My concerns about the plugin community.
Posted: 23 Jul 2022, 07:02
Get ready for yet another meaningless text complaining about none other than our beloved plugin store and plugin community...
Please note that I will avoid mentioning certain names in a bad light, as one post I saw proved to me how flammable some people can be. Also, when I mention a group of people, I don't mean everyone, just a few certain individuals.
1. "Generations"
So, I think the first thing is quite clear when I mention it. It's inevitable, and will pretty much happen in any community. It's how our current "generation" of plugin creators are dying - lots of experienced and old plugin creators (such as RockFort, Yusuf, I'd even add Vonark to this list) are leaving the community and newbies replacing them (whose names I shall not mention). I'm mostly worried about this issue, seeing how most of the plugins by new people are typically of low quality. What if all the talented people leave and now we're left with only poor quality plugins? I mean, we do have documentation but when's the last time you've seen those tutorials, specifically regarding graphics, actually get used by the newbies? This happens to be the base of pretty much any problem, as you read further along.
2. The "new" creators
About them... oh my God...
Okay, some of them aren't that bad. Actually, I'm happy about some members who actually managed to improve their plugins, like Naufhal. I remember when he used to plugins that I could only describe as horrid, but now he seems to make acceptable quality plugins. That's progress! I can see a bright future for him. As for (most) of the other creators... I won't mention their names but I can only describe their plugins just like I could describe Naufhal's first plugins - horrid. It's always nice to see when people take criticism, and actually learn, and some people have done that. For others, they usually ignore it completely or just straight up reject it, start crying about it, etc...
That's one of the problems - people don't know how to take criticism. I know this issue (and the first point) can't really be solved, but at least I can point it out. Their refusal to improve is one of the reasons why the good creators leave.
Now for issues which also impact me...
3. Quantity over quality
I'd say it's quite rare to see plugins which have more than 5 buildings in them. For stuff like hospitals or police stations I'd say I understand that. RCI skyscrapers too. However, I don't understand it when people make a vehicle, one RCI building, etc. and put each one in separate plugins. You might know that a typical RCI plugin of mine has a few unique homes and height variations of the said homes. Yet it feels like I put in way more effort into those plugins than pretty much any other RCI plugin developer. I think it's quite obvious that some people are doing it for the diamonds, which I do somewhat understand, but it worries me that when the "new" generation comes along most of the creators will just make plugins for the diamonds...
I am currently trying to adapt to this issue by releasing smaller packs, which I think will be evident later on once I release them.
4. Forums and my bad experience with them
You might have heard this story from me before, but I shall repeat it again. I have previously released my Rowan Trees plugin on the forums. That wasn't the first time I uploaded my plugins from the plugin store to the forums. I also had uploaded my residential building pack with 60 buildings in it, since one person kindly asked for it. After uploading my tree plugin to the forums, some time later I saw a plugin with those trees in it. At least they could have credited me and I would have been okay with it, but no, the creator just took full credit for the plugin. You know what the best part was? Those trees weren't even imported properly, the plugin had a low quality upscaled version of my plugin. I had asked the creator to at least credit me, nothing. Reported, nothing. Only contacting the administrator seemed to work, but not the first time. I still had no response, and after a few days I asked JustAnyone and he told me that apparently there was "no such plugin". Fortunately, the plugin got removed later on. After all that happening I started thinking that the forums were now an unsafe place to upload plugins. What if I uploaded another plugin and then someone went ahead and without my permission or credit, uploaded it to the store? I am going to discuss moderation a bit later on, but that's another big drama.
5. High standards of people
One thing I hate seeing is the high standards of people. Wouldn't you hate it if you made a very big building pack and then someone demanded night frames for it? Not asked, but demanded. Oh wait, that has happened to me! I absolutely hate the fact that people don't know how hard it is to make a plugin. They think it's easy and plugin makers are just robots printing out those plugins with no lives of their own. Oh, you think the plugin is ugly? Well then, try making it yourself and see how you'll do. Where are the night frames? Well sorry, but I'm not adding them. You should understand that I'm not a robot and I have a life of my own, I simply don't have time to add them and it's very tedious work. Add night frames? What?? The night frames are already in the plugin what do you mean-
6. Moderation
This issue doesn't affect me as much, but I absolutely hate seeing bright happy futuristic big plugin skyscraper #8430591817259639105. The incompetence of plugin store moderators really annoys me. Fortunately, there's a new moderator, which seems to do a significantly better job than previous moderators. You can definitely make a compilation of bad plugins that were accepted, slap on Can Can or In The Hall Of The Mountain King and then post it on YouTube for free views. All jokes aside, I still feel like we need more plugin moderators as just a small amount of moderators won't deal with stuff fast enough. Although, I have seen with what quality plugins they have to deal. I kind of feel bad for them.
Conclusion
Have I forgotten some points I wanted to mention? Probably. However, I don't care. I just wanted to voice out my concerns about the community. I feel like constantly complaining about this might not be meaningful, but I also feel like if we complain enough we might see change. It's a complex problem which requires a complex solution and it's not easy to come up with one that fast. If you have your own opinions you'd like to share, feel free to do so.
Edit: fixed one mistake
Please note that I will avoid mentioning certain names in a bad light, as one post I saw proved to me how flammable some people can be. Also, when I mention a group of people, I don't mean everyone, just a few certain individuals.
1. "Generations"
So, I think the first thing is quite clear when I mention it. It's inevitable, and will pretty much happen in any community. It's how our current "generation" of plugin creators are dying - lots of experienced and old plugin creators (such as RockFort, Yusuf, I'd even add Vonark to this list) are leaving the community and newbies replacing them (whose names I shall not mention). I'm mostly worried about this issue, seeing how most of the plugins by new people are typically of low quality. What if all the talented people leave and now we're left with only poor quality plugins? I mean, we do have documentation but when's the last time you've seen those tutorials, specifically regarding graphics, actually get used by the newbies? This happens to be the base of pretty much any problem, as you read further along.
2. The "new" creators
About them... oh my God...
Okay, some of them aren't that bad. Actually, I'm happy about some members who actually managed to improve their plugins, like Naufhal. I remember when he used to plugins that I could only describe as horrid, but now he seems to make acceptable quality plugins. That's progress! I can see a bright future for him. As for (most) of the other creators... I won't mention their names but I can only describe their plugins just like I could describe Naufhal's first plugins - horrid. It's always nice to see when people take criticism, and actually learn, and some people have done that. For others, they usually ignore it completely or just straight up reject it, start crying about it, etc...
That's one of the problems - people don't know how to take criticism. I know this issue (and the first point) can't really be solved, but at least I can point it out. Their refusal to improve is one of the reasons why the good creators leave.
Now for issues which also impact me...
3. Quantity over quality
I'd say it's quite rare to see plugins which have more than 5 buildings in them. For stuff like hospitals or police stations I'd say I understand that. RCI skyscrapers too. However, I don't understand it when people make a vehicle, one RCI building, etc. and put each one in separate plugins. You might know that a typical RCI plugin of mine has a few unique homes and height variations of the said homes. Yet it feels like I put in way more effort into those plugins than pretty much any other RCI plugin developer. I think it's quite obvious that some people are doing it for the diamonds, which I do somewhat understand, but it worries me that when the "new" generation comes along most of the creators will just make plugins for the diamonds...
I am currently trying to adapt to this issue by releasing smaller packs, which I think will be evident later on once I release them.
4. Forums and my bad experience with them
You might have heard this story from me before, but I shall repeat it again. I have previously released my Rowan Trees plugin on the forums. That wasn't the first time I uploaded my plugins from the plugin store to the forums. I also had uploaded my residential building pack with 60 buildings in it, since one person kindly asked for it. After uploading my tree plugin to the forums, some time later I saw a plugin with those trees in it. At least they could have credited me and I would have been okay with it, but no, the creator just took full credit for the plugin. You know what the best part was? Those trees weren't even imported properly, the plugin had a low quality upscaled version of my plugin. I had asked the creator to at least credit me, nothing. Reported, nothing. Only contacting the administrator seemed to work, but not the first time. I still had no response, and after a few days I asked JustAnyone and he told me that apparently there was "no such plugin". Fortunately, the plugin got removed later on. After all that happening I started thinking that the forums were now an unsafe place to upload plugins. What if I uploaded another plugin and then someone went ahead and without my permission or credit, uploaded it to the store? I am going to discuss moderation a bit later on, but that's another big drama.
5. High standards of people
One thing I hate seeing is the high standards of people. Wouldn't you hate it if you made a very big building pack and then someone demanded night frames for it? Not asked, but demanded. Oh wait, that has happened to me! I absolutely hate the fact that people don't know how hard it is to make a plugin. They think it's easy and plugin makers are just robots printing out those plugins with no lives of their own. Oh, you think the plugin is ugly? Well then, try making it yourself and see how you'll do. Where are the night frames? Well sorry, but I'm not adding them. You should understand that I'm not a robot and I have a life of my own, I simply don't have time to add them and it's very tedious work. Add night frames? What?? The night frames are already in the plugin what do you mean-
6. Moderation
This issue doesn't affect me as much, but I absolutely hate seeing bright happy futuristic big plugin skyscraper #8430591817259639105. The incompetence of plugin store moderators really annoys me. Fortunately, there's a new moderator, which seems to do a significantly better job than previous moderators. You can definitely make a compilation of bad plugins that were accepted, slap on Can Can or In The Hall Of The Mountain King and then post it on YouTube for free views. All jokes aside, I still feel like we need more plugin moderators as just a small amount of moderators won't deal with stuff fast enough. Although, I have seen with what quality plugins they have to deal. I kind of feel bad for them.
Conclusion
Have I forgotten some points I wanted to mention? Probably. However, I don't care. I just wanted to voice out my concerns about the community. I feel like constantly complaining about this might not be meaningful, but I also feel like if we complain enough we might see change. It's a complex problem which requires a complex solution and it's not easy to come up with one that fast. If you have your own opinions you'd like to share, feel free to do so.
Edit: fixed one mistake