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Guide Request Thread


F8L Fool

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I know that there is a thread devoted specifically to listing games without a trophy guide or roadmap, which is great. But that is a pretty passive thing that has no real interaction with the community. People can simply go there and browse to get an idea of what guide they could potentially write.

 

What I'd really like to see is a more community oriented thread that is centered on user requests for non-TG&R type guides. Basically how it would theoretically work is a user comes in and suggests/requests X type of guide(s) for Y game(s). This guide could be virtually any type, although I personally think one caveat should be no full walkthrough guides. They are not only incredibly time consuming, but they don't really match the purpose of the site.

 

The request itself should have some basic details such as why they want it, suggestions for what it would include, and how it would benefit the site and its users as a whole. If someone doesn't take the time to include such basic information it probably isn't a serious request to begin with. That information will also aid any writers browsing the thread itself so they can make an informed decision on to take up the job or not.

 

People could browse the thread, like they do with the one for TG&R, and perhaps find some inspiration or idea for a guide. There are a ton of talented creators on this site that could do more than simply crank out a TG&R occasionally.

 

I for one find writing other guides to be even more enjoyable in a lot of cases. Especially if said guide is for an absurdly time consuming or difficult task in the game, that is also associated with a trophy. There are times when a typical trophy description can't do it justice and a supplemental guide of some sort would be ideal. Especially if said trophy has many steps, working parts, or is particularly complex to achieve. It's actually quite common for someone to give a nice description in an overall excellent TG&R, but not go the extra mile and crank out a standalone guide that would be more suitable. After all, demanding that they do so would be a serious stretch.

 

There's also times where a guide isn't trophy related but would be of immense help for anyone just picking up the game, or trying to become exceptional at it. One example of such a guide (although I'm not sure you could even call it that) would be a standard F.A.Q. of useful info on the game.

 

Requests themselves could be categorized into the main thread so multiple requests for any given game could all be grouped together. An example off the top of my head, from a game that I did multiple guides for, would be Dragon's Crown and Destiny. Both of which could actually have used at least one more guide each, but I stopped at 2.

 

They could be displayed as so (going to add in some guide names to the ones I already did, some of which are made up and others are real):

 

 

  • Destiny
    • Vault of Glass: Raid Walkthrough (Insert Request Links)
    • Hand of Crota: Raid Walkthrough (Insert Request Links)
    • All Dead Ghost Locations (Ghost Hunter Trophy) (Insert Request Links)
    • All Nexus Strike Strategies and Tricks (Insert Request Links)

 

  • Dragon's Crown
    • Quest Walkthroughs and Treasure Art List (Insert Request Links)
    • Gourmand Tutorial (Insert Request Links)
    • Labyrinth of Chaos Walkthrough (Insert Request Links)
    • Equipment List and Builds (Insert Request Links)

 

The request link thing is so the potential author could click on the link and go directly to the request post itself. They could then contact whoever requested the guide directly if they felt the need to. That way they could ask for what they had in mind for the general purpose of said guide, if they have any suggestions, or any other info that wasn't already posted in the request itself. The writer could also do so just to inform them that they have decided to take up the task, or give them a quick draft/outline of their idea.

 

If multiple people all want the same guide, all you would have to do is list them numerically. So if 5 people made a request you just do 5 links and it would appear as so: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

 

There would be no need to directly respond to that person that made the request and say there is already a guide request up, but you could state somewhere in the guidelines that you shouldn't duplicate an existing request unless you have information to add to said request. That would stop things like having 27 links because 26 people all replied with "Ya, I'd like X guide too". Although if that many people all agreed there could be some sort of indicator that shows great interest in a specific guide through simple formatting. Such as changing the color of the request link from blue, to green, to red, with red meaning major interest in the guide idea.

 

That's about it really. I just would like to see more quality content from the community and I believe this type of thing would really promote some good ideas. It could also potentially encourage people to branch out and make guides that they otherwise wouldn't have—unlike TG&R's that everyone wants to make—if there wasn't a request or keen interest in such guides.

 

P.S. You could also link directly to newly created guides and cross them off the list after doing so.

Edited by F8L Fool
P.S.
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Maybe I misunderstood your post, but isn't this similar to content that already exists for the supplemental guide award?

 

People don't make requests for supplemental guides. Quite often they aren't made at all by the TG&R author because they are too busy making the TG&R itself. Despite the fact that there are quite a few examples where a supplemental guide for one trophy can be more helpful than an entire guide devoted to every trophy. Simply because X or Y trophy is the bulk of the difficulty for a game.

 

The supplemental guide award is just for very specific content as well. It's not an umbrella that covers all the possible things you could make a guide for. I'm not suggesting it become more broad, either. Doing so would create a ridiculous amount of unwanted supplemental guides simply because people would want the reward. There's no need to create unnecessary fluff.

 

I'm also not suggesting any award for making these guides or doing requests. It's just a standalone helpful thing. If the site adopted the thread idea and wanted to do a unique award, so be it. I'm just over adding awards for the sake of having awards, because people do things they wouldn't otherwise have done just to get the damn things.

 

The point of the thread would be to a.) have users openly request content they'd like to see made on the site, b.) let potential authors see what ideas they find interesting, and c.) make more good content that is mostly ignored.

 

*I'm also not suggesting that every single guide that comes into existence due to this be automatically stickied. If it was useful and worthwhile to be stickied, so be it. Simply creating a guide based on a request wouldn't qualify as an instant sticky. It's purely a way to help make new content and engage more with one another about making guides.

Edited by F8L Fool
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I think this would be great. There are a lot of guides that wouldn't necessarily need a sticky, but would be nice to have. I think people don't bother making smaller guides because of the fear of not getting it stickied. A request thread like this could maybe encourage those guides to happen.

 

My own example: I was thinking of making a Sine Mora challenges and bosses guide, but I just feel like I'd be wasting time making it, seeing how dead those forums are. If I'd see a lot of people requesting it then maybe I'd feel like making it more.

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I think this would be great. There are a lot of guides that wouldn't necessarily need a sticky, but would be nice to have. I think people don't bother making smaller guides because of the fear of not getting it stickied. A request thread like this could maybe encourage those guides to happen.

 

My own example: I was thinking of making a Sine Mora challenges and bosses guide, but I just feel like I'd be wasting time making it, seeing how dead those forums are. If I'd see a lot of people requesting it then maybe I'd feel like making it more.

 

See, this is a great example. I've had that game in my backlog and if such a guide existed I'd probably be more inclined to try it. I can think up dozens and dozens of guides that I'd love to see. ESPECIALLY for PS+ games that a huge amount of people have.

 

You can do no wrong with making a guide for indie hits, PS+ games, and cult classics. Except no one seems to want to because of low traffic. But you know what? You can always post a link to your guide on other sites and get a huge influx of traffic. Three or four links to the right sites and you can get a ton of people browsing the site, while simultaneously helping out a ton more people.

 

Plus if you really like the game then it won't feel like much of a chore, regardless of how much work it will take. Dragon's Crown wasn't popular at all when I did guides for it, but I fell in love with the game and have always liked the genre. Then people really started to play it and it got more exposure. Some of my favorite work has been for the least viewed games.

 

I'm sure there is a right person for every guide and a thread like this could match people up nicely. *Like if someone asked for a guide for any of the God of War, BioShock, Darksiders, Borderlands, or BF games I'd probably jump at the chance.

Edited by F8L Fool
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I'll just throw this out there, maybe I misunderstood your idea, but I'm pretty sure the Games That Need Supplements/Guide Challenges Thread already covers that. Unless this post is mainly about the difference in the system those things are handled.

 

The Guide Team will be looking for opportunities like the above where guides can be improved with additional content, but there are plenty of older guides out there now, and there may be some we're unaware of. If you find an opportunity where you feel a guide could use a supplement (detailed walkthrough, images, video, etc), please contact a GT member so that we can assess whether or not it should be added to this thread, even if you have no intention of creating the content yourself. If you plan on creating a supplement guide yourself, obviously there's no need to let us know, and you'll potentially be eligible for a supplement award as usual.

 

If I did misunderstand, just disregard my post.

Edited by Labartu
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I'll just throw this out there, maybe I misunderstood your idea, but I'm pretty sure the Games That Need Supplements/Guide Challenges Thread already covers that. Unless this post is mainly about the difference in the system those things are handled.

 

I totally forgot that thread existed but it doesn't quite apply to what I'm referring to, which is probably why I didn't even click on it when I was about to write this post.

 

The reason is that what qualifies as a supplement are pretty narrow: a collectible guide or a walkthrough for P&C. Typically speaking people do collectible guides the moment they see an opportunity to do so (especially for bigger games), since it's obvious credit for a reward. P&C's on the other hand it is somewhat a given now that they are becoming popular.

 

Because other kinds of guides don't qualify for award credit people just don't even bother. Kind of like how Zongorillacska has contemplated doing a "Sine Mora challenges and bosses guide", but feels there is no incentive because of the lack of people playing the game and no award credit.

 

What I'm talking about is more niche and to be honest could really complement that thread, since the groundwork is already laid out. I'll just go ahead and use my own guides or threads as an example, since my own experiences are the main basis for even suggesting this.

 

Take the Destiny guides for example. The TG&R has 117,000 forum views at the moment while the Vault of Glass walkthrough has over 420k alone. For a lot of people the VoG walkthrough was the main trophy that even needed a guide. How so? Because the raid trophies are the hardest trophies to get, especially when the game first came out. Both the normal clear and no death one.

 

I took the initiative to do that because I recognized it was the hardest trophy to get and I loved the raid. I could've easily attracted over 1 million hits had I done a hard raid section, no death section, revised the guide even more, solo/duo section, and posted it to Reddit or a few other sites. That is saying a lot.

 

Despite the fact that such a guide is clearly in such huge demand, no one has even bothered doing a Hand of Crota guide. Even though for many people that is the main raid for Christmas players and most people won't bother with VoG first, or struggle since the strategies are so clearly defined. I would've done the raid guide myself but I pretty much gave up on the game—which is why I didn't put in way more time to improve the VoG guide.

 

There are thousands of other games and trophies that could use similar guides. But no one even thinks to do it because they won't get award credit, the game is older, and/or they don't think it is really wanted. Such guides would be invaluable to the community, not just some random stuff done for the sake of doing it.

 

I'd like a thread just like the Supplemental Guide Thread you linked, but devoted to non-award and more open ended stuff.

 

*The reason I don't simply suggest to expand the criteria for what would apply to the Supplement Award, is it would open a can of worms. Either it would be too broad and you'd have a ton of terrible guides from people just trying to get the platinum. Or, it would be 100% based on the opinions of the guide team staff, which would piss people off if the team didn't approve and create drama that could be avoided.

Edited by F8L Fool
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People don't make requests for supplemental guides.

 

They don't? ... Then why does this post where I requested a supplemental guide exist? And why are there other people requesting supplements in that thread? :think:

 

http://www.playstationtrophies.org/forum/guide-central/241758-games-need-supplements-guide-challenges-4.html#post4894549

 

Also I sent Terminator a second request for a supplemental guide via PM and he added that request to the thread as well.

 

Basically, I agree with others that pointed out the "Games That Need Supplements" thread already exists and you can make requests there that the guide team will read and consider. And if they feel it would help the community (and remember, it's the requester's job to do a good job explaining why it will help in case the guide team is unfamiliar with a certain game), they'll add it to the list.

 

I can also only assume they'd be willing to offer Supplement award credit for it if they think it's important enough to add to the list. I mean really, there's only two kinds of supplements to discuss here: supplements that help you work towards a trophy, which probably are worthy of a credit and a sticky, and supplements that don't help you get a trophy, and thus probably aren't worth a credit or even a sticky. The latter category shouldn't be encouraged by staff as it's outside the scope of the site, and the former category is already well represented, you just have to use the available resources.

 

And no, I disagree with having a staff managed thread "devoted to non-award and more open ended stuff". If the content of the thread isn't helpful enough to trophy hunters to be worthy of a supplement credit, then it also probably isn't worth the staff's time to manage a thread for requests for such content. I apologize to any staff who feel I'm speaking out of turn by saying this, but I'd rather they spent their time working on content that worked toward meeting the goal of the site than managing a thread for requests that have nothing to do with trophies.

 

To your Destiny example, if this Vault of Glass thing has a trophy tied to it, then it is useful and in my opinion should qualify for a supplement credit. Is the award not intended to give an extra "thank you" to people who put in extra effort for a game with more demanding trophy requirements? Collectibles and P&C walkthroughs are obvious things that should be counted as supplements, but that doesn't mean nothing else can be. If you didn't get a supplement credit for your Vault of Glass guide, but it does help people get a trophy, you should contact the guide team and make a case for why you deserve that credit. As far as having "a ton of terrible guides from people just trying to get the platinum" goes, last time I checked, the guide team still has full discretion to look at anything that gets submitted and reject it if it's not up to snuff or not useful. So people writing bad guides for easy credits isn't going to happen.

 

In conclusion, I would suggest you check out the "games that need supplements/challenges" thread. I think you'd be surprised at what kind of supplements are being requested in exchange for a credit and probably find that it already fulfills what you were looking for with the added bonus of getting supplement credits for stuff you didn't think you'd get a supplement credit for.

Edited by mjc0961
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As others have said, we have the supplement/guide challenge thread already. That covers all the other guides that we could possible need, if we need them. Remember, this is a trophy site and we focus on guides that deal with the trophies, not guides that focus on everything about the game.

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In conclusion, I would suggest you check out the "games that need supplements/challenges" thread. I think you'd be surprised at what kind of supplements are being requested in exchange for a credit and probably find that it already fulfills what you were looking for with the added bonus of getting supplement credits for stuff you didn't think you'd get a supplement credit for.

 

I don't really care about supplement credit, but I was told pretty clearly that the only guides worth being acknowledged are already defined and not up for negotiation. Also that it would be very rare and on a case-by-case basis for award credit to go to guides that weren't for collectibles.

 

Granted this was a few weeks after the original thread went up, so I guess things could've changed.

 

As others have said, we have the supplement/guide challenge thread already. That covers all the other guides that we could possible need, if we need them. Remember, this is a trophy site and we focus on guides that deal with the trophies, not guides that focus on everything about the game.

 

I don't really agree with this at all. For starters, just about everything related to playing the game is either directly or indirectly associated with trophies. Obviously I'm not asking for guides that "focus on everything", which is why I stated full walkthroughs are absurd and shouldn't be included. Just stuff that is really valuable.

 

What I'm saying is that based on this sites own rules almost nothing falls into the supplemental award category, except for two mind numblingy boring guide types. It's basically a "Congrats on doing a collectibles guide" award at this point, which the same people do over, and over, and over again. Mostly for video hits might I add.

 

The gist of it is this: people don't make guides that they should be making, for trophies and other parts of the game that totally warrant a guide. The #1 reason is usually not many people are viewing said game, and #2 is no award. I read through the supplemental guide thing and it's hilarious how people spring into action whenever an award credit is on the line.

 

I'll just add one last thing. Having tips and tricks guides or FAQs are quite literally more valuable than the vast majority of trophy/achievement guides. Most games have pretty straight forward lists and maybe a handful would really need a hefty description. It's why mini-guides on how to get the most difficult trophy/task out of the way frequently gets more hits than an entire TG&R. Because people go right for what is really holding them back.

 

When I first started to actually post on this site I asked if I could do guides for only specific trophies. Why? Because it seemed ridiculous to do a full guide when only 3 of them even needed detailed instructions, beyond like two sentences to clarify what it is.

 

This lead me to do an entire guide just so I can be allowed to do a really thorough guide for one or two trophies. Because if I tried to do it like I had before, they would be locked and I'd be instructed to write a full guide.

 

TL;DR

I'll just refer to that supplemental thread and write/request guides as I see fit. I won't twist anyone's arm to make contributing helpful content easier or more streamlined. I'll just refer them to that thread and hope for the best.

 

You can lock the thread since there's nothing else to really discuss. Problem solved, I suppose.

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I don't really care about supplement credit, but I was told pretty clearly that the only guides worth being acknowledged are already defined and not up for negotiation. Also that it would be very rare and on a case-by-case basis for award credit to go to guides that weren't for collectibles.

 

Granted this was a few weeks after the original thread went up, so I guess things could've changed.

 

 

 

I don't really agree with this at all. For starters, just about everything related to playing the game is either directly or indirectly associated with trophies. Obviously I'm not asking for guides that "focus on everything", which is why I stated full walkthroughs are absurd and shouldn't be included. Just stuff that is really valuable.

 

What I'm saying is that based on this sites own rules almost nothing falls into the supplemental award category, except for two mind numblingy boring guide types. It's basically a "Congrats on doing a collectibles guide" award at this point, which the same people do over, and over, and over again. Mostly for video hits might I add.

 

The gist of it is this: people don't make guides that they should be making, for trophies and other parts of the game that totally warrant a guide. The #1 reason is usually not many people are viewing said game, and #2 is no award. I read through the supplemental guide thing and it's hilarious how people spring into action whenever an award credit is on the line.

 

I'll just add one last thing. Having tips and tricks guides or FAQs are quite literally more valuable than the vast majority of trophy/achievement guides. Most games have pretty straight forward lists and maybe a handful would really need a hefty description. It's why mini-guides on how to get the most difficult trophy/task out of the way frequently gets more hits than an entire TG&R. Because people go right for what is really holding them back.

 

When I first started to actually post on this site I asked if I could do guides for only specific trophies. Why? Because it seemed ridiculous to do a full guide when only 3 of them even needed detailed instructions, beyond like two sentences to clarify what it is.

 

This lead me to do an entire guide just so I can be allowed to do a really thorough guide for one or two trophies. Because if I tried to do it like I had before, they would be locked and I'd be instructed to write a full guide.

 

TL;DR

I'll just refer to that supplemental thread and write/request guides as I see fit. I won't twist anyone's arm to make contributing helpful content easier or more streamlined. I'll just refer them to that thread and hope for the best.

 

You can lock the thread since there's nothing else to really discuss. Problem solved, I suppose.

 

I especially agree with the bolded part. While easier games might benefit more from trophy guides (because, most of them don't require a guide at all to (P)), more complicated trophy lists almost always benefit more from guides specifically made for smaller parts of the trophy list. Usually 70-80% of trophy lists can be easily gotten by natural playing of the game, it's always that 1-2 last trophy that really needs an explanation. And then having a focused guide on that 1 trophy's requirement is always more useful.

 

And I know the supplement guides cover that, but there's always some that never get made because people might think it wouldn't draw enough attention. With these requests threads some of these could perhaps be discovered.

Edited by Zongorillacska
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There are allowances in Supplement FAQ for Supplements that's aren't for collectables or P&C walkthroughs:

In addition to the above eligible Supplemental Guide Credits, the Guide Team may award a credit for other types of supplements at our discretion, beyond the types listed above. There are no rules or criteria involved in a discretionary Supplemental Guide Credit. Continue writing supplement guides and submit them in the Submit Forum as you always have but in addition to receiving a sticky, you may get Supplement Guide Credit.

If someone wants to write a Supplement for something which they believe to be needed then they can and Submit it as normal for the Guide Team to look over :).

 

I don't really care about supplement credit, but I was told pretty clearly that the only guides worth being acknowledged are already defined and not up for negotiation. Also that it would be very rare and on a case-by-case basis for award credit to go to guides that weren't for collectibles.

 

Granted this was a few weeks after the original thread went up, so I guess things could've changed.

Who told you that :confused:? We have actually credited quite a few Supplements that aren't for Collectables or P&C walkthroughs.

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The gist of it is this: people don't make guides that they should be making, for trophies and other parts of the game that totally warrant a guide. The #1 reason is usually not many people are viewing said game, and #2 is no award. I read through the supplemental guide thing and it's hilarious how people spring into action whenever an award credit is on the line.

 

I disagree with what you've deemed the reasons are, but otherwise I agree with this. There's a certain item in the supplement thread that I saw and immediately thought "Wait, the stuck guide didn't have that already? Why wasn't it rejected? I thought that was a standard requirement now."

 

Ultimately it's a thing to be reviewed on a game by game basis, some games will need more detailed threads dedicated to one trophy and some won't. When it is needed the guide team is certainly fine with offering a supplement and listing the request for all other members to see. I don't say this to be insulting, but this whole thread just feels like you've been a bit out of the loop on what the guide team is doing in regards to supplements.

 

TL;DR

I'll just refer to that supplemental thread and write/request guides as I see fit. I won't twist anyone's arm to make contributing helpful content easier or more streamlined. I'll just refer them to that thread and hope for the best.

 

I don't really think a second supplement thread would make things easier and more streamlined. I think it'd do the opposite.

 

The current thread and system we have is fine, people just need to make better use of them.

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I don't say this to be insulting, but this whole thread just feels like you've been a bit out of the loop on what the guide team is doing in regards to supplements.

 

I don't really think a second supplement thread would make things easier and more streamlined. I think it'd do the opposite.

 

The current thread and system we have is fine, people just need to make better use of them.

 

You're absolutely right. My knowledge of and experience with the award was somewhat tainted, right after the award was introduced. I based this post off of a discussion with an old mod, which has been cleared up by Terminator in PM's.

 

Things definitely have shifted on the site and I wasn't aware of the positive changes. This can be attributed to the fact that I've pretty much avoided many sections of the site over the last year or and a half, opting only to keep track of my guides and games I'm playing.

 

It's clear to me now that the problem stems from the lack of exposure that the supplement thread has, along with a misunderstanding about the way the current guide team functions.

 

I'll do my best to get the word out about the thread/system, as well as do my part with guide creation.

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