- Less serious discussion and more fun If you go on a vacation (or a holiday, as our British friends would say), you don't want it to rain. When you come to the Lounge, you come here to get away from the "serious" side of GDNet. There are hundreds of political blogs on the internet, and every single one of them has a commenting system. Your thirst for political discourse can easily be quenched elsewhere. Here, we just want to relax. I personally consider it quite rude to discuss politics with strangers, as it's too easy to become a major point of contention between people that otherwise might become very good friends. Make photoshop contest threads, play a short D&D dungeon crawl and make pictures to go along, play one-paragraph story games (one-word story posts are a little obnoxious, though), organize more zany contests. You don't have to wait for other people to do it, you can get it started yourself.
- More inside jokes While new people are appreciated, the old guard needs a reason to feel special, too. And inside jokes help to bond groups together. Re: my flirting with Tiffany_Smith. I'm sorry, darling, but as long as you keep stonewalling me, my advances are only in jest (but only as long... ;D ).
- Fewer crude jokes The TOS states users must be at least 13 years of age. That is all that needs to be said.
- Less depravity Jokes about death, mutilation, etc., are not healthy. Serial killers get started by laughing while pulling off the wings of flies. Correct your behaviour, it's innapropriate.
- More friendly competition I don't have to be the only person to run contests like the Three Hour Game Design Contest. While I will retain the name of the 3H-GDC for myself, you all can organize your own contests. The creation of the 3H-GDC was heavily inspired by the ASCII Fishtank Contest, while still having significant differences between the two. They don't have to be programming contests, either. They could be writing, or art contests, or scavenger hunts. The point is, healthy competition builds camaraderie and mini-contests are excellent diversions.
- Fewer Polish viruses (i.e. Link Spamming) We've had a spat of people posting links to funny youTube videos or articles on the dailyWTF, or whatnot. While I enjoy these videos and articles just as much as the next person, if I wanted to see them I would be crawling youTube and dailyWTF myself. Replicating those posts here is unoriginal and unproductive.
- More pseudo-science and pseudo-mathematics
I am specifically refering to things like Price of copying a file, "Raduprv's Ingenious Space Tube," or the mathematical proof that girls are evil:
This kind of funny-math usually leads to very long discussions with a lot of participation by a lot of different people, even people that wouldn't normally come to the Lounge (zomg). I personally find them to be an extremely high form of comedy.Given: ---Money is the root of all evil Money = sqrt(Evil) ---Time is money Time = Money ---Girls take time and money Girls = Time * Money Proof: ---Substitute for the value of Time Girls = Money * Money ---Simplify Girls = Money^2 ---Substitute for the value of Money Girls = sqrt(Evil)^2 ---Simplify Girls = Evil ---QED
- Fewer threads on girl problems You're either fine and don't need help, or unconfident, in which case noone can help you. I have read just about every thread on dating in the Lounge, and I can say definitively that noone has ever come back and posted "OMG! It worked, and now we're getting married". There have been a couple of instances of "OMG! It worked, and she's a total bitch, now what?!?" But never the former. However, funniness like the Grand Unified Theory Of Dating, which has been formulated over many years of pointless dating threads, fall under the previous category. Basically, don't bring your depression here. You're harshing on our vibe.
- Don't post drunk or stoned Some people seem to have forgotten this basic rule.
How To Make the Lounge Better
I've been here a very long time, most of the life of the site, longer than the vast majority of members, even longer than some of the staff. I have seen the Lounge change over the years. This change has mostly been growth for the good, but not entirely. There have been changes around here, mostly in the general attitude of the posters that come to the Lounge, that I think are the cause of the staff's frustration with the Lounge.
In a recent letter to Oluseyi, we explored some of those changes. To me, Oluseyi's short response speaks volumes. The staff of GDNet do not want to be rid of the Lounge, they just don't like what the Lounge has become.
So, I'm letting you all in on a little secret. For the last year and a half, I've been semi-actively attempting to stear the Lounge back to it's whimsical glory days by creating more threads than I normally do, and "seeding" the Lounge with the types of threads that I think should be here. While we certainly had more violent flaming in that day as well, the two aspects are obviously mutually exclusive. Previous "generations" of Lounge users were certainly much more creative than the current fare, and I think that is only because the general atmosphere around here has not encouraged light-hearted... well... lounging.
As I stated in my letter, you can't make fun games if you don't know how to have fun, and the Lounge is an excercise in fun. But I can't do it alone. I'm very busy, both with work and the arts, and cannot be here to constantly post new, great threads. So, I am revealling my plans to you, the GDNet Loungers, so that you may emulate my idiom.
Quote:Original post by capn_midnight
- Less serious discussion and more fun
If you go on a vacation (or a holiday, as our British friends would say), you don't want it to rain. When you come to the Lounge, you come here to get away from the "serious" side of GDNet.
There are hundreds of political blogs on the internet, and every single one of them has a commenting system. Your thirst for political discourse can easily be quenched elsewhere. Here, we just want to relax. I personally consider it quite rude to discuss politics with strangers, as it's too easy to become a major point of contention between people that otherwise might become very good friends.
No one is forced to click on links to serious or stressful topics. If seeing the title of a thread makes it difficult for you to relax, then you need more help than what can be found in the lounge. In other words, police yourself first before seeking to police others.
// edit - I mean you in the third person not the second.
[Edited by - LessBread on October 6, 2006 3:48:28 PM]
Quote:Original post by capn_midnightI disagree with this point. Some real comedy gold has come about from drunken posts [smile]
Don't post drunk or stoned
Some people seem to have forgotten this basic rule.
To a certain degree, this is what my thread was about - that is before Oluseyi closed it and made fun of my misuse of "run".
I don't want to get rid of The Lounge, I just want to get rid of Oluseyi. (Remember the days before he was staff? I do.)
I don't want to get rid of The Lounge, I just want to get rid of Oluseyi. (Remember the days before he was staff? I do.)
I remember when the lounge was nothing but a continuous stream of one-word posts, depraved picture-spamming and a true dearth of morons who considered themselves the "elite" of gamedev for being crude, insensitive jokesters.
Thats why I kinda boggle at claims that the lounge is starting to "suck"...to me, the lounge is now the best its ever been: lots of mature, respectful discussion, compared to the old days.
Even the flame wars are astoundingly intelligent compared to 95% of the internet.
Thats why I kinda boggle at claims that the lounge is starting to "suck"...to me, the lounge is now the best its ever been: lots of mature, respectful discussion, compared to the old days.
Even the flame wars are astoundingly intelligent compared to 95% of the internet.
Quote:Original post by krikkit
I remember when the lounge was nothing but a continuous stream of one-word posts, depraved picture-spamming and a true dearth of morons who considered themselves the "elite" of gamedev for being crude, insensitive jokesters.
Hey, some of those morons are actual moderators now. *waggles truncheon*
Quote:Original post by ViLiOQuote:Original post by capn_midnightI disagree with this point. Some real comedy gold has come about from drunken posts [smile]
Don't post drunk or stoned
Some people seem to have forgotten this basic rule.
Classic.
Quote:Original post by capn_midnight
- Less serious discussion and more fun
If you go on a vacation (or a holiday, as our British friends would say), you don't want it to rain. When you come to the Lounge, you come here to get away from the "serious" side of GDNet.
There are hundreds of political blogs on the internet, and every single one of them has a commenting system. Your thirst for political discourse can easily be quenched elsewhere. Here, we just want to relax. I personally consider it quite rude to discuss politics with strangers, as it's too easy to become a major point of contention between people that otherwise might become very good friends.
I, personally, make it a point not to hold one's political, religious, or sexual views against them. If you can not be friends with someone who has different views than you, then perhaps you need to rethink your priorities.
Quote:Thats why I kinda boggle at claims that the lounge is starting to "suck"...to me, the lounge is now the best its ever been: lots of mature, respectful discussion, compared to the old days.Yeah, I agree. Heck, visit any political forum and see how intelligent most of the posters here. I would say Gamedev has a far higher collective discussion ability than most sites.
Even the flame wars are astoundingly intelligent compared to 95% of the internet.
Quote:Original post by SticksandStones
Heck, visit any political forum and see how intelligent most of the posters here. I would say Gamedev has a far higher collective discussion ability than most sites.
And a much broader range of perspectives - international and domestic. For example, discussing forms of government with a monarchist! Discussing issues in the middle east with people that live there. I could think of a couple of more things too but that'll do for now.
This topic is closed to new replies.
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