KIRAD'S PROFILE

First, I would like to mention that this is a horrible, a horrible way to introduce one's self into a new forum. Jump right into a critical debate and see what happens!

Yeah. ... O.o

So, m'yes. After months and months of putting it off, I have finally buckled down into something resembling a looksee at the wonderful world of game-making. And surprisingly enough, it has a similar amount of problems to the wonderful world of convention-running... where I have been holed up for the past 6 years.

Now, most of you don't know me, or know where I'm from, or where I'm coming from, but I will ask you all to please be patient while I attempt to analyze this issue you are dealing with.

Basically, I get the impression that there are more people willing to put in the work to get something for themselves, and less people willing to partake of the fruits of said labor. As one of you put it, it's kind of inevitable, for a community that is built around making things.
Creativity is your ideology. But many of your members suffer from the misunderstanding that creativity is also singular.

It's not.

Even when you are creating a game, by yourself, you need the support and encouragement of the community around you to garner critiques. To make a game as good as it can be made, you cannot look to yourself as the only person with an opinion. Just like a writer needs an editor to look over a rough draft and correct mistakes, a game-maker needs at least one other person - or, ideally, a team - to check for cracks and help you polish the edges.

But, as someone else pointed out (somewhere...I lost it ^^;;) people are very disinterested in providing that critique and support. For various reasons - but the end result is that most people would rather make than play, because they see no benefit to the play.

How do you combat this?

First, I would suggest that you build up more of a community of support, rather than one of 'look, I did this!'.

How?

For starters, has anyone ever tried a points system around here? Not like that craaaappy idea where you get points based on how many forum posts you've made, but one where you grant points based on the amount of articles, reviews, and (maybe even) games submitted?
Granted, for any system like that, you need to have some sort of reward - some people can run on having the most points and being the 'best', but in something where you're trying to encourage participants to put themselves out and do something that they'd normally rather not do (participate in the community), you need some sort of tangible prize.

What about partnering up with another website, webcomic artist, artist, writer, etc. - someone who may need the ad-space, links, or shout-outs on your page, and would be willing to create prize support in exchange?

Or, how about sponsoring "Make-It" seminars, or "Fast-Play" competitions? Get a group of people (2 or more) to go to a local convention and run a workshop or panel on basic game-making. In a "Fast-Play" competition, you could take some of the more popular games on the site (possibly with a quick remake, or demo), and see how quickly con-goers could get through it. Make a game out of the games. Encourage interactivity.

How about encouraging playability by forming links with websites for gamers?

Hold a "Make N'Break" tournament, where participants have one month to make a game, and reviewers have one week to try and break it - not quite sure how, but I'm brainstorming. ^-^

Create a zine. Have game reviews, opinion polls, articles, etc., and then upload a 'game of the {blank}' to the website so that everyone can play it from there.

Ask all top reviewers to review one particular game each month - this game to be picked by chance or design from a pool of games available. Then, at the end of the year, all twelve games are automatically entered into a competition. Whichever one wins is playable on the site for a designated amount of time the following year.



I know some of these suggestions may seem silly or out there, but, again, it's a brainstorm. I don't know who's in charge around here, what your budget is like, your skill levels, or how many members you have who are willing to go the extra mile, so this is the best I've got for the moment. ^-^