A call to ban all Ghost Shooter clones.

[deadeye]

The problem:
With a rise in new users lately, Ghost Shooter clones and modifications are being posted at an alarming rate. New users who are excited about their first foray into Construct often times don't realize that their re-skinned Ghost Shooter is neither interesting nor creative. Sorry, the truth can hurt.

I know that I for one would love to never see another Ghost Shooter clone as long as I live.

The proposal:
A rule, posted in Your Creations, and stickied at the top of the forum to let people know that posting their Ghost Shooter clones and mods is not allowed.


If a majority No vote is found, then thereafter any post of a Ghost Shooter clone or mod will be deleted from the Your Creations board, and the submitting party will be alerted by PM as to why their thread was removed, along with a spanking for not reading the rules.

The posting of Ghost Shooter clones will be allowed in Uploads only, for the purpose of assisting someone with troubleshooting when accompanied by a thread in Help/Tech.

Cast your vote.

I think they encourage some form of creative experimentation in the early days, but unless there's a substantial modification worthy of a post, the my creations forum is meant purely for your own work. This isn't to say mods should be banned per-se, but it really is the same game over and over. I'm not sure they could be effectively banned, but I don't want to see them (and don't play them) .

[deadeye]

[quote:3kxlxyhh]unless there's a substantial modification worthy of a post, the my creations forum is meant purely for your own work.[/quote:3kxlxyhh]

The let there be an "Awesome Clause" that states if your Ghost Shooter clone is totally awesome, has a significant number of added features, and in all respects bears only a passing resemblance to Ghost Shooter, then it's okay to post.

I don't think its a good idea to ban ghost shooter clones because ghost shooter is a demo not a game
My idea is to make a sticky thread in the your creations where they can take Ghost Shooter demo and make it into an actual game with maps weapons and maybe story

[deadeye]

[quote="adrix89":z7s4p50t]I don't think its a good idea to ban ghost shooter clones because ghost shooter is a demo not a game
My idea is to make a sticky thread in the your creations where they can take Ghost Shooter demo and make it into an actual game with maps weapons and maybe story[/quote:z7s4p50t]

If you did do that, then it would be okay. But... NOBODY has ever done that. Everyone just posts Ghost Shooter with a few sprite swaps and says "hey look at what I made."

It's the video game equivalent of "Hello World." Hello World is the first thing anyone learns when they start learning a new programming language. All it does is print

Hello, world!

on your screen.

Now, imagine that you went to a forum to learn your new programming language. Imagine that every new member decided they wanted to start a new thread to show off their Hello World program. Dozens and dozens of threads with programs that do nothing but print "Hello, world!" on your screen. Some of them might print it in blue! Or green! Some of them might print it in italics!

[color=#00BF00:z7s4p50t]Hello, world![/color:z7s4p50t]

Don't you think that would get a little old after a while? Don't you think that the Creations forum would be better suited to things that people are actually making on their own? Something original, something unique?

And besides, Ghost Shooter isn't a template. It's a tutorial. It's a lesson. You're supposed to learn how Construct works with it. It's a means to learn how to make your own games.

A ban is a bad idea. Even though I would never download a ghost shooter game or play one that somebody made. You should do what adrix89 said. It seem to be the most sensible thing to do.
Make it a rule.

I disagree with idea of "banning clones". Deadeye: your drawing and eventing skills are far superior from people, who are just beginning their fun with game making.
If you really don't want to look at those clones, maybe you should post a thread encouraging to make more serious games rather that announcement "I'll be banning your games". Some graphical resources could help too.

No this is a bad idea. This is an open source project, and thus an open source community. Meaning everyone regardless of skill, age, or what ever should be encouraged to share, even if it is the "hello world" equivalent. I agree it can be annoying.
I've often found myself "tilting at windmills" at graphics forums trying to persuade people from falling for the siggy bug, a click of so called graphics artists who produce nothing but signatures using copy pasta of other people's art, but alas that is a loosing battle.

You can however, appeal to people's sense of individuality, by making a specific part of the forum to deal with this, perhaps a subforum under creations. In this subforum you could allow users to post their ghost shooter clone. Hopefully those with any sense of creativity will see the hundreds of duplicates, and be inspired to make something else. Also, this way if someone does go off the path, and post a clone where it's unwelcome, the thread could simply be moved.

[deadeye]

[quote="newt":26snwcmo]No this is a bad idea. This is an open source project, and thus an open source community. Meaning everyone regardless of skill, age, or what ever should be encouraged to share, even if it is the "hello world" equivalent.[/quote:26snwcmo]

That's a valid point. The community does have a say, and that's exactly the reason why I decided to put this up for a vote.

[quote="newt":26snwcmo]You can however, appeal to people's sense of individuality, by making a specific part of the forum to deal with this[/quote:26snwcmo]

That's an option I hadn't considered. In the eventuality that there is a tie or a majority Yes vote, I will make a thread for all newcomers who are so inclined to post their GS mods. Any errant thread will be merged into the master thread.

Actually, you know what... that would probably be the best way to go about it no matter what the outcome of the poll is. That way there's only one thread to ignore instead of several. Everyone wins. The Creations forum won't be cluttered up with GS threads, and the newcomers will have a place of their own to show off their stuff.

Everyone has to begin somewhere; most begin with the Ghost Shooter tutorial that is supplied to them. As part of the learning process, they create a GS clone and experiment with it - different sprites, actions etc.

While just altering another game (demo), altering it slightly and then showing it off as your own is FROWNED upon, we should realize that the start of learning process is imitation. If we burn them for cloning, we risk discouraging them from Construct or game development altogether.

But I agree, GS clones do not belong to 'Your Creations'. It is not a creation, it is an alteration, a schoolwork taken home. Give 'em their own section, say 'Beginner stuff' and just stick the junk in there. Or name it 'Demos' or whatever. Actually, split the creations forum into categories: demos (proof of concept, simple demos, GS clones), games (actual playable games), utilities (zomg 3dmesh tool) etc.?