Ever since I came back to simple planes, time after the I see good creations that took a lot of effort that don't get noticed At ALL. This is really bad for the community, as it discourages users to not want to post their creations. I know that upvotes are fictional video game points and that they don't matter irl, but they do matter in game. Over time I see that upvotes have been used to show popularity of a user, and not quality. This can discourage newer players from building better and better creations because they feel isolated, and unappreciated. Furthermore, it seems like there are more people posting planes then there are people looking for and downloading planes. This results in good creations being drowned by other creations, some good, some bad. I have a few solutions to solve this motivation drought.
Before a player downloads a plane there should be a screen where we can give a rating from 0-10 on the planes looks and design in order to give the Creator feedback, as most people who download a creations do not comment.
instead of having the vote button on the website, it could appear when we download the plane in game.
This is likely the most practical solution. We can set up a system to have a team of users called 'plane spotters' are always on line (they can have shifts or something, as being online 24/7 is impossible). These users will have the responsibility of finding planes that are worthy of attention (ie; good looking, good performing, realistic, etc) and will put these planes on their own "user featured" page. They can also nominate some creations for some kind of award, and we can vote which creation will win.
I feel as though these solutions could boost the playerbase's motivation, and also allow us to see the newest best designs.
Harrah@AwesomeAir
Let’s go marching
I’m not really feeling motivated to make builds anymore because-I know it’s only a fictional point system, but my creations don’t get noticed. Because I spent a month creating a car that only got one upvote, which made my sad. Because there are a bunch of lower quality builds that can drown out the good ones.
They need to feel discouraged one day or another: they will learn that those little digits don't mean anything, and then they will play SP not for points nor attention but for the love of creating and sharing.
I was one of them before, but because i was a slow uploader and there's was other users with ALOT of skills (cf TakicraftCorporation) I got a bit discouraged, and jealous too I guess.
Now I play because I love what I do, not for golden digits.
My builds are super Awesome (apart from when they arnt), people vote for what they like, not necessarily how good they are, my most upvotes plane (and downloaded) was one of my earliest, I've made much better since, but heho that's what happens. It can be demotivating (and don't forget platinum users don't get spotlights either) but I just build for fun, that's what the game is about, upvotes etc are just an added bonus.
That was very inspirational. :) @PhantomBladeCorp
And to those rather new users (old ones alike) that say they've lost all their motivation: think of a toddler. Then think of a rainy day. This toddler runs around and plays with the other kids just like he does everyday. But all of a sudden, he falls into a puddle choke full of mud. He gets really dirty. Everyone stops from laughing and playing. He becomes the center of attention. "Will he cry?", the world wonders. But to their surprise, the toddler gets back up on his feet as happy as he always is. He's laughing and he's more than happy to scare all the other kids with his muddy appearance :P
This was you. A long while ago. If you could get up from that puddle and laugh about it, then you sure can do the same now when you've no motivation. Not just here, but also in life. Remember this toddler. He is very young, he is innocent, but he has taught you more than what school has or ever will.
I actually had to split that comment in two :P
I know I've written a lot about me now but what I wanted to say is: be one of the best at what you're doing. I am one of the best at tanks. That guy that usually posts minigames, he is best at making minigames. My friends here, for instance. BogdanX has to be one of the best at making low part count replicas. Sauce, albeit inactive right now as he is serving his country, is one of the best at making extremely smooth shapes. EternalDarkness has to be one of the best shipbuilders on this website.
So you have to basically develop something of your own. It doesn't have to be something completely different, neverbeforeseen, but you have to develop your own style of building what you like the most. Think of it like your trademark, something that, when people see one of your builds, they can say "oh, this is X's thing, I can tell because his building style is so special!" or something along the lines of that.
Trust me, nothing is impossible. You may say "but I can't do this." To which I say NO. You CAN and WILL get better at this game. You CAN and WILL become famous for being best at what you're doing. You just need this little bit of confidence in your abilities.
I know what you're talking about @denialofservice. And that's because I've been in that situation. My uploads were barely scoring 20 upvotes, this for a volume of work and dedication that even to this day I wasn't able to replicate. I still remember my last build before deleting my old account. It was a rocket. And I had tried to make it one of the best on this website. Yes, it was a one-go kind of rocket, but it was hella fun. And it barely scored 16 upvotes... I was so pissed off that I deleted my account and promised to never come back. 24k points gone in a second. But somehow, I came back about two weeks later with a whole lot more motivation and thought "damn, why was I that stupid?"
Now I am quite happy with where I am. I get my fair share of upvotes. I am somewhat famous on this website for making some of the best tanks. In short, this time it took me to get where I am, it was well worth it.
@denialofservice people shouldn't be building to impress others, that's not healthy
@denialofservice I just think it might make people angry.If I see a creation I don't like or think looks low quality I pass it up.
@Solarisaircraft You feel you deserve more upvotes?
@JangoTheMango Part count means nothing as to how good a build is.
The Plane Spotters can nominate posts to be featured.
Agreed! I have seen some bronze users that made hella good planes, but the only upvoter is just me. Alone!
@F104Deathtrap The thing is this game has progressed to a point where you have to be ridiculously good to get any upvotes at all, and it is kind of annoying for me, and i'm sure too for many others. I also commonly notice that my planes get not much more downloads than upvotes, and both quantities are pretty low.
@JangoTheMango well, I think it would be better stated as 'interesting creations'but you are right
I feel the pain, one of my planes I made is just someone else’s and is highlighted on my top! Some planes I made like the Belphgegor PZL M-15 are not doing well and that was painful
@F104Deathtrap that wouldn't happen if there were people there to promote those overlooked craft.
@JangoTheMango Most of the time. There are sad examples of quality overlooked and lazy builders getting more than their share. But mostly it evens out.
@FastDan if you can't work of criticism, you won't realize flaws. And anyway, the rating system only judges performance and looks. That's it
@FastDan the point is you have both. If someone doesn't like it, they just don't like it. Someone else can come along and change it.
@JangoTheMango exactly.
@denialofservice A one to ten rating system doesn't sound good.I'd rather not receive upvotes on a build than get a notification about people disliking it.
@denialofservice Hmmmm, an anonymous system by which players can see how popular their creations are? You mean like the download count? We have that.
If unregistered users could vote on stuff, the mods couldn't do anything about it, by definition.
I've said my piece about this. Run some google searches, this isn't the first time somebody's had a wave of inspiration about this stuff. The best way to get upvotes is to step up your game.