Introduction and Rules

[myrddin173]

I found this website about world-building. Its not perfect but it has a couple good entries, might be something good to keep in mind.

Main Page - Educated Worldbuilding

 

[Ravana]

Hmm… which ones are the good ones? I started with "Economics" (totally absent), went to "Government" (idiotically oversimplified and under-represented: I posted something here ten times as long as infinitely more informative a couple months ago), then, assuming it could hardly get any worse, hopped over to my actual specialty—"Language"—which certainly is far more extensive than either of the previous two… and everything I spot-checked was flat-out wrong. Even the stuff he's claiming to cite. (Okay, not everything: he got the number of letters in the English alphabet correct.)

I didn't bother looking beyond that, so I can't say there's nothing of value there. But don't use anything he says without verifying it first.

 

[myrddin173]

I didn't bother looking beyond that, so I can't say there's nothing of value there. But don't use anything he says without verifying it first.

Well in theory, you should always double check everything you read on the internet. Anyways by luck of the draw you picked some of the worst ones. The economics and governments are in the list of unfinished topics at the top of the page. As far as I can tell the Population and Genetics and the Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion articles are pretty good. The articles are simplified so that a person can read them and get the jist of something and then go on and do some more research elsewhere.

I also should have been clearer in my original post as I meant these are some topics that should probably be addressed at some point, not that they should be used as a definitive resource. Also since you are so knowledgeable Ravana you might want to correct/expand on the articles you feel confident with, it is a wiki after all.

 

[Ravana]

Hee hee. I have the feeling the author would resent my totally rewriting the language section… particularly since that is clearly one of the ones that has had the most work [sic] put into it. But I may consider it.

I did ask which ones were the good ones precisely because I knew I'd hit bad ones (two of them, as you say, labeled un/underdeveloped); I just didn't want to keep looking at that point. Yes, the page could make a good checklist, if nothing else. My main concern was what the other sections might look like or contain, given the one section I checked where the author did believe he knew what he was doing.

I'll go back and have a look at some of the others later, see what else is there.

 

[Kevlar]

Is there any islands left? Is that one to the west and north of the big one unclaimed? I figure a collaborative effort would do me good, since I've never participated in such a thing.

 

[myrddin173]

Yup that is the last one left! Good luck and feel free to chime in on the other discussions.

 

[Eastep]

I would be interested in working on that island as well, is Kevlar will have me.
In the mean time, I'll keep reading through everything!

 

[Kevlar]

I believe its possible to contribute without being an editor-in-chief. If you have any suggestions about anything I'm sure nobody will be opposed to you starting a thread. If it's specific suggestion feel free to send me a PM. It's hard to know how to reply without knowing what exactly you want to do.

 

[JCFarnham]

The way I originally intended it was that anyone could make suggestions for anywhere Editor-in-chief, aka having your name associated with an islands, just means your the boss in that area, sort of, and that your have final say, but apart from that I've always seen this as fairly open collaboration.

So yeah, if you have some thoughts pm the person in charge of the area your thinking of, or if its a more general world-wide thing then just start a thread. In fact, in either case start a thread and we can all weigh in ^^

 

[Ravana]

Yep yep. Anyone can contribute ideas to anything—which is why I often put "my" area/peoples in scare quotes, to remind people that they aren't strictly "mine." The "editor" is just the person responsible for making final decisions for a given area, to make sure things don't become contradictory (or, presumably, ridiculous) and so that we don't end up with people trying to override one another… or starting flame wars.

 

[Telcontar]

Been thinking about this as well, and I think I'll put up a discussion thread for my portion, where people can put all suggestions and commentary over what's happening on Western Emperor Island. I think it'd be a decent thing to have for all the islands. Managing suggestions by PM would be too much of a pain.

 

[Kevlar]

Good idea my friend. I'll be putting one up right away myself.

 

[jhahilt]

Hi Guys.
This being the Introductory Thread I would like to take the opportunity and do so, introduce myself that is. I have been reading the various threads and learning of all that has been written so far and feel that such a collaborative effort such as this is a damn fine idea. For me and mine, as the story/world develops, I see no need lay claim to any particular piece of real estate, working within the framework established by all the other creators allows plenty of scope for good story telling.
I'll be popping up here and there, asking questions and generally getting into the thick of things.
Looking forward to getting to know you all better and watching this world grow.

Cheers.

 

[myrddin173]

I just wanted to remind the Editors that I would like a brief description of your islands' to put in the first post. There are a few still missing, and you know who you are.

 

[Kaellpae]

Oh jeez. Sorry I've been so absent from this lately. In between work and school I haven't had much time. And with my computer out of commission (on work computer currently) I'll be out for at least another week. My computer comes back on Monday so I'll be able to do a bit of brainstorming and writing so I can finally get at least a short description of my island up for you.

 

[InsanityStrickenWriter]

Been busy getting E's and U's on sixth form tests. Didn't help that I accidently wiped my laptop of all its files a couple weeks ago though I'll try to flesh out my island some more than its current pathetically short and vague description soon

 

[Crimson Phoenix]

Hi all, I just wondered if I could make a suggestion, I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds as a noob. It's about navigation for the mythic archipalego section of the forum; I think that users might benefit from having seperate sections for each of the island and another for info that applies to the world in general. I know the threads have the name of the island in their title, but as a noob coming to the site for the first time it can be quite daunting to see everything all in one place. Plus this would make it easier to access the world building reference threads specific to the island that you're writing about because they will all be in one place.

The sections for each of the islands then could have different sections within them, ie 'submissions', 'world building', 'comments' etc. I know it sounds a little OCD, but this concept of collaberative world building is fantastic and I look forward to contributing if someone will have me!

 

[Devor]

The sections for each of the islands then could have different sections within them, ie 'submissions', 'world building', 'comments' etc. I know it sounds a little OCD, but this concept of collaberative world building is fantastic and I look forward to contributing if someone will have me!

I rather agree. There's something about this format that doesn't really encourage collaboration. There's no sense that if I did some research and thought and typed a piece to add on to an island that it would be incorporated into the island in a real way, or that it would even end up in the post. I say that without meaning to doubt anyone's intentions or efforts, but something like seeing a "Submissions" thread, maybe kept trim so that replies were deleted once they've been incorporated into their island, would go a way towards fixing that perception.

 

[Ravana]

Well, it's a bit difficult to establish that, really, since to date nobody has submitted anything collaborative to island-specific threads… even though a couple of them already have separate "discussion" threads intended for just such submissions. That's zero contributions. Period. Combined. To threads which, to me, are clearly enough labeled that anyone looking at the forum ought to be able to tell that's what they're intended for.

Which is probably the main reason for your perception: it isn't that there's a problem with collaboration itself, but rather that it hasn't happened, in terms of individual islands. (Actually, I can tell you that some things along those lines have happened, though they've mainly involved private communication.) Most of the collaboration so far has been done with regard to topics general to the archipelago, rather than with regard to specific lands and cultures, though there has been some of the latter as people developed their initial ideas of the cultures they introduced, wherever the discussion took place.

I'm not saying things couldn't be organized differently, and perhaps better. Particularly in the long run, if things pick up, it would become more probable we would want to subdivide the forum some way or other. But even the most obvious subdivision, moving what's common to the entire archipelago into one folder, would be deceptive, since we're talking about a large number of interconnected cultures, not isolated ones—everything is "common to the archipelago," in that sense, and having it broken out could cause people to miss things just as easily as it could be of benefit to navigation in general. I could even see the potential for it backfiring, with people getting frustrated at having to dig around in various sub-sub-forums to find the "correct" place to do something. (And this is coming from someone who likes the kind of organization you're suggesting.)

Regardless: until collaboration starts to pick up, and it appears we're having problems getting things (and/or people) to function together properly, it's a hypothetical—and thus basically an irrelevant—concern.

 

[Devor]

Regardless: until collaboration starts to pick up, and it appears we're having problems getting things (and/or people) to function together properly, it's a hypothetical—and thus basically an irrelevant—concern.

Yeah, but under this format it's not really obvious what you need people to work on or how to go about writing a contribution, or why there are so many island moderators but not room for always one more. Is there room for a creative piece about a crime syndicate on Indaeos? Or how can I be sure that the moderator of Byra would see or care about a post on the tiny town of Birtha? - or that it's not a waste of time because it conflicts with a few of the ideas the moderator's already thought of but hasn't had time to include? I'll mention, during a public discussion in my thread involving use of the Niel people, the moderator responsible for them never chimed in.

A well-managed submission thread is a place to start fixing these problems, especially if you can organize a few posters to contribute right away just to get things going. The goal isn't to "organize" submissions but to encourage them, and it would probably help do that.

But I don't think the Archipelago is really structured for collaborative work. You have too many moderators, for instance, and there's no motive to collaborate if you have your own island to work on. At the same time, the fact that all of the islands are "claimed" sort of pushes people out - where is there room for a contribution? It doesn't seem like I could create a new race of people on the vast Emperor Island, it feels like you just need someone to fill in the grunt work on how trade and agriculture are managed - at least, to those without an island. And the number of islands is too large for people to really keep up with without making a significant time commitment, which doesn't necessarily become worth it for people.

I don't mean to come in and tear things apart, and none of my remarks have to do with the quality of any creative work, or on the strength of anybody's particular efforts, or at the community as a whole, but are focused solely on the organizational structure (I went to a business school). A lot of this is certainly fixable, but I think you'd do better with a world and a system better designed for larger and more systematic contributions.