Allow people to submit articles?

[YokaI]

Well, looking at the Articles Section, I think it would be a good move to allow forum users to submit articles. Such as interviews, game reviews, theories and other stuff that would fit in the Articles section. (You could give a Submitting Aticles Rules sticky in the Submit Article section.)

Submitting Articles would almost be the exact same as Tutorial posting, however Articles would be reviewed for spelling, quality, and presentation. Spelling is pretty self-explanitory. If the article has way too many mis-spelled words and looks as if he didnt use spellcheck at all, Admin will ask for him to fix it up. Quality is based off how interesting the article is. If the article is not very interesting, then it will be left alone. If the article is getting a lot of views by Forum Users, then it passes. Presentation is how the paragraphs flow and how the writing is in general, meaning their over all English Skills.

The reason I ask for this is because the Articles section seems empty, and allowing people to make well-writen articles may add more users to the interlopers comunity.

[marnamai]

why not? Not that I am gonna make reviews/articles ect ...(maybe a interview?) But I would be pleased to read them. But I think it will bleed to death ...

[Blink]

An idea I like, but we struggle to get tutorials these days - let alone articles.

[Megadude]

I like this idea. Would make a good excuse from mapping and the articles could provide good subjects for discussion. As for the tutorials, most, if not all, things have been covered by the existing tutorials. There are probably not many new tutorial subjects out there in the mapper's world.

[Voltdenatsu]

If so, I declare a "User Article" section to be suggested, as opposed to just using the current one now.

[InvestmentBanking]

I like this idea, and it will probably make for some interesting content.

An idea I like, but we struggle to get tutorials these days - let alone articles.

It's true, and we seem to be running low on topics to cover within tutorials.

[Imagine]

Articles will probably be excellent as these cover much more wide content then tutorials because tutorials are often based upon a specific problem or topic. I think this idea is great.

[Jest@]

How about getting people to write some 'in-between' article/tutorials?

let me explain: I think the slow-down in new tutorials is thanks to saturation: most basic topics that people need a tutorial for, have been covered. However, people still pump of crappy maps like it was their job: how about some 'articles' on, say, design principles?

Someone writing up a summary of the "Horror - what makes a map scary" thread..... a nice long do's and-dont's of starting a mod article, based on what's been seen in these here forums.....reviews of released mods/maps from the modder's perspective (i.e what neat tricks they used, what makes their mapping good, how they're designed/built differently from normal or whatever - not just how well they play).......articles on good ways to manage a team's work (online collaboration systems, source control, workflow, and, my personal obsession, naming and placing of files (wierd compulsive behaviour, i know)....stuff like that.

I dunno if anyone really noticed >this <but i think it's a great idea: mayboe some of the veteran content creators (looking at barra and generalvivi here ) could write up similar things, on the more abstract principles behind texturing, modelling..they're not tutorials in the 'this is what you do', nut-and-bolts fashion of most of our tuts, and i'm not quite sure their 'articles' either...so...i dunno, 'design essays' or something.

hope you see what i mean..i think i may have explained it badly.

[dragonfliet]

I like this idea, and it will probably make for some interesting content.

An idea I like, but we struggle to get tutorials these days - let alone articles.

It's true, and we seem to be running low on topics to cover within tutorials.

As far as tutorials go, I would love to see some linking tutorials. Something linking curved paths with arches with creating sliding doors with breakable glass with texturing, for example. A your first room, kind of thing, but to a bigger level.
I think what would be best would be to take existing tutorials and rewrite them into the theme of something bigger, and provide a list of refferences to the original articles, but something that says first do this LINK then do this LINK, then do this LINK wouldn't be such a bad idea. I think alot of the basic crappy maps we see here are due to peoples inability to connect the dots from one good tutorial to another.
As for articles, I like the idea of allowing people to submit articles much as they can submit news, it goes to the submit forum and an admin or moderator of some sort would decide what gets posted.

~Jason

edit, oh, I see Jest@ said something REALLY similar to what i said. Sorry, I opened this window hours ago, went and played football (american football) and came back before I noticed it again. Also, I hit my head, and that may explain why I didn't refresh the page.

[Blink]

Maybe we could turn the articles section into some form of bloggins section, where each week or more often users write up an article they think would benefit the community, it can be about anything as long as it relates to design and the editing community.

Could get some nice submissions happening..

[BaRRaKID]

I was thinking of doing an article on level design theory, since i've been reading lot's of great books and tutorials on that latelly, but has always the problem is lack of time..
Btw the only articles on that section are the ones i made, lo0l

[Psy]

I would!

[Sauce]

id contribute, oh and the only reason the tutoriasls sextion is getting little interest is because weve covered pretty much everything.

[YokaI]

Yes, I think, in fact, that we would more submissions due to the way people can make more "theory" articles or even submit articles on the "making a mod, here are some tips!" and such so that way we can have a section dedicated to helpful, yet not always necessary, advise for visitors.

[BaRRaKID]

Started the article on Level design, here is a part of it (3 pages long so far ):

What is level design?

I’m starting this article with this simple question, what is level design? Many people can’t seem to tell the difference between creating a map, and designing a level, this is where most maps fail, in understanding exactly what a level needs to be.
Making a map is something that everyone can do, you just need to choose a engine, learn how its map editor works, and create it, but designing a level is taking it one step further, is making your map something that works with the gameplay of your game, and that at the same time gives a good and enjoyable experience to the player. So how do we achieve this? Every level designer has is own methods, but there are still some rules that are common to all these.