WZ|Map/Mod Tester : New Contributor Role for Members
Posted: 10 Jul 2010, 13:45
This suggestion is more towards improving the quality of feedback on the forum, and then hopefully indirectly towards helping members to contribute to the project.
I have come across some members who have tags like WZ|Contributor and WZ|Translator. What I'm proposing is that there could be another tag called WZ|Map/Mod Tester for people who like testing maps and mods.
The tester's role would be to test maps and mods, and give back constructive feedback if the creator has asked for it. And not just say things like "nice work" or "good job", they can leave appreciation-only statements like those to the other supportive community members.
NOTE: Inspiration for this idea was attained from the fedoraproject, where they involve community members as testers to achieve quality assurance.
Suggestions as to how to approve a candidate for this role:
Any member who has played a certain number of Showcase Maps and Mods, and has given a lot of constructive feedback back to the map/mod creator. And also judge the members knowledge of what an engrossing map/mod could be.
Possible Modifications to the tag:
WZ|Map Tester , WZ|Mod Tester
The reasons as to why I am proposing this idea to the project staff:
i) Many members have a feeling that they can't code, but have often expressed that they would love to help out. I have seen statements like these, "I wish I could help but I can't code or script" or "I cannot mod", once too many.
ii) Making a community member feel like a part of a team would make their feedback more productive and useful to the map/mod creators.
iii) They may get inspired to move on to creating maps and mods, indirectly driving them towards educating themselves. This method of helping members to contribute would be like baby steps to help them become more committed to the project. They may begin to contribute in other ways as their expertise in this department improves.
iv) Not many players have been playing the new maps/mods posted in the forums. Thus map creators were disappointed when they didn't receive a decent amount of feedback for their work. For example, Rman Virgil has come up with a great map which not many have played, and he only got constructive feedback from a WZ|Developer, namely Zarel (I may have missed out others, but that's not the point). His map has the potential to become a new campaign in WZ2100, and strangely not many seems to be aware of. KukY also took the trouble of making some mods but never got much feedback from people who requested it.
v) Hopefully we will see more members trying out new maps/mods in this process, and thus increase forum activity.
I have come across some members who have tags like WZ|Contributor and WZ|Translator. What I'm proposing is that there could be another tag called WZ|Map/Mod Tester for people who like testing maps and mods.
The tester's role would be to test maps and mods, and give back constructive feedback if the creator has asked for it. And not just say things like "nice work" or "good job", they can leave appreciation-only statements like those to the other supportive community members.
NOTE: Inspiration for this idea was attained from the fedoraproject, where they involve community members as testers to achieve quality assurance.
Suggestions as to how to approve a candidate for this role:
Any member who has played a certain number of Showcase Maps and Mods, and has given a lot of constructive feedback back to the map/mod creator. And also judge the members knowledge of what an engrossing map/mod could be.
Possible Modifications to the tag:
WZ|Map Tester , WZ|Mod Tester
The reasons as to why I am proposing this idea to the project staff:
i) Many members have a feeling that they can't code, but have often expressed that they would love to help out. I have seen statements like these, "I wish I could help but I can't code or script" or "I cannot mod", once too many.
ii) Making a community member feel like a part of a team would make their feedback more productive and useful to the map/mod creators.
iii) They may get inspired to move on to creating maps and mods, indirectly driving them towards educating themselves. This method of helping members to contribute would be like baby steps to help them become more committed to the project. They may begin to contribute in other ways as their expertise in this department improves.
iv) Not many players have been playing the new maps/mods posted in the forums. Thus map creators were disappointed when they didn't receive a decent amount of feedback for their work. For example, Rman Virgil has come up with a great map which not many have played, and he only got constructive feedback from a WZ|Developer, namely Zarel (I may have missed out others, but that's not the point). His map has the potential to become a new campaign in WZ2100, and strangely not many seems to be aware of. KukY also took the trouble of making some mods but never got much feedback from people who requested it.
v) Hopefully we will see more members trying out new maps/mods in this process, and thus increase forum activity.