracy, revolution and protest here.
I don’t understand the problem having a game in the WIP section… buy yourself a V.I.P. shirt and be happy.

Plus the nice idea with ‘Admin’s Choice Games’.
Admins don’t need to play each shitty game immediately, it is ok when they move a game there after months and someone poked them to do so.

#11

Society needs order.
Please rule.

You can do whatever you want, I believe you are clever enough.

#12

I, for one, welcome our new overlords.

Cas :slight_smile:

#13

Anarchy! The game authors should decide if their game is ready for showcase or a work in production…

#14

I think kapta’s requirements to go into the showcase is perfectly reasonable. Showcase should be somewhere I can go when I want to play a few games, and not wade through pages of buggy, incomplete tech demos. If your game doesn’t have any proper levels, or doesn’t have any win/loose conditions, or has major known bugs (like infinite health, or being able to walk through walls) then it’s firmly in WIP. I don’t think these are unreasonable restrictions.

Personally I find it depressing when I can spend two years on a project only to have it buried and pushed onto the third or fourth page of the showcase after only a week because of the vast weight of trivial tech demos and pong remakes.

#15

How about someone who makes games for a living vets them :slight_smile: Hint hint. ps. I am notoriously scathing of substandard work. I really mean that.

Cas :slight_smile:

#16

you could always have a bigginers learning showcase for all oft eh classic remakes and such. adn then another one for advanced games… just a thought.

I am for moderation, the moderators are pretty reasonla people. But I also think that a certain number of people shuold be able to overrule. But not just three ause that sems like too little, mabe 5.

#17

You guys (including Demonpants) are taking this way too seriously.

A moderator should be able to move a topic at his own discretion, provided he documents it in the thread. If a moderator consistently irritates people by using wrong discretion, then the solution is to remove his moderator privileges.

I think all this extra meta-planning (3 judges or whatever) is unnecessary and will probably discourage people from posting games to these sections. Just focus on my game, not on where I posted it :-\

#18

Well whatever the outcome of this, as it stands the Games Showcase just isn’t good enough at the moment.

Theres plenty of great games here on JGO but as some members have already stated they get buried by unfinished, buggy and incomplete games.

Sites like Newgrounds have a really good system where the good stuff floats to the top and is easy to find while the not so good, low quality stuff gets buried. Since this is just a forum and as it stands can’t really have complex rating system like that, some manual system is needed.

If we can’t easily show the cream of the crop it has a detrimental effect, it gives out a bad image for java gaming which is unattractive to new developers and JGO misses the opportunity it has to reward talented developers by giving them more exposure. (also just curious, why doesn’t google pickup on jgo posts? robot.txt blocking it?)

#19

I voted “If 3 users in a topic vote that it should be moved, do so”, but I’m not sure I meant the same thing by it as Demonpants.

Basically it’s similar to SimonH’s proposal but putting less load on the admins. No-one can create threads in Showcase; if three people vote in a thread for it to be moved to Showcase and the OP agrees (they might still consider it a WIP and not ready for Showcase, and that should be respected) then a passing admin will move it.

#20

I agree that some kind of moderation is necessary to avoid this kind of stuff.

You will always think you son is more beautiful than he really is .

Let’s just pick up 3 or 5 people (as hackerboy said) and have them to play and to vote in the possible candidates to the showcase. In the worst case, your crappy game will be played at least 3/5 times before getting refused to the Showcase.
(And if that’ the case, I suggest feedback from the judges, to point out the reasons why the game was refused)