Yep, it's strange to think but I've officially been hosting Character Building for a little under a month now (but it's close enough to the end of the month so I figured I'd drop this discussion in now). I wanted to take this time first, to thank everyone for their support over the last month, both towards me and more importantly our community here. Wouldn't be the same without everyone who views content, comments, likes, posts, any of it.
Continuing Current Content
Just...I love alliteration, so that's just perfect. Right, so let's start off with just a breakdown on what I think about the current state of CB.
Weekly Features
Personally, I've considered the polls behind the Weekly Features to be a huge success so far, and the discussions have been really good. Because of this, Weekly Features through February and March (with it most likely lasting much longer but we'll have to see where we stand next month). Each week the polls have become more popular, getting more votes, views, comments (on the discussion) and just generally have gathered a fair amount of traction. Personally, I think I need to streamline the selection process, it currently takes about two-three hours to prepare the poll, and that's when I get lucky and don't stumble into a lot of broken builds, or have a lot of trouble with the theme. The themes are also something I'm going to consider...Basically, they're really useful for narrowing content down, but I think I need to either skip them and go back to random options (fully random that is) or possibly focus them a bit more.
I would like to see a few more likes/comments headed towards the actual builds that are being featured. But I'm not entirely sure if that's entirely anyone's fault or anything. I've personally noticed the links logging me out when I click on them, and I have no idea how to fix that (which is why I haven't even liked some of the builds)
Changes here are going to be fairly minimal because I like how they're working so far. I do want to open up something of a 'Theme Recommendation Week' where people can recommend the theme for the following week. So if I held that in Week 2 of the month, then I wouldn't have to pick Week 3's theme. Just something to trigger a bit more of my main focus, community discussion, into the whole idea.
I would also love to figure out some way I can make it so you don't need to be a member of the site to vote. I know we get a lot of viewers who aren't members, and giving them a bit of a 'silent voice' is something that I'd like to figure out. Not sure how to do that outside of hosting the poll off-site, and that just seems a bit clunky to me (and I don't think I can feature it on the activity feed like I currently can).
Does anyone else have anything they'd like to suggest in regards to the Build Features? Very open to thoughts on how they've gone, any recommended changes or troubles that you've had with the polls, discussions, concept, any of it.
Flash Events
Honestly...I can't really say much here until next week. At the moment I've been utterly floored by the reception to the idea and the number of participants, but we'll have to see how many builds we get on the 28th to really judge how the Event's gone over. But it feels like it's going very well so far, and I'm hoping that this continues after this one ends.
Yes, that's currently my profile picture...deal with it :P
New Plans
Couldn't think of anything alliterative to say here. But basically there are a few new things I'm planning, and a few things that I'd like to get some volunteers for.
To start, I'm going to be doing a Weekly Build-Roundup from February 1st onwards. Each will contain links (and blurbs) for any builds or WiP Builds that were released in the past 7 days, as a way to kind of... bump or focus on new content coming through. Because at the moment, I have to admit that some builds are slipping through and not receiving much attention. At least not visible attention, and that always bums me out (bums me out a lot more when I miss a build, and I have). Will take the time to remember everyone that liking and leaving even a simple comment is always really appreciated by builders.
Right, won't harp on about that. The other major project that I'd like to start, is one that I can't really join in because...well I did it for a few years before I hosted the group. Basically, I want to bring back a longer form Weekly Feature, that focuses on more of a full analysis of a high-quality build. Something like the old Hidden Gem Spotlight. It's just a really good way to feature content that allows for a bit more creativity (rather than me throwing up a poll :P) and can really help shine a light on some builds.
I'll probably post a full discussion later, but if anyone wants to work on something like that, just either message me privately or post a comment in the thread talking about it.
Critique and Thoughts
So this is a simple little section to end it off. But if there's anything you liked out of what I've done so far this month, any thoughts on how to continue, any suggestions, anything really. Been a real fun month so far and I'm hoping that we'll continue this into next month :)
Yep, it's strange to think but I've officially been hosting Character Building for a little under a month now (but it's close enough to the end of the month so I figured I'd drop this discussion in now). I wanted to take this time first, to thank everyone for their support over the last month, both towards me and more importantly our community here. Wouldn't be the same without everyone who views content, comments, likes, posts, any of it.
Continuing Current Content
Just...I love alliteration, so that's just perfect. Right, so let's start off with just a breakdown on what I think about the current state of CB.
Weekly Features
Personally, I've considered the polls behind the Weekly Features to be a huge success so far, and the discussions have been really good. Because of this, Weekly Features through February and March (with it most likely lasting much longer but we'll have to see where we stand next month). Each week the polls have become more popular, getting more votes, views, comments (on the discussion) and just generally have gathered a fair amount of traction. Personally, I think I need to streamline the selection process, it currently takes about two-three hours to prepare the poll, and that's when I get lucky and don't stumble into a lot of broken builds, or have a lot of trouble with the theme. The themes are also something I'm going to consider...Basically, they're really useful for narrowing content down, but I think I need to either skip them and go back to random options (fully random that is) or possibly focus them a bit more.
I would like to see a few more likes/comments headed towards the actual builds that are being featured. But I'm not entirely sure if that's entirely anyone's fault or anything. I've personally noticed the links logging me out when I click on them, and I have no idea how to fix that (which is why I haven't even liked some of the builds)
Changes here are going to be fairly minimal because I like how they're working so far. I do want to open up something of a 'Theme Recommendation Week' where people can recommend the theme for the following week. So if I held that in Week 2 of the month, then I wouldn't have to pick Week 3's theme. Just something to trigger a bit more of my main focus, community discussion, into the whole idea.
I would also love to figure out some way I can make it so you don't need to be a member of the site to vote. I know we get a lot of viewers who aren't members, and giving them a bit of a 'silent voice' is something that I'd like to figure out. Not sure how to do that outside of hosting the poll off-site, and that just seems a bit clunky to me (and I don't think I can feature it on the activity feed like I currently can).
Does anyone else have anything they'd like to suggest in regards to the Build Features? Very open to thoughts on how they've gone, any recommended changes or troubles that you've had with the polls, discussions, concept, any of it.
Flash Events
Honestly...I can't really say much here until next week. At the moment I've been utterly floored by the reception to the idea and the number of participants, but we'll have to see how many builds we get on the 28th to really judge how the Event's gone over. But it feels like it's going very well so far, and I'm hoping that this continues after this one ends.
Yes, that's currently my profile picture...deal with it :P
New Plans
Couldn't think of anything alliterative to say here. But basically there are a few new things I'm planning, and a few things that I'd like to get some volunteers for.
To start, I'm going to be doing a Weekly Build-Roundup from February 1st onwards. Each will contain links (and blurbs) for any builds or WiP Builds that were released in the past 7 days, as a way to kind of... bump or focus on new content coming through. Because at the moment, I have to admit that some builds are slipping through and not receiving much attention. At least not visible attention, and that always bums me out (bums me out a lot more when I miss a build, and I have). Will take the time to remember everyone that liking and leaving even a simple comment is always really appreciated by builders.
Right, won't harp on about that. The other major project that I'd like to start, is one that I can't really join in because...well I did it for a few years before I hosted the group. Basically, I want to bring back a longer form Weekly Feature, that focuses on more of a full analysis of a high-quality build. Something like the old Hidden Gem Spotlight. It's just a really good way to feature content that allows for a bit more creativity (rather than me throwing up a poll :P) and can really help shine a light on some builds.
I'll probably post a full discussion later, but if anyone wants to work on something like that, just either message me privately or post a comment in the thread talking about it.
Critique and Thoughts
So this is a simple little section to end it off. But if there's anything you liked out of what I've done so far this month, any thoughts on how to continue, any suggestions, anything really. Been a real fun month so far and I'm hoping that we'll continue this into next month :)
