LOCKEZ'S PROFILE

OK, so insults are degrading, and advice is useful. What I meant was that if you degrade something that's bad, then that's useful. If you degrade something that's good, then obviously you're just an ass. Don't do that. It will make people's games worse instead of better.

Of your three examples there, I think the negative one is actually the most useful because it gives the most detailed information. Funny that you equate giving more details about what's wrong with being negative. A lot of people do; they thing "going on and on" about what's wrong is somehow harmful. Which is part of why I think people's dislike of negativity is often foolish; that's blatantly more helpful than the other two on account of providing more information.

Calling the person a dumbass doesn't help though. The problem is with the product, not the person. So yeah, that's just pointlessly rude.

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Actually, I want to focus more on this;

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Also, one thing I want to address is to stop talking shit on other communities. It's really tacky and all it does is alienate us from one another, thus making things smaller and turning individual sites into enclaves where we can't learn anything from one another.

I agree. We should try to mend our relationship with the other RM sites and encourage inter-community activities. The Misaos have historically been the one event that unites the disparate RM sites together, but I don't feel that happening anymore (largely since it's not one big event at the end of the year, there's no real draw anymore). I'd like to see us working with the other sites. Perhaps encourage reviewers on the other sites to cross-post their reviews here, for example.

I didn't know we still had misaos. For some reason I had been thinking there hadn't been any for years. Did the link at the top of the site used to display outdated info or something?

Yes, I disagree with that.

Politeness/tact by definition means being less direct and not really saying exactly what you mean. This is detrimental to communication.

Dude. Most people learned in kindergarten that sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me. Maybe you should go back and repeat it until that lesson sticks? As people grow up, they are taught that their confidence should come from within, not from other people. That's a basic elementary point of being a healthy human being.

Besides, this isn't a support group for people who hate themselves. This is a game development site. The games come first. The people are just there to create games.

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But if the game is a piece of garbage, then they should know. They should know that it's not just that I didn't like it. They need to know everything that's bad about it so that they can fix it as well as possible.

If they're so upset by this that they don't fix the problems, then I don't really consider it a loss. If I hadn't pointed out the problems, they wouldn't have fixed them anyway. If they can't handle learning that their game has severe problems without having a breakdown, then they're not cut out for creating things and should find a non-creative hobby or get counseling.

In short, just say exactly what you mean. Giving inaccurate feedback helps no one.

That's kind of an elitist view of things. "if your not as good as I am at taking hurtful negative criticism than you don't deserve to be part of this community". Your saying anyone who is hurt by mean things isn't worth 2 cents. Some people here are just kids(relative, around 15-16 yrs), some are bullied in real life or maybe they're just a person to take things personal. You don't know the person on the other end. Some of us pour our heart and soul into game making and often times if you only know your own work, you think it's great. Having someone berate you on all that hard work can be devastating. As a community we should be helping each other grow with positive feedback and reinforcement, not negative comments and insults.

Just be nice. (it's a recurring theme!)

You can point out all the things wrong with their game without being insulting. That's the whole point. If something is terrible it can always be put forth in a positive constructive way. If you want to provide feedback, be positive about(or at least neutral) or don't say anything at all. It's not part of your duties to provide feedback in the first place. If you provide feedback you are doing so by choice, and you also have the choice of how to present it. Being part of a community means supporting the community, not trying to bring it down.

Also, if we just accept the "lol it's the internet" frame of mind we can never move past it. But that's a bigger problem ^.^;

Pointing something out that's wrong is the definition of being insulting. It's also the definition of being helpful. Insulting and helpful are exactly the same thing. People just call helpfulness "insulting" when they don't want help or don't like the person who's being helpful or have some other sort of illogical emotional reaction. It's a stupid point of view.

Everyone's number one goal in this community should be to improve games and game-development ideas, be they our own or each-others'. If someone gives you opinions or advice, then you are better off for it. Period. It will make you a better game designer, which is the one thing that matters.

If you couch your criticism of my ideas in niceties, de-emphasise it for the sake of my feelings, or reword it to avoid making me think my game is as bad as it really is, you are doing me an extreme disservice. You are risking the quality of my game for the sake of being a people pleaser. That is absolutely unacceptable. I would be extremely angry at you if I learned you had treated me this way. And the least I can do is extend the courtesy to other people that I expect them to provide me.

Also, I cannot possibly disagree more with the idea that giving feedback is optional. If you have no intention of helping other people, get the hell out of the community, and don't come back. We don't need you leeching off of everyone else's goodwill without providing anything at all in return.

I don't think color is appropriate for this type of area. Maybe a little bit of tinting, but it's okay if all the objects are pretty much gray. Heavy contrast would be inappropriate for an area that's supposed to feel completely dead.

I think you do need more than one shade of gray though. I'd make the floor lighter, and either the desks or the walls darker. I can barely tell where to walk.