Ask not what your community can do for you...

Cam · January 13, 2001, 01:42

Wanted: Scenario League Editor Cadets!

The Scenario League is looking for people to assist in the running of its web site, with a view to one day possibly becoming the 'head-honcho'.

I'm looking for people who are keen and willing to revitalise the site, and maintain a leadership role in the Civ2 scenario development community.

By a 'cadetship', I mean that I will be helping people to assume the editorial responsibilities. For instance, if their web authoring skills are weak, then I can assist there. If they are comparatively inexperienced with scenario development, then likewise I can lend a helping hand.

After a couple of months, the 'cadets' (assuming there are any (!)) can take on a broader management of the site and this forum.

Interesed? Comment below or send me an e-mail; c.hills@bigpond.com

[This message has been edited by Cam (edited January 13, 2001).]

Geography Dan · January 13, 2001, 02:50

I might be interested. I'd probably like to know what you mean in a little more detail first though.

-GeoDan

Miner · January 13, 2001, 07:47

Does this mean you are retiring?

Stefan Härtel · January 13, 2001, 07:53

dito to GeoDan

Jay Bee · January 13, 2001, 09:12

Cam,

Could you please post the updates to the Sleague on the Apolyton main page? it's easier for me to keep track of the changes that way. (I wish you better luck in finding people than I had with the CSC

)
[This message has been edited by Jay Bee (edited January 13, 2001).]

Cam · January 13, 2001, 11:13

quote:

Originally posted by Geography Dan on 01-13-2001 01:50 AM
I might be interested. I'd probably like to know what you mean in a little more detail first though.

You would probably be aware that Dr. Blackclove has withdrawn his involvement, while William Keenan has indicated that he simply has too much on his plate to promptly edit and process the Scenario League reviews. As such, the responsibility for the League has fallen on my shoulders.

It has been particularly difficult to find time (due largely to work difficulties) to initiate some of the changes that the site needs, and this has been compounded by this wretched clash between Civ2 and Windows 2000, where I am unable to load anything other than Test of Time material. I further believe that the site is best when it is run by an enthusiastic team. It's not a particularly oenerous task, but one that does require a few hours each month to keep things moving along. From time to time almost all of the contributions to the League had to come from the editors when community contributions were light - and this too took some effort.

There are several options open to the future direction of the site, but recruiting a keen team to initate development and change would seem to be the most positive.

The concept of a 'cadetship' (I hope it doesn't sound like too much of a 'hokey' term) will allow a transitional period between the status quo and hopefully a new and keen team. With due respect to some of the past editors, I think that just handing the whole thing over to the first person who sticks their hand up is not the best approach. I would like to give people some 'taste' of the job to see if they actually enjoy it and feel positive about making a worthwhile contribution. What might seem like a fun thing to do at first, may turn out for some people to be a bit of a pain.

Hope that makes things a bit clearer. I can't predict to what extent my own involvement may be in 2001 - I might end up continuing to run the show as best I can, or I may retire completely.

I suppose the sort of things that might need doing initially could include reformatting the look of the site, adding some more design tips (such as explaining how to turn off animations in Test of Time scenarios, or creating impassable terrain), or adding a feature which we've not yet seriously considered. I don't believe we have any reviews that aren't yet posted, but having a go at editing and developing a review page could be a job that could easily be handed over to anyone who's interested in this capacity.

Thanks for the interest so far!

Stefan Härtel · January 13, 2001, 18:59

Simple answer: yes!!

I'll see wether I have time and enthusiasm when I got more to do.

Cam · January 13, 2001, 20:01

Many thanks Stefan!

Geography Dan · January 13, 2001, 23:22

I too would be very interested in this cadetship once January (and finals

) are over with. However, I may unfortunately not be ideal for the job, as I certainly am no scenario expert and I only have basic webpage building skills.

Cam · January 14, 2001, 00:45

quote:

Originally posted by Geography Dan on 01-13-2001 10:22 PM
I too would be very interested in this cadetship once January (and finals

) are over with. However, I may unfortunately not be ideal for the job, as I certainly am no scenario expert and I only have basic webpage building skills.

That shouldn't be a problem, and I'd be happy to lend a hand wherever possible. Which web authoring package (if any) do you have? While I tend to use Dreamweaver, I've found FrontPage can do 95% of the job without having to dabble with HTML editing. Frankly, I'd suspect you could do pretty well the whole thing in Netscape Composer if need be. I too was reluctant to get involved because I was not too sure about my own web authoring skills, but found that (a.) it wasn't at all as difficult as I'd thought it would be, and (b.) it was a good opportunity to fine-tune my skills.

Ultimately I think that having a 'vision' for where the League can go will be of more importance than concern about such things. That, plus a willingness to be responsive - there's nothing worse than writing a review, sending it off, and then not having it posted for two months (a problem we've hopefully rectified).

The development of a 'beta test' section to the site is another example of the sort of new direction that the League could assume. We see many people wanting their scenarios 'beta tested' and use these forums or the League's To be reviewed section (incorrectly) to get this beta-testing done. Perhaps the League could somehow better manage these things? What about the Contests part - what can be done if there's no SDC#4? That's the sort of thing I think the 'new team' could explore.

Thanks to you too for your interest!

I'll let this thread run for a week, and we'll see where we're at with 'aspiring cadets'!

Geography Dan · January 14, 2001, 01:04

I have an older version of Frontpage (I wish I had the 2000 version!) It sounds more and more interesting the more I think about it. The problems of not enough reviews and not enough contest enthusiasm can probably be solved by updating more often so people know they won't have to wait a long time before seeing there reviews, and especially by "advertising" in the Civ2 Creation section. Probably a lot of people there don't realize what the Scenario League is.

Cam · January 14, 2001, 03:11

I agree that the updates should have happened more promptly. This wasn't usually a problem, with most reviews up within a week, however there was a stint where the person in charge 'disappeared' for weeks on end and the problem arose.

I think also the suggestion of WarVoid to rewrite the review form - see this thread - was a great idea. I hope that this proposal will get more attention.

You're right again about awareness of the League. Maybe it's me, but if I see a link to anything Civ2 related, I gotta click it - yet at the bottom of every page on the forum is our site's link, and some people seem to be unaware of it. I do tend to visit the Test of Time and Civ2 Creation forums a bit and recommend our design tips when there's an opportunity to do so. This is the sort of side-line activity that the editors (or anyone supporting the League) should do as a matter of course.

I really do think that the site does need a bit of a tidy-up in theme also. There's a great opportunity to add a bit more interaction with the League's web pages...

I think people like participating in polls/quizlets even though there are a ton of them already - perhaps the League can start getting some polls about scenarios to supplement Apolyton's existing 'take the poll' component? Another idea - maybe if we included a 'Have your say' at the tail of every review, so people need not write a whole scenario review, but maybe contribute a few helpful paragraphs? I think there's a real opportunity to work with Jesús and better integrate the League's site with the CSC site somehow. 'The Historian' has a site that includes contests on 'How well do you know your Civ2' - if anyone was feeling clever they could follow that example but put it into a scenario authoring framework.

Ideas, ideas, ideas,...

[This message has been edited by Cam (edited January 14, 2001).]

Stefan Härtel · January 14, 2001, 07:18

I have Netscape Composer and Front Page Express, is that enough?

Cam · January 14, 2001, 17:51

Stefan and Dan,

Do you both have Paint Shop Pro - Animation Shop?

It would appear Netscape Composer is going to have to do! One of the slightly tricky things is retaining the HTML code at the head of the page so we can ensure the banner ads work properly, which means we will need to save a file from an existing page in order to create a template for new pages, rather than start from scratch.

Anyone else up for the challenge?

Geography Dan · January 14, 2001, 21:53

I don't have Paint Shop Pro, sorry.

Cam · January 15, 2001, 00:50

Any graphics editing other than Microsoft Paint per chance? Fireworks?

Geography Dan · January 15, 2001, 02:59

Nothing besides MS Paint and Photoshop, sorry. In any case, the job would probably be more suited to someone who's been more involved with scenarios and SLeague than me.

Cam · January 15, 2001, 09:25

Dan,

It's certainly your call, however if you were to give it a shot, I'm sure the software thing wouldn't be a
major issue. You can still take and create screenshots with the Print Scrn key and MS Paint, however I think some of the text effects used in many banners for reviews might be more difficult to achieve with Paint. I'm not that familiar with Photoshop, but by the looks it's a pretty powerful program. As before, nothing to get unduly concerned about.

Geography Dan · January 15, 2001, 15:33

Is there somewhere I can download Paintshop Pro?

Steve Clark · January 15, 2001, 16:12

quote:

Originally posted by Geography Dan on 01-13-2001 10:22 PM
However, I may unfortunately not be ideal for the job, as I certainly am no scenario expert

Shouldn't a cadetship be someone who is an expert at scenarios, thus better able to handle and present the Scenario League's content?

DarthVeda · January 15, 2001, 16:20

You know, I'd like to get in on this, but it is IMPOSSIBLE for Gamestats to give me access to their FTP servers... I don't think they are capable.

Geography Dan · January 15, 2001, 16:34

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Clark on 01-15-2001 03:12 PM
Shouldn't a cadetship be someone who is an expert at scenarios, thus better able to handle and present the Scenario League's content?

Exactly.

William Keenan · January 15, 2001, 16:45

DV: there is lots of stuff to do that does not require FTP. My old job as reviews editor for example. Come to think of it you would make a great reviews editor Darth, since you write a third of the reviews anyway

SCDARS · January 15, 2001, 16:58

Cam:
I would be interested, but it's simply that (considering I will leave school this year and so have to do a LOT of things) I realized I MUST reduce the time spent on Civ2... I sometimes even doubt that I will ever finish my very first scenario (which is a really ambitious project I have been working on for years)

I'm sorry my days aren't 48 hours long each...

@Dan:

quote:

Originally posted by Geography Dan on 01-15-2001 02:33 PM
Is there somewhere I can download Paintshop Pro?

You can find a time-limited shareware version at http://www.jasc.com/

Cam · January 16, 2001, 11:15

Thanks to all who have indicated a willingness.

Just on the matter of "I'm no scenario expert" and Steve's concern, it's true that some scenario experience would lend a fair bit to the extent of contribution that a volunteer would make to the League. For instance, my current capacity as Design Tips Editor would be pretty compromised if I had no scenario authoring experience. Many of the tips that I've received from 'the community' have needed a second opinion and editing. Also, the majority of input/contributions come with no graphic files, so you need to understand the tip in order to create purposeful supporting graphics. With that said, I'm still 'old school scenario design' myself, and have plenty still to learn about some of the newer and more ambitious approaches to authoring seen in 2000.

On the other hand, you don't need to be a scenario authoring expert in order to handle many of the reviews or oversee competitions. Indeed, coming in 'a little fresh faced' might be quite useful in providing better resources for budding designers.

Dan, if you don't feel confident about the job, that's fine. Obviously you can still make contributions and suggestions without having to take on an editorial role (indeed, that's the idea of the League - it's a community project).

DarthVeda, what's the problem with Gamestats? I've gotta confess, my ability to log onto the servers at times has been sporadic. I have two ISP's, and only one ever has much success in this department. I thought it must have been an Australia - US problem.

SCDARS, thanks for your interest. If you feel you haven't got the time, again, that's fine. Much as above, this does not preclude you from making contributions to the League as a reviewer or tip provider.

Stefan Härtel · January 16, 2001, 14:35

Adobe Photoshop is the only Graphics Program I can work with. Is that allright?

Cam · January 16, 2001, 17:59

Stefan,

Again, I'm not that familiar with Photoshop, however it does look like a good program. In order to do what we're doing now, you need to be able to take screenshots, and do some resonably elementary graphics effects - drop shadows, cutouts, blur, sharpen, gradient fills, simple text effects, that sort of thing. If Photoshop has a 'optimize for web' facility, so much the better, but there are a ton of other options for optimising graphics for fast download. If Photoshop is missing a few of these features, it shouldn't be a big deal.

Stefan Härtel · January 17, 2001, 10:40

Yeah, Photoshop can serve with most of these things.

Cam · January 20, 2001, 09:33

OK - well it would seem like Stefan's it! Anyone else who's game, please advise promptly.

Edit: ... Stefan and WarVoid.

[This message has been edited by Cam (edited January 21, 2001).]