Possible New SnarkPit Subtitle

First, read the LATEST UPDATES thread before commenting please.

The current subtitle as you might read at the top is:

"The Original Mapping Resource"

If you think that should change, what do you think it should read?

Some possible titles:

THE SNARKPIT

• Games Editing Resource
• All About Games
• Game Editing -for all your needs.
• All editing for your favorite Games
• Game Editing Explained
• Your Turn
• They Play, We Edit/Create
• Edit All your life
• Game On!
• Edit for Life
• All about Editing
• Not your Average Game
• Play. Edit. Share.
• Play Hard, Edit Harder
• Edit your Heart Out
• Games live on here.
• Modifying and Advancing the Industry
• Advancing Games one piece at a time
• Game Design and More
• Design sparks innovation Here
• Play, Edit & be Merry
• The future of Games
• Game Editing Since '99
• Play Different
• Games Rule
• Where Games can Take Us
• Gaming Cartography --Orpheus

I know some of those are pretty cheesy. See any you like? Have better ideas? Have a compelling reason to just keep the current one?

Please enlighten me...

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

I have been thinking of late about two things. I don't like the word edit. It implies broken or misdirected.
I also don't favor original in our site description. SnarkPit came years after the release of hl1. We are hardly original EXCEPT in our standards. We had IMO consistently higher quality map releases here than other sites.
Just my opinion. You know I favor "gaming cartography".

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The best things in life, aren't things.

I always thought renaming the site would make sense, then call the editing portion "SnarkPit".

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Crono said:
I always thought renaming the site would make sense, then call the editing portion "SnarkPit".

That doesn't sound too bad actually, maybe we could keep the "pit" in the name of the site though but change Snark with something like Game.

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Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/Nibgames

Except for snark, I don't think any other word would work. All would turn the intended purpose to mean "bottomless"
Too bad Mapquest is already taken. :/

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The best things in life, aren't things.

SnarkPit is still applicable.

What I was thinking is that's what the modding/mapping/game editing area is called ... what we mostly talked about was a broader focus of the site (not in a bad way) of more than just editing games, but more about all aspects of game development and creating a friendly nurturing environment for that kind of thing to take place and for people to show work and that kind of thing ... so limiting it to editing existing products makes that impossible. So, my thought was actually ... make a new site called something else and SnarkPit becomes the existing game editing section. But it would work as a unified community, last thing we want to do is make more reasons for people to not trust each other.

What I had tried to express wasn't just re-imagining SnarkPit ... but actually multiple sites that don't actually exist yet ... putting them all together cohesively into a suite so it's one very nice seamless environment, but addresses all video game related needs. In that respect, it's not just imagining an identity for snarkpit, but 7 (or whatever) potential other sites as well ... but also keeping the vision for all cohesive so it's all familiar and fits together.

I think something as audacious as, "Gaming Evolved" is even applicable.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

My fear is that if we do that we will get/attract substandard members. SnarkPit has VERY high standards and we still had people expounding the joys of killboxes. If we try to have a site without a true focus we are gonna open the doors to even worse. I can just imagine 1,000 people trying to promote consoles or worse. We need to at least focus on gaming that has user tools

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Sorry. I tried to type that in my phone and lost track of where I was. I really need to get an ISP. :'(
[Edit]
My point is, people who edit can play. People who play cannot edit. I personally do not want a bunch of players here. I know I'm but one voice but it is a serious concern. We had one hell of a time keeping them out with a single game. I cannot imagine trying to keep them out if we broaden beyond level design.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

I think purely promoting this kind of elitist attitude is exactly why the site ended up this way.
Even PC games barely have any editing tools at this point in time, and ignoring development that is possible on many platforms is just arrogant.

If you create a community that's properly maintained and with proper administration tools, moderating or weeding out those kinds of individuals who are too immature for the environment is not even an issue. The core problem with the stance of creating this guardrail to make users pass some sort of phoney litmus test is you're creating an atmosphere of superiority ... and that's just wrong.

If the site will continue to be purely PC game tools editing based ... then this thing is already dead. These are tools that do not exist anymore for new games. The editing tools of modern games are modeling programs, with editors that amount to placing items in the world. Then it's things like scripting and writing shaders ... the current and proposed designs here do nothing about how games actually are right now.

I think there's a way to do this stuff where people are welcome, there is an air of cooperation, equality, and respect, and we can do it without barriers to make people feel inferior to others.

And to be frank, we've already had ten plus years of PersonalHangout.net. There's a difference between identifying part of yourself with a community you belong to and attempting to take ownership of the community and dictate whom is allowed to use it and how. We need to do something different. There's blogs and other community sites explicitly made for hanging out around specific people that users can use to get that kind of atmosphere (Which could be a separate aspect of this...), but I don't think SnarkPit can afford do it, exclusively, anymore. It needs to be about the entire community full of individuals, not just about a handful individuals, or a lot of work is going to be done for nothing.

We're all here because we like video games. We're all here because we like creating things. Why would you want to create barriers so people can't enjoy that? Worrying about moderation and how users behave is beside the point. If we attempt to manipulate what the site should be because of preconceived notions about people from some aspect of gaming that is undesirable, then we've already failed. That kind of attitude will not even give new ideas a chance to breath.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Why is it for someone who claims to be broad minded, always see the narrow view? I never said elitism. I never said bar anything. BUT I do know that there are way to many sites already for players to hang out. This site did not die because of its standards. It died because of its narrow focus on one game. Stop accusing Mr of saying something I never intended and pay attention to my goal which is to encourage the brighter, more creative minded people to join. NOT THE BRAIN DEAD PLAYERS!!!!
I rather see this site forever close its doors than let a bunch of players join. If that's elitism then so be it. But this site could recapture its grandeur with its present standards as long as we expand our outlook on new games. We do not have to lower the bar. Its just fine where its at.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Snarkpit has ALWAYS had exceedingly high standards. It never preventing anyone from joining. It never discouraged anyone. At its peak we had a bazzillion members ACTIVE. We had shitloads of maps. We had shitloads of projects going.
There wasn't nor is there anything WRONG with our standards.
It was 100% our FOCUS ON ONE GAME that spelled our doom.

You have no clue how hard I argued to expand our goals. It took an act of congress to get UNREALED for a very short time that it was here.

Our standards and our activity belies your claims that it did anything detrimental to this site.
Lowering our standards to try to encourage more activity is the wrong path and I will do everything I can to prevent our taking that path.

We need to expand our gaming choices PERIOD!

I keep in touch with many of the members no longer here. THEY STILL GAME. THEY STILL LEVEL DESIGN. THEY ARE STILL ACTIVE. The went to sites that had more choices than simply half-life.

That's the bottomline. We need to provide more choices. We do not need to lower the bar so stupid people can join. They have plenty of those sites already. We need to remain a cut above. PERIOD.

Now focus on that if you want to succeed. If you want to fail, and I consider lowering the bar a failure, then keep rambling on about elitism.

There is a vast difference between elitist views and wanting to create the best maps out there.

I know that if we just push more for models and meshes and coding that we can do this.

Again let me stress.. Focusing on HL alone was our downfall, NOT OUR STANDARDS!!!

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The best things in life, aren't things.

I give up, Orpheus. I can't respond to anything you say without getting vitriol spit in my face. I can only respond to things that are actually posted. I can't read intent in text. What was posted was a very superiority view of user bases in video games. It completely ignores the idea of teaching people. And it absolutely does not reflect the idea of respect. I guess that's not what you were saying, though, but I have no way of seeing that with the words in this post:

My fear is that if we do that we will get/attract substandard members. SnarkPit has VERY high standards and we still had people expounding the joys of killboxes. If we try to have a site without a true focus we are gonna open the doors to even worse. I can just imagine 1,000 people trying to promote consoles or worse. We need to at least focus on gaming that has user tools

So, I'm done.

Any identity changes that I thought were important to talk about, I've already mentioned here ... I'll just talk to Riven about what he wants to do with ideas here and what people discuss further.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

You arrogant, ignorant fool. If we do it your way we will be letting in a bunch of people, who won't contribute anything positive then restrict their movements?

What the fuck kind of decision is that?

That is the most bone headed, brain fart idea you have ever had.

I am saying this as loudly as possible, WE DO NOT NEED TO LOWER THE FUCKING BAR!!!

If you, volunteering to recode a new site means that we are going to have to deal with bone headed thinking, we don't need you doing the site. We can get enough money to hire someone, who won't give a shit how the site is used as long as they get paid for a well coded site.

Adam, your idea stinks. It would mean being cruel to people needlessly, and that I cannot deal with.

Again I say that having high standards is not elitism. You wanna turn this site into a walmart and that's bullshit.

/discussion

Riven I say we take up another collection and hire an outsider who has absolutely no interest in this site other than getting paid.

At the very least, we wouldn't have to worry that our coder leaving us hanging because his idea wasn't received as well as he thought it warrented.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

For those of you reading this and thinking stupid thoughts like Adam is, I am not saying we should PREVENT anyone from joining. I would never suggest that. I am saying that we have nothing that would encourage them to join.

NOT DISCOURAGE, JUST NOT ENCOURAGE.

There is a big fucking difference!

I have no interest in going into a beauty salon or a tattoo parlor but I would never for an instant suggest everyone not use them.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Orpheus, you're really not understanding what I was saying here at all.

I don't appreciate you implying that I would only help if you guys did what I said. I never said anything remotely like that or to that degree. I was saying that I'm not going to be involved your garbage anymore.

You're just further confirming that decision to me here by acting and treating me like this. Seriously uncalled for.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Enough.

Fuck it. Fuck you.

Do whatever you want. I am tired of trying to pound things into head already full.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

For anyone who wants to constructively discuss the proposed subtitles, new ones, new name ideas, direction, etc, please feel free to continue the discussion here.

If people want a new thread, just say it and it'll be put up. If everyone can continue, then that's cool too. I know Riven really wants to know what people think should be going on and I don't want this nonsense to stop people from contributing.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Snarkpit;
No Fools Allowed!!!
Boiled or Fried?
Where mappers Lurk.
Game Design Stuff.
The Lepers Legacy.
For those that might not know, the last one would be a tribute to Leperous, creator of the original snarkpit, and would probably get my vote.

Hey, cool to see ya on the boards again Fishy!

I actually don't mind the "Game Design Stuff" subtitle. Pretty simple, and straight to the point.

If Leperous chimed in, and said he'd like to have that as a future sub-title. I would fine with that. (or maybe there's a day out of the year where the site banner changes to recognize him).

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

The one day a year thing sounds cool, and not just for the Lep. It would be cool if it had random stuff now and again. Rivens Retreat, The Orifice of Orph, Fishy the Fearless etc.

I have always liked the SNARKPIT as the name, no need to change it. It has been around forever and people know it as a brand. But if a name change is really needed, consider names that work as a group of people coming together to help and improve one another's projects.. Maybe "Synergy Dynamics" or something along them lines. My wife said maybe Digital World Imaginators.

Sub header; Your Game & Level Design Resource Site ( Your is an important part, it invites and welcomes everyone, it imply's this is a site for everyone. Game & Level design pretty much covers what we do here. )

SYNERGY DYNAMICS - Your Game & Level Design Resource Site.

Then maybe keep the Snark as a logo, but change it up and modernize it. Maybe something of a profile of the snark and silhouetted in a circle.

EDIT: I was thinking if we limit our tool resources to those only offered in Steam, maybe we should play off that name as well.. or off the Valve name. Just an idea.

A lot of sites that stick with the times do often change their name. I'm all in favor of a sub-title update, but I agree with keeping the traditional name for posterity's sake. I want to visit a site true to itself and connected with its origins, and if it has a goofy name I don't understand, I can feel more connected to it when I find out why it's called what it's called. Gives it history and presence on a platform (the Internet) that's ever changing.

Including "your" is definitely not a bad idea, and if it adds a 'ring' to the sound of the name (something to make it a little more catchy) then I'm all for it. It makes the site more personable, and like you said: a little more welcoming, which is what I think the key to Snarkpit is all about. We're here to welcome you to the world of game creation. Something steam can do too, but not as personably.

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202