FAQ
Note: This is the FAQ of Wc3c.net, but I am still the official creator of the FAQ, and I have every right of using it. Because the rules are mostly similar, there is no reason why I shouldn't post this.
----------------------------------
Yeah, you just read that right. Isnt it horrible? It finally happened, I was asked to write a new FAQ to replace the older one of SA-Magic at Wc3c. I can already hear the people thinking 'Fladian writing a FAQ, that's a disaster! What did we do wrong?' or anything similar to that. Well, to make matters worse, my opinion is completely the same of it. What did I do wrong to do deserve this? I was good for you guys, right?
If you guys would've behaved well, you could've saved me from... um... let's start already.
As some people may have noticed, definitely not all, otherwise it wouldnt happen often the team gathering threads here are being gathered on a way that isnt correct. They are usually lacking too much information what makes it hard for the reader to see what it is exactly the leader wants. This thread is supposed to help people to gather a team better, though I got more of a feeling ill become a spamfest. Usually they say something like: I'm starting a campaign but are forgetting to give anything specific with it, like a story or any jobs that are available.
Some even mention that you will have to PM them to hear the story, but with some new rules (where I'll get back to) there is a chance threads such as those will be immediately deleted. Yes, you heard that right. By asking them to send it by PM it is making the forum completely useless.
Lets start off seriously now.
-Introduction
It would be best to give a small introduction about the project before anything else. To start off, you could say if it is already a project that has been going for some time it could be best to name that as well. People will know that the project has been going for some time and will (probably) have some progress.
If it isnt an existing project, sometimes it would be best to start off immediately what kind of project the people are dealing with if it isnt explained in the thread name or the place where it is created. You could say it is a campaign, RPG, or anything like that. If people are uninterested in such projects, they know they wont really have to bother to read further. It happens once in a while that people completely FORGET to say what kind of project it is leaving people in complete confusion of what the creator was talking about.
Some people do it, so it would be best to refer to it as well. There are a lot of people who will start out by boasting a bit about the project like: this will be a sweet game, or it will be the best, you really cant impress anyone with such. People will just be annoyed by it, and that will be all.
If possible, try to write something as well that will keep the people interested. Like something of the features that you want to point out immediately to make the project special from all others.
-Insert the Story
Like I said before, it happens more than often that people think of a project, but completely forget about the story and what they want to do with it. I even met someone on the forum who said stories are useless, people dont like stories in a game, what is completely wrong! A story might be one of the most important factors in the game and something best to be as accurate as possible.
There are indeed amounts of people here who are not fond on projects that are based on existing histories, such as movies, books, anime or other games excluding from the Warcraft Universe. But most of all, remember that this is a Warcraft modding forum, not a fanclub. A project based on Dragonball remember that not everyone likes this, people like me and Lord of the Rings is something weve seen too often and are mostly only made because of trying to attract the fans. If you want to discuss Dragonball (or something) go to a different forum that is dedicated to it. Just like I am doing.
Try (not necessarily, but try) to have an original story or at least something that is worth of peoples time. Seeing a story like this doesnt quickly excite people: The story is about a man who died but most go back because the people who killed him are planning of taking over the world. You are the only one who can stop him!
Such an old story doesnt excite people anymore and is barely worth their time. It is too old and too cliche now, it is happening in about every fairy tale that exists.
Also, keep it as accurate as possible, many people would like stories that are well detailed. Not always, but mostly. It is not something of primary priority but something that people would appreciate. Even though you need to make it accurate, dont make it longer than it has to be, even though people like the details, there are too many people who dont like reading much. So try to write something that would attract their attention from the very start, it doesnt matter if it is only a fragment of the ending of the story, but make something that will get their interest.
Dont just start something like: the story is about a young boy with his little sister and a pet bird that is 2 feet high and likes to eat carrots. Together they want to take over the world.
-Be specific what you want
If possible, try to be as specific as possible. I know it can be hard to do sometimes, but it should be done. As example, tell them what kind of jobs you are offering the people to help you.
Also try to give an accurate explanation of what kind people you want to help. You could ask for a terrainer, but terrainers are different from each other. Each has a different style and a different opinion. If you can attract the one who has the most things in common with how you want it, then you will have it perfect.
-Dont start off too big
Yeah, I am talking about starting your first project WAAAY too big. I personally know many people who did it, and even me, the one writing the FAQ made the same mistake as well. If there is a good example, then it is best to pick yourself. Especially if this is your first project, dont go overboard with a project with 50 levels, 20 new models and several 256 x 256 sized maps. Try to start off small and work yourself slowly up to become more respected and show the people that you are able to finish projects. It would also be useful if you would get to know the forum a bit better and let the people know you too. It will be easier to let people join you since they are more familiar with you.
Large projects often fail because they got too many features that are not able to become reality or the leader is not able to keep the team together.
Joining a project may also give the necessary experience to start a project of your own. Some people think starting a project is nothing special, but it is a lot harder than you think. Think twice about starting a project and even then ask yourself wont it be better if I joined an excisting project?
Many people make this mistake and start projects that are nearly impossible to them. They want to show they got good ideas, that they of something great but they are forgetting the question, can I finish this or why no one would join them. If it also one of your first posts on this forum then it might be best to show some work of yourself. Even if you arent new, sometimes it is just for the best, so people know whom they are dealing with.
Perhaps by showing some of your work and your experience for other projects, then perhaps you can impress a modeler enough to let him join your project.
And as long last, if you have a bad grammar, the excuse not a native is a poor excuse. www.dictionary.com and a real one can offer quite assistance here. If the thread is written too horrible to barely read then there is a high chance that the thread can be closed. Even though I learned to read most kind of posts, not everyone shares the same thought and most likely, many people cant read it. The im not a native excuse is called poor by me is because I am not a native either, and I am speaking nearly perfect English out here. If I didnt, I wouldve harmed my proud
Another excuse people tend to use is my brother is an employee at Blizzard or my father helped making this game for all we could care, your last name is Blizzard you just cant impress people by saying this. You will definitely annoy them by doing so, that is for certain. At the far most, you can impress the little kids, but those who got a higher intelligence than a glass of water wont bother with it. You wont impress anyone by saying that you reached a status yourself by saying your occupation even if it would be your occupation, it would make little difference.
-Dont just rely on others
It happens too often that people rely too much on their helpers to create the project for them. Anyone could go and come up with some good ideas for a campaign or RPG, but making it is what impresses the people (gee, doesnt this sentence look familiar?). Many people think they are able to create the project successful as long as they got the necessary people. Well big-boy, things dont work that way in real life, perhaps it would work that way in games or in theory, but not in real life, sorry.
In the end, itll be your project and you will have to take the responsibility to do some work by yourself without the help of your team.
Here for the old (SA-Magic) part again:
Dont go and ask for a terrainer, icon maker, modeler, skinner, triggerer, story maker and ideas man. You see, you are asking for every job available and clearly giving the expression that you aren't planning on doing anything by yourself. This clearly ticks people off.
-Be professional
Now, dont come shouting to me, im not professional, im a kid! because I am not referring to that and what? Youre a kid? Wow I never thought that I um hide the stuff guys
Spell and grammar check your messages to find mistakes in them. No matter how much confidence you have in your writing skills, even the best makes mistakes. Im probably not giving a good expression, since Im not using a grammar check either. That shouldnt be in it, should it?
The less mistakes you make in the thread the more professional it will look to other people and the easier it is for people to understand you therefore perhaps making them join. There is no use in saying English isnt my first language since like I said before, that is a poor excuse. There are several people out here on the forum who have a better grammar than the natives out there.
-Don go and ask for...
..Beta testers! You dont need those until youre nearly finished! Or at least, more than 90% done. Voice actors would fall under the same roof there and could only be recruited when it has past the border of 90%. But because of some impatient voice-actors, some may join up before you may actually need them. Welcome them with open arms if you want, or punch them right back out the door I usually do. Yeah, the people like me, they just keep coming back and back for more, and I need to hit and hit and hit and hit and I nearly lose the feeling in my arm of hitting and I am off-topic?
If you ask for beta testers of voice actors during the first stages of your project then you are clearly wasting peoples time and efforts. Even though you may say it, there is never a guarantee that your project will be completely finished. You are perhaps also unnecessarily increasing the file size of the project.
People are also often asking for people who will write them a story to base the project on. That is pretty much your own job as the project leader and you really shouldnt ask someone else to do that. To help you with the story and help with the history, it is not OK to ask them to write the entire story. There is a high amount of people sadly enough, not as talented as some think here that are willing to write a story for you but you should think of something by yourself if you want it as best as possible. Not everyone has the same taste in stories as you do. Some prefer a story with a lot of fighting and some prefer romancer strangely enough, all my stories seem to end up in drama
Thanks for the time.
-Fladian
----------------------------------
Edited and "fixed" by ragingspeedhorn the 16/03-06
Note: This is the FAQ of Wc3c.net, but I am still the official creator of the FAQ, and I have every right of using it. Because the rules are mostly similar, there is no reason why I shouldn't post this.
----------------------------------
Yeah, you just read that right. Isnt it horrible? It finally happened, I was asked to write a new FAQ to replace the older one of SA-Magic at Wc3c. I can already hear the people thinking 'Fladian writing a FAQ, that's a disaster! What did we do wrong?' or anything similar to that. Well, to make matters worse, my opinion is completely the same of it. What did I do wrong to do deserve this? I was good for you guys, right?
If you guys would've behaved well, you could've saved me from... um... let's start already.
As some people may have noticed, definitely not all, otherwise it wouldnt happen often the team gathering threads here are being gathered on a way that isnt correct. They are usually lacking too much information what makes it hard for the reader to see what it is exactly the leader wants. This thread is supposed to help people to gather a team better, though I got more of a feeling ill become a spamfest. Usually they say something like: I'm starting a campaign but are forgetting to give anything specific with it, like a story or any jobs that are available.
Some even mention that you will have to PM them to hear the story, but with some new rules (where I'll get back to) there is a chance threads such as those will be immediately deleted. Yes, you heard that right. By asking them to send it by PM it is making the forum completely useless.
Lets start off seriously now.
-Introduction
It would be best to give a small introduction about the project before anything else. To start off, you could say if it is already a project that has been going for some time it could be best to name that as well. People will know that the project has been going for some time and will (probably) have some progress.
If it isnt an existing project, sometimes it would be best to start off immediately what kind of project the people are dealing with if it isnt explained in the thread name or the place where it is created. You could say it is a campaign, RPG, or anything like that. If people are uninterested in such projects, they know they wont really have to bother to read further. It happens once in a while that people completely FORGET to say what kind of project it is leaving people in complete confusion of what the creator was talking about.
Some people do it, so it would be best to refer to it as well. There are a lot of people who will start out by boasting a bit about the project like: this will be a sweet game, or it will be the best, you really cant impress anyone with such. People will just be annoyed by it, and that will be all.
If possible, try to write something as well that will keep the people interested. Like something of the features that you want to point out immediately to make the project special from all others.
-Insert the Story
Like I said before, it happens more than often that people think of a project, but completely forget about the story and what they want to do with it. I even met someone on the forum who said stories are useless, people dont like stories in a game, what is completely wrong! A story might be one of the most important factors in the game and something best to be as accurate as possible.
There are indeed amounts of people here who are not fond on projects that are based on existing histories, such as movies, books, anime or other games excluding from the Warcraft Universe. But most of all, remember that this is a Warcraft modding forum, not a fanclub. A project based on Dragonball remember that not everyone likes this, people like me and Lord of the Rings is something weve seen too often and are mostly only made because of trying to attract the fans. If you want to discuss Dragonball (or something) go to a different forum that is dedicated to it. Just like I am doing.
Try (not necessarily, but try) to have an original story or at least something that is worth of peoples time. Seeing a story like this doesnt quickly excite people: The story is about a man who died but most go back because the people who killed him are planning of taking over the world. You are the only one who can stop him!
Such an old story doesnt excite people anymore and is barely worth their time. It is too old and too cliche now, it is happening in about every fairy tale that exists.
Also, keep it as accurate as possible, many people would like stories that are well detailed. Not always, but mostly. It is not something of primary priority but something that people would appreciate. Even though you need to make it accurate, dont make it longer than it has to be, even though people like the details, there are too many people who dont like reading much. So try to write something that would attract their attention from the very start, it doesnt matter if it is only a fragment of the ending of the story, but make something that will get their interest.
Dont just start something like: the story is about a young boy with his little sister and a pet bird that is 2 feet high and likes to eat carrots. Together they want to take over the world.
-Be specific what you want
If possible, try to be as specific as possible. I know it can be hard to do sometimes, but it should be done. As example, tell them what kind of jobs you are offering the people to help you.
Also try to give an accurate explanation of what kind people you want to help. You could ask for a terrainer, but terrainers are different from each other. Each has a different style and a different opinion. If you can attract the one who has the most things in common with how you want it, then you will have it perfect.
-Dont start off too big
Yeah, I am talking about starting your first project WAAAY too big. I personally know many people who did it, and even me, the one writing the FAQ made the same mistake as well. If there is a good example, then it is best to pick yourself. Especially if this is your first project, dont go overboard with a project with 50 levels, 20 new models and several 256 x 256 sized maps. Try to start off small and work yourself slowly up to become more respected and show the people that you are able to finish projects. It would also be useful if you would get to know the forum a bit better and let the people know you too. It will be easier to let people join you since they are more familiar with you.
Large projects often fail because they got too many features that are not able to become reality or the leader is not able to keep the team together.
Joining a project may also give the necessary experience to start a project of your own. Some people think starting a project is nothing special, but it is a lot harder than you think. Think twice about starting a project and even then ask yourself wont it be better if I joined an excisting project?
Many people make this mistake and start projects that are nearly impossible to them. They want to show they got good ideas, that they of something great but they are forgetting the question, can I finish this or why no one would join them. If it also one of your first posts on this forum then it might be best to show some work of yourself. Even if you arent new, sometimes it is just for the best, so people know whom they are dealing with.
Perhaps by showing some of your work and your experience for other projects, then perhaps you can impress a modeler enough to let him join your project.
And as long last, if you have a bad grammar, the excuse not a native is a poor excuse. www.dictionary.com and a real one can offer quite assistance here. If the thread is written too horrible to barely read then there is a high chance that the thread can be closed. Even though I learned to read most kind of posts, not everyone shares the same thought and most likely, many people cant read it. The im not a native excuse is called poor by me is because I am not a native either, and I am speaking nearly perfect English out here. If I didnt, I wouldve harmed my proud
Another excuse people tend to use is my brother is an employee at Blizzard or my father helped making this game for all we could care, your last name is Blizzard you just cant impress people by saying this. You will definitely annoy them by doing so, that is for certain. At the far most, you can impress the little kids, but those who got a higher intelligence than a glass of water wont bother with it. You wont impress anyone by saying that you reached a status yourself by saying your occupation even if it would be your occupation, it would make little difference.
-Dont just rely on others
It happens too often that people rely too much on their helpers to create the project for them. Anyone could go and come up with some good ideas for a campaign or RPG, but making it is what impresses the people (gee, doesnt this sentence look familiar?). Many people think they are able to create the project successful as long as they got the necessary people. Well big-boy, things dont work that way in real life, perhaps it would work that way in games or in theory, but not in real life, sorry.
In the end, itll be your project and you will have to take the responsibility to do some work by yourself without the help of your team.
Here for the old (SA-Magic) part again:
Dont go and ask for a terrainer, icon maker, modeler, skinner, triggerer, story maker and ideas man. You see, you are asking for every job available and clearly giving the expression that you aren't planning on doing anything by yourself. This clearly ticks people off.
-Be professional
Now, dont come shouting to me, im not professional, im a kid! because I am not referring to that and what? Youre a kid? Wow I never thought that I um hide the stuff guys
Spell and grammar check your messages to find mistakes in them. No matter how much confidence you have in your writing skills, even the best makes mistakes. Im probably not giving a good expression, since Im not using a grammar check either. That shouldnt be in it, should it?
The less mistakes you make in the thread the more professional it will look to other people and the easier it is for people to understand you therefore perhaps making them join. There is no use in saying English isnt my first language since like I said before, that is a poor excuse. There are several people out here on the forum who have a better grammar than the natives out there.
-Don go and ask for...
..Beta testers! You dont need those until youre nearly finished! Or at least, more than 90% done. Voice actors would fall under the same roof there and could only be recruited when it has past the border of 90%. But because of some impatient voice-actors, some may join up before you may actually need them. Welcome them with open arms if you want, or punch them right back out the door I usually do. Yeah, the people like me, they just keep coming back and back for more, and I need to hit and hit and hit and hit and I nearly lose the feeling in my arm of hitting and I am off-topic?
If you ask for beta testers of voice actors during the first stages of your project then you are clearly wasting peoples time and efforts. Even though you may say it, there is never a guarantee that your project will be completely finished. You are perhaps also unnecessarily increasing the file size of the project.
People are also often asking for people who will write them a story to base the project on. That is pretty much your own job as the project leader and you really shouldnt ask someone else to do that. To help you with the story and help with the history, it is not OK to ask them to write the entire story. There is a high amount of people sadly enough, not as talented as some think here that are willing to write a story for you but you should think of something by yourself if you want it as best as possible. Not everyone has the same taste in stories as you do. Some prefer a story with a lot of fighting and some prefer romancer strangely enough, all my stories seem to end up in drama
Thanks for the time.
-Fladian
----------------------------------
Edited and "fixed" by ragingspeedhorn the 16/03-06