Okay, here's my rant. I will probably regret this later, as it is very unbecoming of a mod, but I'm definantly in the mood for it now.
I entitle this "The disease of Me Tooismtm"
What exactly is the Me Tootm virus?
What is Me Tooismtm? Its quite simple. Its the "Me Too" affect that commonly sets in after the introduction of something new to an already well-established environment or community, and members of that cvommunity rush to create their own variations of that new idea regardless of their low quality results. It works in all fields, music, art, drama, academics, recreation, computer hard & software, food, dance steps, cars, appliances, brand-name breakfast cerials...but this aspect I will solely focus on Warcraft 3.
Me Tooismtm in Warcraft 3: Is it an epedemic?
No, but it is an uncrontrolled and slow-spreading outbreak. Probably the most shining example of this is skins. Skinning in 3D gaming is very difficult work. Quite often you have to UV map already existing models just to outfit your new skins, so not only art talents, but 3D program usage would also be required. Since warcraft skins are already drawn and wrapped, 90% of the work is already done, allowing for those who do not put forth a fraction of effot to be able to partake in this activity.
When I first came here, the skins section was rather small...only about 3 pages or so. However, once the tutorials came out, and people realized just how easy it was to edit skins, Me Tooismtm hit epedemic proportions on level of that of a mass bio-chem attack on a major population center reminiscent of Saddam Hussain-era Iraq, and then hordes came in.
What seperates Me Tooismtm from simply a rush of artists to a newly discovered resourse option?
Easy. Someone submits a high quality resourse...lets just say for sake of arguement, a zombie druid skin...its an awesome skin made by somebody who put hours of effort into it. Next few days/months you see more zombie druids....only the quality is a mere fraction of the original, or is a simple recolor with "blood" spraycanned onto it. That, my friends, is Me Tooismtm at the peak of its vicious cycle within its host. The infected dont care if its better, they dont care if its worse, they dont care if it was already made by somone else, they just made it to say "Me Too!" Especially since the method of Me Tooismtm entering the body was made so much more contagious with the introduction easy-to-do-skinning-in-4-simple-steps-with-pre-made-templates to the public. A deadly pathogen it is....
Is Me Tooismtm reserved only to skinning?
No, my friends it is not. There is no section that has a strong enouph immune system against the Me Tootm disease. There is a strong vaccination, but unfortunatly it is called "elitism" (Nn.- El~eet~izum, Ref: world dictionary). Approx 250 milligrams would do the trick, but it has nasty size effect, most prominant being site death, or "web death".
Could laziness be attributed to Me Tooismtm?
Laziness is another disease altogether, but its part of the same strain, and can inhabit the same host in tandum with eachother. For a good example of this, go look at the "weaponless" models.
How sick is the map section with Me Tooismtm?
Infected badly. However there is one glimmer of hope. A skin can be made in seconds. A finished map, even disturbingly low quality, still takes a little time, so generally a map made while under the effects of Me Tooismtm will still yield better results then a skin. However that is definantly not always the case. The current outbreak of Me Tootm in mapping is among "Life of Peasant" authors. However that changes on a weekly basis. In short: A five minute map is better then a five minute skin.
So are you saying if I make, say, a Dota-syle map, only imporved over all similar maps, even built from scratch, I may be infected with Me Tootm?
Heavens, no! Inspiration has to come from somewhere. Only few have the talent to come up with completely original ideas, especially this day and age when almost every idea has been used up. On the contrary, revamping and making an idea far superior, through hard work, persperation, and dedication, can actually acheive results far exceeding that of original idea. That is not Me Tootm. That is actually it's bane. We in the mapping business call it "effort" (Nn. Eff~urt Ref: Random encyclapedia). What Me Tootm is, if you want to make a dota map, not care about its quality or how well it compares to others of the same gener, you just want to make a dota map...that is Me Tootm. Example: I personally have never made a TD map and I rarely play them, so I don't know how to make one better and more balanced then the existing high-quality ones on the site, but lets say I made a "VG TD" that completely sucked, using my unpolished ablilities at TD making, just to say I have the versitility of being a mapper that can make TD's...that would be Me Tootm knocking at my door...
Oh my god!! Is there a cure for Me Tootm??
Yes, but unfortunatly it is hard, controversial, and could fall in under elitism...it involves not submitting any resourses unless you feel it is better then the other works of the average joe. This does not, does not, DOES NOT mean not making them at all...in fact, hands on and practice is how one learns...I just mean not submitting your "test runs" to the public as independant maps...they are laced with the Me Tootm virus and can easily spread. Curing Me Tootm is exceedinly difficult given the bias people look at their own works with. A resourse can carry Me Tootm and the author may never actually be aware of it...thats why it is dangerous...that is why a 3rd party is always needed to truly rid your body of Me Tooismtm, by evaluating your work from a different perspective. Just make sure that third party has proper credentials, not victems of the ever-so-persistant N00btm virus, such as Wormskull. (dammit, there's my disqualification...oh well, mods shouldnt be allowed to participate in contests anyway...)
That's good to know, VG! Were you ever infected with Me Tootm?
Yes, I was. In fact, half of my own maps were built under the effect of Me Tootm. However I was able to cure myself. I became an elitist toward myself. I would not let myself post another map unless It was proven to be at least par with the rest of the works put out by the community. I have many finished, yet unsubmitted maps, but I most not let Me Tooismtm further fester on my computer, and must purify and bury them with the proper rituals so their vengeful spirits dont come back and haunt me.
Why is Me Tootm so less prominant in the models section then everyhwere else?
Thats due to the diffuiculty of obtaining good modeling programs. If 3dx max was as easy to get as .blp tools and MS paint, you'd expect the models section to look very much like the skins section.
Damn, where did Me Tootm come from?
Its a mutation from the Laziness virus. I failed to mention that before. Sorry. Although there are signs of it having come in contact with the N00btm virus, thus futher altering its evolution.
Is Me Tootm have the most hosts in the Wc3 community as oppsed to other RTS gaming communities?
Most seeminly yes. I was/still am a member of the C&C community. Me Tootm had its roots set in there, but it was a controlled spread. Why? Because map making programs did not come with the games. People actually had to go and dig for it. Warcraft and starcraft and the such have built-in ready to access map editors that come with the game, allowing for anyone, wether talented people with lots of time on their hands, or Me Tootm hosts that only have about 5 minutes to spare, to start mapping.
Are there any symptoms of Me Tooismtm that I should look out for?
Absolutely! Follow this list:
[ ] Are you more worried about spreading your name then you are earning it?
[ ] Do you make resourses that have already been made by others? But feel your slightly different variation will be popular?
[ ] Do you not care if you can or cannot match, let alone exceed the quality of the resourses made by others?
[ ] Are you too impatient to receive feedback on your work before submitting?
[ ] Was your resourse made out of boredom?
[ ] Are you merely editing someone else's work, but feel that the edit is sufficient enouph for the credit of the resourse to be given to you?
[ ] Do you not care if your map has anything unique about to set it apart from the rest of its kind?
[ ] Do you not care of your resourse is useful?
If you checked any of these boxes, then you are infected. If you are, immediatly pull your chair away from your computer, stand up, go to the kitchen, make yourself some very strong coffee, take an ice cold shower, slap your face a few times to wake you up, cancel all appointments to free up some spare time, then sit back down and spend all free time on ONE resourse. Not two, not three....ONE. And when you think you are finished, repeat the steps above. Repeat until you receive only favorable feedback from testers.
Is Me Tooismtm against the rules on this site?
If you actually have to ask that....
-One very late-night grouchy VGsatomi
**Me Too(tm) is a trademark of VGsatomi, no rights reserved. Only one actual name was used/harmed in the making of this post, all others names/personages do no intentionally represent anyone living, dead, or undead.
***N00b(tm) is trademark of Wormskull, ALL right reserved, and has full ownership of property and commercial copyrights.
I didn't really understand what you mean
