Author Rankings

DarkCloud · June 15, 2002, 12:19

Looking at MarkG's Civ III stories page, I compiled this little ranking list-

1st place- 5 pts
2nd- 4
3rd- 3
4th- 2
5th- 1

Grundel- 12 points (1st 2 times, 4th once)

cbraud- 11 pts

WTE-OzWolf- 10 pts

Metalliturtle- 9pts

ike0481- 7 pts

Velociryx- 6 pts
Zardof- 6 pts

Hawaiifive-o- 5 pts
Rotten999- 5 pts
dannyevilcat- 5 pts

Toasty- 4 pts
dr. charm- 4 pts
Dom Pedro II- 4 pts
Barfus- 4 pts
The Flouridater- 4 pts

Kinniken- 3 pts
Jeremy- 3pts
deater- 3 pts
Pisthetaerus- 3pts
esmeideman- 3 pts
Samuel Johnson- 3 pts

Zorkk- 2pts
Rosacrux- 2pts
Roadkill Quiche- 2 pts

General-BT- 1 pt
justjake73- 1pt

civman2000 · June 15, 2002, 19:46

i'm not sure how it is now, but last time i looked he only had until the 5th contest on that thing, and the 8th is about to end...

plus it was much easier to win the old contest, it was only over the stories of each week, now it's the last 8 good ones...

Grundel · June 16, 2002, 03:35

Wow.

What can I say.

I would have to assume that there have been some pretty awesome writers since my time, but I am truly humbled and flattered to find this out.

civman2000 · June 16, 2002, 08:39

read my post

...

I know that OzWolf now has 15 points, and cbraund has an astounding 28 points! (2 firsts, 3 seconds, 2 thirds). Not that that means you weren't a great \writer grundel, yours are classsics

Metaliturtle · June 16, 2002, 13:06

I KNOW I have like 3 fourths and a fifth too but the new contest doesn't show those

jdd2007 · June 17, 2002, 23:54

bump

Richelieu · June 19, 2002, 10:20

Quote:

Originally posted by civman2000
plus it was much easier to win the old contest, it was only over the stories of each week, now it's the last 8 good ones...

As far as i'm concerned, the overall quality of writing was better back then.

DarkCloud · June 19, 2002, 20:07

If someone reminds me, I'll update this when mark posts the new contests (unless of course he doesnt within a few weeks, in which case...

)

And civman, I see no reason for the 5th places for the old finises but not the new ones to be counted as they placed for show... and that is what is counted- what is displayed, not necessarily the finishes, and it does not necessarily give them much more points, as you will see 4th and 5th only give 1 and 2 points, respectively

civman2000 · June 20, 2002, 08:12

1. only a few of the contests even have 5th places.
2. ever since the beginning only the top three have been posted in teh history. If you're that desparate to compare the writers look up the old finals...

DarkCloud · June 20, 2002, 17:51

No.
Markos posted the top 5 for the first contest... the old contest before yours.

Ever since your contest there have been only 3, correct... and that is why I list only 3.

SKILORD · June 24, 2002, 10:59

I'm not even on the list..... i vow to write more effectively now.

DarkCloud · June 27, 2002, 12:19

Updated List
best of the best receives 5 points for 1st, 4 for 2nd and 3 for third.

-

cbraud- 34 pts

WTE-OzWolf- 27 pts

Metalliturtle- 15pts

Grundel- 12 points (1st 2 times, 4th once)

Rotten999- 10 pts

Bella Hella- 9 pts

ike0481- 7 pts
Toasty- 7 pts

Velociryx- 6 pts
Zardof- 6 pts

Hawaiifive-o- 5 pts
dannyevilcat- 5 pts \
GeneralTacticus- 5 pts

Dr. charm- 4 pts
Dark Cloud- 4 pts
History Guy- 4 pts
Dom Pedro II- 4 pts
Barfus- 4 pts
Civ3King- 4 pts
The Flouridater- 4 pts

Kinniken- 3 pts
Jeremy- 3pts
Sovy Kuroeski- 3 pts
johnmcleod- 3 pts
High Lord J- 3 pts
deater- 3 pts
Pisthetaerus- 3pts
esmeideman- 3 pts
Samuel Johnson- 3 pts

Zorkk- 2pts
Rosacrux- 2pts
Roadkill Quiche- 2 pts

General-BT- 1 pt
justjake73- 1pt

Metaliturtle · June 27, 2002, 13:40

Now that I think about it, this is very insulting, Ranking authors against each other creates unneeded competition between us. If you force authors to compete, you never get anything new because they don't know whether or not it would do good. Imagine what these boards would be like if I only wrote WTE_Ozwolf style stories, not that there's anything wrong with them, it's just that he was winning, a LOT, when I started, had this competition been around then, I probably would have written some long and mediocre dramas (think first part CGW in 5 page form) I wonder just how much new talent this is squashing.

DarkCloud · June 27, 2002, 16:28

That's the point- competition.

IF people enjoy that sort of story- then give it to them.

And it also encourages people to write new stories, as the more good stories they write- the faster they can gain on the charts.

And, as we know, only good stories are voted on the charts

and why should you not try stories like Oz? If you don't like making them, then return to your humorous tales, perhaps writing like oz would be a good exercise? You never know- it never hurts to try new things...

But if you look at the list, you can see that you are doing well enough

-
And, in the end all that matters is that I, the list maker, am always competing... and I enjoy this list, and others I make. And I am always trying new things

Grundel · June 27, 2002, 16:41

That is a good point Dark cloud...

I often try to write in different styles...some work, some dont'

If I am not mistaken, you are one of the founders of the story teller's union...and its point is to help improve its' members writing ability. Stretching your imagination and talent into new areas is one of the best ways to do this. Your first attempt may not be great, but the more you do it, the better you will get.

Metaliturtle · June 27, 2002, 17:48

You are missing my point entirely, people shouldn't try to write stories that they don't enjoy writing, The union never emphasised major competition, it is established to make people better writers by providing an environment that promotes creative critisism besides, "WRITE WRITE WRITE!!" or "I don't like this." The union asks of it's writers basically to say why when they critique a story. Sure this creates competition, but it eliminates the critique aspect, although in my opinion the guys on the list are real good guys (and girls Bella), the fact remains that too much competition in writing kills the creative spirit. If I write a story about the many fears Lincoln has of pudding, yes, it will probably be funny, but if it isn't, I would like to know what people didn't like about it.

DarkCloud · June 27, 2002, 18:42

Quote:

You are missing my point entirely, people shouldn't try to write stories that they don't enjoy writing,

If they are smart, then they won't write stories like that- people write stories for fun.

If they enjoy competition then writing the story will be fun; if they don't care about the competition, then they won't write a story of that style anyway.

Quote:

the fact remains that too much competition in writing kills the creative spirit.

I wouldn't say so- the more competition; the more people can compare their works against others and thereby improve it.

Your fears are ephemeral.
There is nothing wrong with the list.

If someone is stupid enough to write something they don't want to- let them- they'll eventually realize that they should do what THEY want and not what OTHER PEOPLE want.

cbraund · June 27, 2002, 20:56

I see nothing wrong with competition(and I'm not just saying that cause I'm top

).

I write in many different styles(might not seem like it lol, but I try many different countries, cultures, and time periods). I make sure I enjoy writing a story, and if I don't, I don't write it.

Competition is healthy, it makes sure the readers can show what they like.

When I first arrived, I was made despondent by the fact that Metaliturtle's funny stories whipped my ass, and I couldn't write stories like that.

But I kept on writing the epics I love to write, and I eventually won.

Basically, competition is good, it encourages people, and if at first you don't succeed, try and try again! Don't start trying to write stories you don't like, keep to what you're good at!

Chris

WTE_OzWolf · June 28, 2002, 00:54

I think Metaliturtle is over-reacting a bit here. If we didn't want competition, why the hell do we have the Story Competition? To recognise the achievements of our fellow writers. All this ranking does is cumilate the tallies that anybody could look at anyway.

I'm not sticking up for this because I'm one of the "top ranking" people, but simply because it shows other people who has been successful here (and also direct them to good stories). I actually voted for Knights of the Black Cross in the original Best of the Best, because I want to encourage the good writing, so I want no accusations of self-centeredness flung my way

.

I write what I want to write. I also try to change things (my attempt at humour was a bit of a flop). Generations was given across the breadth of time and characters weren't really given much depth. Odyssey of a Hero was on one main character only. The Cost of War is something different again, with four or five main characters taking part to help the story.

I write epics because I like writing them. I've started a number of other stories that I just didn't like and gave up on them. The might have won some competitions, but I wasn't enjoying writing them so I didn't.

Things like this shouldn't be seen as a way to squash the creative spirit but more like a way for people to see that other ordinary people can create good things. If one of my stories inspires somebody else, then I believe it is a good story.

civman2000 · June 28, 2002, 07:15

Hey, "It's good to be dictator" was great, it didn't flop!

Metaliturtle · June 28, 2002, 15:38

What I'm saying, Ozwolf, is that people should read all the stories, not just those by the top handful of people on a list, every author up there wrote excellent stories, and I read every story that came in first second or third in the stories contest that civman runs, and before that I read all of the stories on the stories page. My first story was a total flop, but it wasn't THIS list which drove me to write my next one, CGW. Also, I don't necessarily feel that CGW is my best story, I certainly didn't like writing it after the famous post "Write Write Write!!!" Which caused me to form the union in which that infamous poster is a member.

I'd rather people know these authors as good authors through their writing, not because a list told them. Take, for example, Samuel Johnson, his story, Zulu Rules, is in my opinion, one of the best stories written on the forums, unfortunately for him, his story didn't do well because of one of mine, I personally felt that his story was the best one up for voting, but because not too many others did, he didn't do as well. I can't even call the contest a competition, it's basically a reflection on what the 11-17 year-old male likes, although there are exceptions to this. Besides Bella, I'm pretty sure everyone on that list is male, and certainly the top 5 are. I came up with 11-17 because there are lots of references to school and the like.

I honestly don't know where I'm going with this, but I do know I don't like this list and am going to keep ranting about it.

DarkCloud · June 28, 2002, 17:24

So- this is just an easier way to find the writing that everyone here enjoys.

Kramerman · June 28, 2002, 17:31

I like the list.
Im fairly new to the stories forum and the list gives me an idea of who's been successful in the past and which stories I should look up to for ideas and what not. I personally just want to become a better writer and there is no particular "style" that gives me joy as Metaliturtle was saying. But that is my opinion,

Kman

Kramerman · June 28, 2002, 17:33

Quote:

Originally posted by DarkCloud
So- this is just an easier way to find the writing that everyone here enjoys.

Exactly!

You must of posted this as I was writing mine, cause I didn't see it. But that is exactly what I was trying to say.

Kman

History Guy · June 29, 2002, 10:37

Personally, I don't give one eyeball poke for the contest, I don't write simply so that my stories come up for the contest, I just write because I like to write.

DarkCloud · June 29, 2002, 16:21

A good reason-
But not all of us can self-satisfy ourselves... sadly.