GDU Official Rules

[Marked 197]

I'm in a rush and just thinking out loud. 

 

I want to create an official rules page. The reason being that I am starting to see posts go unmoderated and it is decreasing the quality of content here at GDU. 

 

An official set of rules that is clear and concise will help improve this; both for moderators and community members. 

 

I will have no trouble in writing such a document, but this is the communities opportunity to have an input. One thing that may arouse debate is the parameters around which a game page should be allowed to be visible in the public listings. It could be a great source to find games that people want to play; a place for developers and people looking for games. But that will never happen while we let the junk through at the same time. 

 

I will also be looking to approach a member for a moderating position since we've slowly whittled down to 3. 

[black mage 28]

So, where should we start, sir? Perhaps some insight can help us to determine what stuff to do on striking down the problem. Honestly, I myself is a quite tolerant person.

[Ardaceus 21]

Maybe have a moderator checking in on the incomplete games every now and then to check out the games that are complete and playable and let them prosper in a section that contains only games that are all of the following:

1. Complete.
2. Have a few videos and/or picture showing/promoting the game.
3. Have a working download link.
4. Actually good games that are not like Jake's Quest or such atrocities that are on that level of game design.

Then to have a section dedicated to works in progress and demo available games, like Wonder's War, Machine Made, and Prophet Sword. Which would have to follow these rules:

1. Must have content to show.
2. Must be updated every now and then.
3. Must have an active developer on this website.
4. *Not cancelled.

Cause I see a few games on here that don't have much content, are not updated, have a long gone developer, or were cancelled.

*For cancelled games maybe, we can leave them in a section called "The Forgotten Bunch" that is comprised of incomplete games where the creator of the site can still be found, or plans to return, to take back the game into production.

 

And that's all I can think for rules of game pages besides that they should all only have content relating to your game and nothing else like the personal life of the developer, as there is other places for that such as the profile page and blogging.

 

 

Now when on the forums, I think that the main rules are:

1. No profane language.
2. No getting too far off topic.
3. An easy to understand title.
4. Putting the topic in the right section.
5. No overuse of pictures unless if it pertains to the main point of the post.
6. No spam.
7. No insults or put-downs.
8. No one liners unless if it's spam'o'rama or if you can actually help greatly with one line like a link.
9. Honest opinions.
10. Nothing dirty.

That's all I think should be rules for this website. I'm pretty sure that there are more out there that are good for this site.

[Bob423 52]

The thing about those forum rules is, we're such a small community that most people do that stuff anyway. Posts that break those rules are quickly dealt with by one of us(moderators) or Marked...but written rules are nice to have.

[Ryan Ferris 3]

The problem is everything finds something interesting and everyone thinks their own content is interesting -- I would suggest something like reddit has where a certain amount of what you input into the community has to be about other people's stuff... it's a pretty good natural balancing factor -- otherwise I would love some advice about how to make more relevant posts, I have trouble coming up with topics all the time. Thoughts anyone?

 

edit:

Also Arcadeus thanks for bringin' that up... how do we make sure that traffic gets directed properly between people that want a FINISHED game they can click on and install now versus someone else who might be thinking "I love the look of this game, I want to try a demo and I could consider waiting 6 mos to see it get done"... imo it's not a matter of what is proper to add, it's how we interact and direct each other to the right things that will help us keep content quality feeling as high as possible

Edited January 9, 2016 by Bob423
fixed double post.

[Bob423 52]

Please use the "edit" button next time, Ryan.