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Icon Recolor Reformation

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Level 19
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Why don't we discuss that matter in a separate thread in the Skinning Area to save uploads from being spammed?

I think SD is more fitting.

Icons have recently allowed a useful recolor bypass of the rules. IMO if something is useful I really don't care where it came from or how it came to be. I would say from my own personal experience that I love the icon art style that Blizzard implemented in WC3 and I try to only use their icons. It happens to be when I have a chaos orc instead of a green one that I might recolor the blood fury icon to represent such. To add to that none of the recolors are taking credit for the art.

There are people against the submissions of these icons and those who are for it.

Thoughts?
 
Level 25
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Not every half ass'd recolor is going to be approved, people seem to forget that, I can't simply take "Kaboom!" icon, make it green in 10 seconds then call it "Anthrax".
What we also need is a category for recolors.
About the "people are going to spam recolored icons" actually it's not a bad thing for us mappers once we take into consideration that the bad ones are going to get rejected.
that will revive our faith in the icon section being "useful" and not just there to look pretty.
 

fladdermasken

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The real question ought to be, why would you even need them uploaded to a database? It would take you longer to browse the archives for a specific icon than it would recoloring it yourself. You don't need some fancy art software, there are several free programs which would be more than enough for such a simple procedure.

Pretty sure you can even find some sort of photo editors online to save yourself the hassle of installing one yourself.

It's not like I resent the idea or anything, I just don't see how it would benefit anyone.
 
Level 11
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It is very easy to sift through icons to find what one is looking for. Just type it in the search bar...not that difficult.
For ratings, 'recolors' could be rated as 'useful'. That way they are not given any significant praise or award for their recolor
 
What I don't get is why you have to UPLOAD them here. People should be able to do simple recolours themselves if they need to. Even if they don't know how to do so, minor research/thinking will lead the way. >_>
Recolouring is one of the easiest things to do.

We could even expand this and say: Why don't recoloured skins and CnP resources get approved in general? These have EXCEPTIONS for well-made stuff, but why don't we just accept all of them?

Imo, this rule needs to be more accurate. There's much more that influences ressources besides "usefulness". Currently it's not fair to other ressource classes (SARCASM: Let's accept all recoloured skins aswell. Uther with purely black skin and clothes is useful, right? Or let's approve of CnP icons, because there are just so many beautiful sources that can be useful as icons! Or let's upload ingame models so that people don't have to extract them on their own, that's just too much to ask for).

But I guess it all depends on what people want Hive to be. I fear that due to rules like this one, Hive will become a less and less creative place (and thus less attractive) and victim to lazy people.

Dentothor said:
what exactly are you suggesting? that there should be an advanced filter in the site the recognizes recoloured icons and immediately rejects them?

I was suggesting that we get a poll or something similar to actually see whether this rule is wanted by Hive members or not.

or we can simply make a sub section. we separate recolors from freehands, and people annoyed by recolors wont have to see them unless they enter the subsection.

That would be a good idea that mods should think about.

or we can simply make a sub section. we separate recolors from freehands, and people annoyed by recolors wont have to see them unless they enter the subsection.

Agreed.
 
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It does not promote laziness. It simply provides an easier way to reach icons that some may want.
Also, it would not cause the hive to become less creative because not all models or icons can satisfy the needs of map makers.
 
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My though about that (already posted in blackdeath's thread) :

Recolors are USEFUL for people who doesn't know how to do this, yes, some people doesn't know how.

So the main reason why a new rule has been applied is because it's USEFUL..

As you can see the main word here is USEFUL

so I don't understand why mods would rate simple recolors RECOMMENDED.

IF there is enough freehand (75% or something like this, i think it's not a recolor anymore so the rating could be anything)
 
It does not promote laziness. It simply provides an easier way to reach icons that some may want.
Also, it would not cause the hive to become less creative because not all models or icons can satisfy the needs of map makers.

I'm sorry, but I frequently read uploads or questions where the answer/solution is already covered by tutorials and other threads. It's just frustating, really.

Just a fun idea: What if Hive implented a flash tool or sthg. that provides easy recolouring for icons?

2/5 or 3/5 should be the vote for all recolors no matter what, and credits should go to Blizzard as a Priority.

That's exactly what I mean, that this rules needs some clear guidelines. It's too vague atm.
 
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Well frankly, the tutorial section is quite cluttered and the search engine often fails. So don't get mad for people asking questions that are covered by tutorials when searching for them is quite tedious.

But actually, if the Hive implemented a tool that recolored icons of Blizzard's, that would be very very good. It could be attached to the Icon section so people would see it when they are looking for an icon.
 

fladdermasken

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The whole unfair angle is easily dealt with, just disable reputation in that section :p
It does not promote laziness. It simply provides an easier way to reach icons that some may want.
I honestly don't see how it's easier. As both 13lackDeath and I pointed out, recoloring an icon would take you twenty seconds, tops. I can guarantee you that this is alot smoother than to browse the archives.

If we do end up endorsing this, I want to combine Joe's suggestion with my own. A sub category with recolors in packs, and a corresponding link attached to the main resource. That would be acceptable as "more convenient" - plus if you're required to upload packs with specific colors this would to some extent counter the "laziness" argument.
Recolors are USEFUL for people who doesn't know how to do this, yes, some people doesn't know how.
In this case I suggest a) read a tutorial (approx 5 minutes), b) google it (approx 2 minutes), c) ask around (no approximation)
Cool.
Cool.
 
Is there a way for the hive to provide a tool for people to recolor the icons themselves? I think that would be a great way to resolve this

I3lackDeath said:
Just a fun idea: What if Hive implented a flash tool or sthg. that provides easy recolouring for icons?

As I said, embedded flash tool or something similar (if creating your own Southpark character is possible, this should be possible aswell ;P).
 
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If it's simple recolor, then no prob, but some people "Edit" those blizzard icons making them more useful and not all people can edit them the same way. that is why we wanted icon rules to change.
Also my vote goes for this "A sub category with recolors in packs"
1- We can put Blizzard original icons in there and each recolor of a specified icon goes in a pack under that Blizzard icon OR
2- A user makes 3 recolors for example, 3 icons goes into a pack made by that user in the sub section (but I am not very fond with this idea)
 
If it's simple recolor, then no prob, but some people "Edit" those blizzard icons making them more useful and not all people can edit them the same way. that is why we wanted icon rules to change.
Also my vote goes for this "A sub category with recolors in packs"
1- We can put Blizzard original icons in there and each recolor of a specified icon goes in a pack under that Blizzard icon OR
2- A user makes 3 recolors for example, 3 icons goes into a pack made by that user in the sub section (but I am not very fond with this idea)

That's probably the best.

I know what you mean, CRAZYRUSSIAN edited some, like Blizzard's Clarity potion. His results were pretty amazing (yet they still fulfilled the 50% rule ;P).
 
READ_ME


i guess an actual input from an actual icon staff member would be very helpful in this situation. few pointers were made rather recently that didnt get put in the rule section. the rules section seem to be also very vague lately so since everyone that cares about icons are here anyways, i will explain some things

==================================
  • Recolours of Blizzard icons are allowed now but only if the icon is uploaded under the name "Blizzard Entertainment"
    The definition of recolours include
    • Simple Hue change
    • Not enough freehand content. Note that no matter how fancy you do your icon background, i am most likely not going to consider that as a part of "freehand"
    Please note that
    • This applies ONLY for Blizzard icons. I WILL NOT accept icons made from Blizzard related fanarts.
    • When you do upload the recolour, make sure you put up the original image using the image tag and state what you have changed
  • If you have multiple recolours of the icon that you made, please attach the other versions as an attachment in your icon thread.
==================================

ok. hopefully that cleared somethings out

Also. it seems that someone was flaming a user for posting a blizzard recolour. please remember that flaming is not allowed and neg-reps will be given out without hesitation.
also. if you have a problem with your own moderation, dont vent that in other people's icon threads. stop bitching and actually listen
 
Level 26
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While we are at it:
I really think that our whole rating system should get some slight changes(for all sections):

Right now we got:

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Useful
Lacking
Unaccaptable
No Rating

but I think we should either make it like:

DC
Highly Recommended
Recommended
Great
Useful
Lacking
No Rating

or

DC
Highly Recommended
Recommended
Great
Lacking
Unacceptable
and no Rating would be called Useful
 
Level 26
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i guess i'll point out that in the model section (and what ive seen of the icon section) rarely, if ever, rates a resource a 1/5 or 2/5. Generally, if we think its 1 or 2 out of 5, we soft-reject it and tell the creator to fix it or spruce it up a bit. So our rating system is not graded relative to other resources.

As for changing the rating system. Methinks its a little too late to be dicking around with it. With so many resources approved, changing the system now would just create a shitload more inconsistencies and compound the problem tenfold.
 
The rating system could be like this:

-1 recolor
0 unrated
1 unaccetable
2 lacking
3 useful
4 recommended
5 highly recommended
6 director's cut.

That way you could search for icons with a rating with 0 or higher, in which case you will get all original icons, or -1 or higher, which includes recolors as well.

---------------------------

That said, I still think it's useless to have recolors in the database. We might as well start uploading every warcraft model with the weapon removed, because some people don''t know how to do that themselves, either.

Do you really think anyone who can't even or isn't even willing to make a recolor themselves or request one in the request forum is able or willing to make a great mod?
 
Level 27
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Let's just give no raiting but approval to recolors worth it, and add the rule so all recolors must be added to Recolors category as a must.
This way, we won't need to mess up raiting category (-1 for recolors as beeing worse than unnacepted CnPs and terrible icons - that's stupid), and if someone will want to search for a recolor icons, he will easily find them buy just selecting a

Also, the quality standarts should be applied to recolors too, you know.
 
This is a very serious issue, as the icon section is now flooded with recolors. I can no longer find the freehand icons made by hard-working members of the hive community, because they are buried by dozens of recolored icons.

Recolor CAN be useful, however a recolor takes literally five seconds + the time it takes to open/save the icon, + the time of uploading it. This means that people can upload infinite amounts of recolored icons without having any talent in making icons, and without putting any time or effort into their resources. This results in every inexperienced member flooding the icon section with recolors which receive high ratings from other inexperienced members, while the hard work put in by freehand icon creators is rewarded with nothing, as it is quickly buried by recolored icons.

Another issue with recolor is that, because there is no skill or quality in a recolor, the only factor is usefulness. Usefulness is an opinion, and moderators prefer to avoid using opinions when approving resources. This means that there are no longer guidelines for rejecting such recolors, and so they are all accepted.

I will now make a few suggestions to fix this issue:
1: Moderators will tag all recolored icons and skins, and users will have the option to include/exclude recolors from their search.
2: Recolors will be put into an entirely separate category for people to search through.
3: Recolors will be accepted only on very rare occasions in which they are found to be extremely useful.
4: Recolors will be rejected, as they used to be.

I listed these options in order of preference, 1 being my most preferred solution, 4 being a last resort.

Something HAS to be done about this issue, however, because the way it is as of now, I cannot find the high-quality freehand icons that the dedicated members of hive put hard work into, because they have been buried in constant recolor submissions.
 
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This is a very serious issue, as the icon section is now flooded with recolors. I can no longer find the freehand icons made by hard-working members of the hive community, because they are buried by dozens of recolored icons.

There isn't even 2 dozens of recolors in the icon section unless your counting kola's nerd rage. Nice try though.

Recolor CAN be useful, however a recolor takes literally five seconds + the time it takes to open/save the icon, + the time of uploading it.

Sorry I didn't realize there was a rule against the amount of time something took to create.

This means that people can upload infinite amounts of recolored icons without having any talent in making icons, and without putting any time or effort into their resources.

Cause effort = usefulness

This results in every inexperienced member flooding the icon section with recolors which receive high ratings from other inexperienced members

and you are?

while the hard work put in by freehand icon creators is rewarded with nothing, as it is quickly buried by recolored icons.

Its rewarded with an actual rating and actual credit. Once again you did not read much at all cause if you did you would notice a section is going to be made for recolor works.

Another issue with recolor is that, because there is no skill or quality in a recolor, the only factor is usefulness.

That's the point champ.

Usefulness is an opinion, and moderators prefer to avoid using opinions when approving resources.

Usefulness is usefulness.

This means that there are no longer guidelines for rejecting such recolors, and so they are all accepted.

Once again your lack of reading has lead you astray. There are guidelines, check 'em out.

1: Moderators will tag all recolored icons and skins, and users will have the option to include/exclude recolors from their search.

Thanks for stating what 10 other people did.

2: Recolors will be put into an entirely separate category for people to search through.

Once again...

3: Recolors will be accepted only on very rare occasions in which they are found to be extremely useful.

It's based on usefulness don't treat this like a pissing contest.

4: Recolors will be rejected, as they used to be.

YOU GAWT IT BOSS LADY

I listed these options in order of preference, 1 being my most preferred solution, 4 being a last resort.

cool

Something HAS to be done about this issue, however, because the way it is as of now, I cannot find the high-quality freehand icons that the dedicated members of hive put hard work into, because they have been buried in constant recolor submissions.

OMG 22 Icons buried all other icons accumulated over the past 6 years.

~This was a response due to frustration for all the nerdragers out there who cannot fathom this implementation. Get over it kids rules is rules.
 
just to clarify so that people dont read a wall of text
here is a question.

When did i say recolours have a guaranteed acceptance?

i didnt. in fact, i dont think anyone did. we merely said that recolours are now allowed to be submited. they still must go though quality control as well as how actually useful they are. only after then would they be accepted. if the icon is fuzzy, is skewed, is out of proportion, if the edit made is like from pink to pinkish purple, if the edit done is really horrible and looks like it was made from mspaint, it will not be accepted. ie. LIKE IT ALWASY HAVE BEEN.

so do not cry out about the tsunami of shitty icons because those will be rejected as fast as they come out. and after enough times of being rejected, people will hopefully get the message not to post shitty icons. HOPEFULLY (you cant guarantee people to be not stupid. the name pavlov comes to mind and the thought that how some people seem to be dumber than dogs)


PS if you have submitted a rage icon, delete them now. dont waste my time. Also, Trax, stop egging on other users by calling them children
 
Pyramidhe@d said:
you cant guarantee people to be not stupid. the name pavlov comes to mind and the thought that how some people seem to be dumber than dogs

If you refer to his experiment, every human is as "dumb" as a dog, because conditioning will work on almost everyone (allthough that has nothing to do with intelligence in the first place).

I'm afraid you mods will have lots to do, people won't delete their icons by themselves.
 
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