New VGmix 3 info! Thoughts on their new approach...

[SwordBreaker]

For those who attended MAGfest, I'm sure most of you have seen the VGmix panel. For those who haven't:

http://www.vgmix.com/vg25/viewtopic.php?id=4562
In the thread there's a link to the full panel thanks to Darangen. For those with a slow connection:


http://vgmix.com/newfeatures/
Document on most of the new features...

What do you guys think? I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Just no badmouthing anything without reason. It's obvious that VGmix has been taking a totally different approach from OCremix, and both will continue to be different. Here's what I wrote in the VGmix forums:

"Wow...

I must say...I'm VERY impressed by that list. I can see why this is taking awhile to program. This actually dwarfs VGmix 2 in every aspect...

It also must've taken a lot of imagination to come up with these ideas. Love the whole RPG integration here. I also like how VGmix 3 will be community-based. Almost everything depends the users and remixers of the site. "Yin/Yang"-style ideas like reviewing in order to post a song are also very impressive ideas.

I'm afraid of two things, though. One, obviously, is people being turned off by the RPG concept. On one hand we'll know that these people are too lazy anyway. On the other...I feel the process of managing your actions can be a bit time-consuming...

Two...abusing the system...it's going to be very hard to trust every "Sage" on board, you know...despite having complaint options...maybe I'm being too skeptical here...

I have a cool idea based on the the whole "Bonuses for 'attacking random encounters'"...although it can be a bit hard to code and implement...how about rewarding "inactive" users with more XP points as soon as they become active with reviewing and such? So that these users don't fall behind? You know...kind of like when you're not as active in World of Warcraft so you get more XP points compared to the normal amount? Also...bonus items that raise stats for people who have been away from the site for a specific amount of time? Maybe things like this will encourage lazy and busy people to come back more...

Anyway, excellent work, virt and team. Truly, you guys may have something here."

[Smoke]

Looks rather interesting to me, and it seems to be able to resolve one of VGMix 2's biggest issues: A lack of reviews later on, and a rating system that got skewed too easily.

[watkinzez]

Watched the video earlier this evening. Very impressed by the new system and features; never knew what all that RPG stuff was on 2.0, so pleased to see it explained here. It'll be interesting to see how effective the review-incentive system will be.

[Dunnowhathuh]

The review songs to post your own requirement would be pretty annoying I imagine, but I guess if you have the time to do a remix then presumably you'd also have the time to review one.

[Black Mage]

Maybe I'm just blind and didn't see it mentioned, but is there any idea of when 3.0 will be open for business?

[KyleJCrb]

Maybe I'm just blind and didn't see it mentioned, but is there any idea of when 3.0 will be open for business?

Spring-ish, possibly.

[Sir_NutS]

I really hope they do a great work this time, vgmix 2 became a mess way too quickly.

[OverCoat]

Decent effort!

[Murmeli Walan]

I can tell that they really went back to the drawing board on this one. This new "checks and balances" system will really make sure that abuse doesn't happen frequently like it did with VGMix 2.0. New sections for site projects and competitions sounds great, and an overall expansion of the "MMORPG website" idea sounds exciting.

[Zombie]

Yay! I can't wait until VGM 3 is released!

Looks sweet!

[TCK]

While I think the idea of an RPG system is too ambitious and complicated for a VG remixing site I do like the incentives to participate in the community.

It's definitely something to look forward to.

[Bahamut]

I saw part of the panel and I was quite impressed. VGMix is finally coming out as its own.

Also, virt said they're aiming for release in two weeks.

[Sir_NutS]

I saw part of the panel and I was quite impressed. VGMix is finally coming out as its own.

Also, virt said they're aiming for release in two weeks.
I would like to see that happen, but I doubt it. The features are too many and they don't even have a Beta yet.

[jk]

virt here. Beat me to the post!

Thanks for the feedback so far, and most of all, for being so constructive about it. I can't take credit for all these ideas; we went through over 1,000 posts in our suggestion forum and made a list of damn near 300 of them, then balanced it out as much as possible. We'll still need tons of tweaking, though.

I honestly can't wait to see the first OCR/R:TS/OLR project organizer use our functions to help organize their files/votes/whatever - It's exactly why we're doing it, and it'd be so cool to see sites finally working as one solid community. I'm misty-eyed just thinking about it, we all put so much time into this hobby.

Anyway, about the launch date, yeah. NutS is right, I feel like a dork, but my estimate was way off. We're mindblowingly busy in our daily lives, or else we would've been done a year ago (before we were even shut down).. But we're rocking ass so far, and as soon as we're at beta I'll post here so anyone who wants to can come tweak/break stuff.

For what it's worth, you're all welcome to join our forums too, and/or visit our irc channel on irc.vgmix.com #vgmix. If we had conflicts in the past (I see you hiding in the corner, Smoke) give us another shot - times change and dudes develop Drama Allergies. Let's make and enjoy great freaking music.

Starting with Stan Bush - YOU GOT THE TOUCH!

[Sir_NutS]

I actually can understand why all the delays virt, there was basically a complete redesign and making all that brainstorming possible and correctly implementing the structure of that database is not easy task, let alone programming the front end.

As I said, I'm eagerly waiting the release of the new vgmix, even if it's still months from now. The new additions are things that vgmix 2 needed to get rid of the mess and have a good review per song ratio.

[Darangen]

I grew up as a remixer over at VGMix, and I'm definately stoked about the new version. I can't wait, yet I will wait as long as I have to in order to see VGMix for what it was always meant to be.

Keep up the awesome work Jake!

[Smoke]

Starting with Stan Bush - YOU GOT THE TOUCH!

YOU GOT THE POWEEEEEEEER! (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8688577315402891785)

Sorry, I had to.

[D-Lux]

VGMix 2 never really impressed me enough to spend time to review/rate/post on the forums, and even though I don't make music (lol), the details of VGMix 3 have my mouth watering. I'm very impressed Jake.

[The wingless]

(My email isn't working. Thank you very much, grass-roots hosting!)

I read over the VGmix3 manifesto, and I'm supremely impressed with the ambition and features. As for people not gelling with the RPG theme... consider, if but for a moment, what the site's goal is: a tightly-knit community of VIDEO GAME REMIXERS. If you ain't down with elixers and MP in that group, there is NO fucking safe haven for the geek-within.

Even though I haven't touched a remix in a year (hell, that World of Warcraft 'mix is the last thing I posted, and it's literally coming up on its one-year anniversary), I can feel that old familiar remixin' feelin' a-comin' over me.

Godspeed you Black Virt!

GET TO ZEE CHOPPAH AND GIT ME SOME JELLO PUDDING, CLAIRE!




p.s. Virt posting on OCR!? THE END DAYS

[Sir_NutS]

p.s. Virt posting on OCR!? THE END DAYS

QFE
=p


damn you 10 letters limit

[Patrick Burns]

for the first year I belonged to this community, I really thought virt was a born again christian brotha from the hood with a crazy sick doo.

[Ramaniscence]

The first thing I said about VGMix 3 was "Man, those sound like some good ideas" but immediately I said "But I said the same thing about VGMix 2."

Yea, VGMix 2 was good in theory, so was VGMix 1, and so is VGMix 3. I'm excited about it, but I'll believe everything works as good as it's proposed WHEN I see it. Best feature VGMix has?:

Good coding. The fact that they can add, edit, and change anything with general ease is gonna help out BIGTIME, and hopefully keeps VGMix up for a good while this time =P.

[A-RoN]

for the first year I belonged to this community, I really thought virt was a born again christian brotha from the hood with a crazy sick doo.

Why do I get the feeling that he's lying? If you checked my profile page on VGmix 2, his profile was a copy/paste job to make me look like an idiot white guy.

Hopefully, he'll understand what I'm truly about once he catches me onstage somewhere. Asian Canadians have it hard I know.

EDIT:

I'm glad the new site has song editing with more features to them. I'm also into the random encounter thing for reviews. I'm hopping to keep them shorter and cut down on the steak compared to what Rexy and Liontamer have to offer in words of reviews. If Mr Kaufman lets me back in, I'm only releasing collaborations with some of my other friends involved, and my posts (if any) won't be pages like 2 years ago. I have no internet connection at home and will be posting from an internet cafe if I have enough money to do so. To all who hate me, you're very lucky I'm in this vulnerable spot regarding access to the internet. I have a busy life just like most of you and I have no time to reply to petty insults and racial comments against me. My skin has thickened, and my patience has grown.

God bless,
A-Ron

PS One question for the haters: Are you willing to do in the name of truth, what the world might do for a lie?

[Bahamut]

Well, a huge plus is that the site was coded from scratch. I can't wait to see how this turns out though.

We definitely need an OCR guild on there.

[KirbyMeister]

VGM3 is heavily focused on quality control. You can't upload a song without completing 3 reviews, and the system demands you meta after hitting a certain predetermined limit (HP loss) which can only be avoided by writing really lengthy reviews.

Automated handling of competitions and projects is a much-appreciated feature. Only thing I'm really worried about is a Sage cabal killing everything that they don't like, but other than that it's really QC oriented.

In short, I give it a 34.1589132 out of 39.141592654!

[Villainelle]

Best feature VGMix has?:

Good coding.

Good coding doesn't necessarily make good sites, though. ;) What I like most about VGMix is the self-sustaining, community-fueled approach. It really is of, by and for the people. Anyone can upload as long as they participate in listening to others' work; no middlemen, just popular vote to ensure QC. I like to err on the side of letting in too much crap rather than keeping out too many gems, and so does VGMix.

As per my comment over there, though...really hope the various title/guild systems get toned down, or don't figure so prominently in site functionality. The cliquism on both of these sites is pretty tiring. I think priority should be MUSIC then COMMUNITY, not the other way around, but that's just me.

[zircon]

Well, good coding helps to make good sites. As virt mentioned a BIG problem with VGMix 2 was the lack of expandability due to everything being hard coded. The new system allows for much more flexibility. That will, in turn, make the site better!

[The wingless]

Hate to be the wet-blanket slash anal design nerd, but the only thing I dislike about Vgmix3, by which I mean hate, is the logo.

Sorry, dood or doodette that made that logo. Midway has honed me into a finely tuned killing machine.

[Blake]

This looks cool. Really digging the VGLogs idea.

[jk]

I want you to do a skin/theme for us fairly badly :D The logo is all me - All I know is metal band logos, which explains a lot - but I'm not at all opposed to replacing it if you have a better proposal! So far, no one has :(

To follow up, my overriding goal is to complement the features OCR/R:TS already have, and provide multiple sources of feedback instead of an "alternative community". Frankly, OCR has fixed most of the flaws that made me start my own site in the first place, so we're at the point where we can actually benefit from coexistence instead of there being a rift. I guess most communities go through this sort of stuff.

I agree about cliquishness, but it's hard to avoid. What we CAN avoid, however, is disrespect. Sounds insane coming from me of all people, but I'm gonna be a hard-ass about people treating each other with courtesy. It's one thing to have a circle of friends, it's another to put people down just because your opinions on video game remixes differ. I hope to never see (or do!) that again.

For what it's worth, thanks to every one of you for your support.

[Murmeli Walan]

Midway has honed me into a finely tuned killing machine.

Can't wait to see you in the next Mortal Kombat game, then. ;)

[The wingless]

I am on the case!

I'll need to be paid of course. I want Virt to deliver the money personally to me.

And I want to be famous. Somebody important... like an actor. And I don't want to remember a thing. You got me? Not a goddamn thing!