x2495iiii is now a moderator!

[gabe]

I want to be the first person to congratulate x2495iiii as the Alice community forum's first moderator! We've been getting more activity lately, so he is going to help us keep the forums a great place to discuss Alice.

x2495iiii has been a fantastic contributor and dedicated Alice user for quite some time. I have no doubt that his helpful posts are part of the reason why participation has picked.

Thanks, man!

[Jeremytroid]

Yeah!!!!!!!!:D :D :D

[MuqiTechNerd]

He helped me out with a sketchup model conversion problem earlier. thnx man and great job on becoming a moderator (whatever that is) :D

[reuben2011]

Well I think everyone knows that he deserves it! :)

[Kal_Larro]

I may be rather new but from all the topics I've seen he's always offered some great advice. Congratulations X.

[lanceA]

For a new person to become a moderator and immediately tell some one that he will close down a channel seems a bit over-kill/abuse of power which they do NOT know how to handle.

Just my 2-cents.. . . :)

[x2495iiii]

To everyone who's congratulated me, thank you. I'll do my best to keep the forums clean, helpful, and spam-free.

I'm sorry you feel that way, lanceA, but here's my view of it.

First, just to clarify, I NEVER threatened to close "an entire channel," only the thread called "A few of my favorite objects (weapons)," originally posted by fishrfine75, in the "Share Objects" channel. Only that thread would be affected, not the channel itself.

Second, I've been monitoring that thread for quite some time, even before I was a moderator, and have always noticed that, though the requests for models have continued to grow at a fairly steady pace, the original poster himself has not been active in over four months. This leads me to believe that he's likely forgotten about his offer and as a result, the offer is now inactive and should be closed.

Third, consider the two main courses of action here:

Say I don't close the thread: People will continue to request for all of the links for the models to be sent to them. Eventually, it's going to become a ten-page long list of "Can you send all the filez plz" posts which ultimately serves no purpose other than to waste space in the forums.

Say I do close it: The list ends now and, in the event that the original poster of those screenshots comes back, I can easily re-open the thread and allow the requests to continue, as they would then no longer be in vain.

In my opinion, an abuse of my "power" would be to delete the thread without warning or explanation. Here I've given fair warning AND left an option for the thread to continue in the event of his return. I truly believe that this is the best course of action, which is why I've taken it. However, I will admit that my choice of words could have been more professional, a mistake which I've already corrected and will not repeat.

Rest assured, I won't take serious action without thinking it through very thoroughly first.

[Veryuhbull]

congratulations.

[DumDum203]

Hey! cool :) so, you're the first moderator? super moderator, whatev. what does all this mean? ( you were a senior member before, right? what's the dif between that and now? and what's an administrator do?)

[x2495iiii]

A moderator is a person who keeps the forums clean. This means moving improperly placed posts, deleting spam, editing posts to remove curses, closing inactive threads, and even banning certain users (usually advertiser-bots). As there haven't been any regular moderators yet, there isn't a difference between a moderator and a super moderator. An administrator, though, is the person who decides how things go on the forums. He has all the abilities of the moderator, plus the ability to change the site itself as well as the configurations and rules of the forums.

[KaiChang]

I have been inactive for the past few weeks,
but right when I arrive on the forum, whats this I see?
Moderator to the Penguin man?

Congrats, lol.
You deserved it. Keep up the good work man.


Congratulations
Kai

[x2495iiii]

Thanks again to everyone supporting me! However, I have an important thought to share with you all:

Recently, it's been brought to my attention that a good amount of my posts, examples, and resources involve some sort of violence.

First let me say that it's was never my intention to emphasize violence when I made Resident Penguin. I was trying to prove that an enjoyable, good-sized, and fully functional game could be made with Alice, as this was a question raised by more than a few aspiring video game developers on these forums. It was my hope that Resident Penguin could be a world shown to new students on their first day of class so they could see what kinds of things they could do if they became proficient with Alice.

Second, I'd like to take this opportunity to announce a few of my non-violent works in the making:

-I plan to upload other, non-violent collections of models, like the wheelchair recently asked for (having a hard time finding a low-poly model, but I'll find one), medical supplies asked for a while ago, urban ambient objects (like newspaper stands and higher-res city terrain), and more. I'd also like to remind everyone that, though I did post a tutorial of how to import objects at the top of the How Do I...? forum, I usually take requests for 3d models and provide them when asked, so feel free to ask.

-I've been experimenting with billboards in Alice and have created an interesting world with only something that could be conceived as cartoon violence by some. It should strike a nostalgic chord with all you gamers out there. It isn't anywhere NEAR finished, though.

Finally, I'd simply like to note that, though it is considered 'uncreative,' violence, even in the slightest doses (such as in my experimental world), has always been popular and appropriate among all age groups when used correctly (think Bugs Bunny with a mallet). Due to this popularity, it can be an effective means of attracting people, especially young students, to get involved in learning to program with Alice.

[lanceA]

[QUOTE=x2495iiii;13992]Thanks again to everyone supporting me! However, I have an important thought to share with you all:

Recently, it's been brought to my attention that a good amount of my posts, examples, and resources involve some sort of violence.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A good story always involves some form of conflict. The interesting part of the story is how the student solves the conflict without blowing heads off, maiming people for life, etc.

Experience how this young 9th grade student embrassed programming and Alice without blowing legs, arms, eyes off.

http://www.alice.org/community/showthread.php?t=1309&highlight=ajax
(Scroll down to the Ajax.A2W world)

I disagree with your excuse for including violence. The killing of "things" does not appeal to all potential programming students; especially the females that Dann, Cooper, Pausch were trying to encourage into joining a programming class. Programming is not limited to the male population! Please try and include the female group when posting - computer programming is not sexist.

Thank you,

[x2495iiii]

The interesting part of the story is how the student solves the conflict without blowing heads off, maiming people for life, etc.

First that depends on how you define interesting. For example, I find programming interesting, and many other people find it boring. Likewise, I found that world largely uninteresting, but I did find it creative.

Second, I find it interesting that none of my worlds (or any worlds I've seen on these boards, for that matter) have featured either of those two things you mentioned. Have you actually played Resident Penguin? If it were to be made into a real video game, it'd be rated E.

The killing of "things" does not appeal to all potential programming students

I never said it did. However, I did say that some forms of violence appeal to many people, most of those being young people, which is what Alice is geared towards.

Programming is not limited to the male population!

I feel a bit like I'm in a press conference, addressing all these twisted interpretations of my words. If you'll check my post, you'll notice that I never mentioned gender, in fact I simply said that it appeals to many, which it does.

computer programming is not sexist.

But the erroneous assumption that all males are violent and all females are nonviolent is sexist.

It seems I'll never be able to please some people, as I've already apologized SEVERAL times, made an effort to teach many different concepts (violent and nonviolent) in many different ways (coding and instructional), and released many different examples and resources (violent and nonviolent) for the users of Alice to learn from and enjoy. I've done all I can, so at this point, all that's left to do is move on.

By the way, in case any of you were worried, I'm still releasing RP4.

[lanceA]

No Problem.

You did not comprehend what you read, which I see in others quite often.

The point was: violence is not a prerequisite to bringing young people into programming. ACTUALLY, you don't even need VIOLENCE!! LOOK AT WHAT I DID with that student!! And that student has continued to grow in Computer Science - with NO violence.

Do you have a real job?

[Dameria]

lanceA just relax, he is not abusing his power or doing anything that he should not be doing. He has been a great moderator so far, and there is no reason for you to keep insulting him and exaggerating the truths. I think that x2495iiii has only helped, and I have not seen him even once do something that I thought was offensive or wrong.

[lanceA]

I'm not exaggerating any truths. But do we really need to bring people into the world of programming using VIOLENCE? We can't do it peacefully?

Is this forum going to become WarCraft II ? I thought it was a forum to teach young people the basics of programming - not how depict an arm or a leg being blown away!

Some how I believe the ROOM is moving in a direction not intended by the originators. I could be wrong.

Perhaps we should ask Gabe?

[x2495iiii]

First of all, I told you already that I asked him.

http://www.alice.org/community/showthread.php?t=3513&page=2

Second, I already told you there AREN'T any worlds with people being dismembered, maimed, gored, eviscerated, disemboweled, impaled, or any other big word for hurt badly you can think of. If there was, I'd delete it immediately, as that is considered mature content.

Third, no one is forcing anyone to look at, use, or otherwise be subjected to violence. At the moment, the only way anyone could be exposed to even the remotest bit of shooting violence is by willfully choosing to download Resident Penguin or my weapons collection.

I understand that you're trying to do your part to keep the forums clean and safe for learning programmers of all ages, but the best way you can do that is by keeping an eye out for worlds with such violent acts as the ones you mentioned and report them to me so I can delete them. Saying that I can't comprehend what I read and that I'm sexist is definitely not the way to get what you want done accomplished.

[drin]

i would like to ask a qustion, im a beginner using alice,ahm im doing a simple question and answer game so i created a list of questions and answer with different variable
and my problem is when the list of questions are randomly display d question i cant filter it with my answer. the thing i would like to do is this.. if the selected question is equal to the answer i selected from the list of the answer. thnx hope you can help me with this thanx n congrats drin

[Slayer2520]

I too wish to congratulate him. he is very helpful and i can only see this online community becoming better with his skill.

[zarfang8]

A moderator is a person who keeps the forums clean. This means moving improperly placed posts, deleting spam, editing posts to remove curses, closing inactive threads, and even banning certain users (usually advertiser-bots). As there haven't been any regular moderators yet, there isn't a difference between a moderator and a super moderator. An administrator, though, is the person who decides how things go on the forums. He has all the abilities of the moderator, plus the ability to change the site itself as well as the configurations and rules of the forums.

So that would be gabe, right? The Administrator?'


I actually haven't heard much from him. Can you become friends with an Administrator?

[x2495iiii]

You can send him a friend request, if that's what you mean. Not sure about getting close to him, though. I haven't heard much from him either since I became a mod.

I figured he's busy helping the Alice Team work on Alice 3.

[gabe]

I've been away from the forums for quite awhile -- busy with some other things and also was away on vacation (and I promised myself I would try and make it a semi-real vacation and stay away from work...more or less).

I need to check up on forum maintenance and then will respond.

[gabe]

First, in response to x2495iii closing a thread, I view it to be a very minor deal. Did the thread absolutely need to be closed? No. But I have no problem with him doing so. It was one thread that was pretty much dead anyway. And I trust x2495iii's judgement. He truly cares about the Alice community.

Second, about violence in Alice worlds. I love uplifting, motivating and beautiful worlds. But if making a shooting game motivates you to learn to program, by all means make shooting games. Everyone has different motivations, and unless it is completely offensive (shooting field-goal kicking zombies is not, for me at least), I encourage you to express your ideas through Alice as best you can. While I would like to see more challenging and thought-provoking worlds, I don't expect them all to be like that. If you make 10 shooting games in a row, I may suggest you try a different genre, just as if you create 10 beautiful landscapes in a row, you're not learning anything new.

But perhaps I'm the wrong person to ask about shooting violence. If I've had a long day, I enjoy a good shoot-em-up movie or FPS. I don't consider either to be high art (with a few exceptions), but they have their place.

[jediaction]

Well Gabe, i have e-mailed you and i have posted a lot of shooting but none in a row, ive worked on Mirrors edge, game creator, windows, FPS, #rd person, RPG (almost done) and lots of others plus a new ENTIRLY new game that you jump to avoid objects. So yah

[gabe]

Well Gabe, i have e-mailed you and i have posted a lot of shooting but none in a row, ive worked on Mirrors edge, game creator, windows, FPS, #rd person, RPG (almost done) and lots of others plus a new ENTIRLY new game that you jump to avoid objects. So yah

Has the community been providing feedback? I am happy to take a look at anything you are particularly proud of. However, my feedback should be taken with a grain of salt -- I am neither a programmer nor a heavy gamer. Though I do like to think I have good taste! ;)