Weekly, Bi-weekly Game Nights

[jk16bit-palmy-]

[spoiler=Massive rant on Setting Up Weekly/Multi-Week things] I'm beginning to notice a lack of "togetherness" _{for lack of better word, don't kill meamong the people here.} [/sub]
I got to thinking and noticed we all REALLY get together when Either:

A) A contest has been started
B) A sudden stream is held and few participate, or
C) A "planned" race or bingo is held.

      I don't want to see this site dwindle down to only the few experts in the irc and the even fewer speed runners who pass by every now and again.

     I would like to suggest Weekly/Bi-Weekly community Game/Stream/Bingo nights in order to help not only to get more new-comers to stay and feel invited welcomed, but to keep the ties of everyone here strong. We have had a few names (at least in cloud irc) pop up and go and it seems not many in the community reach out to these new-comers. That's why I think having Weekly or Semi-weekly Game"nights" be planned out. I know those on different soils have difficulty joining in because of time zones, or have heavy work environments and can't make many nights, but it would be nice to have something other than a love of hacking to keep the community going, wouldn't it?

     It gets uncomfortably lonely and quiet in the ircs/forums sometimes and I know that not many hackers stay because of the level of involvement hacking takes can be enough to drive away most new-comers after a period of time. I just feel that weekly/semi-weekly game nights will keep the community very active, but it will help break the ice between newbies and maybe even old friends.

     Mods, i'm looking at you for help here. I know it would be worth making a counting down timer for weekly/semi-weekly game nights because everyone seems to enjoy them and they bring a community together. Maybe even have a variety change and do things like "smile/room making challenges in a night" or playing different games (like Castvania SotN, GBA Games, DrawMyThing or Steam Game Things). Lets dedicate a new Board to it and ask the community for some good ideas for weekly/bi-weekly game nights.

     I hope everyone who reads this takes a moment to think about their future here and how they are going to keep things interesting for them selves and potential new-comers. Think out-side the Bun box!

^{K im off my pedestal now.} :bounce:

**Minor Edits [/spoiler]

[Vismund Cygnus]

[spoiler=Vismund's two cents]I don't really see what your point is here to be honest. Not criticizing your idea of having "Community Games Nights", it could be fun (I voted monthly for the record, not because I'm not interested, but because of school fucking with my schedule), but when you say that "not many hackers stay active because of the level of commitment it takes". You have to keep in mind that everything Metroid Construction is about is hacking. If people dislike the level of involvement it takes to create a hack, they're not going to stay here period, regardless of whether or not activities are undertaken to keep them here. That just seems, forceful and pushy, for lack of a better description.
I think the most important thing to keep in mind though is that Metroid Construction is a hacking community first and foremost.
Also:

    "smile/room making challenges"

. . .
You mean like this SMILE/Room making weekly challenge?
At the end of the day, I don't think that this is necesarilly a bad idea, I just don't have an issue with the state of things as they are.
As for the point about the community dwindling down, from what I can see nothing of the sort has happened. I can only think of two people who've "left" since I started hanging out on metconst, while just by looking through the current online list I can spy 4-5 names that weren't there when I first started. And FPZero! In fact, a lot of the "experts" who were on breaks/permanent hiatuses have indeed been getting more involved with the community. I don't see any signs of things slowing down at all.[/spoiler]

[jk16bit-palmy-]

[spoiler=SecretTextOfResponsesAndThings]

[spoiler=FromVismunds2Cents]"...You have to keep in mind that everything Metroid Construction is about is hacking. If people dislike the level of involvement it takes to create a hack, they're not going to stay here period..."[/spoiler]

Valid point, but whose to say this place is ONLY for people who can hack? Why not have it open for people who like to play? Couldn't that compel them to try hacking themselves? And even if they can't hack, we shouldn't just let them deeter off the fringe just because of that. Admittedly, I'm not a great hacker and can debate if I like hacking it much at all, but I still like to hang around to play, watch and participate with you guys for your company.
     I am a Metroid Enthusiast, so I like to see most all things Metroid and not having a consistent "push" with a game night or something, just feels... off. The RotW is for making creative and functional smile rooms, so it's already limited to those who are decent at hacking and level designing. A game night is more open to players, new and old, to come and join in and participate, while feeling as if they are in a good community of people who share the same love for Metroid.

[spoiler=MoreOfHisBiblicalWords]"...while just by looking through the current online list I can spy 4-5 names that weren't there when I first started. And FPZero! In fact, a lot of the "experts" who were on breaks/permanent hiatuses have indeed been getting more involved with the community...."[/spoiler]

Exactly my point. Most of the names you see ARE "returning expert hackers/players". Its nice to have it full of experts and having them back in this great community, and I know this is primarily a hacking resource, but a community where a good portion of the people aren't really interacting much until a small contest or a RotW room entry is posted isn't what i picture as a thriving community. It shows that the community base and its interaction with its members is slowing down, and thats common as games like SM or worse Fusion, get older. I'm simply looking for a way to keep things interesting so things don't go into a downward pattern.[/spoiler]

[Quietus]

I wouldn't really pick any schedule, to be honest.  I think you'd be better off just editing the OP with the latest date (give a few weeks' notice) and a countdown timer.  People will see the edit as a new post, and as long as the thread title directs people to the OP, it should work.

It might also be difficult to find games that enough people want to play, but I'll leave that in your hands. :^_^:

[Zhs2]

I've always maintained that this is a work forum, not one specifically made for fun or even togetherness; they help, and they are neither restricted nor discouraged, but they are not always an active focus. Hacking is hard, and sometimes that one bit of information that you need can be requested or even looked up here and that makes all the difference in the world. That's been my mission statement from the start. Anything more of a sense of community here than people who get together to play hacks, share hacks, make hacks, and discuss hacks is extracurricular - like this topic! It's never been fast, but when has hacking ever been fast? It may not be thriving, as you describe, but if 20 posts a day is what it takes to see those excellent hacks happen in the next four years, so be it - hasn't stopped a few enthusiastic people here, and the progress keeps coming! (tl;dr I think you're comparing a day at the office to a rave party.)

On this subject, if you're more than willing to organize such things, go ahead - half the fun is enjoying what we've got. If it gets so active that there's a new thread every week, I'll definitely okay a new board in the community section. People usually organize fun things on IRC, too, so who knows!

[jk16bit-palmy-]

[spoiler=MyRebuttal]

On this subject, if you're more than willing to organize such things, go ahead - half the fun is enjoying what we've got. If it gets so active that there's a new thread every week, I'll definitely okay a new board in the community section. People usually organize fun things on IRC, too, so who knows!

@Zhs - I would actually be ok with organizing such a thing. :^_^: Though i wouldn't go comparing this to a day at the office, _{(since no one here gets paid with nothing other than the satisfaction of feeding a good hobby and ironically playing hacks)} I understand your point. This is a work forum and a really nice one at that. I just took a look at the fun aspect of it, and was hoping we could keep things entertaining. _{I don't go over to metconst too much any more but i would assume that it's as uneventful as CloudIrc is most of the time?}

I wouldn't really pick any schedule, to be honest.  I think you'd be better off just editing the OP with the latest date (give a few weeks' notice) and a countdown timer.  People will see the edit as a new post, and as long as the thread title directs people to the OP, it should work.
It might also be difficult to find games that enough people want to play, but I'll leave that in your hands. :^_^:

@Quietus - Good point, though i'm looking at consistency, not necessarily doing things 'on-the-spot' with a few weeks notice. Though that is one way to do it, and i like the idea, but just handing them out randomly limits the "who's and how-oftens". Having one consistently will allow more people to join in and keep things fresh. As for games that people want to play, i'd just like to sample what everyone normally plays on 'rainy day'. Most people here fill out something in thier "Modding Alignment" section of their profile here in the forums, so that would be a good place to start.

I know many people here don't have fantastic equipment/computers, so low-end/emulated console games might be primarily what gets played.

^{Thats my 2 bytes anyways.}[/spoiler]

[MetroidMst]

[spoiler]I said a lot of this in IRC, but it bears repeating. We already do a lot of things, and really probably do too much that distracts from hacking. Yes, things are sporadic, but this is a very diverse community and people from everywhere are here. Things happen when people suddenly have free time that overlaps. (Which is a lot actually, and quite honestly if you didn't drop out of IRC so much, or every time someone makes a joke about you, you would have known this.)

Just within the past few months, there have been 100% races, Randomizer races, talk about getting hack races together over most people's summer break has been going for since October last year. Hack discussion is almost always taking place at some point. The forum is actually pretty active. And as Zeke said, this is basically work. MetConst has a purpose, just like Speed Runs Live, SMWCentral, and pretty much every other site does. This is about hacking and getting resources/hacks out there. That is happening. And on top of that, there is a lot of stuff that happens besides that.

So without being even more long-winded, I will just say that quite a few of your ideas about the community in general are pretty baseless. Overall, this is just about as active and close-knit as the community has ever been. There is nothing wrong with getting stuff together. (We have even made topics for such things before!) However, that should be the far greater focus than your whole "community is falling apart" stuff. There are already plans for a few community hack races and stuff in the works for the summer.[/spoiler]

Here ends the most incoherent collection of words to grace your monitor today.

[Quote58]

Ugh, I wasn't going to make a post but I feel this needs to be addressed.
as uneventful as CloudIrc is most of the time?" <---that, has no basis. Cloudirc actually has plenty of talk, including a lot about hacking! This is good, it is not falling apart. In fact recentally we've gotten a couple more regulars!
Okay so, this is something that deffinitly needs to be mentioned. You do this thing a lot of being all GUYS WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING OKAY??? And sometimes we're like alright, we have time. But then you go ahead and leave without coming back. Maybe its because of a joke, maybe because of an IRL thing. Either way though,  you don't get to criticize the community about that when you fairly recentally not only organized a race and then disappeared, but in fact left those of us who decided to race in a skype call for quite some time while you did stuff IRL. Now I'm not saying you should put us above IRL, quite the opposite actually. However when you have a fit and leave the community, or you leave us waiting in skype, you really hurt the credibility of all those statements you've made.
Not trying to be mean here, I love the races, but Zeke, vis and mst all hit the nail on the head.

[FullOfFail]

I haven't visited the IRC in months, excluding one drunk time I barely remember, but I'm sure it's the same as it's always been for most people. Even if it appears inactive on the surface, it's probably because people are hacking or doing other things. The community isn't all that big to begin with, so it's to be expected.

In regards to a regular scheduled competition, it probably wouldn't last that long. We barely scrape up enough rooms for RotW, and that's apart of the basis of this community, so I don't see why anything else would out-excel it. Part of the enjoyment of these events is the rarity, it makes it more memorable.

Maybe I'm on the wrong side of history, but I think this site pretty much had it right from the get-go. It's about hacking, and sharing information with everything else being secondary. Above all personal-opinions, arguments, etc, that's what it's always stayed true to.

[Scyzer]

So, almost totally unrelated to the original post.

I was thinking of holding a tournament style contest over the next few months. I've been thinking about it for about 4-5 months already actually, but then another contest was made and I thought, well no point saying anything now :P

The idea was, every 2-3 weeks, a small contest would be held. Something that should take only a few days at most to finish. After 2 weeks, participants would submit their entries, which would be voted on by the community, and points would be awarded to everyone based on the standings.
After say, 4 or 5 mini contests, the points would be totalled up, and the overall winners recieve a hacking-related prize.

The other option was just one themed contest, like the first couple we had (Christmas and Halloween). We've had a lot of single one-off contests though, so I was leaning towards something different.

I've mentioned putting a fully functioning SpiderBall for SM up for first place in IRC, and it seems a lot of people would like to get their grubby little paws on my SpiderBalls... ;) I was pretty surprised at the reaction for it. Other prizes could be music, enemies, fun things like that to make your hack more unique :P

[Quietus]

I think it's good to have competitions, and prizes up for grabs would certainly add incentive, both to newcomers and veterans alike.  However, the biggest problem we seem to have with them seem to be times, and the competition ending when it's supposed to, and clear cut-off times / dates actually happening.

[Scyzer]

I think it's good to have competitions, and prizes up for grabs would certainly add incentive, both to newcomers and veterans alike.  However, the biggest problem we seem to have with them seem to be times, and the competition ending when it's supposed to, and clear cut-off times / dates actually happening.

Worry not, our old British friend, I will have very clear and strict cut off times :P  The last contest ended over 2 months after it should have... :S

[Quietus]

Worry not, our old British friend, I will have very clear and strict cut off times :P

In that case, I'll grab my pipe and slippers, and relax before a crackling log fire. :^_^: