CIEL FINALLY BITES AND MAKES A TOPIC

author=halibabica
The issue we're facing here is the purpose of the featured game itself. Darken summed it up before (I think), but there are pretty much two schools of thought on it:

1. Featured game should be something of great quality that the community is proud of and showcases its capabilities (as Ciel described above)

2. Featured game should shed light on a quality game that was overlooked and deserves more attention.

I solved this problem for you. Split these two things apart. I don't need to reiterate why FEATURED GAME needs to be a superstar product and why OBSCURE GAME is usually better placed elsewhere.

author=halibabica
The trouble with featuring only 'the best' is...who decides what's 'best?' Quality is a very subjective thing.

author=halibabica
Define 'good.'

Honestly, this is such prissy wishy washy bourgeois garbage. Quality is objective, appreciation is subjective - a mature person can regard a quality product with respect even if it is not tailored to their personal tastes. We live in a post-(french) revolution world where elitism is feared to such an extent that the talentless, uneducated, and lazy can achieve success due to a nearly universally accepted paradigm in which quality is nebulously defined. It has served many well. If one drops the 'subjective' song and dance for a moment it is possible to come back to a reality where any reasonable individual of discerning taste can identify a product of quality.

Either you are of sufficient reason and experience to select a game that your user base will enjoy (or at least not be outraged by) or you aren't. If you can't do that maybe you shouldn't be staff. It's not some insurmountable intellectual quagmire.

author=halibabica
Then, there's the trouble of games that only look good. Remember Lux Licentia? This is a game that looks good. The artwork is stunning, and having something like this on the frontpage as featured would make RMN look oh so awesome. .

If it helps bring in fresh users and inspire current members then it's the right thing to do. The site has featured games that both look bad and play poorly. I'm not seeing any 'Craze' style x-treme balance and thoughtful stat design in some of the more aesthetically offensive recent features. Like Harmonic said, if it's a choice between visual appeal or game play, the former is the better marketing choice. Obviously, if there is a solid game whose graphics are sufficient to not embarrass the site, it is a viable candidate. A featured game should generate excitement of some sort - 'Wow, look at this!'.

The occasional horrific looking game that plays like a dream is acceptable, but the site really needs to build up trust with its userbase before that can fly. Games that you can complete with autobattle have been described on the front page as having 'fantastic balance'. That's crying wolf.

author=King Arthur
When you are facing an angry mob of internet ragequitters who only repeatedly chant that LL is crap and completely misunderstand the point of FG, it's hard to make a constructive comeback.

The featured game's purpose seems to be very malleable when not received well. If its purpose was to elevate obscure titles, why was AAG - that month's obvious smash hit game - featured? Either 'you misunderstand the purpose' is an excuse designed to avoid blame for making a poor selection, or nobody is really sure about what is going on here.

author=King Arthur
The featuring of Legendary Legends did not in anyway prohibit "positive action". For all we know, we could've taken the chance to constructively debate exactly how and why the writing wasn't what it was made out to be (and why some other people found the writing great). It was the community and its love for incessant bickering that destroyed any chances for "positive action", not the game (LL), not the system (FG), and not the staff.

This paragraph essentially says 'no you!'. It's unfortunate that you're unable to reflect on my analysis of the situation and consider why placing that particular title in that particular position may have been a poor idea. That defensiveness I was talking about? Here it is! 'You are all negative human beings therefore we did no wrong!' is a weak argument.

author=King Arthur
I'll also state that the basic general structure of the community, a user-content driven forum and an accompanying site, has never gone away. RMN is special in that the site is more fleshed out than most. What has gone away is the people and their willingness to be creative and endure effort..

People tend to overlook the 'temporal' implications when pondering the decline of the RM scene. What has gone away is much of the generation who had the advantage of growing up with 16 bit games, a powerful frame of reference for RPG Making. The 2K generation steadily made innovations to bring RM closer to what they knew and loved on the SNES. The VX generation grew up playing Final Fantasy 10. Now that many of the 2K generation's best creators are gone, who is there to teach new RM'ers what possibilities exist in these 2D engines? RMN potentially has the power to teach and guide many new aspiring game makers, as well as inspire experienced, but worn out ones. Whether or not to take the opportunity and strive towards that goal is up to those in charge.

author=King Arthur
The community (you and myself included) is just as much to blame for the pitiful state of this community just as much as the staff is, if not more.

Except it's the staff's duty to make it better. That much should be evident. Unless, of course, they are content with merely keeping the site running in any capacity, without enthusiasm or passion... but as we have seen in the past, that leads to dark places. (saltworld lol)

author=King Arthur
The idea that RMN is the most prominent or its savior is, to put it simply, arrogant.

RMN is the only one of those I see any potential in, otherwise I would be on another site posting essays. Like I said, WIP created a framework that should be the envy of the sites you mentioned. There's no reason it shouldn't or couldn't be the brightest star in the sky!

author=King Arthu
Why should we care, nay, why should we be bothered about how foreign RM communities are viewing us?

Your 'tribal' interpretation completely misses the point. It is not about what THEM FRENCHIES think about RMN, it's about ensuring external perception of the site remains positive, that its merits are immediately clear to potential contributors. This is good for its health because a site that is perceived as having quality and passion is attractive to potential members! I don't know how it is possible for any literate human being to come away from my post without understanding that.

author=Holbert
I see little advantage in trading tyranny of the staff oligarchy for tyranny of the masses... or even a non-staff oligarchy.

A UCC site's userbase is its lifeblood. If you can't see how putting their needs and demands first is beneficial, I don't know what to tell you.

author=Holbert
This is especially true when the anecdotal evidence provided as the reason why such a change is necessary is as flimsy as "these French RPG Maker sites... look down on you".

Not the point, not even remotely. The reason changes are necessary is RMN's health, growth, and unfulfilled potential. I made that clear in my original post, but you are evidently intent on fabricating a very specific interpretation based on a small segment of supporting argument.

author=Holbert
We first having to assume that assertion is even true, but then we have to gauge whether or not it matters.

I'm not saying that the current Featured Game is not without its flaws (it isn't), but I see some individuals -- or a clique -- essentially inspiring a rebellion because their own preferred choices for Featured Game were not selected.

Are you calling me a liar? That's extremely rude! Don't worry holbie, the 'clique' of dissenters apparently consisting of myself, craze, mog, calunio, strangeluv, tardis, darken, lennon, etc etc won't do too much damage with our self-serving rebellion! You're completely correct, none of us really give a fuck about this site, we just wanted our pet games featured. But now that we've been pinned down by this incisive behavioral analysis I guess it's time to give up and go home.

author=Lennon
Nobody is saying we should be exactly like them. We are saying that all of us should take action to make the site a more respectable place, by, like I said, reviewing, writing articles, organizing events, or just playing other peoples games and giving them comments and shit. We aren't saying "Let's be Oniromancie!"

So yes, it would be productive to do these things. Thinking it wouldn't is frankly a little ridiculous.

As always, it's nice to read the posts from those who understand my very simple message. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this topic.

all the topics on this forum and you had to shit post in this one

-rick blaine