26 replies to this topic

[Koh]

The sequel, of sorts, to the previous thread.

 

I thought I wouldn't be the only one sort of feeling detached from the community, since there's not much one can actually participate in if they no longer use ZC as the outlet for their creativity and contributions.

 

So now I pose another general question.

 

What sort of creatove activities could we do as a community, that any random Joel can jump in and contribute to and feel a part of something?

 

Last month I had started a community project that involved reimagining any 2D Zelda assets into higher resolution, as a sort of tribute to the 25th Anniversary year of Zelda, and while some did participate, it is admittedly only something someone could really join in if they have some sort of spriting ability.  Beginner or Advanced, one would need the prerequisite of having the ability to play with pixels.

 

That's just one medium, however.  There are many other avenues of community creativity people could join in, but the underlying question is, "what community efforts are you interested in seeing?"

Edited by Koh, 23 May 2016 - 10:51 AM.

[Avaro]

Well the only thing I can think of are good discussions, which we already have. There's also board games, but these are kind of boring. xD

[Mani Kanina]

You do realise that the reason people stick around in communities is because that they can relate to the people there and that they generally like to hangout, right?

[TheLegend_njf]

I feel very detached from the community. But also an essential member somehow. Not to toot my own horn or make myself seem bigger than what I am.

 

But if I take everything I've learned from comments about me and towards me on this forum. I would consider myself the Magus of the bunch. I just don't work well with others. (which is funny considering my projects are team efforts).

 

I don't really fit in anywhere. I'm a bit aloof and misunderstood. My sarcasm and dry wit has many times been mistaken for harassment. But I provide enough for the community I guess that I don't think people would wanna see me leave.

 

That's unless one day I may end up saying something stupid and get banned for it. lol

 

Again, I'm not saying that to sound cocky. I'm just basing it on feedback. You guys might secretly hate me and I'd be none the wiser. lol But I doubt people here really hate me. But I could be wrong.

 

So let me contribute to this topic as a bit of an outsider, or a "detached" member.

 

I've noticed you have a tendency to try and constantly start discussions and debates. So much so that you've become to me "that guy who likes to start discussions and debates". While I like a good discussion or debate from time to time. There's no need to constantly force community involvement into things. I feel your debates are kind of artificial and solely exist for the sole purpose of having a debate, without caring for the context of the debate itself. It's this reason I often avoid commenting in many of the discussion topics I've seen you posted. It's nothing personal, it's just how I perceive it. The community is already quite involved in stuff like SotW type contests, and the Expo, watching or creating Lets Plays of people's quests, and the enjoyment of playing people's quests. That's what most people have come to this forum for.

 

It seems to me you want to encourage another level of group involvement in this community where they can debate about many different subjects that doesn't involve this community, for example the politics behind Ghostbusters. I also believe perhaps you feel frustrated when the community doesn't openly embrace that. Some of your topics got locked for just being a place to discuss/debate something. This is because from past experience, I don't think debates have gone very well in PureZC, and simply having mixed opinions on a subject is more than enough to avoid having these discussions altogether. 

 

This aspect about the community I am not really a big fan of, but I'm just generally silent about it because I see it as a bit of an "unwritten rule" here at PureZC. Just one of those things you simply "get". The unwritten rule of "Just have fun, play ZC, joke around, and don't be too serious".

 

I may be overthinking this, and this is exactly why I'm detached. I overthink things.

 

But if you want to get the community together here, it seems to me you have to at least be interested in Zelda Classic if you ask me. I mean, it's not like anybody is forcing you, but it's more or less natural as it's kinda the very foundation on why this community exists in the first place. 

Edited by NewJourneysFire, 23 May 2016 - 12:00 PM.

[Russ]

I thought I wouldn't be the only one sort of feeling detached from the community, since there's not much one can actually participate in if they no longer use ZC as the outlet for their creativity and contributions.

Huh, it's almost as if the main purpose of this site is discussing Zelda Classic or something. Weird.

We've had non-ZC community things in the past. There was a video game racing thing, for example, but that didn't last too long. There was the debate room, but we all know PureZC and debates mix about as well as a heard of water buffalo and a river full of hungry crocodiles, so that got the axe. There have been various little community projects, but they never get very far. At its core, PureZC is a site for... well, ZC. While it's certainly not the only thing that happens here (just look at all the threads in this forum or GE), it is the main draw of the site, and you shouldn't be surprised that most community effort and participation is centered around it.

[Koh]

I think you guys are missing the point; I'm well aware that ZC is the main attraction, but the question is what else could the people who want to be more involved in the community, but don't use ZC as their creative outlet, do that the community would be interested in seeing and taking part in.  Like a big picture collage or something, where everyone adds something of their choice or whatever.  The possibilities are endless.

[Haylee]

I actually kinda like this idea. It might take some effort, but I can see it having potential. Will post again when I come up with ideas.

[Aevin]

I think it'd be great to see more activities that highlight the creativity of our members. The tricky part is coming up with specific ideas that are open to lots of people without being too unfocused. How many people are skilled enough artists to be comfortable participating in an art-focused event? Same with writing. Or music. There may be "endless possibilities," but finding ideas that are specific and would gain a lot of participation is kind of hard.

 

Quests, on the other hand, are something that most of the community is on board with. There's lots of quest makers and players here, so the expos and contests already have a broad appeal to the community. I'm not by any means saying events with other focuses couldn't work, and in fact I'd love to see them. There's just some challenges to be worked out there.

[TheLegend_njf]

I think it'd be great to see more activities that highlight the creativity of our members. The tricky part is coming up with specific ideas that are open to lots of people without being too unfocused. How many people are skilled enough artists to be comfortable participating in an art-focused event? Same with writing. Or music. There may be "endless possibilities," but finding ideas that are specific and would gain a lot of participation is kind of hard.

Quests, on the other hand, are something that most of the community is on board with. There's lots of quest makers and players here, so the expos and contests already have a broad appeal to the community. I'm not by any means saying events with other focuses couldn't work, and in fact I'd love to see them. There's just some challenges to be worked out there.

I'd also like to add that it's not just quests. For some people, tilesets can be their main thing. For others, midis. But ya, this community's prominate feature of interests are quest and quest related activities.

It would be like me going to a message forum about tents and suggest we start talking about the architechure of sewer systems to cater to the people who don't wanna talk about tents.

Edited by NewJourneysFire, 23 May 2016 - 06:01 PM.

[thepsynergist]

I haven't even touched ZC since 1.92 was new.  Mostly because I moved on to RPG Maker back then.  However, most of my skills at the moment are devoted to making music.  I have a RPG Maker game I'm working on when I've the time, though it has been seldom this last year since I've been working so hard at getting my EMT licence.  I still can't believe that tomorrow is my final and it'll determine whether or not I can be a part of the Emergency Medical Scene.  

 

But, I digress, most of my talents would be to making music, and I dunno if other people in the community here would be interested in making a music-based event.

[Shane]

Last month I had started a community project that involved reimagining any 2D Zelda assets into higher resolution, as a sort of tribute to the 25th Anniversary year of Zelda, and while some did participate, it is admittedly only something someone could really join in if they have some sort of spriting ability.  Beginner or Advanced, one would need the prerequisite of having the ability to play with pixels.

First of all Zelda is having its 30th Anniversary this year. Unless you're intentionally celebrating something that happened five years ago.

 

Secondly, I wouldn't call that an ideal community project with all due respect. Not only does higher resolution sprites seem near useless to the average Zelda Classic user, but the project only seems to encourage spriters and no one else and for that I can't say it's ideal for a community project. Something like what Eins attempted with a "Let's Make a Quest!" project (which seems to have been cancelled sadly) was a community project because anyone of any talent and skill could actually participate. It actually had the potential to bring the community together because the requirements to join are pretty basic as they should be. Same with the PureZC Event contests: anyone can make screens and enemies with the ZQuest editor. If I had to be frank, it's not a community project if some parts of the community can only really participate in my honest opinion because it won't feel like the whole community is getting together. And even if I thought it was one, it isn't really an ideal one as I said. This is all something to keep in mind when making a community project, I like to think.

 

That said, things like the two week quest contest and whatnot seem to bring the community together. I wouldn't mind another attempt at a community quest project, but I think people are tired of them/discouraged. Oh well. Now, I know you said you ain't interested in Zelda Classic, but Zelda Classic-themed events is usually what brings the community together because it's PureZC (Pure Zelda Classic)... At this moment, the only thing I can really think of is a public tileset for any spriter to develop, but it's not really a community project I feel, but it's something perhaps. So I'm going to flat out just say if it's not a Zelda Classic-themed community project, it's probably not going to do well in popularity.

[SpikeReynolds]

I'm good with cars! We could restore a community project car  :tard:

 

Okay, in all seriousness, I'd be on board if someone could come up with some sort of idea. Something possibly not stuck just to one medium. 

[Koh]

The big three mediums we got here are art (whatever form; pixels or traditional), music and writing.  Video making can be a medium of creativity too I guess, but it uses some kind of visuals and music.  Pulling together all the groups...a couple of things come to mind.

 

-The usual collaboration ZC Quest; traditional artists can draw and refine concept art, pixel artists can attempt sprites based on that concept art, musicians can write the music, writers can throw out ideas for the story, and video makers can eventually make trailers or whatever.  I see this route has already been tried before.  This one is some work, so it would take some commitment from all hobbyists involved, but it does make use of all categories.

 

-PZC Animation shorts.  This one is a rough around the edges idea, because I'm aware of how much work goes into animation.  However, since we're talking about combining hobbyists together...if it was something like a sprite comic series or whatever, something someone could just jump right in and contribute to for a later episode, we could still combine all the groups.  Writers sort of come up with the script and characters involved, refined until a majority vote is reached.  It could be whatever really; if it's Zelda based, we got the usual characters, but that doesn't mean some original characters can't be thrown in there for fun, or guest characters for someone who asks and provides the necessary resources for the animators.  Artists can do the visuals; the animated sprites or whatever, but also the backdrops.  Whether it be through tilesets and rendering the areas with the tiles, again voted on by majority for what areas should look like, or artwork stills where necessary.  Musicians can compose themes they think would fit whatever events happening in the script at the time, and if more than one comes up, I guess another majority vote sort of deal.  This one is a lot of work, so it would take a lot of commitment from all hobbyists involved.  But there's no need to stress either, because it's all for fun and just something to bring people together through one project.

Edited by Koh, 26 May 2016 - 06:38 AM.

[Joelmacool]

Here's something the community could do:

- Let's try and stop massive debates from happening.

[Koh]

Define massive debates, though.  The most kind of debate that happens around here is a simple disagreement with reasoning and examples over some aspect of something, like Zelda 1's control scheme for example.  We don't have religious or political debates here, and those are what the "big guns" are in debating.  Unless, you're implying you just want every thread to not have any disagreement at all, which would be impossible.  And even if it were possible, it'd be a boring echo chamber I'd say.  The PureZC edition of a "safe space."

Edited by Koh, 26 May 2016 - 10:47 AM.