Can REVIEW REQUESTS be MOVED to a sub Forum?

neverwinter1776 · July 2013

Man I'm tired of wading through Review and Review Trade requests here.

I GET IT, yes you want your quest on the front page of the 11 o'clock news!
And you may have worked hard for your Map, or maybe you're just trolling to up your star rating, but, honestly, it's tough to wade through all of these requests and try to get some information, or try to help someone with a logistic or bug problem.

If you need to have people test your map, or just excited about your map, then cool and groovy. Then Ask that people take a look, take notes, get back to you, help get the kinks out, etc., not to just go in and "review".

The Foundry is a tough nut to crack. As it is, our hands are tied to many things, and we have to rely on each other to sort and solve things that we can or cannot do.

A forum is one great place to do that. But how can we help if we never see the posts that really need to be answered.
amidst a sea of Review seekers.

Again, I'm not saying there is no place for Review pleading, but I implore you Cryptic.. Make a Sub forum for this.

*Steps off soapbox

oortexplorer · July 2013

There is absolutely no need for a sub - forum. The bottom line is that new authors desperately need help in getting a few plays at the start, and these early reviews are crucial in helping make those quests better. Moving them to a forum nobody visits doesn't do anybody any good.

karitr · July 2013

Not sure why they aren't just posted up in the spotlight forum really.

And your point doesn't make sense oortexplorer. If you wouldn't read a sub-forum dedicated to review trades, then presumably you wouldn't read a post asking for a review trade, so what's the difference?

wuhsin · July 2013

I do not agree with the OP.

oortexplorer · July 2013

karitr wrote: »

Not sure why they aren't just posted up in the spotlight forum really.

And your point doesn't make sense oortexplorer. If you wouldn't read a sub-forum dedicated to review trades, then presumably you wouldn't read a post asking for a review trade, so what's the difference?

The point being that most of us spend our time in this section (along with perhaps General Discussion). Threads are far more likely to be noticed and read here. I just don't see a problem with it, at all. And I do read "review trade" posts, quite frequently.

remorselord · July 2013

A sub-forum would be nice dedicated specifically for quest review trades and posts. I mean in this current state everyone posts any kind of thread which could be from a simple foundry question to a rant or update on something. Because if these random threads, the actual "foundry" quest threads get pushed off the list within minutes. The OP has a point.

zoiks100 · July 2013

oortexplorer wrote: »

The point being that most of us spend our time in this section (along with perhaps General Discussion). Threads are far more likely to be noticed and read here. I just don't see a problem with it, at all. And I do read "review trade" posts, quite frequently.

Noticed yes, relevant no. It's the same problem you see in-game with the /zone chat, which also needs to be split up.

The description and guidelines of the Foundry Spotlight appear to imply it's the correct place for review trading, quest ads, and discussions related to a specific quest/campaign. But the name of the forum, which is the same as what they call featured foundry quests, and the recommended format of posts there confuse the matter.

I would suggest either renaming the Foundry Spotlight forum to something more generic like Foundry Quests and making it clear in the guidelines that the format recommendations are solely if the poster is hoping to get their quest featured, or creating another child forum named Foundry Quests.

neverwinter1776 · July 2013

I actually think creating a new "reviews and trade" section of the Foundry would benefit all.
It might even be nice to split it up further and have a Tutorials section too, along with a general help section. And leave the main section for all the complaints and bugs.

The reviewers and trades get a specialized forum.
The People who need help in Map building get a forum section
Tips and tricks
Etc.

Seems like a win win to me.

zagnar1 · July 2013

oortexplorer wrote: »

There is absolutely no need for a sub - forum. The bottom line is that new authors desperately need help in getting a few plays at the start, and these early reviews are crucial in helping make those quests better. Moving them to a forum nobody visits doesn't do anybody any good.

This.

As a new foundry author I am already finding it impossible to get my quests past the first 20 reviews. Putting us into a sub forum would make an already difficult process impossible.

zovya · July 2013

I used to feel the same way in the beginning. It's hard to find tech help in the sea of review threads. But after realizing just how hard it is for new authors to get plays on their quests, I've changed my mind.

sh1nob3 · July 2013

The answer seems simple enough to me, you need to have review trades in here, and you need to have play trades in here. YOU DON'T need to have what he said people trolling to try to get their review rating up. You don't need people trying to get their view count up, does the author understand that you need 5 reviews before a foundry quest is searchable, does he understand that you need 20 plays before a quest is eligible to be played as a daily. Everyone isn't in a guild or has an extensive friend list, if "Foundries" isn't the place for people to try to make foundries functional, I don't know where it would be, but it seems like there are 2 different kinds of "please look at my stuff" requests, necessary and unnecessary, perhaps that is what we should be trying to separate.

Nintai

Replies: It isn't 20 reviews is it? It is 20 plays, and 5 reviews, on your counter. The author suggests we separate? The forums for reviews/plays and bugs/problems, well these two topics are intrinsically bound, why is someone reviewing and playing if not to find and correct the bugs and problems...

@1776 I think you should view the requests for reviews and plays AS IF THEY WERE requests for help with bugs and problems. The "system" is assuming (and probably quite correctly), that, they will absolutely need improvements at least up to that point in time.

raphaeldisanto · July 2013

How about switching it around then?

Put a tech help subforum in, then the people who want tech help will go there instead of here. People who want technical help are far more likely to go looking in another forum than people who just want to post to get reviews.

I'd bookmark that page and skip the forum-clicking anyway.

neverwinter1776 · July 2013

raphaeldisanto wrote: »

How about switching it around then?

Put a tech help subforum in, then the people who want tech help will go there instead of here. People who want technical help are far more likely to go looking in another forum than people who just want to post to get reviews.

I'd bookmark that page and skip the forum-clicking anyway.

This works for me too

mosby1 · July 2013

zovya wrote: »

I used to feel the same way in the beginning. It's hard to find tech help in the sea of review threads. But after realizing just how hard it is for new authors to get plays on their quests, I've changed my mind.

That's my feeling too. However, I would encourage those posting review threads to use a very clear title. Include the name of your quest, the ID, and indicate you want reviews (and if you're willing to trade). Something like:

[UGC] My Cool Quest (NW-1234) Review Trades

Please avoid titles like "want reviews". I personally ignore those.

narayansingh · July 2013

I don't really care which way... I would just like them separated. Just before I typed this post on the first page in this forum there was a 2 to1 ratio of review requests to other type of posts.

I just think it should be separated.

sominator · July 2013

Hey all,

This is definitely the intent with the Foundry Spotlight subforum. If you'd like to receive reviews for your quest and/or make it eligible for featuring, please post the details there, in the specified format.

Please also note that if you want your quest to be eligible for featuring, you have to flag it as such!

karitr wrote: »

Not sure why they aren't just posted up in the spotlight forum really.

wininoid · July 2013

Maybe change the name of that forum then, since wanting reviews isn't necessarily the same thing as wanting to be spotlighted. And as someone wanting to review new quests, I wouldn't necessarily think to go there. That sounds more like a place for polished/finalized quests.

nyghoma · July 2013

wininoid wrote: »

Maybe change the name of that forum then, since wanting reviews isn't necessarily the same thing as wanting to be spotlighted. And as someone wanting to review new quests, I wouldn't necessarily think to go there. That sounds more like a place for polished/finalized quests.

^^^This.....

karitr · July 2013

wininoid wrote: »

Maybe change the name of that forum then, since wanting reviews isn't necessarily the same thing as wanting to be spotlighted. And as someone wanting to review new quests, I wouldn't necessarily think to go there. That sounds more like a place for polished/finalized quests.

nyghoma wrote: »

^^^This.....

Well the guidelines make it quite clear it is a place to receive feedback, but hey I guess it isn't just us players who don't read the finer detail

narayansingh · July 2013

OK, Here is the problem I see happening...

The Foundry Spotlight format is:

Thread Title:
[Campaign Name] - [Quest Name]

Body:
Campaign Name - Quest Name by @yourname
Short Code:
Mission Type:
Average Duration:
Amount of Combat:
Starts at: (NPC or location)
Mission Summary:
Author tips/hints:
Screenshots/attachments: (please include at least one screenshot, along with a link to hi-resolution versions)

The problem... Authors are not going to follow that format and post there when they can just post a quick note with the short code here.

neverwinter1776 · July 2013

sominator wrote: »

Hey all,

First of all, that's for responding Sominator!

And I have to agree that I would never have known that that section was for that purpose.
And as someone mentioned earlier, I wouldn't be opposed to a dedicated HELP forum section either. I really should have approached this thread in that manor instead of saying anyone should move from here.
Also, still have to add that I'm thrilled to EVEN have the Foundry.

I hope that it continually grows and becomes an awesome tool (*hint and cheap plug: Save maps to reuse in an quests).

I will ALWAYS help where I can, with tips, tricks and advice when and where I can.

There is a great community here who want to really flesh out stories and quest as well as some just looking to create a cool hack and slash quest too.
And the more tools we get to create that the better ;-)

NW1776

redneckronin · July 2013

wininoid wrote: »

Maybe change the name of that forum then, since wanting reviews isn't necessarily the same thing as wanting to be spotlighted. And as someone wanting to review new quests, I wouldn't necessarily think to go there. That sounds more like a place for polished/finalized quests.

^^ This. Exactly.

All The Best

remorselord · July 2013

Anyone know how to flag a foundry quest for featuring? I saw that in the original format and not exactly sure what this means.

redneckronin · July 2013

remorselord wrote: »

Anyone know how to flag a foundry quest for featuring? I saw that in the original format and not exactly sure what this means.

I believe in the Foundry Editor, on the upper right hand side there's a button marked "Submit To Cryptic", or something like that (not in foundry right now sorry).

I think that does it. They create a fixed copy of your quest to feature - that is you can no loner edit it (you can still edit the non-featured copy) so make sure it is as perfect as you can get it. Also not that future "patches" could theoretically break a featured foundry, and you'd have no way, at present, of fixing it.

All The Best

Can REVIEW REQUESTS be MOVED to a sub Forum?

Comments