What does the Tetris scene need right now?

[myndzi]

I agree wholeheartedly with everything InkOfDeath posted. Very insightful, thank you.

Rosti also has a number of good points about the site from a technical perspective.

Regarding legal qualms, I have a solid connection I can pursue to get the real legal skinny on all that. I don't have the money to pay for it at the moment, but I will at some point and am willing.

What I'd really like to see is a web-based Tetris game that fills a lot of the points already mentioned with regards to forcing players into a game that works good for competition as opposed to a game that has all the features people want. Such a game integrated with a site containing the features that Hard Drop has would enable the integration of high scores and achievements with forum posts and user profiles, etc. Also automated tournaments could be tied directly to the game.

I've wanted to make that game, but I don't know how long it will be until I have what I want. I don't know what mystery game Paradox is hinting at, but the biggest problem with Tetris clones is that everyone who can write one 1) has a different opinion of how to do it and 2) doesn't have the time to build something really solid all on their own. I am no exception, but I do believe my choices are backed by solid reasoning. It would be nice if we could collect the fragmented coders and combine our work on a single ideal. There are a few posts in this thread that do a huge amount towards defining what that ideal should be in order to support a large and active community.

bigwig: Good points there too. I agree that moderation should be harsher, and I've pushed what I understand to be the acceptable limits according to administration a few times. Perhaps I should go farther. People will complain, but I can take it  I believe I will try to be more active on that account henceforth, but I could really use peoples' help in spotting posts that need action. Reported posts will generally show up in my e-mail but the system is really awful; a PM with a link and a reason will be much more effective for anyone who wants to help out.

InkOfDeath: You may not be interested in investing the time to implement the things you've talked about, but I am quite willing to take some of that on. I would appreciate your experience in helping to decide on specific actionable items; please PM me if you would like to discuss further.

General: I would welcome assistance from any graphic designers/web designers/web coders (specifically javascript, html5, css3 based technologies) who can volunteer some time. A la carte offerings are fine, there's just a lot more work to do than it seems like.

[Corrosive]

Put total emphasis on teams/clans which makes more drama and more fun. The free-for-all days should die. (I've always hated ffa.) Nobody is too cool or should be too proud to join a clan. The majority of successful main console multiplayer games are team-based and a lot of people don't like running around solo getting owned. I really think that this individualistic culture here is running things into the ground. I would rather win some big tournament match with one or two teammates than by myself any day, because the most fun I ever had in Tetris was playing team games.

The other problem of equal importance is that we all need to be playing strictly on the same game and maybe switch off on games every couple of months or 6 months or so. I don't care how crazy it sounds. If my input would have been accepted and put into action like I envisioned then the activity here would be insane. I know 100% that this would explode things and I'm not going to defend my logic. Try everything else but it won't work.

I know what fuels interest and addiction in this game after being a slave to it for so many years.

Also: People don't really have fun watching two people 1v1 each other. The streaming probably isn't being exploited as well as it could be. There could be a daily stream schedule and people could watch it at certain times when there would be instructional lessons on how to do set-ups, combos etc. There could be a news segment every night and a lot of creative ideas from what I just said treating the stream as if we're running a Harddrop tv channel. There could also be a Harddrop internet radio station. If there was a team rivalry/hate relationship thing going on then it would be more entertaining and compelling to watch people battle on the stream.

[Rosti_LFC]

I don't really agree that it's the staff's "fault" for not "producing content" because being a "moderation" team doesn't imply they owe us much. However, I do agree that while the moderation is good it could stand to be a bit more transparent.

I'm not blaming lack of content on the current staff, because the current staff were never appointed with that sort of role in mind. I'm suggesting that the role of the staff be changed to one where they are responsible for content. That way the bulk of content that gets produced would be organised, far better thought-through, and not reliant on a very small number of regular members taking the initiative to do stuff. You don't get people making personal tournaments only for it to be shafted by the TTO coming out less than a week later. You shouldn't get these periods where nobody makes tournaments because nobody can be bothered, as the staff will ensure that something is always going on.

It also gives the people who work hard to better this website a bit more recognition, and they wouldn't be out-ranked by people who actually do very little and are on the staff for completely non-meritocratic reasons.

[XaeL]

Appoint a tournament director staff person.

[myndzi]

Honestly, there's no real difference between "being staff" and producing content and "being a member" and producing content. I'd be happy to recognize users who make a commitment to contributing if that's something people would like, but at the same time even those of us who do contribute significant amounts of content don't do it on a regular basis. I feel like there isn't enough commitment around here to hold anyone to that as a regular job. Some kind of member class to reward good posters could be pretty cool, though. I recall someone mentioning in a thread that they wished there was a way to thank people for good posting.

[Paradox]

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--] Honestly, there's no real difference between "being staff" and producing content and "being a member" and producing content[/quote]

if you are a staff member producing content then you have a defined role and responsibility as opposed to just being a member producing content. And if you don't see a difference it wouldn't hurt to appoint one then.

I think that HD mods/staff need clearly defined roles for this community to be organized and productive.

[XaeL]

Honestly, there's no real difference between "being staff" and producing content and "being a member" and producing content. I'd be happy to recognize users who make a commitment to contributing if that's something people would like, but at the same time even those of us who do contribute significant amounts of content don't do it on a regular basis. I feel like there isn't enough commitment around here to hold anyone to that as a regular job. Some kind of member class to reward good posters could be pretty cool, though. I recall someone mentioning in a thread that they wished there was a way to thank people for good posting.

It's kind of hard for a regular member who has awesome news to get it on the front page.

I can't think of any specific examples, but sometimes people make threads that i think should be reconciled and placed on front page because they are news-worthy. And in lots of these cases the thread stays a thread and dies instead of.. well.. being news.

[myndzi]

That's a good idea. Some of these posts really are worth putting up in the news section. steph might be good to put in charge of that, as she's on it with the tweets, etc. too. I think this is more of a case of "nobody thought to put threads in the news section" than "it can't be done"

[ohitsstef]

It's kind of hard for a regular member who has awesome news to get it on the front page.

I can't think of any specific examples, but sometimes people make threads that i think should be reconciled and placed on front page because they are news-worthy. And in lots of these cases the thread stays a thread and dies instead of.. well.. being news.

I do tweet about newsworthy threads, but since I'm not a mod I can't post in the news section.

That's a good idea. Some of these posts really are worth putting up in the news section. steph might be good to put in charge of that, as she's on it with the tweets, etc. too. I think this is more of a case of "nobody thought to put threads in the news section" than "it can't be done"

Agreed, I think I should be in charge of this too.  jk. Or at least give me the ability to post in the news section.

[ohitsstef]

OK. Seriously, what this threads needs to see if Blink to reply back to our concerns. It's great that we're here conversing and getting ideas across, but it goes nowhere without his input.

BLINK WHY DID YOU MAKE THIS SERIOUS THREAD AND ONLY REPLY TO THE FIRST FEW POSTS?!

[Blink]

OK. Seriously, what this threads needs to see if Blink to reply back to our concerns. It's great that we're here conversing and getting ideas across, but it goes nowhere without his input.

BLINK WHY DID YOU MAKE THIS SERIOUS THREAD AND ONLY REPLY TO THE FIRST FEW POSTS?!

I didn't get around to reading everything yet!  I'll respond soon, maybe tonight.

STOP YELLING

[ohitsstef]

I had to get your attention somehow, Mr. IMustAnswerQuestionsFromOneThreadInAnother

[l2theex]

Considering TTC is based in Hawaii, they should make more organized events here.

[Maske]

My dedicated team of Tetris analysts want your input: What do you think the Tetris scene needs right now?

More tournaments? New admin? Advertising around? More streams? Better games?
Also, why?

What the Tetris scene really needs is "The Professionalization Of Tetris".
The champ of Tetris, alas, are unable to receive reasonable prize, while that of chess can make a lot of money, about 2 million dollars.

BTW, what does "New admin? " mean ? I cannot think about anybody else but you.
I wonder if it is my misinterpretation caused by inaccurate reading. Come what may, you should keep courage, dreaming, and positive attituedes.

Most importantly, I think the biggest reason why people aren't interested into Tetris as much anymore (at least in this community) is because the game itself is dead. Even if it does change there are only so many aspects of the game you can tweak before we all realize where we actually stand in skill level.

Well, I don't know why, but the matters pointed out  made my heart something sad.

[graphite]

Excellent suggestions by InkofDeath.  The most important I think is also the toughest, endorsing just one game.  As much as I love nullpomino, TF is the logical choice.  New users I think are far less inclined to have to download a tetris game and spend hours figuring out what all the configuration options mean.  Then try to connect to multiplayer and have to figure out what a tripcode is in order to rank themselves.  Then if they do connect they'll get completely dominated by others since the number of new people playing null is quite small.  The multiplayer layout and ranking system built into TF is decent, and it already has a large and diverse user base.  Lag can be annoying, but the best people still end up winning, so it can't be that bad.