Thursday, May 31, 2012

Poll Time (The Pornarium Points Idea)

   I figured I'd weigh in here in regards to the Pornarium Points issue. I figure it would to some good to explain my stance on it and explain a bit on where Hawtstuff is coming form with this idea.

   As time has passed and we've continued to work on the project, I've found that my time has been somewhat torn. I've been doing a lot of writing, but I've also been doing a lot of programming. To remedy this, Hawtstuff sought the assistance from some volunteers. Hawtstuff has been our editor since near the very start of the project and has been doing a lot of work trying to get the community more involved to assist with the project. We've received many fan submissions that have / are going to make great additions to game, but we could always use more help. Hawtstuff thought of this idea as a way to encourage community involvement with the project  as a way of giving back to people who have spent time finding bugs, finding images, writing content, submitting art, etc. Pornarium from the very start has never been a game created with donations in mind, I was always a lurker on the Futanari Palace boards and I wanted to finally give back to the community with a game, this is that project. Since we don't accept donations, we are always looking for ways to say "thank you" to our fans who have contributed their time to make the game better.

   Hawtstuff ran the idea by me, and to be honest I'm completely neutral in regards to the idea. If it works as intended I'm all for it, but if it's not something the community wants I also am not for it. After reading the idea and talking to Hawtstuff, posting the concept on the blog seemed to be a good idea. After reading the comments for a day or so I think it was best that I ask you all how you felt about the idea as I'm truly in the middle with this one. I figured the best thing to do from my standpoint would be to create a poll in regards to this issue with three options:


  • Do you want to keep the system as is?
  • Do you want the system to be revised?
  • Do you want the system to be removed?

   The poll will run for approximately a week, let us know what you feel via comments too :)

8 comments:

  1. For what it's worth, here's where I stand on the issue:

    If people want to contribute they're going to contribute. If they don't, they're not. I think putting in some kind of point system gives people the wrong motive for assisting on the project, where the real reward should be knowing that you're helping to further development and see that the entire community can enjoy it. For writers and artists, that means knowing that multiple people are reading/viewing (and fapping) to your work, and for the editors it means knowing that the final product is clean and error free.

    And for Taco it's making sure the game doesn't crash when you open it. :P

    When I applied for the editor position I did it because I genuinely wanted to help the project and see it succeed, and because I wanted to have a personal stake in development, not because of some points reward system.

    TL;DR version: working on the project should be its own reward.

    My two cents. Nazca out.

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    Replies
    1. I'm personally starting to lean this way myself the more I think of it, but I've stated from the start that I won't be keeping track of any such points myself. I don't really have the time. If people really like it though, I'm fine with the system though I may revise it myself some.

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  2. Just to make my position clear, I'm not a contributor and don't intend to be anytime soon (because I'm too busy to even *play* most of the builds, not because I don't appreciate them,) but I think quite the opposite of Nazca.

    I do agree that people contributing out of pure desire to contribute is a nice and noble thing, but it's not the most realistic idea. Rewarding people for contributing could (and hopefully will) bring forth a great deal of ideas and content the project would have otherwise missed out on.

    In addition, I'm fond of the idea that people who contribute a lot to the project can ask for things they like to be added in, which others will work to add, earning them points to ask for additional content, and so on. With the right attitude, people requesting and supplying content could become an extremely productive cycle.

    I like to think that this system can promote a sense of community, rather than cause people to act purely out of selfish desire... but who knows what will actually happen. Again, you should also keep in mind that I don't plan to *use* the system anytime in the near future, however that colors your impression of my opinion.

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  3. My opinion stays the same - open a fund, so people who are not superb writers / artists and don't have A LOT of time can nevertheless help the project. This fund will recieve donations from people willing to donate, and then that money can be spent on different things for the project.

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  4. I'm just worried that the point system might create an incentive for the devs to add "purchased" content that doesn't fit with the rest of the game, story and/or qualitywise simply because they don't want to seem ungrateful to somebody who's spent a lot of time helping them with the game.

    Also a bit wary of the "post about the game" point rewards. I know you've said that you won't accept spam, but... still.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is a very real concern of mine actually, and the way I'm planning to deal with it is basically if it's something that will fit I will allow it to be added, if it isn't then I simply won't add it. A lot of these ideas are nice, but those that require my action will fall under my scrutiny (not meaning to sound selfish there :P). I cannot nor will I allow stuff that simply doesn't fit in the game (or my vision for it).

      I kinda view these as a way of saying, "Hey, I helped out a bunch...could you maybe add this if possible?"

      Also, I am a bit concerned about the advertisements as well...personally I think I'm going to remove them if people decide they like this. Sure one person may post on X site, but what stops the next 10 people from duplicate posting? This would give us a dubious reputation at best.

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  5. Mmmm... you guys bring up good points. Now that I've though it over for a bit, here's my opinion. Yeah, the list and system are nice and well done.. but, the thing is, it's pretty complicated and I imagine it'd take alot of work to maintain it. More work on it = less time for creating new enjoyable goodies for the game, right? So, how about we just keep it simple? Maybe take down notes of ppls names that are activly adding to the community and give them a little more say into what happens to the game?

    About donations. How about if ppl really want to donate.. Let them donate prizes for event contests? Maybe something similar to ones held on CoC?

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  6. My general concern as before is that disclaimers won't stop spammers, people will always try and beat the system. which is why I though the system would be best served to reward volunteers and not the fans; while it would be alienating them, they'll still make suggestions and play the game regardless of being able to make free commissions. If you had wanted commissions, then you would've accepted cash for them.

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