Return to the Court

Dr.Froth
A while ago (like last year) I had an idea for "The Court of Games."

Perhaps this idea is worth looking into again.

Of course, things are different now that you can upload a game right to textadventures with no waiting period.

Hey DavidW, I thought I read that Adrift has a section for incomplete and beginner games in its archive. Is that true? Maybe we could do that.

What if we made a section of textadventrues for newbie games and unfinished stuff. That way the author can still put his game up on the site (even if it sucks). The minute somebody with moderation abilities figures out that the game is incomplete or "a practice game" then they would just move it over from the main game list to the other list.

If you disable the rating system on the "newbie" list then you avoid much of the crap that we are enduring right now.

I would be more than willing to take up the job of weeding through the current games on the site and moving the ones that needed to be moved to the new list. Hell, I'd even keep up with it after that on a weekly basis.

That seems more fair than my first idea of only allowing registered users to put up their games.

What do you think of that idea?

davidw
There's a demos section on the main Adrift site which is meant to be for tutorial programs on how do certain things with Adrift. Unfortunately, it just tends to get used for half done games that people couldn't be bothered to finish. Still, at least it keeps them away from the proper games.

Dr.Froth
O.K. Good. That is what we need here.

A way to keep actual games in a place away from "newbie madness" and "joke" games.

I still think there should be no way to review or vote on the "non-game" games.

Elexxorine
We could take that a step further and put games into genres, that would also give a clue as to what a game is like and make it easier to find a game you want to play.

I say the 'court of games' or a moderator/reviewing team is a good idea. Perhaps games go into a 'to be reviewed' section first and once reviewed are given a category to go into and an initial rating. What you guys think?

I'm fully volunteering to do this btw, I've already started to review some games and will continue to do so when I have free time. I should work more on my Yuletide game though.... lol.

Alex


What if we made a section of textadventrues for newbie games and unfinished stuff. That way the author can still put his game up on the site (even if it sucks). The minute somebody with moderation abilities figures out that the game is incomplete or "a practice game" then they would just move it over from the main game list to the other list.

If you disable the rating system on the "newbie" list then you avoid much of the crap that we are enduring right now.



I really like this idea. I've been pondering some kind of category system for a while, so if there are volunteers willing to categorise the existing games in the archive, as well as new games as they come in, then I'm all for it.

I'm stupendously busy with real life at the moment though so it may be a little while before I implement this. I might do it if I get bored over Christmas maybe...

Dr.Froth
If you make the area for "newbie" and "practice" games I will be more than happy to go through the games and move the ones that need to be there onto the list as well as update it on a weekly basis.

Please, if we are going to do this, disable the ratings on the "practice" list. I think that will avoid much trouble in the future.

Freak
Suggestion: Call the newbie/practice area "Slush Pile".

davidw
You seem to like the phrase "slush pile" :wink:

Elexxorine
I'm offering to sort through the games too... Are you going to put in other catergories which are more like genres too? And let's not call it 'sluch pile', rather 'unfinished/test' or similar. We don't want to insult the new people who may turn into valuable additions to our community.

This is scarely, I've just realised I'm the moral voice of this forum....

Alex
Yes I think we should have categories/genres too.

Does anybody have ideas for a list?

davidw
‘Slush pile’ isn't really an insulting phrase. I think it comes from the book publishing world where novels submitted to publishers are put in what's called a slush pile until they can be read through and deemed worthy or not worthy.

Elexxorine
They may not see it that way.

Genres/Categories:
* Science Fiction.
* Fantasy.
* Real world.
* Historical.
* Educational.
* Horror.
* Competions (sub cat's for each comp, perhaps).
* Online.
* Unfinished / Demos.
* To sort (if using moderators to sort, etc insteed of people as they put them up).

Also you should be able to select multiple categories, and they appear in the list for both categories. Each game should also list all the categories it's under.

As well as age listing in case of adult content, such as voilence, drug use, swearing, graphic stuff (you know what I mean) and horror themes. Age listing could be:
* All: nothing bad.
* 12+: some mild voilence.
* 15+: medium voilence, lesser swearing, small horror.
* 18+: bad voilence, real swearing, horror and hanky-panky.
Or make them check check-boxes for what content is in their game (voilence, swearing, drugs, etc) and these appear as another list, or as symbols next to the name.

Example may be:

HavenHold. By Elexxorine. Uploaded: ##/##/####.
Description.............
Cat: online, sci-fi, fantasy, horror. Age: 15+ (for voilence, mild horror).
DOWNLOAD [Size: ###kb (zip)]

Stuff in italics would be links, the category links go to that category's listing, the age link goes to a page explain what each age rating means.

steve the gaming guy
...and don't forget my favorite genre.... comedy. :P

Michael The Gamer
davidw wrote:There's a demos section on the main Adrift site which is meant to be for tutorial programs on how do certain things with Adrift. Unfortunately, it just tends to get used for half done games that people couldn't be bothered to finish. Still, at least it keeps them away from the proper games.


When I first went to the website in Adrift and When to a tab called adventures I thought the demo was half done games but when I found out I got really confused :?
But finially I found this post

I think I got a suggestion:
Link to come soon!

Michael The Gamer
elexxorine wrote:They may not see it that way.

Genres/Categories:
* Science Fiction.
* Fantasy.
* Real world.
* Historical.
* Educational.
* Horror.
* Competions (sub cat's for each comp, perhaps).
* Online.
* Unfinished / Demos.
* To sort (if using moderators to sort, etc insteed of people as they put them up).

Also you should be able to select multiple categories, and they appear in the list for both categories. Each game should also list all the categories it's under.

As well as age listing in case of adult content, such as voilence, drug use, swearing, graphic stuff (you know what I mean) and horror themes. Age listing could be:
* All: nothing bad.
* 12+: some mild voilence.
* 15+: medium voilence, lesser swearing, small horror.
* 18+: bad voilence, real swearing, horror and hanky-panky.
Or make them check check-boxes for what content is in their game (voilence, swearing, drugs, etc) and these appear as another list, or as symbols next to the name.

Example may be:

HavenHold. By Elexxorine. Uploaded: ##/##/####.
Description.............
Cat: online, sci-fi, fantasy, horror. Age: 15+ (for voilence, mild horror).
DOWNLOAD [Size: ###kb (zip)]

Stuff in italics would be links, the category links go to that category's listing, the age link goes to a page explain what each age rating means.



I could be a Moderator or/and maybe I could be a host of Competions

Like:

Games for 2008 Summer Competion
In this competion we have (no.) games
1. (game name) by (author)
2. (game name) by (author)
and so on

{download} ##kb
Rate games in this poll
(link)



The game that have won in 2008 Summer Competion is ...
1st - (game name) by (authors name)
and so on


Elexxorine
If you think you're going to be a moderator with your reputation, think again... The people who are moderators here have been here for years and provides lots to the community (not what you're doing).

Michael The Gamer
elexxorine wrote:If you think you're going to be a moderator with your reputation, think again... The people who are moderators here have been here for years and provides lots to the community (not what you're doing).


For your note: paul_one is NOT a moderator
and theres is not a lot of moderaters here just 2
And I could do the competions

witch wyzwurd
Michael The Gamer wrote:For your note: paul_one is NOT a moderator
and theres is not a lot of moderaters here just 2
And I could do the competions


Michael, Michael, Michael! Look at when Elexxorine joined the Axe Forums. Elex knows who the moderators are. Elex knows the ways of the Axe Forums. Paul_One is a moderator... just look at the list of moderators below each forum category.

You do deserve an equal chance at vying for being a host of competitions or being a moderator, but would you vote in George Bush to outline a plan for a war you wanted to win or to run an economy you were in control of based on his decisions and attitude thus far? Would it be in everyone's benefit for you to be a moderator or host of competitions with your much touted hate list?

Give it some time Michael,... give it some time. Just make a good Quest Game. Gain respect that way.

davidw
I often wonder why I still read this forum, not being particularly interested in Quest and Quest-related stuff, then I come across a thread like this and the answer comes to me.

‘Cos it’s so damn funny!

I mean, where else would the biggest troll currently on the forum actually consider that he should be made a moderator? The ironic thing is that, if he was made a moderator, his first target for moderation would be… himself. Can a moderator delete his own account? Can he issue warnings to himself? Can he post a message indicating that his posting messages privilege has been revoked because he’s been trolling again?

Classic, just classic.

Alf
When a "how to do it" question is asked here, there are usually more than one solution provided. I would like to see a "snippets" area. The learners (like me) could go look there first before posting. The ones who generously provide solutions could post the code there for all. So, a category for code snippets, not complete games.

Dr.Froth
Thank you Alf.

I knew a fellow Texan could help get this thread back on track.

I think that a learning area where links to sample code that has been posted on the forums would be a great idea.

I happily volunteer somebody else to make and keep up with it.

Alf
Yep, I'll help to pick the volunteers :)

Elexxorine
We tried that a while ago with the axeuk wiki but it needed people to add stuff to it, there is a few things on there, but if people added all the stuff said on the forums then a lot more would be there.... That was badly said, I know. I started the wiki says that other people would need to help, but no-one really did... If anyone wants to add to it, with snippets, etc, feel free.

witch wyzwurd
In reference to Quest Wiki: I added to it. I think I was the only one.

DavidW wrote:Classic, just classic.

That is pretty classic. In fact, I think he would forever be caught in a dilemma, a Catch 22. The moment he tried to be a moderator, at the same time, he would be trying to cancel himself. He would forever be caught in that moment like some acute form of OCD. (Michael, if you read that, it's just a philosophical joke that could apply to anyone... I'm not being a harsh critic, but you have to admit, it is funny.).

Michael The Gamer
witch wyzwurd wrote:

"Michael The Gamer"

For your note: paul_one is NOT a moderator
and theres is not a lot of moderaters here just 2
And I could do the competions



Michael, Michael, Michael! Look at when Elexxorine joined the Axe Forums. Elex knows who the moderators are. Elex knows the ways of the Axe Forums. Paul_One is a moderator... just look at the list of moderators below each forum category.

You do deserve an equal chance at vying for being a host of competitions or being a moderator, but would you vote in George Bush to outline a plan for a war you wanted to win or to run an economy you were in control of based on his decisions and attitude thus far? Would it be in everyone's benefit for you to be a moderator or host of competitions with your much touted hate list?

Give it some time Michael,... give it some time. Just make a good Quest Game. Gain respect that way.



Im just soo bored to make another game

steve the gaming guy
Hey Michael, it's been a month and no one responded so I'll ask... you're bored to make "another" game? Do you have any finished games we can try?

Alex wrote:I really like this idea. I've been pondering some kind of category system for a while, so if there are volunteers willing to categorise the existing games in the archive, as well as new games as they come in, then I'm all for it.

I'm stupendously busy with real life at the moment though so it may be a little while before I implement this. I might do it if I get bored over Christmas maybe...


So what's the latest on this?

davidw
steve the gaming guy wrote:Hey Michael, it's been a month and no one responded so I'll ask... you're bored to make "another" game? Do you have any finished games we can try?


I'd always assumed he'd written several games under a pseudonym, and then wrote glowing reviews of them, which is why he reacted so strongly when you said the games and reviews in question weren't very good.

Michael The Gamer
steve the gaming guy wrote:Hey Michael, it's been a month and no one responded so I'll ask... you're bored to make "another" game? Do you have any finished games we can try?

"Alex"

I really like this idea. I've been pondering some kind of category system for a while, so if there are volunteers willing to categorise the existing games in the archive, as well as new games as they come in, then I'm all for it.

I'm stupendously busy with real life at the moment though so it may be a little while before I implement this. I might do it if I get bored over Christmas maybe...



So what's the latest on this?




Reasons why I haven't make any finished Text Adventures:
1. I have Quest lite and
2. I'm really hooked into a game so I cant make any Text Adventures.
3. Where in textadventures.co.uk can you upload the game?

Elexxorine
To add a game, look at the buttons along the top, it's the third one along "submit a game".

Michael The Gamer
elexxorine wrote:To add a game, look at the buttons along the top, it's the third one along "submit a game".

I See

Elexxorine
Also you don't need to quote the person above you when replying, unless you're replying to something a few posts back, it's kind of obvious when you're replying to the person above you...

davidw
So what's the verdict on the Court of Games - going ahead or not? I think it'd be worth looking into, particuarly considering the sheer volume of awful Sword Master games that are the first thing people see when going to the main site. Play one of them are you're hardly going to be left with a good impression of Quest.

Alex
It's going ahead when I have a bit of free time to set it up.

Elexxorine
Woo! Just to say, I'm willing to be a moderator! And sorter of games.

steve the gaming guy
May the elections begin! I volunteer to be elexorrine's co-moderator. :mrgreen:

Elexxorine
Excellent, I've been seconded.

Thanatos
elexxorine wrote:Excellent, I've been seconded.


And Thirded :D

Elexxorine
Awesome. If this where an election, my opinion polls would be way up there... Thanks guys.

Alex
Here is the initial categories list:

Uncategorised - everything at the moment is in this category
Sandpit - this is the least offensive name I could come up with for newbie/test/practice/unfinished etc.
Adult
Comedy
Educational
Fantasy
Historical
Horror
Multi-Player
Mystery
RPG
Romance
Sci-Fi
Seasonal

Any suggestions for additions or changes, please let me know.

At the moment these categories will be hidden from users until the moderators have categorised all (or most) of the games.

If you would like to be a moderator, please volunteer here.

At the moment I have added elexxorine and stevethegamingguy. Dr. Froth - I can't find your account on textadventures.co.uk - do you have one set up? If so please could you give me the URL of your profile?

If you are a moderator, you will be able to browse the list of uncategorised games from the home page. If you click on a game you will see a drop-down list where you can assign a category.

Alex
I found your account, Dr. Froth, so you're set up as a moderator now as well.

Elexxorine
YAY! Thanks Alex.

Thanatos
Hooray! Thanks alot Alex!

But Sandpit makes me smile :D

And I also have an unrelated suggestion... Maybe a new banner for the site instead of the old boring:



We need something more exciting like this quick thing I whipped up:



Thanks again Alex!

~Thana

EDIT: Just noticed the K at the end sticks out a bit :oops: :cry:

steve the gaming guy
WOW... that looks cool! If you can get the whole thing to fit, that'd be awesome. But that's for Alex to decide anyway, lol.

Thanatos
Thanks Steve :D

Now it fits :)



Tell me what you think Alex!

EDIT: I can sense i am going to be getting a lot of response to this so Im making a thread about it... Thanks :)

Michael The Gamer
Alex wrote:Here is the initial categories list:

Uncategorised - everything at the moment is in this category
Sandpit - this is the least offensive name I could come up with for newbie/test/practice/unfinished etc.
Adult
Comedy
Educational
Fantasy
Historical
Horror
Multi-Player
Mystery
RPG
Romance
Sci-Fi
Seasonal

Any suggestions for additions or changes, please let me know.

At the moment these categories will be hidden from users until the moderators have categorised all (or most) of the games.

If you would like to be a moderator, please volunteer here.

At the moment I have added elexxorine and stevethegamingguy. Dr. Froth - I can't find your account on textadventures.co.uk - do you have one set up? If so please could you give me the URL of your profile?

If you are a moderator, you will be able to browse the list of uncategorised games from the home page. If you click on a game you will see a drop-down list where you can assign a category.


I would like to be a moderator :D

Elexxorine
Alex, you should add a 'real world' category for games such as 'Assassin' which don't really fit into any of the other categories.

And I think I speak for everyone here when I say for the love of all that is good don't make Michael the Gamer a moderator.

davidw
Can I apply for the post of Michael the Gamer Moderator? Effectively I would have the power to

a) ban Michael the Gamer
b) edit his posts to make him look like an idiot (he’s doing an effective job of this himself but a little extra wouldn’t hurt)
c) delete any games he releases before anyone has the misfortune to try one

I’ll wait to hear from you.

steve the gaming guy
It appears that the only moderator "power" we have is categorizing the games. Unruly and flaming comments cannot be altered or deleted. Games cannot be deleted or declined from being submitted as far as I can see.
There is a new game that I haven't played called "Assisinating Dr. Froth" (authored by Thana/Andrew Trewin) featuring Dr. Froth and Elex and already given a 5 star rating by Michael the Gamer. By the title, I can't imagine this is a game that is honoring Dr. Froth nor Elex.

Alex, as a non-moderator, how is the categorizing supposed to help? I tried browsing without logging in and the site looks the same as before and you can't see what category the games are in. There is a top ten list on the left and the newest games on the right. Even after Sword Masters was moved into the Sandpit category, it still appears on the newest games list.
I was thinking, as a moderator, we would be categorizing games so players would have a way to sort through the mass and find a genre of game they wish to play.

Elexxorine
I've just checked out hte game. You play Dr. Froth and I (Elex DePaw) am an assassin trying to kill him. You have a neat puzzle for getting out of the lift then walk into the control room to find me standing there with a knife, I then throw it at Dr. Froth and it hits his heart. It's a lot better than most other games coming out right now because of the higher quality of writing, and an actual story line. I played it and enjoyed it, made me laugh. I would though appriate if I was asked before anyone has me as a character in their game. Especially if I am to star as "the 4th most wanted on the FBI's Most Wanted list" and described as "renowned for her gruesome and interesting ways she kills her targets".

I really need a 'real world' or 'puzzle' category though for the games that aren't of any toher genre.

Alex
The first phase of this is categorising the existing games. When this has been done the categories will become public, and I'll make some changes to the front page so that sandpit games aren't shown. I didn't want to do this just yet though with all the games still uncategorised.

I'll also extend moderator functions in the future so you'll be able to e.g. delete non-Quest games, remove spam comments etc.

Elexxorine
I'm working my way through the huge amount of games...

steve the gaming guy
Go get 'em, tiger!...um...tigress? :)

Alex, what do you say about adding a 'drama' or 'epic' category?

Michael The Gamer
Alex from the other "Return to the court wrote:Please shut up both of you.


Next time can you use the words "Please dont spam the forums"

Thanatos (Hoped I spelt it correctly) and I stopped aruging

davidw wrote:Can I apply for the post of Michael the Gamer Moderator? Effectively I would have the power to

a) ban Michael the Gamer
b) edit his posts to make him look like an idiot (he’s doing an effective job of this himself but a little extra wouldn’t hurt)
c) delete any games he releases before anyone has the misfortune to try one

I’ll wait to hear from you.


I have a few dissagreements of this post Mister David Whild

a) Ban me?! you have to ban me for some reason (If you do I will contact the administrator to make a complain bout banning me for no reason)
b) I will always copy every post and overwrite any words you written (of I dont I will complain to the administrator about the post)
c) Delete any games?! I dont have any games yet so face the facts

davidw
Michael the Gamer, I can’t quite decide if you're either a) some kind of demented idiot or b) well, some kind of demented idiot. I *was* joking when I said I was applying for the post of Michael the Gamer Moderator, as I'm sure every single person on the forum aside from you realised. (However, saying that, if there's anyone here in desperate need of moderating, it’s you.)

I'm also amused at the idea that you think no one would have reason to ban you and that you'd complain to the administrator if it happened. By the way, which administrator would you complain to? The one you stuck in your hate list when you first arrived on the forum? Boy, I bet he’s definitely going to listen to your case of ‘unfair banning’, isn't he? Then again, if someone banned you now, would it be unfair? Since you arrived on the forum, you’ve flamed one person after another, got into arguments with almost everyone here and, let’s face it, acted like the sort of arse that the phrase ‘needs to be banned’ was coined for. You're the worst thing that has happened to this forum since the likes of Unknown and O’Vaughan. You should have been banned weeks ago and the only mystery here is why you’ve been allowed to stay for as long as you have.

Alex

Next time can you use the words "Please dont spam the forums"



No.

But there won't be a next time, will there?

Michael The Gamer
Alex wrote:

Next time can you use the words "Please dont spam the forums"



No.

But there won't be a next time, will there?



Depends of the people

davidw
Keep going, Michael, keep going. There's a big sign ahead of saying "keep this up and you'll be banned" and any moment now, you're going to run into it hard enough to give you a right good bash on the noggin.

Michael The Gamer
davidw wrote:Keep going, Michael, keep going. There's a big sign ahead of saying "keep this up and you'll be banned" and any moment now, you're going to run into it hard enough to give you a right good bash on the noggin.


I see no sign
Wait was the sign removed on the 16-1-08?
I havent got to read it..

paul_one

Watch out or the cat'll get you!

.. is that enough warning?

steve the gaming guy
That's the best cat picture I've seen in all my days. :lol:

paul_one
Oh, there are many more Steve!!

I've got 3 on my hard drive which are just side-splittingly funny :D .

Lest we all forget the "I made you a cookie... but I eated it" .

Michael The Gamer
paul_one wrote:
Watch out or the cat'll get you!

.. is that enough warning?


Hey that picture reminds me of the movie Cats and Dogs


paul_one wrote:Oh, there are many more Steve!!

I've got 3 on my hard drive which are just side-splittingly funny :D .

Lest we all forget the "I made you a cookie... but I eated it" .


Any chance of you making more?

paul_one
I didn't make it.
I'm not really into the whole photoshop-editing thing.

I don't mind putting pictures together for art, altering pics /slightly/ or drawing them myself (the drawings are, lets face it, rough sketches) but not doing stuff like that.

Michael The Gamer
paul_one wrote:I didn't make it.
I'm not really into the whole photoshop-editing thing.

I don't mind putting pictures together for art, altering pics /slightly/ or drawing them myself (the drawings are, lets face it, rough sketches) but not doing stuff like that.


Thats ok, now give me that cookie!
Kidding :lol: :lol:

Alex
We seem to have made a fairly good start at categorising the games, but nobody seems to have categorised anything for the last couple of weeks. Does anyone else wish to volunteer to go through the list?

Elexxorine
I've had mega exams recently so had to study lots for them, I'll now continue to sort through the games as before now that I've finished.

Thanatos
Sure, I'll help. Brief me via PM... :D

Pal Olson
I like it! :shock:

davidw
Is the only intention of the Court of Games to categorise the games? I had the impression it was going to weed out all the bad games and leave just the decent ones around to give people a better idea of what was available. At the moment, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of categorising going on and all the drivel games are mixed in with the half decent ones. And more and more drivel is being uploaded each day and nothing seems to be done about it. Even the top 10 list is nothing to go by as most of the games there are unplayable tripe and the only really good Quest game ever written - Gathered in Darkness - isn't there.

*Is* something going to be done or are the few decent authors using Quest doomed to have their games lumped in with all the crap by dther, Gamer, emojo and the rest? Believe me, when a potential author comes along to Quest and has a look around, is he really going to want his game ranked alongside one that is described by the author as "Hey, im back! with a cooler game! i know its been very long, so heres my best game yet!"

Alex
The idea is that the drivel is weeded out into the "Sandpit" category.

These categories aren't "live" yet as most of the games are still uncategorised. Those who have been given moderator access are the only ones who can see and assign categories at the moment.

If anyone else wants to volunteer to sort through the games, please drop me an email.

This topic is now closed. Topics are closed after 60 days of inactivity.

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