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A new idea, to get back old "atmosphere"

Would you release a modified script that you got from an otland thread, back to the same thread?


  • Total voters
    23
  • Poll closed .

Codinablack

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Ok, so I have been working on some things to release here for the community (just scripts), and while I was working on some things and ofc browsing otland, I found a posting where someone was talking about the atmosphere this community has nowadays. It was then that an idea occurred to me. The concept is simple, but I'm hoping it could be very effective.

How many people out there, would be down with the idea of "If you use the script, share back to the community, your modified version" ?

Imagine for a moment. Lets take my potions script as an example. Say I just released it, and you look at it, you can see there is a table to add as many potions you like, and make them with different conditions , ect, ect. Well I posted it as a share for anyone looking for the same kind of thing, but what I did not do, was go through and find each and every "potion" in the game and add to the table, nor did I take it a step further and substitute some potions for some "foods". I can't say I know for sure that many people did do these things, but lets say they did, and lets say even more people modified it somehow, adding more unique conditions and stuff. Why not re-release the modified script, to share with the community? I know most people prefer to use their own "custom" version for their own "custom" server, but what I want to know is how many people would be willing to give back to the same thread they took the script from?

We could make it a whole series, people who post "ShareRights" or something in the title, means they want you to post back to the same thread, your modified version of the original script.

tl:dr

Would you release a modified script that you got from an otland thread, back to the same thread?

I just think if we can get people in the habit of doing this, maybe we could breath a bit of new life into the community, at the very least, we could ALL end up with many varieties of the same types of scripts or "systems.
 
I used to do that. If the script was for a different server version, sometimes I posted a new thread (eg Mock's upgrade system)

Currently I write my scripts from scratch looking mostly at tfs files or other sites (lua docs, stackoverflow, etc) so I don't really visit resources board that much anymore.
 
back when I've used to create threads nearly on a daily basis, one of the things that kept me keep coming back to forum refreshing the page was the comments. Nowadays many people only react but don't comment and the lack of interaction is really a downside of such reaction systems.

Some people, as you said, even commented with their modified versions and I could reply on top saying if they did the modifications well or if it could be done in a simpler way. Also I could also get feedbacks of better versions of my own scripts (rarely but occured too) and everyone wins.

The main problem (for me back then) is that many people turn the threads into 'support' and requests of modifications for their own servers. When I had time it was fine but I've pressured myself to help others in situations I didn't had the time too.
 
You have to consider that we were 12-20 years old back then. Now we're 22-30. Not everyone has time to sit and write comments anymore.
I believe it's a matter of reprioritization. Everyone has plenty of time during pandemic, we just choose to react here and write long comments on internet discussing politics and other bs
 
I believe it's a matter of reprioritization. Everyone has plenty of time during pandemic, we just choose to react here and write long comments on internet discussing politics and other bs
Not everyone, probably a significant amount more than most people realise actually have less time for hobbies during the pandemic, much less actually helping people with theirs on a toxic forum. This is most noticeable on facebook, many hobby groups (not all!) went quiet and are only now coming back to life.

@topic
I really like how this idea sounds but the reality is that coming across a thread as a newbie that has a thousand different scripts in a thousand different comments is just daunting, no idea what's going on and which script to use and which ones are up to date with the op if the op had any updates etc it's a whole lot of mess. I'd much rather see people repost it and link to the original if significant changes were made, otherwise if the changes were config related or minor then maybe just post the specific changes line by line and a pic/gif showing it off. I absolutely hate finding threads with thousands of variations of the op script, I usually just pass when it's impossible to know what's what without reading every post and every line of code.
 
but the reality is that coming across a thread as a newbie that has a thousand different scripts in a thousand different comments is just daunting, no idea what's going on and which script to use and which ones are up to date with the op if the op had any updates etc

That's a problem I honestly don't care about, not to sound harsh, but the fact is that we coddle the "newbies" waaaaay to much, and it has played it's part on the community's slow death, my idea isn't about the "newbies" and lets just call them what they are, the ones you speak of, the ones that can't even spare the time to check out which variation they may want... they are leeches, not noobs, people who create a new account just to download... those people are not who this is for, this idea, is for to get people revved up who actually care to still develop! The ones who will be sharing their versions, that's who this idea is for, I want to for them and me, all of us, to see some fire back in the forums, to see that progression doesn't have to be solitary . I appreciate your input though, and I understand the concern, but if the people in this community are going to spend hours and days even, to produce unique working scripts, then they can do a bit of work of their own, distinguishing which script fits their intentions.
 
You have to consider that we were 12-20 years old back then. Now we're 22-30. Not everyone has time to sit and write comments anymore.

I find it hard to believe anyone has such a stressful life they don't have time to spend 10 seconds writing a simple comment. Regardless of age.
 
Would you release a modified script that you got from an otland thread, back to the same thread?
Retrospectively,

In my first 1st-2nd year of starting to dabble with OTs and code, I wouldn't have done it, because I was dumb and very insecure about the quality of my code, with which I wouldn't want to plague the community and get berated for it by more experienced coders, exposing my ignorance, as if any of that mattered.

In my 3rd year of coding, I wouldn't have done it, because combined with the above, I was against sharing many customizations since I usually modified them to the exact needs of my server and using the script in a different context becomes a bit pointless.

In my 4th year of coding, I wouldn't have done it, since by that time, I would just write what I needed on my own and not use otland threads for scripts. Riding a programmer's high, not wanting to deal with anyone's criticism, cuz god forbid someone points out a flaw in my clearly superior code.

Etc...

At every point in time, there are reasons why one might not do it, as asinine as they sound, and I don't think people don't do it because they actively want to harm the state of the community, but due to a variety of smaller (and often silly) factors like some of what I listed, or a simple lack of will to spend 1 more second than needed on anything other than furthering their own goal.

There's way too much free and useful stuff out there for the taking, some become numb to the notion of being a part of a community and use the internet as their personal buffet of resources, your script being no different from the repo they just cloned or that stackoverflow snippet they just copied.

Furthermore, @Silba makes a good point about organization and aesthetics of the whole thing. It's easy to imagine your ideal scenario, but it's even easier to imagine how it could look for real - filled with improperly formatted and highly unreadable copy pastes, of the same thing with sometimes minute changes like "how add lvl requirement to this", and then 6 replies to that from people discussing the fact that this one guy tried to implement it on 0.3.6 and it didn't work, and now asks for a conversion, or some stupid stuff like that.

The concept is simple, but I'm hoping it could be very effective.

Abandon hope all ye who enter here. 💀
 
Well the votes are looking good, as for the negativity or the "please help fix error" posts that something like this would attract, I'm not personally worried about that, they can be ignored
 
I find it hard to believe anyone has such a stressful life they don't have time to spend 10 seconds writing a simple comment. Regardless of age.
BuT I hAd A fAmILy EmErGeNcY

I still find it funny that people still believe in old excuses like "sorry I didn't reply to your message 2 days ago, had an important matter to attend to"

This is literally just an excuse for not replying on purpose, and overall laziness, which is sadly what a lot of people here will do. I don't trust this idea to work all without some sort of failsafe system, which I can't even pretend to visualize in my head as possible with this forum. I'm sure you'll get the odd person here or there adhering to the "rules and regulations" but 90% of the people will just take it and leave/make it better and sell it. On top of that, almost no one can take criticism here and they just get butthurt by the tiniest of different opinions on their work, so queue more drama.

Realistically.....all I can say is keep hoping. Perfect world, would be nice~
 
Ok so I decided to go ahead and proceed with the experiment and reap the consequences (people begging for help, ect.)

I have my first release planned, and the name of the "type" or "series" (I say type because I encourage others to release with same concept applied) will be called Share Your Copy

The series will be tagged (Syc) or [SYC] , haven't decided which yet

The first mod is going to take up quite some time, and I am working 50 hrs a week right now, with a job that really really wears you out (tree work), so I will try to get it done asap , stay on the look out for that SYC tag :D
 
I think it would be a lot of SPAM if we do this, many will want to republish the script with a couple of extra configurations in the configuration table, I think it is not the best way to ask the public to help the community, for me the best idea is that there are real and efficient tutorials, good enough so that otlanders can learn in a couple of days to create their own scripts

I have reviewed the TFS scripting learning book and there are only crappy examples without much information, there should be links to demonstration videos and good visual illustrations and of course these should be narrated with voice

This is not a criticism, in fact the effort that the content editors of the forum have put in is very valuable and appreciated, and we already know that not everyone has time.

I would love to be able to dedicate more time, and have a better computer to then do well explained video tutorials to create anything, as well as how to edit sources or how to publish a PR in the repository, how to discuss in PR, how to test PR and how to approve them, things like that are really worth it, so that everyone feels the power of a significant improvement in general for the entire forum and the new people who are always arriving every day
 
I don't disagree that the tutorials and stuff are outdated and are invaluable, I don't disagree that we need more of them with video and detailed explanation of not only how to do something, but the why, and why it works.

That being said, it's failed! Tutorials have been around forever and I'm sure many more will come, but they haven't really bolstered the enthusiasm, have they?

Yes, I'm sure the threads I'm talking about will attract a lot of spam, however I don't view

couple of extra configurations in the configuration table

As spam. In fact, if someone can add something to the config, and it works, then they obviously did atleast some kind of work somewhere else in the script, and if they did it, when I didn't, or the poster (op) didn't do that, then it's a credible edit , worth sharing , imo anyways
 
just use git for your scripts duh
No, let's use another tool that is not suited for the task because I'm too lazy to get familiar with the console common sense

Have I brought the old atmosphere back already?
 
Furthermore, @Silba makes a good point about organization and aesthetics of the whole thing. It's easy to imagine your ideal scenario, but it's even easier to imagine how it could look for real - filled with improperly formatted and highly unreadable copy pastes

I think to address this issue, couldn't I just update main post to include links to the variations, with names explaining what features or distinguishing traits each variation?

You are right though, it could look this way, or it could look that way... I suppose what matter is what it ends up being, never know without trying.

Update@Topic

I have more time this weekend, attributes are all done and working fine right now for the first system, will try to get all conditions logic and functions completed and tested to be error free this weekend, and maybe have some more teasers for you guys by the beginning of the week.
 
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