RPGC Feedback Thread

[mdk]

I'm gonna make this look pretty and whatnot, but in the meantime, there's no reason why the feedback can't start now. RPGC is still in alpha phase, so nevermind that nothing looks good or works yet -- if you've got any pertinent feedback about stuff that looks like it could use feedback, then you know, knock yourself out. Ultimately this will be a more structured and active thread, but for now, no frills, just feedback.

[Keyguyperson]

I, for one, cannot wait for the first contest! Maybe I'll actually be able to improve if I have a reason to focus on something.

[mdk]

That's the idea! These things usually just boil down to a pretty good excuse to write something, possibly outside the comfort zone a little. And that's what really matters. Anyway the startup crew (who I haven't credited yet, shame on me, I'll get my act together soon) lined up a solid first contest, and after that, it's up to us to keep things going. I'll make sure I get some more progress before I run out of daylight today. SOON!

[Garjel_blah]

There was oe thing I was a bit hesitant about when I read the outline of how this would work... You said you wanted people to read every entry before voting. But what if there are like heaps of entries? Or what if they're all thousands of words long each? What if there are heaps of thousand word long entries? Not many people would have the time for that, I'd have thought. Even over a month. Or do you disagree?

[Keyguyperson]

Garjel has a point. Since there could be so many people writing large entries (given that this will be a monthly thing, these entries could get up to novel size if people get really serious), it could get just too hard to read everything. Not as if I own the place or anything, but I'd like to make a little suggestion: What if we classified the pieces by length? Maybe have different word number classes, each with their own individual vote. After voting was done, perhaps the winners (top two, top three, whatever) from each length class could be put up for the finals and the winner decided out of them. It's more complicated, sure, but solves the problem of simply not having enough time. If you want to have input, but can't read the longer ones, then you can just vote for the shorter ones. The finals would bring out the best in all length classes, I can definitely see smaller stories winning the finals due to their creativity and charm, even when put up against the pieces in the larger classes. Certainly not a perfect system, people could end up being just too lazy, but perhaps certain people in the staff could vote in the higher classes in order to get actual opinions in there. Again, not trying to run things or anything like that, just sharing an idea. With any luck, more ideas will come in and you'll be able to pick a good one or throw them all into a blender and get a superior franken-idea.

[mdk]

There was oe thing I was a bit hesitant about when I read the outline of how this would work... You said you wanted people to read every entry before voting. But what if there are like heaps of entries? Or what if they're all thousands of words long each? What if there are heaps of thousand word long entries? Not many people would have the time for that, I'd have thought. Even over a month. Or do you disagree?

[@Garjel_blah]

My personal attitude is, you should feel free to talk about entries whenever you want. Just read the first one? Like it? Talk it up! When it comes to VOTING, though, everyone should have a fair chance to get your vote... and frankly, if you as a voter think "I don't like long entries, and I'm never reading all of that," that's fine by me. You're the voter, right? Vote on whatever parameters you want. Then again as a writer, I'd hate to pour all that effort into something and get zero attention. So like... idunno. I don't wanna make a policy that encourages people to skip submissions, but I also don't want to whip the readers. It's a tightrope.

What if we classified the pieces by length? Maybe have different word number classes, each with their own individual vote. After voting was done, perhaps the winners (top two, top three, whatever) from each length class could be put up for the finals and the winner decided out of them.

Back in the days of OldGuild, we had Writer of the Month (and I'm really hoping they come back and set up shop here, too). WOTM was split up into length-based categories, and it worked just fine. That said, the crew that I put together to start up RPGC (who I'm gonna go credit, right as soon as I'm done with this reply) wasn't really attached. The thinking was, if gigantic stories start getting ignored and that becomes a problem, *then* we'll address it -- either by setting up word-limits in each contest, or by breaking up entries into different categories. The general idea behind RPGC is to keep everything super-flexible. Sidenote -- there will be 'staff picks' for each contest, where everyone who worked on that particular month goes through and we pick a few notable stories. Staff doesn't get to skip long stories -- so at the very least, if you submit something super-long, you'll have our attention, and you'll get some critiques for your efforts. But when it's at all possible, I want to leave things up to the common vote and the writers -- if the vote favors shorter entries, and you want to win, maybe try something shorter. That anarchy is something I like. But again -- I don't think of it as my role to dictate this kind of thing. If the staff for a given contest wants to do things differently, that's their prerogative.

[Ellri]

We seem vaguely to recall something about the oldGuild writing contest having some sort of rule concerning that pieces have to be newly written (i.e. that if you make a mutant highschool werewolf disco theme one month, we can't dredge up the one we wrote n years ago on just that theme). Will such a rule count be maintained in RPGC?

[Rina]

• Your entry should be something you wrote specifically for the contest at hand.

Looking at the rules it sounds like something similar will be implemented.

[Ellri]

True.

[Lord Pie]

Feedback from me is that it all looks awesome so far. I'm also excited awaiting the first contest (maybe I'll finish an entry I start writing eventually) - but either way it was always really good to see the work people put into the previous contests. I very much hope the same happens here

[mdk]

Feedback from me is that it all looks awesome so far. I'm also excited awaiting the first contest (maybe I'll finish an entry I start writing eventually) - but either way it was always really good to see the work people put into the previous contests. I very much hope the same happens here

@Lord Pie

That's gonna be up to everyone. RPGC relies much more heavily on community-driven content than previous contests did -- that's a two edged sword though. On the one hand, many hands make easy work; on the other, too many cooks spoils the cat, or something. We should be able to do as good as traditional contests, if it's just me and a few core people running the show -- but if we want to do better, that's gonna require some community involvement. And I think we'll have it. There's never been a shortage of interest in forum writing contests -- if I can channel that into products, we'll be golden.