LBPCentral Archive

#1

LBPC community and creator spotlights.

Archive: 72 posts

Hi everyone I think they probably going to move this thread because is in the wrong place (I think) ifso please move it.

Im here to talk about some of LBPC most popular segments which is Community Spotlight & Creator Spotlight. I love them so much because they bring LBPC community together with some awesome levels to play. But it been almost 1-2 months without them! I know people have lives including myself but there has been a lack of this threads.

It may sound a little strange but everyone loves them and we only had 1 ever since LBP 2 came out. I just want to now why there hasn't been a community or creator spotlight, I miss them so much and I know the community does aswell.

So if you are in the spotlight team please leave a comment bellow and tell us why the lack of community and creator spotlights? (other than your regular lives)

2011-04-17 19:13:00

Author:
Arnald23

Posts: 1843

Im not on the spotlight crew (even though i would love to) i hav noticed the lack of spotlights aswell....

2011-04-17 19:24:00

Author:
Hellobob5

Posts: 382

I'm not in the spotlight crew but I know that the few memebers that are still in it are overwhelmed with levels to play and a human being can just play a certain amount of levels before going insane. That's all I know.

But it is true that the Community spotlights were literally the spotlights of LBPC, I would just go

when I see the new banner up!

2011-04-17 19:24:00

Author:
Chump

Posts: 1712

I'm not in the spotlight crew but I know that the few memebers that are still in it are overwhelmed with levels to play and a human being can just play a certain amount of levels before going insane. That's all I know.

But it is true that the Community spotlights were literally the spotlights of LBPC, I would just go

when I see the new banner up!

Well if they can they should add more members, if so I would love to help and play tons of levels and review them or they should creator another spotlight crew so they can slit the work.

2011-04-17 23:48:00

Author:
Arnald23

Posts: 1843

The excuse is that the people are bogged down, yadiyadiyadda... but if the people who are doing it can't keep up, then they aren't up to it and they should ask for more help. They haven't once asked for help since this whole drought began, and maybe that's cause pretty much everyone who was on the spotlight abandoned it altogether. However, then it should be up to CC/ site staff to reorganize it, but again, CC seems too busy to do the slightest thing on LBPC (community wise, not the odd server problem that pops up- that's all he ever seems to be able to do nowadays >_<). So, in conclusion, basically if the people who are currently doing stuff aren't able to do it alone, THEN ASK FOR HELP. This goes for site staff (particulary CC >_<) as well as the subject of this thread.

... sorry, I'm just getting really ticked off that CC and the staff seem to not be doing anything and aren't even trying to ask for help.

2011-04-18 00:29:00

Author:
RockSauron

Posts: 10882

The problem is that the site is big now, and there are a lot of users, so it can't be kept running like a forum with few users.
There is a lot of people wishing to give a hand and there's the need to increase the staff.

2011-04-18 13:06:00

Author:
OmegaSlayer

Posts: 5112

I almost began this thread myself in the last few days. I understand the launch of LBP2 has overwhelmed the crew, however, we're beyond playing catch-up now. We're getting further and further behind as time goes on, and I'm beginning to wonder if the spotlight is ever going to return.

The lack of any sort of communications is equally as frustrating. If the team is offline or backlogged, please, let us know. If you're in the process of recruiting, then please, let us know. If you just don't care about it any more, then please, let us know, and pass the torch to someone that does.

I sincerely hope all is still good in tinseltown, but I see a lot of people getting restless and starting to question whether LBPC is starting to fade away. We need the spotlight crew just as much as we need moderators and administrators to keep this site alive and healthy. So, what's the deal?

2011-04-18 21:13:00

Author:
Thegide

Posts: 1465

Well.. I guess I am at fault for the Creator Spotlights not coming out recently. I have posted several things about it, but to be blatantly honest, I am on a break and will continue to be on a break for at least another month or more.

The first bit of break I was taking was to actually be able to play LBP2 just like the rest of you. I mean it just came out and had it for almost two weeks before I could just sit back and enjoy it. I not only was able to enjoy the Story Levels, but created a new level that has gotten some great reviews. It was great just getting back to my roots as a creator.

My current issue is my girlfriend and I are in the middle of closing on a house. That means we have to pack, move, unpack and get settled. I also need to think about mowing the grass and a zillion other things that go along with home ownership.

So I know the OP didn't want us to list life issues, but that is exactly what I have right now. lol

..however, feel free to reread some of the old Creator Spotlight interviews and check out the videos we have done. Celebrate what we have accomplished over the past year or so. I mean even South Park gets a break before the next season right?

2011-04-18 23:36:00

Author:
jwwphotos

Posts: 11383

I think we're all able to dig up and spread the word about good levels now, so imo we don't really need the spotlight crew holding our hand while showing us the way to find these levels.
The introduction of LBP.me also shortens the path between the forums and new levels as well. And considering how many levels that are added to the showcase every single day, I figure it's practically impossible for the crew to be able to play every single one and scrutinize thoroughly enough to be able to select the very best ones.
I mean, I've had a thread up for two months now(even in the Cool levels board) and the crew hasn't played it yet so I guess they're kinda bogged down.

2011-04-18 23:53:00

Author:
Discosmurf

Posts: 210

Well.. I guess I am at fault for the Creator Spotlights not coming out recently. I have posted several things about it, but to be blatantly honest, I am on a break and will continue to be on a break for at least another month or more.

The first bit of break I was taking was to actually be able to play LBP2 just like the rest of you. I mean it just came out and had it for almost two weeks before I could just sit back and enjoy it. I not only was able to enjoy the Story Levels, but created a new level that has gotten some great reviews. It was great just getting back to my roots as a creator.

My current issue is my girlfriend and I are in the middle of closing on a house. That means we have to pack, move, unpack and get settled. I also need to think about mowing the grass and a zillion other things that go along with home ownership.

So I know the OP didn't want us to list life issues, but that is exactly what I have right now. lol

..however, feel free to reread some of the old Creator Spotlight interviews and check out the videos we have done. Celebrate what we have accomplished over the past year or so. I mean even South Park gets a break before the next season right?

jww, no need to apologize, you're not "the spotlight team", you're "just" a member/boss.
The overall problem around is that, even if the community is able to walk on their own feet, if someone is missing/busy, everything stops.

The whole organization of the site must be re-arranged a bit in my opinion.
No one has faults, it's just that we didn't figure out how much big the community has become, and that there's too few people working actively for the site.
Still I think that lot of people would be willing to help.
What is a huge work for a small team (20 people, mods+spotlighters+wikers?), would be a much more bearable amount of work for a greater amount of people.

2011-04-19 08:56:00

Author:
OmegaSlayer

Posts: 5112

Well.. I guess I am at fault for the Creator Spotlights not coming out recently. I have posted several things about it, but to be blatantly honest, I am on a break and will continue to be on a break for at least another month or more.

Jww,

I sincerely appreciate your taking the time to speak up on this. And, I think we all understand that life happens and sometimes you just need a break from things. Personally, I've seen you as part of the spotlight crew for a very long time, I think you've earned your break. I would hope that you don't take it as your sole responsibility to see it thrive, but the team as a whole should be working together to ensure it's own survival.

That being said, you guys have accomplished a HUGE amount over the last two and a half years, and I don't think LBPC's success would be the same without this hard work. I think we've been celebrating this for a long time, and I hope we can continue to do so. I think just about everyone here wants to see LBPC continue to thrive, and for the spotlight to continue.

So, on that note, what can we all do to help you guys out?

2011-04-19 14:09:00

Author:
Thegide

Posts: 1465

Thanks to Thegide and Omega.

Concerning the Creator Spotlights (I have no knowledge on the Community Spotlight team at all)
I guess the main issue is it is quite a technical video project that is being done as well as some finely crafted writing. So not just anyone can lend a hand, plus it is a secret project on who we are spotlighting. Not much of a surprise if everyone knows!! To do it, we need talented writers and very gifted set and object designers. ..the patience of a saint is pretty handy as well as recording the storyline can take a ton of time. ..it really all is a ton of work. Trust me on this!! lol

I have been very spoiled for quite awhile in who I have had on my team, but unfortunately three or four of them have gone on to other things. It is true I have picked up some others, but the other issue is even then, It takes sometimes over two months just to complete one Creator Spotlight.There is the storyline, set creation, gags / special effects to contend with. Acting, recording, video editing as well. ..and that is on top of the well written interview in the first place. It really is one huge mind numbing task and then to keep them coming out every few weeks.. yikes. Just really impossible. Especially considering the amount of time needed as well as realizing the folks that do it are doing it for free.

Some of my issues are I could stand a few more writers as well as set designers, but as it sits now, I have to record almost everything as I am one of the only ones on the team that has an HD recorder. We have had Cog do some of the other normal play through recording, but anything I am acting in, I end up recording myself as well as doing the skype recording. I also am the one that does the behind the scenes recording and meet with the creator. Plus I end up in quite a few of the storyline bits as as an actor. Not like a normal movie set.. can't have tons of folks working during the recording and actually less is better due to the Loading Screen issue and lag.

...but tossing tons of people at it won't make it better. I don't want to lose the quality of what we have been doing. That I'm afraid also takes quite a bit of talent, commitment, as well as expensive hardware and software. For example.. we don't have many that can even edit our videos because we utilize some of the best software out there and it is not cheap. Chimp and I use Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premier. Leather uses Sony Vega Pro... and those two are amazingly talented editors. ..I am kinda an understudy, but have learned quite a bit having played as director, storyline writer and editor. Dayne has Adobe Premier and has been helping us doing several of the PSP spotlights.

However as much as some of you want and miss them, I don't think it has been missed as much as some think. In looking at the past several Creator Spotlight threads as well as the plays on youtube, there is a huge downward spiral for the past 3 or 4 months. Where we used to get sometimes over one hundred replies on a thread and more than 3000 - 6000 youtube views within a period of two weeks. The more recent ones have had much less activity. The most recent PSP one for example still has less than 30 replies. True, the PSP ones generally get less replies, but even the last PS3 one got something less than 60 replies and not quite 1800 views on youtube. I just think now with LBP2 out, folks are playing, creating, and reading less. Prior to LBP2, everyone was wanting a sneak peak at anything to do with LBP2. ..especially those not in the beta. Currently not as much it seems.

The reason I feel the break we are on now is cool is I figure give some creators some time to amaze us first. In LBP1 it was always a treasure trove of stuff to look at. With LBP2 out we keep getting asked by the creator to wait a bit because they want a level in progress in LBP2 to be done first.

So I appreciate everyone's concern. I might be interested in some volunteers in the future, but for now I have to be on a break until I can get moved, unpacked and settled in our new home. Stay tuned and again.. it doesn't hurt to watch the reruns!!

2011-04-19 18:55:00

Author:
jwwphotos

Posts: 11383

... This morning I thought I saw a notice about some survey thing, yet I exited out of it and I can't find anything about it? Am I going insane? It was about improving LBPC and since this kinda evolved into a thread about that... am I going insane, or more so? I dunno, anyone have the link to whatever it was? XD

2011-04-19 20:25:00

Author:
RockSauron

Posts: 10882

Right here, Rock:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LBPCentral_Survey

2011-04-19 20:31:00

Author:
xkappax

Posts: 2569

Really weird thing about that survey, for some odd reason the other day I was actually thinking that LBPC should do a survey. I have no idea why but I even had an idea about what the questions would be, and they're shockingly similar to the real one's. Seriously. It really freaked me out.

/off topic

2011-04-19 21:04:00

Author:
Doopz

Posts: 5592

Thanks to Thegide and Omega.

BLABLABLABLA for like 60 rows...

WTF! Look at this wall of text, who could want to read it?

Seriously, you are way too kind to explain all this stuff AND more important thing, as we ALL can imagine you're not the only responsible, so don't take all the responsibility on your shoulder, OK?
And now don't try anymore to write such an epic poem and move to do your more important stuff, try to not get tired too much and see ya when everything is settled

2011-04-19 21:09:00

Author:
OmegaSlayer

Posts: 5112

WTF! Look at this wall of text, who could want to read it?

Seriously, you are way too kind to explain all this stuff AND more important thing, as we ALL can imagine you're not the only responsible, so don't take all the responsibility on your shoulder, OK?
And now don't try anymore to write such an epic poem and move to do your more important stuff, try to not get tired too much and see ya when everything is settled

lol... well, you asked!

2011-04-19 22:32:00

Author:
jwwphotos

Posts: 11383

*This is mainly talking about the Spotlight situation.*

Yes, just throwing in people won't help,
but adding "skilled" people in what ever department you need them definitely unloads a burden.
This has probably been said before, (then again I don't want to read through a couple of essays,)
but certain things can take a phycological burden. For example feeling overwhelmed with work, (not good for the workers well-being or the product.)

The "scolding" of people waiting for your work to be finished.
Of course you need a little nudge occasionally to keep a regular flow, but not so much as where they might rush things and produce sloppy work.

You need a large workforce, enough to get the work done, but not so many that you have people just taking up space and mass confusion where nobody knows what their doing.

I guess in summary I mean.
1. Nudge the team, but don't be breathing down their neck.
2. Beef up your staff, but only enough that is needed.
3. Be patient.

(I know this seems like "duh" but.. oh well... my view anyway.)

2011-04-19 23:27:00

Author:
Maxi

Posts: 1176

Part of the problem is that nobody from the site is telling us anything. I'm talking about the community spotlight here. It has always been a staple on this site. Like clockwork, every two weeks we had a new spotlight. Till now. I'd hate to see it go away. I'd love to see it get back on track. IMHO if LBP is growing, and getting busier, than this site needs to adjust accordingly. If not than what's the point of visiting a neglected site. Just my two cents.

2011-04-20 00:51:00

Author:
smasher

Posts: 641

*This is mainly talking about the Spotlight situation.*

Which one? The Community Spotlight or the Creator Spotlight?

2011-04-20 02:05:00

Author:
jwwphotos

Posts: 11383

Which one? The Community Spotlight or the Creator Spotlight?

I think most people are particularly concerned with the community spotlight...

2011-04-20 02:29:00

Author:
Thegide

Posts: 1465

Guys, let me remind you of something told every time something liek this happens.
Its not easy, they're donating THEIR time to play dozens/ hundreds of levels posted in between spotlights, they deserve a break every now and then as well, don't you think?

Remember, they're doing this for free, volunteering, so unless you'd rather pay them for the services or do the job yourself and see how tough it really is, I wouldn't really start complaining.

)

2011-04-20 02:53:00

Author:
Silverleon

Posts: 6707

Which one? The Community Spotlight or the Creator Spotlight?

I'm talking about the Community Spotlight.

2011-04-20 03:02:00

Author:
Maxi

Posts: 1176

How do spotlights work exactly in having levels picked? Are they levels chosen from the ones in the Level Showcase that those running the spotlight have played and feel worthy of spotlighting? I'm curious since I don't know much about spotlights so can't comment much about the recent lack of them really.

2011-04-20 09:48:00

Author:
Moonface

Posts: 310

Guys, let me remind you of something told every time something liek this happens.
Its not easy, they're donating THEIR time to play dozens/ hundreds of levels posted in between spotlights, they deserve a break every now and then as well, don't you think?

Remember, they're doing this for free, volunteering, so unless you'd rather pay them for the services or do the job yourself and see how tough it really is, I wouldn't really start complaining.

)

This has gotten WAY past the point where we can merely say they are just busy. Yes, they are busy I'm sure, or just don't care, but by this point it's obvious that they just aren't able to keep up. Thus, they need to import people. People who would be able to help keep it coming at a reasonable pace. Because it's WAY past the point where we can just say they are "overswamped". >_>

2011-04-20 11:31:00

Author:
RockSauron

Posts: 10882

This has gotten WAY past the point where we can merely say they are just busy. Yes, they are busy I'm sure, or just don't care, but by this point it's obvious that they just aren't able to keep up. Thus, they need to import people. People who would be able to help keep it coming at a reasonable pace. Because it's WAY past the point where we can just say they are "overswamped". >_>

All I see in this thread is people complaining about it, no one's willing to help.
Yes, they may not be able to keep up, but until what does it matter when there aren't other people anting to volunteer?

They may very well come out and say "We can't do this" and it won't help a thing, because, as said, people like to complain more than to offer help around here.

2011-04-20 13:05:00

Author:
Silverleon

Posts: 6707

They may very well come out and say "We can't do this" and it won't help a thing, because, as said, people like to complain more than to offer help around here.

There are people willing to volunteer, but you need to light a smoke signal to get their attention in the first place. The first step is coming out and saying "hey guys, we need this many people for this, and this many people to do this" and that hasn't happened yet. The help is there, but you need to take the initiative and try to actively recruit people.

2011-04-20 14:12:00

Author:
Thegide

Posts: 1465

How do spotlights work exactly in having levels picked? Are they levels chosen from the ones in the Level Showcase that those running the spotlight have played and feel worthy of spotlighting? I'm curious since I don't know much about spotlights so can't comment much about the recent lack of them really.

Historically, ...well, before the backlog of LBP2 levels coming out, the Community Spotlight team went out and played all the levels in the Level Showcase that came out in a two week period. They would then pick those levels they felt worthy of a Spotlight. If you look at Community Spotlights (not to be confused with the Creator Spotlights) you will see there are editions going back to the beginning of LBP1. 57 pretty much on time editions to be exact. Episode 58 was the first one that came out featuring LBP2 levels and came out really late.

Seems like there were 1000 or more levels that flooded in that two week period after LBP2. Sorta the Tsunami of levels. They finally got through quite a few of those covering up to Jan 28th and published edition 58 on May 7th. That is where it sits today, though the last note on the spotlight is they were still working on them.

There are people willing to volunteer, but you need to light a smoke signal to get their attention in the first place. The first step is coming out and saying "hey guys, we need this many people for this, and this many people to do this" and that hasn't happened yet. The help is there, but you need to take the initiative and try to actively recruit people.

Yeah.. not sure why that didn't happen, but it is not hard to see they were taken out in the first huge wave. If the team is still even in existence, I know they need help and in fact willing to bet most if not all have sorta ran away from the site screaming in terror. lol

However being a bit resourceful from being around here for quite awhile and knowing some of the behind the scenes activities...

If I was interested in volunteering for the Community Spotlight team and had a great eye for knowing what is a spotlight worthy level, I would send a PM to Aya.

If you are a really good writer, set designer or prop creator (..as in amazing) and interested in possibly joining the Creator Spotlight team once I get settled after my move, give me a PM.

2011-04-20 15:03:00

Author:
jwwphotos

Posts: 11383

Thats a shame if it just got too much for the guys on the team. Understandable given the amount of levels. I dunno, maybe it's best to just draw a line underneath the last few months given the circumstances and start afresh. Not ideal but I'd rather the team be given a practical way that enables the Spotlights to carry on. This stuff is meant to be enjoyable for the participants, not a huge burden.

2011-04-20 15:15:00

Author:
julesyjules

Posts: 1156

Part of the problem is that nobody from the site is telling us anything.

Okay. Here's the situation as I see it...

There's one problem which both Spotlights have in common, and its name is LBP2. The launch of the game has reignited the creative passions of many of the volunteers who work on the Spotlights in the same way it has for many others, and given that an individual only has a finite amount of free time, that would necessarily mean less of their time would be available to work on the Spotlights.

In the case of the Creator Spotlight it's pretty simple. For as long as I can remember, jwwphotos has always been the one to take on the bulk of the responsibility of ensuring the work gets done, oftentimes at great personal expense, so if he wishes to take a well-earned break from that role, the Creator Spotlights pretty much come to a halt. This is not a big deal.

The Community Spotlight, however, is a slightly different beast. The idea is that the crew play every level posted in the Level Showcase, so taking a break isn't really an option, since the list of levels will continue to pile up. Prior to the release of LBP2 everything was pretty much working fine - we had just about enough people to play through the levels at the rate they were being posted.

Upon the launch of LBP2 on Jan 18th, though, two things happened. The first is neatly represented by this graph...

http://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=bhs&chtt=Level%20Showcase%20threads%20per%20week|Nov%2 02010%20to%20present&chs=400x750&chm=N,000000,0,,10&chxt=x,y&chds=0,300&chxr=0,0,300,50&chco=7F7FFF&chd=t:38,40,38,46,54,40,43,52,50,88,80,110,278,261 ,277,234,230,191,158,104,95,107,80,94&chxl=1:|Apr%2011th|Apr%204th|Mar%2028th|Mar%2021st |Mar%2014th|Mar%207th|Feb%2028th|Feb%2021st|Feb%20 14th|Feb%207th|Jan%2031st|Jan%2024th|Jan%2017th|Ja n%2010th|Jan%203rd|Dec%2027th|Dec%2020th|Dec%2013t h|Dec%206th|Nov%2029th|Nov%2022nd|Nov%2015th|Nov%2 08th|Nov%201st

...and the second was the disappearance of many of the active crew.

In some cases, they'd notified us that they no longer had the time to work on the Spotlight, and were replaced with new members. In others cases, though, they seemingly just vanished without a word, making it very difficult to keep track of who was actually still active. As a result, the workload became too great, and at present the backlog of levels waiting to be played is about 2 months' worth.

Various ideas were kicked around, including partial automation of the process based on lbp.me statistics, but it was felt that this would compromise the quality of the Spotlight, and lead to it becoming akin to the LBP Cool Levels pages - something which we've always tried to avoid.

Adding new crewmembers would certainly help, and there's still a thread (https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=34069-Community-Spotlight-Now-Hiring!) open for people to volunteer, but, frankly, it would take a hell of a lot of people to get through the backlog in any reasonable amount of time.

Now that the number of threads has died down to a more managable level, we're currently discussing whether it would be acceptable just to ditch the backlog, and start again - is it really worth having a Spotlight of levels from two months ago?

There is actually a PS3 Spotlight ready to be published, but we're waiting on word from the PSP crew who seem to have vanished, so we may have to decouple the two from now on.

So, those are the problems. If anyone has any thoughts on possible solutions, feel free to comment, but just saying "recruit more people" isn't really any help, since this actually requires people who are prepared to volunteer. For those who wish to volunteer please see this thread (https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=34069-Community-Spotlight-Now-Hiring!).

Thanks.

2011-04-20 15:25:00

Author:
Aya042

Posts: 2870

Wow i was gone for 2 days because of a college trip and this thread got fired up! anyways first I would like to say thanks to jwwphotos for the wonderful explanation. Also people there is no need to escalate to a more aggressive behavior in this thread so please be respectful of the spotlight team.

On another note it would be nice if other gave us there explanation (The rest of the team) because I know that jwwphotos is not the only one in it, it would be awesome if we can hear CC side of the story or the other spotlighters.

Plus is would nice to open additions for a really good writer, set designer or prop creator. It would be like american idol but without the singing. If you are a good writer then give them a piece of your work the same goes for set designer or prop creator just show them what you are capable of.

Also if they can hire test subject (to play levels and give them your personal review) then that would be awesome aswell.

Note: Thanks Aya042 for your explanation! Also my suggestion to that old thread is to start a new one but with more options.

2011-04-20 15:29:00

Author:
Arnald23

Posts: 1843

Thanks Aya. ..especially on that bit about me. I keep thinking you deserve a break every once in awhile yourself.

..as far as the Community Spotlights though, I would sorta like to see the old editions. Maybe if there were two teams. Once starting out on all the new stuff from a certain point forward, the other working on the backlog and spit out those old editions when they can.

Though that may be totally biased since I have a level out in the past month that I feel is totally Spotlight worthy..

lol

2011-04-20 15:46:00

Author:
jwwphotos

Posts: 11383

Perhaps we do spotlights by ignoring the backlog, but rather than ditch the backlog, we do a small amount at a time. Then, a few levels from the backlog that might be spotlight worthy are just put in with the recent levels that have been submitted and spotlighted. So we keep new spotlights coming in, while slowly filling the gap of the backlog in by doing a small amount for each spotlight.

Lets say, 100 levels in the backlog (smaller than it really is I know, but I don't want to play a stupidly long math game post here). 10 levels maybe could be viewed from that per spotlight to be considered, so in 10 spotlights that backlog will be gone. Perhaps if there were enough people, some could focus more on the backlog to get through a more considerable amount while the rest focus on the more recent levels. Doing it piece by piece over time would seem more manageable, and even though it may be a long gap between a level submission from the backlog being spotlighted, at least it has happened, better late than never.

Of course it comes down to how reasonable an idea like that works with how much backlog there is to truly sort through. But that's a way I could think of doing it if the backlog wasn't just abandoned entirely.

2011-04-20 16:06:00

Author:
Moonface

Posts: 310

If there really are that many levels to play through, why not just play the ones with less than 1000 plays? I'm sure if someone has 1000+ plays they won't mind not getting a spotlight, since they've already gotten the recognition they deserve. And it means a lot less levels the spotlight team have to get through.

2011-04-20 16:25:00

Author:
Doopz

Posts: 5592

I feel that ditching the backlog would be totally unfair towards the creators that pulled out levels in that period.
But the more time is lost the more the workload becomes gianormous.

A big problem is that level spotlight should be limited ONLY to full levels, and not to tech demos and other things.
I think this would cut down the amount of levels of at least a good 30%.
And as I said almost half a year ago, maybe the system should be revised.
All the spotlighters can't play every level.
Spotlighters should divide the levels to play and narrow their picks to 5-10 levels each, that every spotlighter has to play.
That's my 2 cents.

2011-04-20 17:08:00

Author:
OmegaSlayer

Posts: 5112

I have a question can the community create there own spotlight? if so im thinking of creating a team just to create community spotlight for the community just like they do with the original one.

2011-04-20 18:25:00

Author:
Arnald23

Posts: 1843

Under the circumstances, isn't that sorta not solving your issue that your first brought up? Seems like you would want to help find those that could help support the real one before perusing something like that.

2011-04-20 18:46:00

Author:
jwwphotos

Posts: 11383

Okay. Here's the situation as I see it...

There's one problem which both Spotlights have in common, and its name is LBP2. The launch of the game has reignited the creative passions of many of the volunteers who work on the Spotlights in the same way it has for many others, and given that an individual only has a finite amount of free time, that would necessarily mean less of their time would be available to work on the Spotlights.

The Community Spotlight, however, is a slightly different beast. The idea is that the crew play every level posted in the Level Showcase, so taking a break isn't really an option, since the list of levels will continue to pile up. Prior to the release of LBP2 everything was pretty much working fine - we had just about enough people to play through the levels at the rate they were being posted.

Various ideas were kicked around, including partial automation of the process based on lbp.me statistics, but it was felt that this would compromise the quality of the Spotlight, and lead to it becoming akin to the LBP Cool Levels pages - something which we've always tried to avoid.

Now that the number of threads has died down to a more managable level, we're currently discussing whether it would be acceptable just to ditch the backlog, and start again - is it really worth having a Spotlight of levels from two months ago?

I've said it already that we're at a point where the backlog simply isn't manageable. However, I don't think the community spotlight crew really needs to try to deal with this whole thing. We've seen the number of levels posted in the showcase thread increase steadily as LBPC has become more common, and the workload has increased accordingly.

Even before I took my last long break from LBP, I noticed that the spotlight review were beginning to be very very long - more levels than I wanted to wade through. We don't need 30 levels reviewed each iteration, nor do I think the crew needs to play every level posted in the section.

If it were up to me, I'd suggest no more than 10 or 12 high quality levels each time. I agree with you on not using LBP.me statistics to track things. We have a system that already bumps popular levels into our "Cool Levels" subforum. That should be the first resource when the team sets out to do their reviews. If you guys are still short on levels to spotlight, you can start digging through the main showcase thread. My point is, it can be arbitrary. If someone's level happens to be included in the showcase - great! If not, well, maybe next time.

With the current workload, I would suggest highlighting some of the best of the last couple months to catch up, but maybe don't wipe the backlog completely. I think people will be fine in the event their AAA level didn't make it into the spotlight as long as it means the spotlight is still getting done and moving forward.

I also support the decoupling of PSP spotlights... I'm not sure how many creators really play on both platforms around here, but it's probably a small portion of the overall community. Holding back a PS3 spotlight for a PSP team that is currently disorganized makes little sense to me.

Feel free to PM me to discuss ideas further

2011-04-20 19:48:00

Author:
Thegide

Posts: 1465

I think there are a lot of good ideas in this thread for moving things forward.

I agree that the Spotlight team proper should forget about the backlog and, with some new recruits on board, should focus on new levels posted from now on. The backlog should be dealt with as a separate issue. It seems fairer to creators who have posted levels in the last couple of months to try and give at least some of best levels some recognition so I agree with all those who have said we shouldn't just forget about the backlog altogether.

I think Thegide's idea of doing something which falls short of the full spotlight process for older levels could work. There are a number of people who regularly play levels posted in the Showcase and give feedback. They have probably played between them quite a number of the best levels posted over the last couple of months. A temporary team of those regular posters could be got together to pool ideas on the best levels, nominating a short list for each fortnight and then agreeing on a final list to get a "retro spotlight". I'd be happy to help out with something like that and I can think a number of other showcase regulars who would be able to make a contribution. This could be done in parallel with the normal Spotlight with the backlog levels either being added to the normal Spotlight thread or posted separately.

I'm sure we can come up with some way of sorting this. It would be nice to give the creators who've posted levels in the last couple of months some spotlight recognition if we can.

2011-04-20 21:51:00

Author:
shropshirelass

Posts: 1455

Though that may be totally biased since I have a level out in the past month that I feel is totally Spotlight worthy..

lol

In that case, it's definately not getting picked.

...rather than ditch the backlog, we do a small amount at a time.

I had suggested this idea, and I'm still awaiting a response, but I'm concerned that the 'weight' of the backlog (probably around 1000 levels - which, based on the play rate prior to LBP2 is about 20 weeks' worth of work) is having a serious negative impact on the crew's morale, kinda like "we'll never get through all these, so we might as well just give up", and merely postponing that work doesn't really make it go away.

...nor do I think the crew needs to play every level posted in the section.

This would certainly help... a lot, although the downside of this approach is that some of the lesser-known 'gems' may well get overlooked.

How does the rest of the community feel about this? That is, rather than playing every level posted, that we do it more like the MmPicks system, and the crew just make some picks from levels they happened to have played recently from the Level Showcase.

Also, if the idea is that the Spotlight is primarily supposed to be a list of good levels to play, rather than a tool for massaging the egos of those who get picked, then surely it would make more sense if it wasn't just limited to levels posted in the Level Showcase.

We have a system that already bumps popular levels into our "Cool Levels" subforum.

Well, not quite. It's based solely on post count, so it's easily abused by those who regularly 'stealth-bump' their threads in order to increase their visibility, and I think that putting across the notion that threads in the "Cool Levels" subforum are more likely to get picked, would only encourage more people to do the same.

I'm leaning more towards the idea that it's actually the less popular stuff that ought to take priority - many of the picks from the last Spotlight were already MmPicks, so is it really worth highlighting those?

2011-04-20 21:54:00

Author:
Aya042

Posts: 2870

In that case, it's definately not getting picked.

ROFL!! ..yeah, sorta went that way with the Mm pick as well.

2011-04-20 21:57:00

Author:
jwwphotos

Posts: 11383

I think an LBPC verson of MMpicks could work very well and seems a better, more realistic, option than trying to play every level in the backlog.

I'm leaning more towards the idea that it's actually the less popular stuff that ought to take priority - many of the picks from the last Spotlight were already MmPicks, so is it really worth highlighting those?

I agree. The focus should be on levels which are great but didn't get the exposure they deserve. There is no point including levels that have already been MMpicked or which have over a certain number of plays (5,000, say?).

I still think though that the regular Spotlight Team will have enough on their plates with the normal Spotlight and that the LBPC picks should be chosen by others on a temporary basis. Or are you suggesting replacing the whole Spotlight system with an MMpicks style option not just to deal with the backlog?

2011-04-20 22:20:00

Author:
shropshirelass

Posts: 1455

ROFL!! ..yeah, sorta went that way with the Mm pick as well.

Aww. Just for you, then...

<div style="width:500px; height:100px; text-align:center"><img src="http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/images/community_spotlight.png"/><div style="position:relative; top:-1em; font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 2em; font-weight: bold; color: #C51591">Episode 58½

2011-04-20 22:26:00

Author:
Aya042

Posts: 2870

ROFL!!!! Too funny!!!!

...that was a great one. Is it April 1st again!? lol

Thanks Aya.. best laugh I have had in awhile.

2011-04-20 22:31:00

Author:
jwwphotos

Posts: 11383

This thread is getting crazy, *goes volunteer to help*

2011-04-20 22:46:00

Author:
Bremnen

Posts: 1800

This would certainly help... a lot, although the downside of this approach is that some of the lesser-known 'gems' may well get overlooked.

Yes, but think of it more as right now everything is getting overlooked due to backlog. Those lesser-known gems may still find their way into the recommendations threads... I agree that we need to boost team morale, and to do that, we need to eliminate this impossible feat of getting through 1000 levels.

How does the rest of the community feel about this? That is, rather than playing every level posted, that we do it more like the MmPicks system, and the crew just make some picks from levels they happened to have played recently from the Level Showcase.

I like, see my comments below.

Also, if the idea is that the Spotlight is primarily supposed to be a list of good levels to play, rather than a tool for massaging the egos of those who get picked, then surely it would make more sense if it wasn't just limited to levels posted in the Level Showcase.

You mean cool levels? or actual level showcase? I don't know that I see the point of showcasing levels from users that don't visit the site, not to mention it makes our crew have to look that much harder for levels to review. Isn't the whole point of this giving people a reason to participate in the LBPC community?

Well, not quite. It's based solely on post count, so it's easily abused by those who regularly 'stealth-bump' their threads in order to increase their visibility, and I think that putting across the notion that threads in the "Cool Levels" subforum are more likely to get picked, would only encourage more people to do the same.

Very true, and I was thinking about this when it was posted. Not sure what a more efficient system would be for combing the levels threads would be, though. The whole idea here is to reduce overhead and get the spotlight system down to a manageable process.

Overall, looks like we were thinking along the same lines with turning this into an Mmpick-style system. Perhaps we may want to consider bypassing anything that has been Mmpicked - after all this system is designed to show off good stuff hidden away on craft earth. People are already seeing Mmpicks, so our LBPC picks should be unique.

2011-04-20 22:52:00

Author:
Thegide

Posts: 1465

ROFL!!!! Too funny!!!!

Shhh. Don't draw attention to it, otherwise I'll have to infract myself for posting off-topic.

Or are you suggesting replacing the whole Spotlight system with an MMpicks style option not just to deal with the backlog?

Well, that was the way I interpreted Thegide's suggestion, i.e. that it would apply to all future Spotlights, not just the backlog. I mean, even if we were to completely discard the backlog, and we're unable to recruit enough people to keep up with the rate at which the levels are posted, then playing every single level still isn't practical.

2011-04-20 22:54:00

Author:
Aya042

Posts: 2870

Some really interesting ideas!

I would be interested in hearing some thoughts from CCubbage as well as Morgana on this too. Their vast experience being on the team could give us all some extra insight and possibly some other ideas.

2011-04-21 01:14:00

Author:
jwwphotos

Posts: 11383

I see a few new volunteers already posting in the community spotlight recruitment thread

2011-04-21 03:30:00

Author:
Thegide

Posts: 1465

The thread is really fire up! I never would have guest it would turn out like this lol

I really like the opinion of a LBPC MMpicked system and about the the logs. I want to hear what CC has to say about this. I suggest that people should experiment with a spotlight just like Aya042 did just a better one with some level just to experiment and how the community would l react to it with a poll or something.

I will PM CC about this thread because is very important.

2011-04-21 04:17:00

Author:
Arnald23

Posts: 1843

I like to add my 2 cents here.
We have to learn something.
First: We have to have a bit more faith in each other. There are lots of people with the skills and the will to do things.
Many users have been clearly underrated. This is something that has not to happen anymore.
The forums needs help and people needs to feel that good sensation that is "helping for something good".
The forum can grant work for many

Second: We must discuss things before it's too late, before they go on a downward slope and get worse.

2011-04-21 06:45:00

Author:
OmegaSlayer

Posts: 5112

Hmm.
IN MY OPINION:

- Spotlighting MM Picks is ridiculous, they get more coverage than they need.
- If CC/whoever is too busy to rule over spotlight decisions, pass the duty over to someone that has the time. CC can still have his 51% majority share in the stock.

- I would recommend a community poll regarding the backlog. Personally I feel those hidden gems are the best part of the spotlight.
- Let the community know what is happening. If you are running late or need a hand, let us know or just show us that graph.
- Creator spotlights don't need to be 15 minute masterpieces of perfection. While the humour is great, I would be happy with just the creator explaining/showing how they work. That's what I find most interesting anyway.
- Holding back a PS3 spotlight because the PSP are MIA is pretty silly. Most levels date. Why not just add the PSP section on when it is done?
What is the ratio of PS3

SP players out of interest?
- Discosmurf is right. While others rely on the spotlight, I feel I can also fend for myself now that lbp.me and "recent activity" stream has been added. It's much easier to find decent levels.

Spotlights are one of the most popular features of LBPC, and therefore one of the most important.
However, that little thing called life (you know, the real one) should come first.
(I don't have one of these, but I am quite amazed at all the people that do (kids, house, bills, etc) can even fit five minutes of LBP time into their day.)

2011-04-21 07:32:00

Author:
midnight_heist

Posts: 2513

Interesting discussion.

Firstly, thanks to Jwwphotos and Aya for being so open and honest about the issues they are currently facing.

I agree with many who say that the backlog shouldn't be completely abandoned, but could at least be kept aside for now so that things can move on. I have always seen the spotlight as a great tool to find those 'hidden gems' we keep talking about, which I may never have found, even with the new lbp.me system in place.

Anyhow, I'm going to head on over to the recruitment thread and offer my services. I know it isn't the answer for everything, but I'm here if you want me.

2011-04-21 08:45:00

Author:
rialrees

Posts: 1015

You mean cool levels? or actual level showcase?

Well, I include the "Cool Levels" subforum when I used the term "Level Showcase".

I don't know that I see the point of showcasing levels from users that don't visit the site, not to mention it makes our crew have to look that much harder for levels to review.

I'm not suggesting that the crew should be playing every level published, but should they happen to come across a 'gem' on their travels, I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to make it one of their 'picks' just because there was never a showcase thread for it.

Isn't the whole point of this giving people a reason to participate in the LBPC community?

Hmm. Perhaps, but levels posted in the showcase already have a small amount of noteriety just from being posted. However, there are probably many high-quality levels out there which have absolutely zero publicity - I don't see why they should be excluded, if the idea of the Spotlight is to produce a list of high-quality levels.

If you feel that it's important that the picks be from the showcase, then perhaps a compromise whereby, say, at least 90% of picks have to be from showcase threads?

Perhaps we may want to consider bypassing anything that has been Mmpicked - after all this system is designed to show off good stuff hidden away on craft earth. People are already seeing Mmpicks, so our LBPC picks should be unique.

Spotlighting MM Picks is ridiculous, they get more coverage than they need.

Here's the thing, though...

In the past, it's always been the idea that the any level posted in the showcase which is deemed by the crew to be spotlight-worthy would necessarily be included, so excluding a level because it had achieved a sufficient amount of notoriety already, e.g. because it was MmPicked, would not only seem unfair to the creator, but would also be a significant enough change to the way the Spotlight works that we ought to have the backing of majority of the LBPC community before making such a change.

If CC/whoever is too busy to rule over spotlight decisions, pass the duty over to someone that has the time.

At the moment, there isn't really anyone responsible for keeping track of which crewmembers are still active, and recruiting new members when necessary, which is probably one of the reasons we're in the situation that we are.

Another reason is that in past discussions with CC, he's seemed reluctant to instigate a public recruitment process, preferring instead to ask the existing crew to make suggestions for new members, but this doesn't seem to have yielded sufficient candidates to even slightly reduce the size of the backlog - in fact, as far as I'm aware, it's still growing.

So from a practical POV, it's a case of finding someone who actually has the time to take on that role.

I would recommend a community poll regarding the backlog. Personally I feel those hidden gems are the best part of the spotlight.

Perhaps, but we'd have to ensure the options are realistic, and continuing to play 'catchup' on the backlog with the current size of the crew is not, nor is recruiting, I'd guess, about 100 people to get through it in the next couple of weeks.

Let the community know what is happening. If you are running late or need a hand, let us know or just show us that graph.

I don't think we're likely to have figures that insane (historically the highest ever) until LBP3 comes out, and I don't think anyone was expecting figures that high. For comparison, here's a similar graph covering the period around the release of LBP1 (Oct 27th 2008) at the same scale...

http://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=bhs&chtt=Level%20Showcase%20threads%20per%20week|Oct%2 02008%20to%20March%202009&chs=400x750&chm=N,000000,0,,10&chxt=x,y&chds=0,300&chxr=0,0,300,50&chco=7F7FFF&chd=t:0,6,41,67,91,78,56,42,52,41,63,62,52,44,50,5 2,44,47,60,24,29,18,22,29&chxl=1:|Mar%2023rd|Mar%2016th|Mar%209th|Mar%202nd| Feb%2023rd|Feb%2016th|Feb%209th|Feb%202nd|Jan%2026 th|Jan%2019th|Jan%2012th|Jan%205th|Dec%2029th|Dec% 2022nd|Dec%2015th|Dec%208th|Dec%201st|Nov%2024th|N ov%2017th|Nov%2010th|Nov%203rd|Oct%2027th|Oct%2020 th|Oct%2013th

...and the previous graph again for comparison...

http://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=bhs&chtt=Level%20Showcase%20threads%20per%20week|Nov%2 02010%20to%20present&chs=400x750&chm=N,000000,0,,10&chxt=x,y&chds=0,300&chxr=0,0,300,50&chco=7F7FFF&chd=t:38,40,38,46,54,40,43,52,50,88,80,110,278,261 ,277,234,230,191,158,104,95,107,80,94&chxl=1:|Apr%2011th|Apr%204th|Mar%2028th|Mar%2021st |Mar%2014th|Mar%207th|Feb%2028th|Feb%2021st|Feb%20 14th|Feb%207th|Jan%2031st|Jan%2024th|Jan%2017th|Ja n%2010th|Jan%203rd|Dec%2027th|Dec%2020th|Dec%2013t h|Dec%206th|Nov%2029th|Nov%2022nd|Nov%2015th|Nov%2 08th|Nov%201st

Holding back a PS3 spotlight because the PSP are MIA is pretty silly. Most levels date. Why not just add the PSP section on when it is done?

That's just the way it's always been done. There are additional administrative overheads for each post made or edited, such as the article version on the homepage, and configuring the notification boxes, so it was just quicker to push out both at the same time.

Basically, all this stuff takes time. I've already spent about 7 or 8 hours just on the posts I've made in this thread, including writing the custom code (from scratch) to produce the graphs - it's not something built in to the forum software. So solutions which minimize all the 'administrivia' are strongly desirable.

What is the ratio of PS3

2011-04-21 12:25:00

Author:
Aya042

Posts: 2870

So, Aya, how many thread levels has been opened since the last spotlight?
My point is that at least for this time, until a new spotlight team is assembled, some trustable people here starts to divide the amount of work.
It's impossible for all the members to play all the levels.
But if we got at least 20 volunteers that ONLY for this time play 100 levels each in a month (OMG) and start to eliminate the demos, half levels and all the half hassed stuff released, we could do it.
I just noticed the threads are around 4000.
We just need to organize the work.
I volunteer to help in this occasion, not as a spotlighter, when I have my connection available again, and when Sony release a new firmware that allows me to boot the game again.

2011-04-21 12:55:00

Author:
OmegaSlayer

Posts: 5112

I don't think discounting levels that got MMPicked is really in the spirit of the Spotlight personally. It's not just about giving underplayed levels a shout-out, it's also there simply to highlight the great stuff that members of this site have created, completely regardless of popularity, plays etc. A level should be there purely because of it's quality, and nothing should dilute that.

Having said that, if the backlog is as huge as it seems, I think you really gotta just bite the bullet and take a drastic chunk out or this could go on and on for months. Just spotlight the creators who have never had one before. Or bung all the levels good enough into a big list, and forget about making a song and dance with the reviews.

Or dedicate a team to re-starting the spotlight from a recent date, and have another team of peeps gradually working their way through the backlog without all that pressure to catch up. Just suggestions....

2011-04-21 13:19:00

Author:
julesyjules

Posts: 1156

Yeah, as I said, have the regular time start the work again, and other people here will help with the backlog.
Just make it clear with the users that there has been a problem but no one will be left behind and everyone will be recognized...just a bit of patience.

2011-04-21 14:23:00

Author:
OmegaSlayer

Posts: 5112

I'm not suggesting that the crew should be playing every level published, but should they happen to come across a 'gem' on their travels, I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to make it one of their 'picks' just because there was never a showcase thread for it. Hmm. Perhaps, but levels posted in the showcase already have a small amount of noteriety just from being posted. However, there are probably many high-quality levels out there which have absolutely zero publicity - I don't see why they should be excluded, if the idea of the Spotlight is to produce a list of high-quality levels.

I do think it's important that picks be from the showcase. It's part of the interaction between the site and the community that uses it. However, I suppose we could slightly change the way the spotlight works and also include a level or two deemed worthy that was not spotlighted. I don't suggest the team actively go out and seek these though, given they probably have enough work just getting through the levels posted here.

In the past, it's always been the idea that the any level posted in the showcase which is deemed by the crew to be spotlight-worthy would necessarily be included, so excluding a level because it had achieved a sufficient amount of notoriety already, e.g. because it was MmPicked, would not only seem unfair to the creator, but would also be a significant enough change to the way the Spotlight works that we ought to have the backing of majority of the LBPC community before making such a change.

Agreed. Maybe exclusion is a bad idea. But, if we're going to revew 10-15 levels each showcase, it would make sense that 1/3 of those are not Mmpicks already, or it leaves little room for showing off the lesser known gems. In other words, the crew needs to not take the pink ribbon into consideration when choosing it's list. To me, the Mmpicks list doesn't equal the best levels list anyways.

Fair is good. Fair keeps people happy. But regardless, I think it's beyond feasible to review every deserving level. If there are 40 deserving levels, the crew could pick their 10-15 favorite from that list and publish. We could emphasize spotlighting levels from creators that have not received one lately, so that everyone gets a turn.

2011-04-21 14:42:00

Author:
Thegide

Posts: 1465

Agreed. Maybe exclusion is a bad idea. But, if we're going to revew 10-15 levels each showcase, it would make sense that 1/3 of those are not Mmpicks already, or it leaves little room for showing off the lesser known gems. In other words, the crew needs to not take the pink ribbon into consideration when choosing it's list. To me, the Mmpicks list doesn't equal the best levels list anyways.

Fair is good. Fair keeps people happy. But regardless, I think it's beyond feasible to review every deserving level. If there are 40 deserving levels, the crew could pick their 10-15 favorite from that list and publish. We could emphasize spotlighting levels from creators that have not received one lately, so that everyone gets a turn.

^ I agree with this, Mm could be allowed, But they should only be thought of after the others have been picked.
& Everyone needs a turn, yes your not going to get everyone, there can be far too many levels to do that, Yet..

Say... you have (sorry to copy you guide) 40 levels.
They all exibxit good quality, yet some of the authors have been Mm picked, or some of their other levels have been showcased. While another authors level is on par with theirs, but they are very unknown. I believe it should be prioritized. Of course you should include the well known creators levels, they put as much effort into their levels as the next guy, but they received a great deal of attention all ready.

2011-04-21 17:38:00

Author:
Maxi

Posts: 1176

I've known about this problem for quite a while and I do have plans to reinvigorate our Spotlights, but they're neither quick nor easy to implement - especially now.

After LBP2's launch, levels were posted in unprecedented amounts. We should've been ready to handle the influx, but we weren't. The sheer volume our crew had to play to put out a "fair" spotlight was so much higher than it had ever been before, it burned many of them out. As a result, a number of people left the crew (or simply stopped participating), which stuck the remainder with an unmanageably high volume of work and resulted in a near-shutdown of content creation.

Now, if I were around more often to regulate these kinds of things, I don't think we'd have gone this long without new content. As I said, I do have plans to fix it. However, my priority right now is still graduating high school. I missed over two months in a row last semester (thanks to a bout with Mono, which some of you know about), so makeup work this semester has been...dense, to say the least. I am on track to graduating & going to college, and I've only got a month left, but the fact remains that, right now, I'm simply not here in the capacity necessary to do any real fixing. And the last thing I want is to come up with a solution that only works in the short term. I'm not convinced more people is the answer. I really think the Spotlight needs an up-and-down restructuring, including making it easier for people on the Spotlight Crew to do their jobs, if we really want to see long-term stability.

Look, if I have anything to say about it, things will get better. We will go back to producing Spotlights on a regular, uninterrupted basis. But, until then, I have to ask for your patience. I've gotta make sure I'll be going to college first. Once I've done that, I'm going to dive right in. I've got a lot of changes I want to make, and I'm looking forward to having the time to make them.

2011-04-21 19:54:00

Author:
ConfusedCartman

Posts: 3729

Cartman, we know about your stuff.
What most of us want to say is simple.
"Don't be shy or hesitate to ask for help"
There's nothing bad in it.
It feels good to give sometimes and not only take and ask

2011-04-21 21:26:00

Author:
OmegaSlayer

Posts: 5112

The excuse is that the people are bogged down, yadiyadiyadda... but if the people who are doing it can't keep up, then they aren't up to it and they should ask for more help. They haven't once asked for help since this whole drought began, and maybe that's cause pretty much everyone who was on the spotlight abandoned it altogether. However, then it should be up to CC/ site staff to reorganize it, but again, CC seems too busy to do the slightest thing on LBPC (community wise, not the odd server problem that pops up- that's all he ever seems to be able to do nowadays >_<). So, in conclusion, basically if the people who are currently doing stuff aren't able to do it alone, THEN ASK FOR HELP. This goes for site staff (particulary CC >_<) as well as the subject of this thread.

... sorry, I'm just getting really ticked off that CC and the staff seem to not be doing anything and aren't even trying to ask for help.
They've asked for help, and CC has been helpful in suggesting methods to finish all the levels. I too would prefer we provide another public forum for 'hiring,' and we definitely need more help, but there is a lot going behind the scenes concerning the issue.

2011-04-21 22:01:00

Author:
Ryhas

Posts: 179

I would recommend a community poll regarding the backlog. Personally I feel those hidden gems are the best part of the spotlight.

This.

Perhaps, but we'd have to ensure the options are realistic, and continuing to play 'catchup' on the backlog with the current size of the crew is not, nor is recruiting, I'd guess, about 100 people to get through it in the next couple of weeks.

Well, perhaps I misunderstood midnight_heist's suggestion, but this was going to be my suggestion:

Restart the Spotlight at a point after the huge backlog / surge (perhaps April 1 - or even just two weeks ago... but restart it and let the crew get back to their regular grind).
Then put the backlog levels into a community poll, or some web-based voting application, and give it to the community (there's a LOT of them, so this part could be tricky).
Let them (the LBPC community) take a month to vote (all the while reminding them that we need their help, and to get out there and vote).
When the month is up, take the top 25 voted levels, and have the Spotlight crew review them and write up comments.
Publish those results a special All-Community-Spotlight edition of the spotlight, and move on.

I think it could work.

2011-04-21 23:01:00

Author:
v0rtex

Posts: 1878

To address the huge mass of levels to be assessed by the Community Spotlight team, stricter criteria will need to be adopted to determine which levels are candidates for spotlighting. For example, there could be a certain cutoff yay/boo ratio, or maybe the levels can't be Mm picks, or perhaps the levels can only be ones recommended by LBPC members.

2011-04-22 02:12:00

Author:
Stoicrow

Posts: 276

Well, my offer still stands.

I'm here, willing to help and go through every one of those levels for you.

1000 levels would be no problem for me. (If psn was up of course..)

2011-04-22 05:04:00

Author:
Bremnen

Posts: 1800

I feel I would love to go back into the spotlight, but I am in a similar predicament to cartman (Just without the mono, and the pressure of being admin). I'd say take the offer from many of those in the hiring thread, as long as they meet the quality.
I think Bremnen and smasher would be awesome.

2011-04-22 13:29:00

Author:
KQuinn94Z

Posts: 1758

So I believe everyone has founded on an agreement.
There! smiles everyone.

2011-04-23 02:56:00

Author:
Maxi

Posts: 1176

Hey everyone remember that there is going to be another level thread bang because of this PSN downtime. Think about it around 4000 levels are publish a day and how many do you think are going to be posted as a level thread. Also the fact that people haven't played online for 2 weeks (almost 2 weeks) they got levels ready to publish just imagine 12 times the normal levels publish a day.

Including myself I have a level ready to publish because I got bored and made it in 1 week.

2011-04-30 20:37:00

Author:
Arnald23

Posts: 1843

Wow, LBPC has really changed in the few months since I've been visiting regularly. I know what I'm about to say has probably been said a lot already in this thread, but as an old member of the spotlight crew I wanted to say something in this thread, and to speak as someone who has worked and gained experience from a team project such as this, whether it helps or not.

As a previous member of the Community Spotlight Crew, I can tell you that it requires dedication, patience and lots of time (to the extent that on occasions it impinged on RL). Unfortunately I couldn't maintain these commitments, which is why I left. If I left at the wrong time I apologise, but I did make my departure known to the crew. I can say, however, that the offers of help and the willingness of the community to get this project running again is really nice to hear.

I haven't visited the spotlight crew's forum for a while, let alone read through what has been posted in my absence. But I would say that the backlog is probably the single biggest dampener on the team's spirits. If I'm perfectly honest, that backlog is the thing that has scared me off revisiting the spotlight crew's forum to see how they're getting on. If we can decide on a fair, quick and efficient way of dealing with the backlog, and quickly, that will solve a large portion of the crew's dilemma, I would think. As for the current influx of levels (around 80-100 per fortnight), these could be managed effectively with an active crew of 8 or 9 people, of which many more have applied in the submission thread. Now is the time, while PSN is down and no new levels are being submitted, that newbies should be inducted and trained.

Obviously, orchestrating this induction and restructure of the crew will take effort, which I am sorry to say I can't offer at the moment, not least because I don't have the power to grant anyone permission to see the spotlight dev forum. I have as much responsibility as I am comfortable with (which might be a bit too much to trust me with

) with the wiki. Those of you who have offered to help - thank you so much, and I hope that you can find some way to get into the community spotlight dev forum, where threads written by us show you how to use our database, how to format the fortnightly posts, and accepted procedure which we have followed for a while. Reading these will pretty much turn you into a spotlighter in themselves, and equip you with all the tools to keep track on the relentless conveyor belt of levels that will come through your doors every fortnight.

So basically, I'm sorry that the community spotlight has been gone so long - thank you to those prepared to step up to the plate and pull this thing together.

2011-05-01 01:10:00

Author:
Holguin86

Posts: 875

I know how it is CC I missed 3 weeks of school before, and high school is already hard enough. Well anyways take your time dude, I know I as a member of LBPC will help hold down the fort until you get back

2011-05-01 03:08:00

Author:
fireblitz95

Posts: 2018

Wow, LBPC has really changed in the few months since I've been visiting regularly. I know what I'm about to say has probably been said a lot already in this thread, but as an old member of the spotlight crew I wanted to say something in this thread, and to speak as someone who has worked and gained experience from a team project such as this, whether it helps or not.

As a previous member of the Community Spotlight Crew, I can tell you that it requires dedication, patience and lots of time (to the extent that on occasions it impinged on RL). Unfortunately I couldn't maintain these commitments, which is why I left. If I left at the wrong time I apologise, but I did make my departure known to the crew. I can say, however, that the offers of help and the willingness of the community to get this project running again is really nice to hear.

I haven't visited the spotlight crew's forum for a while, let alone read through what has been posted in my absence. But I would say that the backlog is probably the single biggest dampener on the team's spirits. If I'm perfectly honest, that backlog is the thing that has scared me off revisiting the spotlight crew's forum to see how they're getting on. If we can decide on a fair, quick and efficient way of dealing with the backlog, and quickly, that will solve a large portion of the crew's dilemma, I would think. As for the current influx of levels (around 80-100 per fortnight), these could be managed effectively with an active crew of 8 or 9 people, of which many more have applied in the submission thread. Now is the time, while PSN is down and no new levels are being submitted, that newbies should be inducted and trained.

Obviously, orchestrating this induction and restructure of the crew will take effort, which I am sorry to say I can't offer at the moment, not least because I don't have the power to grant anyone permission to see the spotlight dev forum. I have as much responsibility as I am comfortable with (which might be a bit too much to trust me with

) with the wiki. Those of you who have offered to help - thank you so much, and I hope that you can find some way to get into the community spotlight dev forum, where threads written by us show you how to use our database, how to format the fortnightly posts, and accepted procedure which we have followed for a while. Reading these will pretty much turn you into a spotlighter in themselves, and equip you with all the tools to keep track on the relentless conveyor belt of levels that will come through your doors every fortnight.

So basically, I'm sorry that the community spotlight has been gone so long - thank you to those prepared to step up to the plate and pull this thing together.

Thanks for that!

I volunteered for the spotlight, and my offer still stands. I would gladly take on the commitment to help get the spotlight back on track.

LBPC doesn't feel the same without it.

2011-05-01 08:49:00

Author:
smasher

Posts: 641

Check this out please. (https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=56041-On-Reviving-the-Community-Spotlight&p=839238#post839238)

2011-05-01 23:37:00

Author:
Holguin86

Posts: 875

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