Forum Idea ( not trying to start a troll nest dont worry )

With all the things that have been locked today, made me think

1) Making games is a stressful emotional roller coaster ride, why sometimes people troll, joke whatever
maybe make a forum section called "Anything Goes", just to give area for people to talk about
non unity things, and or blow off steam ( in a civil way ). like the junk food lock, every game person
eats crap while working, why cant we talk about that ? ( this is a community )

( ok instead of "Anything Goes" which is a bad name what about "Off Topic" )
( i know its been said no to this, but when people have no outlet that starts chaos )



2) Why is there no game play or creative section, 99% of the people seem fixated on the tech side of things cant there be a "Art Of Game Making" section, where people can discuss how to make games fun and generally the Creative side of making games; I mean Unity is for making Games/Entertainment not for generating Reports ! I think there should be a section to talk about ideas and gameplay ?

maybe these 2 things could control some of the nonsense. ( and or keep it more organized )

 

I would definately think your second suggestion has real wings -

I think one of the problems most people have when making games is making them feel good. Players don't often have any clue why game x feels so much better to play than game y. If anything this is something now more than ever, people need to learn about and understand why their game's main character feels like a brick with epilipsy instead of a ballet dancer. There's so many concepts in playability or improving the fun factor that don't fit in other forum categories.

Thumbs up.

 

I would like a section for 'game flavor' to help people move in a unique direction with their game, however i like the fact that there is no "off-topic" here.

Mostly because I've probably got around 100k lifetime posts on forums and have come to appreciate the ones that are dedicated to a specific theme. When I click New Posts I don't want to see Off Topic stuff that I don't particularly care about. I post on a motorcycle forum with a giant user base and 90% of the posts are not even motorcycle related, its all off topic spam and everyone mutates every technical and legitimate thread into some highly opinionated argument between users and eventually requires heavy moderation from the admins. People become accustom to the laxed atmosphere in the off topic areas and forget there is a line between the technical areas.

I like coming here and seeing (typically) good information in nearly every single post without the off topic deliberate humor and troll posts.

 

yeah and if technically possible make an "Anything goes" << posts would not show up in new posts at all

( that would help keep the cover on the kettle so to speak )

i like your "Game Flavor" name better then mine

 

I definitely +1 the Game Flavour thread.

 

In my psuedoprofessional opinion, that missing ingredient is always lerp.

 

I agree... game design and mechanics should be a must topic for the forums.

 

This is a very good suggestion. Something in the line of "Gamedesign" section. Because yes, everything around here is purely technical, and most of the time Unity beginners also don't really have a realistic (emphasis on this word) clue about gamedesign. "What is possible to do beyond my MMO idea ?", "How could I make this 73892873289th FPS/RPG prototype something original, meanwhile feasible ?", etc.
Gamedesign is extremely important in videogame production, it should have its place in here. Plus, it would tickle people's creativity.

Well, food for thought

 

Nicely put, n0mad. Hope that Andeee will take a peek and have a little think about it. Could unity be the platform that encourages truely independent game design and thinking too?

 

I think you deliberately did that.

Low-balled us with the worst idea in history, then sucker-punched us with brilliance!

Game Design, Art, Writing, Music etc. are what truly make a great game... programming is just implementation of such - and unity offers no place for such discussion!

 

Excuse me but those sort of "philosophical" discussions are already allowed, I think!

But debating about somewhat taboo subjects (like the $99 bux thread) and turning it into a hornet nest are going to force admin to wake up and lock it, and of course once they've been alerted we're going to experience some heavy moderation for a while.
Now we must wait until andeee becomes dormant again, only then we can enjoy all those non-unity topics that turns us into better people! ;-p

Maybe the problem started some time ago when many dudes have been doing some crazy complaining about "n00b MMO posts" and whatnot, and been asking for more moderation.

So now admins went live and are currently on search destroy mode. (Don't you hate heavily moderated forums)

I'm pretty sure if anyone starts a thread focused into game design, and we practice some healthy debating on that, it's going to be alright!

 

I think this is a winning idea though, lets not derail this thread. Suggestion 2 is really something.

 

I agree making games can be a roller-coaster ride, and understand that people occasionally want to have some fun or blow off steam. There are a gazillion places on the internet to do that, and Unity doesn't need to provide such a space.

 

An anything goes forum is a bad idea because what happens on that forum won't stay on that forum. There will be spill over into the other forums which will result in more garbage on them, not less.

 

Plus, I think the average forum user is programmed to go to 'gossip forum' or ' off-topic forum', those are standards for the anything goes deal.

We rather have an issue with naming I think. Fitting in a new thread named something different will be confusing, and people will keep heading to this forum to talk about...well, gossips!

Not saying we shouldn't think this further, though!

 

I don't think an "Anything Goes" forum would be logical. People come to the Unity forums to talk about Unity, not heir favorite kind of car or chewing gum. Maybe "Anything About Unity Goes," but there's already "Gossip" for that.

 

It should probably be renamed Unity Gossip though, to give a clearer idea that gossip must be related to unity.

 

anything goes idea is not a very good idea, this gossip section is turning into that, sometimes is just a trash can section.

however, idea #2 sounds like something with potential, it could be a good oportunity to have a place to discuss anything non technical about game dev, which for a lot of people (me included) hit road blocks oftenly in the creative department.

 

Gossip: General Discussion and Cool Ideas.

I see nothing that says this is not already the "anything goes section". However, a while ago there were some users who were very against such an idea, saying it would lead to the forums apocalypse or something like that. I have never heard the term gossip being a term used in business meetings though, so I am not sure why the Gossip section isn't for, well, .... gossip. Also, the mods never stated this section can't be used for gossip either. I think their is a rule for no religion and politics though, those topics never go over well.

 

See here.

--Eric

 

I totally agree with your second idea like many other people here so another +1 for that =P

 

now just hope the unity forum gods, take pity and grant wish #2

 

Number 2 is a must have.

 

Nicely put n0mad. The success, or lack of, for most indie games is down to the design - there's a lot more to an FPS than just shooting stuff! I've seen a lot of thread recently about 'names for xxx' or 'my idea for yyy' that would seem to fit with idea number 2 very nicely

 

Thank you Eric for clearing that up.

Is there a way we can get this bit of information added to the Gossip FAQ? I find that most of the other sections use their FAQ thread to let users know what is allowed to be posted. This would help keep things clear for new users in the future. I would have never know unless I looked in that thread. Especially since the thread containing this info about what can and cannot be posted will soon fade away into the mass of other threads. Not to mention the people like me who browse intermittently and did not see the thread that contains the info.

 

A specific game development / game design section would be nice.

For the time being you can always follow http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/70252-What-Are-You-Working-On - but a section of it's own might have some legs.

 

What about a business / marketing section or a post-mortem section?

 

Arowx: I'd suggest that all of these subjects would be fair game under the development/design section.

 

1. tl;dr
2. Second idea is brilliant.
3. Why there is no off topic? Unity technologies is a company. This company has a public image. What would it look like if people started posting jokes about hitler (extreme example to illustrate my point) in the off topic forum? It is off topic right? Yes but it is still inappropriate and it still says 'forum.unity3d.com' in the url. Therefore.. simply can not happen and I think we all understand that.

 

Another vote for idea #2. I love the Game Design section on GameDev, so adding one here sounds like a great idea to me.

 

+1 for the second however i have soooo many game idears its absolutely rediculous. i have been called crazy for my idears(like legitimently).

 

I've had a thought about this, and as this has resurfaced...

The Unity forums are relatively focused and compact, and keeping the conversations Unity related is probably a good idea.

There is "Gossip" for off topic ideas, and as I noted before, there are already threads like "What are you working on", which is nearly 250 pages and 5k posts at the time of posting. (Don't read from the beginning. Just pick it up where it's fresh.) Either a Game Dev Theory or Game Ideas thread would be great. "What's your game concept?" or "RTS Dev Theory" or "fRPGs: Possible and Doable" would all be great to follow up to the size of "What are you working on".

However, for serious GameDev theory or subjects like AI, there are other venues for this: Both Gamasutra and AIGameDev pop right up when I think about his and there are more sites like this. So, for good Game Development chat or AI Development chat that are more generic and beyond the scope on being implemented in Unity, this forum is probably not the best place for it. And this is not as much a "this forum doesn't want this discussion" feeling, but a "Get better conversation and cross-polination in a dedicated forum feeling.

 

Unity has one major failure, and that is itself. Unity's community is all about Unity, well in most forums people also like to be a bit independent and share their life and self enlightening with others. Well Unity has no section for that and that just cause users to do so on sections where they don't belong. Unity needs to remember the members sign their paychecks each week and they need to really keep the members happy. I have seen in the last months the more moderation that has happened the more chaos has also countered it and has caused more and more forum concerns than normal. I fear a total community meltdown soon if Unity doesn't start taking care of it's community base as it is their heartbeat to the company, if it goes, so does the whole Unity3D project.

I don't care if your Blizzard Entertainment, without your community your nothing but a large game with no players, support, and worst of all no revenue.

Taking care of the community is always priority number one. Without a paying community Unity will fall, even as large as they become, it only takes one bad thing to happen and Unity will fall.

Please Unity take some action towards bettering the community and getting more free to speak sections up but with moderate restrictions to keep the noise down.

 

With all due respect I disagree. (I am NOT saying you are wrong, I disagree. Those are two different things.)

This is after all a forum about a product that unity technologies makes. It would be inappropriate to talk about my cats birthday last caturday. (muahah)

Then again.. this whole thread isnt technically about unity as such.

 

Eclision: Fair concern!

Can you do me one favour? Can you sum up your concerns (which sound honest and legitimate) with two things in mind?

How these concerns work in relation to a "Game Theory" section? (eg: Are you saying that by not having a place for people to discuss game theory is not addressing the needs of the community?)

And What you feel is missing from the UT/Community interaction in general? (eg: What makes you feel that UT is not in touch with its community and what actions towards bettering the community is needed.)

I've been a Unity user since 2007 and with the advances in technology up to 3.0, window-based and basic/free versions, the community has grown tremendously since it was a simple mac-only editor. Addressing the community at large is a serious task!

There is gossip, which is pretty loose, topic-wise. This is to me "off topic", but perhaps I've misinterpreted the intent of "gossip". TBH, I don't surf Gossip that much. I primarily use the forums for research and information. I seem to do my socializing on "What are you working on" and the IRC channel #unity3d.

What do you feel is missing and what else to do you think UT needs to do?

 

I highly agree with Little Angel for this idea. +1

I was thinking about setting up and running a completely seperate unofficial Unity Forum, where we can have all the socializing, jokes, off topic threads, but not only that. We could also have "game design theory and discussion", "level design", "art and theory", e.t.c.

 

Another vote for suggestion #2

 

And another!

 

Please #2.

 

If Unity wants to keep up with the current forum they run now, then why not make a seperate community stream for any and all off-topic related things that can still feature Unity chit chat. This community can also feature groups and there current projects bios, and website information. More or less a developer forums to really get to see and know what the members are doing with Unity and what they have struggles with in personal life and possible ways to overcome it to getting a game done. Who knows that type of additional community may just bump out more game using Unity a year than usual because of the bonding that may occur on that community rather than like this one where it has to be strictly Unity this or Unity that. In game development you have to enjoy yourself a bit, real comfortable with your team and get hands on with your engine developers like Unity to get kinda in each others head and see whats clicks and in that sorts you will all be better equiped to make games.

Just an idea, I have years running communities and myself would set this up for the community if need be, it would be unofficial of course but very reliable. Or Unity can create this and allow myself and a few others to run it for a little while and see how it does. At least give it a chance.