Content Creation 'Guilds'

[wva-usa]

The following is not intended as a criticism. It's simply an observation based on what seems to the "majority opinion" expressed in the thread.

If Trainz creators were musicians, there would be no such thing as "bands." Every album would be a solo album, with all the music parts of every song on it being recorded by a solo artist working alone in the solitude of his/her basement. Collaborative musical works simply wouldn't exist. The only live music you'd ever hear would be an occasional one man show.

 

[VinnyBarb]

The following is not intended as a criticism. It's simply an observation based on what seems to the "majority opinion" expressed in the thread.

If Trainz creators were musicians, there would be no such thing as "bands." Every album would be a solo album, with all the music parts of every song on it being recorded by a solo artist working alone in the solitude of his/her basement. Collaborative musical works simply wouldn't exist. The only live music you'd ever hear would be an occasional one man show.

Very bad comparison me thinks. Why? I can create ANY asset I want to create by myself, ANY, all by myself, no hassles, no dead lines etc., if I want to do something else instead of the project I am currently working on, I just move on to the new project and archive the old one until I want to get back to it. I have quite a few unfinished projects on my hard disks waiting for me to do something about these. If a singer is good BUT needs a musical backing, he/she needs others to supply such, especial when playing live (concerts, open venues, shows etc.) unless they mime the vocals and/or use canned music to replace a band's music and have some "stooges" there to pretent they are playing their instruments. What they sometimes do. Anyone remember Milli Vanilli among others?

I think you are overlooking Zec.

AFAIK, Zec is mainly creating content for himself, for VicTrainz and Payware content. Do you know of any content he speciffically created for N3V like ROB does/did?

This shows how badly people want to avoid turning an enjoyable hobby into work.

A hobby is a hobby is a hobby. If I do not want to peruse my content creating hobby for some time, as happened in the past, I take a breather and a break from it and do something else instead. No date lines to adhere to, no panic if the project is not finished on time etc. Later, I get back into my creating hobby refreshed, recharged and full of energy to get going again. I am sure, quite a few of hobby content creators do and feel similar.

Well you kind of set yourself a timescale and milestones when starting any project...

Why would anyone place such a burden on him/her self? Some of my created highly detailed locomotives took over a year to create, IF I had set myself a timescale, I probably would have rushed this or I even might have given up. When my project is done, then it is done. Hence the beauty of creating free content as a hobby is, you start when you want, you finish when you want and IF you do not presently finish it, so what, there is always later or even next time.

For me it is real fun to create for free for Trainz, despite N3V shifting the goal posts every now and then and now, as with TANE too, where I will wait UNTIL the real finished version is released or patched. But, by what has happened with N3V in the past, they might sooner or later go on to create TANE 2 without really fixing the previous, current TANE. Only time will tell.

My observations

VinnyBarb

 

[mjolnir]

First, I think there is an ongoing effort at the moment to start just such a guild as in being discussed here, in the attempt to form a group to model the BNSF (ex Frisco) Cuba Subdivision from St. Louis to Springfield (MO). There was an attempt a couple of year ago to start such a guild under the name Yesterdayz Trainz, of which I recognize the names of a couple of contributors of this thread as participants. That guild had a life measured in months. But I would note one thing. Back in the days of some of the longed for guilds, the forums were a major vehicle for keeping the community together to a greater extent that they are today. I suspect there may be guilds out there in the land of Facebook, an unknown area into which I choose not to venture. Some of these may have been driven off by unkindly attitudes of some of us here on the forums, or for who knows what other reasons, but they're there; we just don't know about them.

But having given the matter some consideration, what does it take to successfully start a guild? One thing is a common goal shared by the members; a second is a common vision of how that goal is to be achieved; and a third is a degree of dedication to persevere. Without all of the members having those three things in common, successful formation of a guild is a herculean task.

ns

 

[BlackDiamond1964]

I've tried many times to get groups together but it never works. Mainly because that everybody that creates in Trainz sees it somewhat differently. Everybody's into something different and rarely can you find a group that likes the same thing. Even if you do manage to get a group together there is no communication between the members. This is what happened to Yesterdayz Trainz. Communication is the key gentlemen and it is very hard to find.
Even today I'm still trying to get like minded groups together...see my web page. I don't think I will succeed, but I have to try anyway. I figure sooner or later I'm sure I'll find my niche in this hobby.

 

[narrowgauge]

Actually, a group project is possible, Northbay County for TRS2006 was one with about seven people, that was about a 6-9 month project and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway which was at least a year and a half, probably more than two years. I think there are at least two main requirements, the main one is that the project has to grab the imagination of the members and two, there has to be one person to act as a nucleus whose main purpose is to coordinate the group actions, provide encouragement, and to provide a 'go to' contact for new members to join and leave if they want to. For the DHR, we created a process that allowed us to break the 54 mile route into sections that allowed five people to work on the route at the same time. During that time, almost every asset used was created for the project.

People joined, people left, they did what they could to to help without there being any compulsion to continue.

Get the right project, don't load it down with rules and conditions and people will join.

Peter

 

[nicky9499]

A contemporary stellar example.

 

[BlackDiamond1964]

I'm sure there are a few exceptions to the rules. Generally though, the few content creators that are left out there just want to work on what ever tricks their triggers and not get caught up in any group. I can't even say how many times I put out a call to find some willing content creators and got nothing. At this point I found a Trainz project I can work on myself and there is no need to recruit others. The Anthracite Railroad Depot is a different story...here I am only looking for a few good re-painters and can't even find that! This hobby is not what it used to be.

 

[Vern]

Well you kind of set yourself a timescale and milestones when starting any project... Why would anyone place such a burden on him/her self? Some of my created highly detailed locomotives took over a year to create, IF I had set myself a timescale, I probably would have rushed this or I even might have given up. When my project is done, then it is done. Hence the beauty of creating free content as a hobby is, you start when you want, you finish when you want and IF you do not presently finish it, so what, there is always later or even next time.

Don't get me wrong, it's no hard and fast rule and it's certainly not a burden. I'm not going to summon myself to the office and fire myself if something takes longer than expected. I just find it helps to focus the mind, if only to avoid the distraction that can occur when the idea of something better comes along. I can mutter to myself, okay well X route should be finished by the end of July at which point I can start research on Y. I find it helps and sketching out a rough timescale can prevent taking on something too ambitious which you just know would end up being a victim of lost interest and become wasted work.