Demoscene ethics, compo rules 'code of conduct'
category: general [glöplog]
If there is already a thread just like this, please link me to it :) But...
As some of you know I came back to the scene around xmas 2005 and haven't released so much yet. I'm inexperienced in releasing for compos and after being confused about a recent compo release, I thought I would ask about compo 'code of conduct'.
1. What is considered 'lame'?
2. What will result in a preselection/disqualification?
3. Rules about previews / partyversions / videos if orgas don't have the platform / etc?
4. All parties have compo rules, but are there a few shared 'generic compo rules'?
I'm going out on a limb here, since a few users will probably mention a fuckup of mine in a compo.
But that's ofc the reason I ask this, so please share opinions and link to examples of mistakes (by orgas or submitters or...) and also 'lame stuff OUTSIDE compos'!
As some of you know I came back to the scene around xmas 2005 and haven't released so much yet. I'm inexperienced in releasing for compos and after being confused about a recent compo release, I thought I would ask about compo 'code of conduct'.
1. What is considered 'lame'?
2. What will result in a preselection/disqualification?
3. Rules about previews / partyversions / videos if orgas don't have the platform / etc?
4. All parties have compo rules, but are there a few shared 'generic compo rules'?
I'm going out on a limb here, since a few users will probably mention a fuckup of mine in a compo.
But that's ofc the reason I ask this, so please share opinions and link to examples of mistakes (by orgas or submitters or...) and also 'lame stuff OUTSIDE compos'!
1. this thread
2. being BITS, for one
3. different for each party
4. aehm... most votes=winner maybe?
:-)
2. being BITS, for one
3. different for each party
4. aehm... most votes=winner maybe?
:-)
1. pouet winers who does not make shit, just sit around thumbing down everything people use their best knowledge on making.
2. use of copyright material
3. most parties accept that you setup an emulator for them and run on it and/or a video capture if it cant be shown on real hardware.
4. deliver on time, dont use copyrighted material.
and remember that people do this on their free time for no money or anything. so be nice to people that deliver stuff for your partys compo. (not stretch timeschedule untill next day but help out as far as you can)
2. use of copyright material
3. most parties accept that you setup an emulator for them and run on it and/or a video capture if it cant be shown on real hardware.
4. deliver on time, dont use copyrighted material.
and remember that people do this on their free time for no money or anything. so be nice to people that deliver stuff for your partys compo. (not stretch timeschedule untill next day but help out as far as you can)
There is a general rule that trumps all here; if in doubt, talk to the compo organizers. Most of us (or them, depending on the party) are quite reasonable and will answer your questions where there is doubt regarding rules and practices.
Thx for the answers so far! (Menace, nice to meet you on KG o/ Proteque, voted for you on KG! But didn't see you at the party, meh.)
For me, the REASON for the question is for two things: when deciding what demo to make (platform, material for the demo, etc) and "should I go to the party and release it or not" (should I wait and finish the almost finished part, or make a preview and enter it, that kind of thing) - when I'm already at the party it's already too late to add/remove stuff, and orgas are there so I can ask.
Seems I have to break the questions up a little.
COMPO questions only.
1. What is considered 'lame' in compos?
2a. What will result in a preselection?
2b. What will result in a disqualification?
3a. Rules about previews?
3b. Rules about partyversions?
4. All parties have compo rules, but are there a few shared 'generic compo rules'?
But in general I'd like to know about 'previous mistakes' by sceners/orgas, if you don't want to link to examples that's understandable - this is certainly not supposed to be a "shame on you - again!" thread.
It's more to find the "unwritten rules" - what is lame for sure is easy, but about the prods that are "on the verge" of acceptance, and past mistakes could be interesting, to find the different views of "scene ethics".
For me, the REASON for the question is for two things: when deciding what demo to make (platform, material for the demo, etc) and "should I go to the party and release it or not" (should I wait and finish the almost finished part, or make a preview and enter it, that kind of thing) - when I'm already at the party it's already too late to add/remove stuff, and orgas are there so I can ask.
Seems I have to break the questions up a little.
COMPO questions only.
1. What is considered 'lame' in compos?
2a. What will result in a preselection?
2b. What will result in a disqualification?
3a. Rules about previews?
3b. Rules about partyversions?
4. All parties have compo rules, but are there a few shared 'generic compo rules'?
But in general I'd like to know about 'previous mistakes' by sceners/orgas, if you don't want to link to examples that's understandable - this is certainly not supposed to be a "shame on you - again!" thread.
It's more to find the "unwritten rules" - what is lame for sure is easy, but about the prods that are "on the verge" of acceptance, and past mistakes could be interesting, to find the different views of "scene ethics".
Quote:
2. being BITS, for one
i read "big TITS"
maybe this could be a rule of thumb or you:
"If your prod is 'on the verge' of acceptance, don't release it, since it's probably not good"
"If your prod is 'on the verge' of acceptance, don't release it, since it's probably not good"
Nice to meet you too, Photon - and wicked portable Amiga! :) Gah, I want one now.
1. "Lame" is in the eye of the beholder. IMHO you should concentrate on having fun, what one person may find lame is what another finds awesome. Trust your own judgement, and do your best.
2a. Usually, just too many contributions. On a party of KG's size, not a problem.
2b. Racism, porn, ... again, just use your judgement.
3a and 3b - Consider that what you're releasing is what people are voting on, and what determines your end placing in the results. I would say if your product is not 80% finished then it is better saved for another occasion.
4 - not really.
1. "Lame" is in the eye of the beholder. IMHO you should concentrate on having fun, what one person may find lame is what another finds awesome. Trust your own judgement, and do your best.
2a. Usually, just too many contributions. On a party of KG's size, not a problem.
2b. Racism, porn, ... again, just use your judgement.
3a and 3b - Consider that what you're releasing is what people are voting on, and what determines your end placing in the results. I would say if your product is not 80% finished then it is better saved for another occasion.
4 - not really.
on the other hand..
-if it's obviously going to piss off lots of people, it's probably good. lay down and enjoy the controversy.
-if you think everyone is going to like it, it probably sucks, but you can release it anyway. if being popular is your thing, that is.
-if it's obviously going to piss off lots of people, it's probably good. lay down and enjoy the controversy.
-if you think everyone is going to like it, it probably sucks, but you can release it anyway. if being popular is your thing, that is.
216, admit it, somewhere deep inside being popular is also your thing
ah,but did i say it wasn't?
@menace: I meant lame as in "doing something against the unwritten rules", not as in "the demo isn't cool enough". And thx, I've interrupted the next project, squeezing a properly cooled maxed out Apollo 1260 into a standard A1200 case (and later add a screen to make it another demoparty computer) to code. But maybe @ xmas break I'll finish it.
Well, ok, I was hoping for some examples. I know about that demo that used music by Veronica Maggio, other examples?
But if you want me to be specific the real reason for asking was 1. A teaser/preview wins introcompo @ KG09, 2. KG09 crew says (in KG thread) it won't be released, it's only a preview. 3. It's released on Pouet.
I just didn't want to make it seem as if I wanted to question a compo, or throw mud on the creators or orgas, but I *do* wonder how the preview / partyversion thing works, etc.
In my case, a buggy demo was downloadable from The Zone on the EAB forum during 1 week in 2005 and that gave me a dozen comments. I joined Pouet in 2007 and in 2009 an ex-member uploaded the 2005 version to the download area on our new site without me knowing. So in this case, it's counted as a re-release, definitely wrong and the apology I wrote was correct. Right?
Ofc my own standard is always to never release anything old, since I'm from the "6 months old code is lame, I have to write an excuse in the scroller" era :P So in my next demos 100% of the code is written from scratch, with the only exception being the Stunner trackmo, which will have only gfx/music/code from 1991.
Don't know why I was so stupid as to submit for BP09, but an unhealthy dose of whisky may have contributed...
So I'm just trying to find out what counts as being "released" cos I'm confused. And find out about other no-nos.
Well, ok, I was hoping for some examples. I know about that demo that used music by Veronica Maggio, other examples?
But if you want me to be specific the real reason for asking was 1. A teaser/preview wins introcompo @ KG09, 2. KG09 crew says (in KG thread) it won't be released, it's only a preview. 3. It's released on Pouet.
I just didn't want to make it seem as if I wanted to question a compo, or throw mud on the creators or orgas, but I *do* wonder how the preview / partyversion thing works, etc.
In my case, a buggy demo was downloadable from The Zone on the EAB forum during 1 week in 2005 and that gave me a dozen comments. I joined Pouet in 2007 and in 2009 an ex-member uploaded the 2005 version to the download area on our new site without me knowing. So in this case, it's counted as a re-release, definitely wrong and the apology I wrote was correct. Right?
Ofc my own standard is always to never release anything old, since I'm from the "6 months old code is lame, I have to write an excuse in the scroller" era :P So in my next demos 100% of the code is written from scratch, with the only exception being the Stunner trackmo, which will have only gfx/music/code from 1991.
Don't know why I was so stupid as to submit for BP09, but an unhealthy dose of whisky may have contributed...
So I'm just trying to find out what counts as being "released" cos I'm confused. And find out about other no-nos.
In regards to party-version/final-version I think that the party-version is released "to the public" 95% of the time. People can then, if they want to, release a final/fixed/whatever version later.
My personal opnion is; that if a release is good enough for the compo, it´s also good enough to release in public. If you didn´t manage to make it run perfect on other systems/hardware, then better hurry up with that final version ;)
Pouet even has final version links on some releases if I´m not mistaken?
My personal opnion is; that if a release is good enough for the compo, it´s also good enough to release in public. If you didn´t manage to make it run perfect on other systems/hardware, then better hurry up with that final version ;)
Pouet even has final version links on some releases if I´m not mistaken?
photon: the part about not releasing it was a joke on my behalf. that's what the ;) smiley indicates..
1. It varies.
2. It varies.
3. It varies.
4. It varies.
2. It varies.
3. It varies.
4. It varies.
@ leijaa: oh! :) ZOMG THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING
Well, anyway. If someone has stories of mistakes / big no-nos / what they think is right and wrong in the scene, write'em below...
Well, anyway. If someone has stories of mistakes / big no-nos / what they think is right and wrong in the scene, write'em below...
not releasing your production within a few hours, or maybe days after the compo took place is usually not that popular - especially not if our production was one of the significant/high-ranked ones.
I guess it all boils down to common sense though.
I guess it all boils down to common sense though.
To not thumb down without seeing it.
both trsac and evoke had a sortof 'remix' winner this year. Are there parties with rules about this? hmm possibly what gloom said..
i think the remix move is a good one.
often, a remixed demo is fairly different from the original, so it's in fact just a new demo except that the authors plainly admitted that a lot of recycling (of code and/or content) took place. thus, remixes are mostly ways for people with limited time to still make something many others can enjoy to watch.
much like in music, really.
often, a remixed demo is fairly different from the original, so it's in fact just a new demo except that the authors plainly admitted that a lot of recycling (of code and/or content) took place. thus, remixes are mostly ways for people with limited time to still make something many others can enjoy to watch.
much like in music, really.
nice!
@menace:
Are you insane or just stupid? Listing "racism" and "porn" next to each other? Like, you name the worst thing in the world and the best thing in the world, and that is your "list"? This must be the stupidest crap I have read all day.
Quote:
2b. Racism, porn, ... again, just use your judgement.
Are you insane or just stupid? Listing "racism" and "porn" next to each other? Like, you name the worst thing in the world and the best thing in the world, and that is your "list"? This must be the stupidest crap I have read all day.
i'm not opposed to racism and outright violence per se..
@the_ye-Ti: there was indeed a remix funcompo at trsac.
I don't think the original youtube clip is copyrighted though ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7H7p80kZN8
I don't think the original youtube clip is copyrighted though ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7H7p80kZN8
And your tone of conduct is the stupidest crap I have read all day.