tiltjlp
PN co-founder
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2003
- Messages
- 3,403
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- 145
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- Favorite Pinball Machine
- Flying Trapeze 1934
I would think that just about everyone in VP will agree we have way too few authors, much less new authors. And many of our new authors announce new projects, often their first tables, and abandon them, never finishing them. There might be a variety of reasons, I’m sure, but I wonder if maybe a major reason isn’t a lack of interest shown by most of us. From statistics provided by lio at VPF just today, there are roughly fifty active members posting regularly at VPF, and much less than that at shivaSite, VPO, and PN.
Now with that small of a regular audience of active members it’s probably not surprising many WIP and release threads are never even replied to. But especially newer authors are in need of both encouragement and positive feedback. But a lot of established authors also seldom have their releases acknowledged. Part of this surely is due to the fact that the majority of members are interested only in VPM tables, but even EM offerings by anyone other than the leading few authors tend to be ignored.
Interestingly, original authors seem to get much more of a response at VPO, so Rockinghorse, Anthias, and Snarkpit are really providing an author-friendly environment. Several new authors who work only on originals have found they are welcomed and nurtured. And while I’m not much of a fan of beta releases, a number of VPO based authors have found a receptive and helpful audience there. Those same authors, when sharing their work at VPF usually find that nobody is the least bit interested.
And when it comes to flipperless authors, the silence can be deafening. While there are several authors who release both flippered and flipperless, Patrick and I are the only authors working exclusively and proficiently in that area. There are a few other authors who work only in flipperless, but their releases are few and far between. Hopefully we will be joined by a second author who will be working mostly in flipperless, which would be a welcome surprise.
Now I realize that there is less interest in flipperless and novelty work than any other variety of tables, and I honestly make my tables, and I’m sure Patrick does too, for ourselves. But still, a little feedback and acknowledgement would be nice. Our novelty tables and games do seem to get a little notice, but for the most part, those flipperless releases of our are ignored. That didn’t surprise me when I was making bagatelle, but now that I’ve begun working on a variety of commercial coin-op flipperless, the response is pretty much the same.
I’m honestly not complaining about that, although it can be disheartening. I’m simply using myself and Patrick as a way to illustrate the overall problem, that most authors other than the few leading authors, are ignored. Patrick and I’ll keep working together on what we love, so that’s no problem at all. But I could name at least a half dozen new authors who have had one release, gotten virtually no encouragement and simply were never heard from again. And there are maybe even more new authors who have started work on a table and posted a WIP, had it totally ignored and simply gave up.
A while back I used the term Glad Handing, meaning those cookie cutter, one sentence responses to WIP posting. What I had said was not friendly or kind. But I’m going to make a 180 degree reversal in my stance on Glad Handing. Every positive comment, no matter how short, should be welcomed. Hell, sometimes I’d be glad to even see a negative comment about my work, at least that would let me know that there is someone who cares enough to notice my work. Although I don’t need compliments to continue working on flipperless and novelty games, we all like to feel appreciated.
Again, this really isn’t an attempt to get recognition for my work. Instead, this is a plea for us as a community, as small as our active membership is, to provide encouragement and recognition to our newer authors, so that they keep on working on projects. Admittedly, many first efforts fall a bit short in overall quality, but with some recognition, a lot of these new authors will learn as they go along, and might just surprise us all with some truly outstanding and glorious work later down the road. I could mention a few authors who have blossomed into first class table designers but I won’t, simply because I don’t want to list everyone, and wouldn’t want to overlook anyone.
Now I’m not suggesting that you start reading every forum at VPF, or at any of the other forums. What I am suggesting, though, is that if you run across either a WIP or release thread that impresses you, that you consider making a short comment. Even if it’s something like “Hey that looks cool” go ahead and post that, so at least the author knows that someone gives a tinker’s damn. While it would be nice if I got more feedback, I really can live without if I have too. But a new author who could some day become our next Eala or Scapino, or heaven forbid, even our next Pacdude, might not keep developing if their first few efforts are met with a deadly silence.
Over the 3 ½ years I’ve been around VP, we’ve probably lost more talented and promising authors than we now have still working. Some left for other reasons, but some probably did leave because no one thanked them for their efforts, and no one offered the least bit of encouragement. Let’s all try to make sure we don’t turn our collective backs an any more new authors. And why not offer some feedback now and again to one of our established authors. A few minutes out of our day might just grow us a few more authors.
John
Now with that small of a regular audience of active members it’s probably not surprising many WIP and release threads are never even replied to. But especially newer authors are in need of both encouragement and positive feedback. But a lot of established authors also seldom have their releases acknowledged. Part of this surely is due to the fact that the majority of members are interested only in VPM tables, but even EM offerings by anyone other than the leading few authors tend to be ignored.
Interestingly, original authors seem to get much more of a response at VPO, so Rockinghorse, Anthias, and Snarkpit are really providing an author-friendly environment. Several new authors who work only on originals have found they are welcomed and nurtured. And while I’m not much of a fan of beta releases, a number of VPO based authors have found a receptive and helpful audience there. Those same authors, when sharing their work at VPF usually find that nobody is the least bit interested.
And when it comes to flipperless authors, the silence can be deafening. While there are several authors who release both flippered and flipperless, Patrick and I are the only authors working exclusively and proficiently in that area. There are a few other authors who work only in flipperless, but their releases are few and far between. Hopefully we will be joined by a second author who will be working mostly in flipperless, which would be a welcome surprise.
Now I realize that there is less interest in flipperless and novelty work than any other variety of tables, and I honestly make my tables, and I’m sure Patrick does too, for ourselves. But still, a little feedback and acknowledgement would be nice. Our novelty tables and games do seem to get a little notice, but for the most part, those flipperless releases of our are ignored. That didn’t surprise me when I was making bagatelle, but now that I’ve begun working on a variety of commercial coin-op flipperless, the response is pretty much the same.
I’m honestly not complaining about that, although it can be disheartening. I’m simply using myself and Patrick as a way to illustrate the overall problem, that most authors other than the few leading authors, are ignored. Patrick and I’ll keep working together on what we love, so that’s no problem at all. But I could name at least a half dozen new authors who have had one release, gotten virtually no encouragement and simply were never heard from again. And there are maybe even more new authors who have started work on a table and posted a WIP, had it totally ignored and simply gave up.
A while back I used the term Glad Handing, meaning those cookie cutter, one sentence responses to WIP posting. What I had said was not friendly or kind. But I’m going to make a 180 degree reversal in my stance on Glad Handing. Every positive comment, no matter how short, should be welcomed. Hell, sometimes I’d be glad to even see a negative comment about my work, at least that would let me know that there is someone who cares enough to notice my work. Although I don’t need compliments to continue working on flipperless and novelty games, we all like to feel appreciated.
Again, this really isn’t an attempt to get recognition for my work. Instead, this is a plea for us as a community, as small as our active membership is, to provide encouragement and recognition to our newer authors, so that they keep on working on projects. Admittedly, many first efforts fall a bit short in overall quality, but with some recognition, a lot of these new authors will learn as they go along, and might just surprise us all with some truly outstanding and glorious work later down the road. I could mention a few authors who have blossomed into first class table designers but I won’t, simply because I don’t want to list everyone, and wouldn’t want to overlook anyone.
Now I’m not suggesting that you start reading every forum at VPF, or at any of the other forums. What I am suggesting, though, is that if you run across either a WIP or release thread that impresses you, that you consider making a short comment. Even if it’s something like “Hey that looks cool” go ahead and post that, so at least the author knows that someone gives a tinker’s damn. While it would be nice if I got more feedback, I really can live without if I have too. But a new author who could some day become our next Eala or Scapino, or heaven forbid, even our next Pacdude, might not keep developing if their first few efforts are met with a deadly silence.
Over the 3 ½ years I’ve been around VP, we’ve probably lost more talented and promising authors than we now have still working. Some left for other reasons, but some probably did leave because no one thanked them for their efforts, and no one offered the least bit of encouragement. Let’s all try to make sure we don’t turn our collective backs an any more new authors. And why not offer some feedback now and again to one of our established authors. A few minutes out of our day might just grow us a few more authors.
John
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