Anyone here there might be a new forum here for creative types?

[ZippyDSMlee]

I had a interesting talk with the staff but they can't confirm anything, what do you all think, is it a good thing to have a space for users to share their creations?

 

[Jonluw]

It might put an end to people advertising their work in the forums. But I doubt it'd be worth the hassle. There's countless sites that exist purely for that reason already. Because that's not what this site is about I don't see it taking off in any real way/not many people would bother.

Agreed.
The community's art has sufficient space in the occasional art thread and The artist in thee.

If we were to make a section specifically for art, I suspect it would be nearly completely dead within weeks.

 

[Total LOLige]

It might put an end to people advertising their work in the forums. But I doubt it'd be worth the hassle. There's countless sites that exist purely for that reason already. Because that's not what this site is about I don't see it taking off in any real way/not many people would bother.

Agreed.
The community's art has sufficient space in the occasional art thread and The artist in thee.

If we were to make a section specifically for art, I suspect it would be nearly completely dead within weeks.

See I don't think that would be the case because the artists and creative writers on the Escapist are always creating new pieces of work. Then again there are plenty of other places to share their work so it's not really needed, unless they want to share it exclusively with Escapist members. It would be nice to see more of the work that I've seen in these art threads in a separate forum section.

 

[Chemical Alia]

It might put an end to people advertising their work in the forums. But I doubt it'd be worth the hassle. There's countless sites that exist purely for that reason already. Because that's not what this site is about I don't see it taking off in any real way/not many people would bother.

Agreed.
The community's art has sufficient space in the occasional art thread and The artist in thee.

If we were to make a section specifically for art, I suspect it would be nearly completely dead within weeks.

Art dumps are the most pointless of art threads. Showing off is fine, but it doesn't really get you anywhere as an artist. If there was a place where people could post works in progress, share critique/tips as well as their finished work, that would probably be amazing. I can't think of too many active video game communities that have something like that, but those that I have seen are never dead, and usually draw in the interest of more people.

 

[Jonluw]

Agreed.
The community's art has sufficient space in the occasional art thread and The artist in thee.

If we were to make a section specifically for art, I suspect it would be nearly completely dead within weeks.

See I don't think that would be the case because the artists and creative writers on the Escapist are always creating new pieces of work. Then again there are plenty of other places to share their work so it's not really needed, unless they want to share it exclusively with Escapist members. It would be nice to see more of the work that I've seen in these art threads in a separate forum section.

I'm sure it would get a couple of posts a day, but I don't think anything is going to come from those posts. As in: They're not going to lead to any conversations.

 

[Jonluw]

Art dumps are the most pointless of art threads. Showing off is fine, but it doesn't really get you anywhere as an artist. If there was a place where people could post works in progress, share critique/tips as well as their finished work, that would probably be amazing. I can't think of too many active video game communities that have something like that, but those that I have seen are never dead, and usually draw in the interest of more people.

I get the impression that what you're saying is actually the purpose of the occasional art threads.
At least I consider it the purpose of The artist in thee.
But people aren't very good at commenting on eachother's works, and I don't know if I believe that will change if we start a dedicated forum section for it.

 

[Chemical Alia]

Art dumps are the most pointless of art threads. Showing off is fine, but it doesn't really get you anywhere as an artist. If there was a place where people could post works in progress, share critique/tips as well as their finished work, that would probably be amazing. I can't think of too many active video game communities that have something like that, but those that I have seen are never dead, and usually draw in the interest of more people.

I get the impression that what you're saying is actually the purpose of the occasional art threads.
At least I consider it the purpose of The artist in thee.
But people aren't very good at commenting on eachother's works, and I don't know if I believe that will change if we start a dedicated forum section for it.

Really? I've only ever seen finished work posted and discussed on those threads and rarely critique sought. I know sites have critique megathreads for game mod stuff and they work out pretty well, but it's very clear that they're intended as a workshop. Megathreads are had to keep track of, especially when every image is in spoiler tags.

 

[Jonluw]

Really? I've only ever seen finished work posted and discussed on those threads and rarely critique sought. I know sites have critique megathreads for game mod stuff and they work out pretty well, but it's very clear that they're intended as a workshop. Megathreads are had to keep track of, especially when every image is in spoiler tags.

It's still possible to critique finished work, but I guess the users aren't directly asking for constructive criticism.
I still get the feeling that discussing the art is the purpose, but it doesn't happen a lot. Perhaps the posters should take more care to invite other users to critique their work.

 

[Chemical Alia]

Really? I've only ever seen finished work posted and discussed on those threads and rarely critique sought. I know sites have critique megathreads for game mod stuff and they work out pretty well, but it's very clear that they're intended as a workshop. Megathreads are had to keep track of, especially when every image is in spoiler tags.

It's still possible to critique finished work, but I guess the users aren't directly asking for constructive criticism.
I still get the feeling that discussing the art is the purpose, but it doesn't happen a lot. Perhaps the posters should take more care to invite other users to critique their work.

That's what I'm saying. If there was a place where people felt that was welcome, they'd probably be more inclined to do so. As that doesn't seem to be the purpose of any of the other art threads and thread hijacking makes people feel bad.

I take it from your posts that art isn't really your thing, lol.

 

[Esotera]

I'd love a couple more slow boards, they always tend to be more interesting than the ones with a high volume of traffic like this one. It'd also cut down on threads that are basically adverts, and allow a bit more constructive criticism than 'that thing you made is really cool' comments.

 

[Jonluw]

That's what I'm saying. If there was a place where people felt that was welcome, they'd probably be more inclined to do so. As that doesn't seem to be the purpose of any of the other art threads and thread hijacking makes people feel bad.

What I mean is that those who feel critique isn't welcome are wrong, and that critiquing people in those threads wouldn't be highjacking them.

I take it from your posts that art isn't really your thing, lol.

What's that supposed to mean?

Edit: Messed up the quote brackets.

 

[FalloutJack]

On the whole, I like creativity. That said, I know what the Escapist is and I think freely volunteering said creativity to them when sometimes things I've said or written mysteriously get picked up by Hollywood is maybe not the best of ideas.

 

[Chemical Alia]

That's what I'm saying. If there was a place where people felt that was welcome, they'd probably be more inclined to do so. As that doesn't seem to be the purpose of any of the other art threads and thread hijacking makes people feel bad.

What I mean is that those who feel critique isn't welcome are wrong, and that critiquing people in those threads wouldn't be highjacking them.

I take it from your posts that art isn't really your thing, lol.

What's that supposed to mean?

Edit: Messed up the quote brackets.

Not much, really, I just find it a little surprising that you don't think there'd be enough interest here to sustain a small section for art stuff and that an occasional art dump thread should be enough for the community to handle those things. You seem pretty confident that there's not much value in trying, that's all.

 

[Jonluw]

That's what I'm saying. If there was a place where people felt that was welcome, they'd probably be more inclined to do so. As that doesn't seem to be the purpose of any of the other art threads and thread hijacking makes people feel bad.

What I mean is that those who feel critique isn't welcome are wrong, and that critiquing people in those threads wouldn't be highjacking them.

I take it from your posts that art isn't really your thing, lol.

What's that supposed to mean?

Edit: Messed up the quote brackets.

Not much, really, I just find it a little surprising that you don't think there'd be enough interest here to sustain a small section for art stuff and that an occasional art dump thread should be enough for the community to handle those things. You seem pretty confident that there's not much value in trying, that's all.

That's implying that I think art isn't the community's thing, no? Not that it isn't my thing.
In fact, I'm drawing as we speak.

I'm not saying I think the occasional dump thread is sufficient. but I think that they, together with our megathread, should do.
Either that, or one could create a thread intended for constructive criticism and discussion to a greater degree.
There are other fora that focus on art, after all, so I think a thread or two is sufficient to contain the escapist's art community.

 

[Chemical Alia]

That's what I'm saying. If there was a place where people felt that was welcome, they'd probably be more inclined to do so. As that doesn't seem to be the purpose of any of the other art threads and thread hijacking makes people feel bad.

What I mean is that those who feel critique isn't welcome are wrong, and that critiquing people in those threads wouldn't be highjacking them.

I take it from your posts that art isn't really your thing, lol.

What's that supposed to mean?

Edit: Messed up the quote brackets.

Not much, really, I just find it a little surprising that you don't think there'd be enough interest here to sustain a small section for art stuff and that an occasional art dump thread should be enough for the community to handle those things. You seem pretty confident that there's not much value in trying, that's all.

That's implying that I think art isn't the community's thing, no? Not that it isn't my thing.
In fact, I'm drawing as we speak.

I'm not saying I think the occasional dump thread is sufficient. but I think that they, together with our megathread, should do.
Either that, or one could create a thread intended for constructive criticism and discussion to a greater degree.
There are other fora that focus on art, after all, so I think a thread or two is sufficient to contain the escapist's art community.

Well, we have sections for role playing, religion and politics, things which are plenty outside the scope of what the Escapist is traditionally about, and they seem to be doing just fine. Art and video games are very closely related, and there are a lot of people who want to get into game art in particular. I'm not saying that we absolutely must have a section for art, but the opportunity to have a less cluttered place to discuss it, encourage improvement/exploration and possibly draw in the contributions of cool new people isn't worth dismissing outright.

 

[Mr. GameBrain]

If someone makes the right threads, with a direction to discuss the artform of making art, then it might get some regular posts.

(Maybe a sticky thread where people can share art they like, not just the stuff they made)

Maybe even a community spotlight might be nice.

Have someone appointed to look at the art, pick some of the best ones, then make a poll where people can vote for their favourites.

I might be talking crazy here, but I think stuff like that might be good.

 

[Jonluw]

Well, we have sections for role playing, religion and politics, things which are plenty outside the scope of what the Escapist is traditionally about, and they seem to be doing just fine. Art and video games are very closely related, and there are a lot of people who want to get into game art in particular. I'm not saying that we absolutely must have a section for art, but the opportunity to have a less cluttered place to discuss it, encourage improvement/exploration and possibly draw in the contributions of cool new people isn't worth dismissing outright.

But those sub forums all sprung out from off-topic organically.
From what I understand, the forums had an off-topic section because it's fun for forum goers to be able to discuss other things than just the theme of the site. Then, people noticed that threads about religion and politics were many in number and frequently resulted in flamewars. So there was a need for a dedicated sub forum to keep the topic contained and take a load off of off-topic. Thus a new forum section is born.
Forum games & RP, I figure, either arose for the same reasons as off-topic: it's a common thing to include in a forum and it's good form to let the users have fun, or because people noticed that off-topic was cluttered with discussionless forum game threads. And a new forum section comes to be.
Then, after having used this system for a while people noticed that forum games were drowning out the RPs and that it would run smoother if we just made roleplaying its own sub forum.
Then people noticed that off-topic was filled with threads asking for advice, and that in said threads, people were often getting inconsiderate replies, so maybe one should place these threads in their own section with stricter rules. New section created.

These sections all arose because there was a demand or need for them.
I'm not saying an art section would be a horrible idea, but judging by the relative lack of art threads I don't think there's enough of a demand or need to warrant a new section.

The one forum section that could be compared is User reviews, but I don't think that comparison holds up.
This being a gaming website focused on articles, after all, it is only reasonable that a section was created to let users post their own content along these lines.
Art, on the other hand, is only tangentally related to the site, so I don't think the site's nature is reason to create an art section like it was with user reviews.

So unless a demand for this kind of section arises, I don't really see any reason to take the time to make one.

I kept misspelling 'section' as 'sextion' while writing this. Now getting one of those is something I could get behind.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Ya....so we need a place between spam and "I made some neat things but can't post them because I was banned for posting them".

Sure it should be in off topic but at the same time the the powers that be wants more control over it so they do not want treat it all like spam.

Hell I am working on a 84 page post just because you can;t post links to your stuff. 0-o