Mod of the Month Thread

i dont suppose you guys could change it could you becuase im sure there have been a few good mods out that haven't got a mention.
I know you lot are busy maintaing the site and all and i dont want to sound like im bitching about it either.

As has already been mentioned in a separate thread, Mod of the Month has been more or less discontinued and will be removed from the site entirely very soon. We'd rather provide our readers with frequent reviews as often as possible than spend a lengthy amount of time on one big article.

Expect new features to debut very soon, as well.

Might not hurt to remove the current one completely.

Will you guys start using a rating system?(A basic system or a more complex one seen in IGN and gamespot) I would really like to see an overall score of a mod instead of reading through and guessing as to how good you guys think the game is overall.

ahhhh sorry, i dont browse the forum that much. I know its a good place to ask a question
New features ooohhhh

onemic wrote: Will you guys start using a rating system?(A basic system or a more complex one seen in IGN and gamespot) I would really like to see an overall score of a mod instead of reading through and guessing as to how good you guys think the game is overall.

Mods are a very dynamic, shapeshifting creature. Giving a mod a static score of 3 in its beta stages and in the future if the mod has improved a ton of bunch and the score is still stuck it wouldn't be very realistic.

Besides, there's already member-side mod voting in profiles basing on 3 factors.

There is alredy a rating system, but it's vote based, and I believe you have to go to each mods individual page to see it.

We used to vote a voting system, but we got rid of it a while ago. Like leilei said, giving a mod a rating is basically useless. It's more your opinion that matters -- not some number you throw at it.

Here's the recent discussion on why we stopped doing MOTM: Moddb.com

Edited by: Karuto

As has already been mentioned in a separate thread, Mod of the Month has been more or less discontinued and will be removed from the site entirely very soon. We'd rather provide our readers with frequent reviews as often as possible than spend a lengthy amount of time on one big article.

Most modders work for recognition. Awards help mods get the recognition they deserve and the attention they need to recruit members. Mods don't even need "one big article" to accompany the award in order to accomplish the aforementioned much needed attention getting.

It seems most of the community is in favor of "MOTM", and yet you're doing away with it. You don't trust us to know what we want?

I agree on the advertising bit, you don't need to append an article, however I also think that just having articles covers more mods, I don't know both ideas have their ups and downs.

mikejkelley wrote: It seems most of the community is in favor of "MOTM", and yet you're doing away with it. You don't trust us to know what we want?

Who says we're doing away with awards? I think you can get plenty of recognition from us doing previews/reviews/interviews/whatever for someone's mod. Compared to a regular feature, MOTM is just a picture on an opposite side of the main page. There's no real difference there. There's just no real reason to do a calendar-based deadline system, because you're always going to have people who keep asking when the next one will happen, when you have four-five new articles for that month up on the top page. I think this is a much better way to handle things (especially since I'm one of the guys doing the articles and want to help out more than one mod at a time). Your opinion is completely yours, but I just think we can cover a lot more ground if we remove it, personally. Someone may put off doing 2-3 articles just for a single MOTM. That isn't productive to me.

We'll keep handing out awards to those we think deserve them, and type up articles on mods we find interesting. We're substituting MOTM for another big feature or two that will come later on down the pipeline, so don't feel like we won't fill the gap with some great new ideas.

Edited by: Karuto

Ok, but me thinks it won't be long before these articles trickle in three and four months apart just like MOTM...

mikejkelley wrote: Ok, but me thinks it won't be long before these articles trickle in three and four months apart just like MOTM...

Sigh, let me explain this as simply as possible to you without--hopefully--tearing your head off.

Every writer on this site does their work on a freelance basis. The amount of work we put into the site entirely depends on how much free time we get to do it. I'm sure you and others would love for the staff around here to do nothing aside from provide you with new and interesting content, but the fact remains that we have lives outside of this hobby of ours.

Now, I'm sure we could start charging a membership fee of some kind to supplant our incomes and make this our full time jobs--except you guys wouldn't like that either, now would you?

So be happy with what you've got.

onemic wrote: Will you guys start using a rating system?(A basic system or a more complex one seen in IGN and gamespot) I would really like to see an overall score of a mod instead of reading through and guessing as to how good you guys think the game is overall.

We don't do arbitrary scores for a couple of reasons, the most predominate of which being that whenever we review something poorly, we get bitched out for it. The creators of the mod hate us for being honest, fans of the mods think we are biased assholes and other modders think we are doing nothing but failing to be supportive. If we post all glowing reviews, people accuse us of having no objectivity and being nothing but praise-hounds and PR-shrills. By using a Pros and Cons system, we can at least be critical without giving people a number they can wave in our faces and tell us how much we fucking suck.

Edited by: JoeX111

Gee Joe, lol, thanks for explaining that simply for me, but the fact remains- If the writing staff hasn't been able to release a singular featured article consistently once a month, I don't see how they'll be any more consistent with several articles a month.

Instead of charging a subscription fee, how about you run ads or a store or something?

mikejkelley wrote: Gee Joe, lol, thanks for explaining that simply for me, but the fact remains- If the writing staff hasn't been able to release a singular featured article consistently once a month, I don't see how they'll be any more consistent with several articles a month.

Instead of charging a subscription fee, how about you run ads or a store or something?

We have a store, the issue for me would be finding mods that have released somthing really good.
Theres not a mod a month released thats award worthy... if you know what i mean.

I know how hard writing can be and how it can tear you down when you can't get yourself in the right mood and start with it. The result are ever so many badly written articles in the daily press. Even though you may have some guidelines as to writing a good article, you may not always feel up to it for dynamic reasons.
I'd rather see the MOTM feature as it is, but renamed to Mod of the Moment, as it is something rather special and should not be overlooked. It doesn't need lenghty reviews or interviews with the devs, just some basic introduction to the mod and what makes it special.
As for the articles I think its fair to aim for an article a month, but if any witer on Moddb fails to deliver, I wouldn't mind much. The articles I read so far where top of the tops and very entertaining (especially on Hammy Bob Mod) and I'd rather read the good stuf than force myself to go through some lenghty shitpiece someone has written out of necessity.
I'm always quite happy to see other people struggle qith writing, too. Once you sit down to work, you are usually ok, but the time it can take to yield to yourself - boy oh boy. It can take!

Cheers writers,
SinKing

mikejkelley wrote: Gee Joe, lol, thanks for explaining that simply for me, but the fact remains- If the writing staff hasn't been able to release a singular featured article consistently once a month, I don't see how they'll be any more consistent with several articles a month.

....where are you getting this information from? We've managed to release up to four articles a month, despite most of the writing staff having to deal with finals and whatever other hurdles that are being thrown at us. Joe is a senior in college, so he's been hit harder than most. It's not a matter of releasing a singled article monthly, but also deciding which one deserves it. We also had a very good run there thanks to Joe's dedication where we were able to pump out one MOTM a month from October to January, and that's pretty impressive when you consider that not only did he also have finals, but we were also compiling and covering the 2006 MOTY Awards.

The fact of the matter is, the writing staff has been able to pump out articles almost on a weekly basis (the only reason you don't see more is once again, time constraints). We're planning on replacing MOTM with more exciting features to keep you guys entertained. Please don't badger us on information you have such little information about. I understand your concern, but this is definitely for the best in 95 percent of the staff's eyes, and I'm sure you'll agree eventually.

Or are you just bitter that you won't be winning a MOTM?

EDIT: @ SinKing -- Anything we cover in the feature articles are something we aren't overlooking. Got ya covered. Oh, and every staff writer is expected to cover one article a month, just so you know. The only reason some don't is because of a busy life, but if they take too long, we do release them from staff. Oh, and by the way...

SinKing wrote: I'm always quite happy to see other people struggle qith writing, too. Once you sit down to work, you are usually ok, but the time it can take to yield to yourself - boy oh boy. It can take!

QFT! Writing out a lengthy article on a mod when it doesn't have a lot to offer can be quite the struggle. It's like writing an essay for school. Sure, you can just sit down and type away, but you also have to realize that you're typing for a sea of millions (metaphorically speaking). The process can take up to a week or two just to come up with the proper research to make the piece in the first place, and sometimes the ol' writer's block kicks in. I'm not trying to come up with all these excuses on why we won't be doing MOTM, but just letting you know that unless you've experienced our position (this isn't like typing about games where you constantly have a lot of material to work with), then you just wouldn't understand. lol

Edited by (in order): Karuto, Karuto, Karuto, Karuto, Karuto

Yes you have to quote me on the one spelling error I made in my entire post. Luckily this is the internet and spelling and the likes counts even less than in todays non-literal society.
Sure I know what your talking about, as I was once about to become a moddb journalist myself. Quite frankly I was put off by the idea of writing a piece a month. Seemed to much to me, considering there are times when hardly any mods are released, while at other months they all seem to go gold at once.
I don't really know how you get along so well, you either have a far bigger writing staff than I think, or very few people write all the articles. I can't really believe that everybody writes a piece a month. However you chose to do it, I'm pretty sure you'll do it right. As long as you care for your mates and encourage each other this will do far more than any deadline or threat to be thrown out of staff will achieve.

Sin king, i cum from a long line of bad tipers, but that deosnt meen i cnt spel

turbolizard wrote: Sin king, i cum from a long line of bad tipers, but that deosnt meen i cnt spel

Hehahah

On topic: I think you guys will like the new system, joes always had a good eye for articles and laying out good reviews and features on mods, i have faith on what hes working and i think you guys should to.