A little rant about attention whores.

Apr 19, 2009
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After getting slapped in the face with a rather harsh post about how I was "an attention starved gloryhog." I started to wonder if I really was what he claimed. To my dismay I have to admit I am a bit of an attention whore but thats beside the point.

What really got me is that I felt like was singled out as the only one. This could have been any number of resins for my high post count to my high thanks.thanked count. But as I finished my morning scan of the forums it hit me; this community is built on attention whoring.

Think about it; more or less everyone's goal here is to essentially is to be seen as the greatest TF2 mapper and possibly even get hied by Valve. Now that already sets you up against stiff opponents. However, we all know the best way to win is to outshine everyone else even if that means whoring yourself out with teasers and other may of producing hype. As more and more members have joined the site it has been harder and harder to stick out from the rest without bending over backwards just to get noticed. This also drives new members away because its just too hard for them to get anywhere within the established community. Apart from driving away new members we drive aways something else.

Now have you ever wondered why other communities hate us/try to avoid us? Its because we are seen by them as a group of people who are so full of themselves that there is no point in trying to deal with us.

I know this may sound a bit harsh but if you take the time to look at all the times you have hyped up a map just for the hope that it will live up to it and eventually be picked up by valve. So if you guys could leave this thread with anything its that we all crave the attention that comes with map making and that whoring is a big part of this community and will aways be.
 

Fraz

Blu Hatte, Greyscale Backdrop.
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Dec 28, 2008
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I think you got it all wrong. Hell I don't wanna be seen as the best mapper, I know there are people who are better than me out there. I'm here because of a hobby I enjoy. I like being creative, and this is one of the outlets for it. I just wanna be the best I can, and if one person enjoys playing on something I create, its worth the time and effort. Sure, I wanna be a game designer as a profession but I have 2 years of school and then something like a 4 year uni course, so for now it's a hobby and something I enjoy doing.
 

StickZer0

💙💙💃💙💙
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Nov 25, 2008
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I didn't know that other communities DID avoid/hate us, but then again, I don't go to other communities much.

I do agree that to get the best feedback on your map or whatever, you do need to become a well known figure, i've had to spend a long time building up a reputation among some of the group to be able to get people to actually want to play my maps, and whenever the work "Canada" or "Mexico" is mentioned, I will go "woo Canada/Mexico!" to remind people I have those maps.

But that's how groups work, especially ones like this where it's a creative community, once you've got the base feedback to get you started on making better things, you'll want to keep making a bigger and better name for yourself while treading on the smaller people.
 

J4CK8

L11: Posh Member
Mar 4, 2009
820
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Deep down I know we all probably want to be picked by Valve but most of us know we never will be. But what is the link between post whoring and being a great mapper?

I don't feel like a noticable member of this community, and maybe to some people that would stop them from responding to something but it doesn't make me want to stop mapping. I do seem to notice however that the more popular mappers tend to get pages of comments within an hour.
Take blobmap for example. Within a day that had more responses than any of my maps have had and it's not full of "updated to version x" comments either. He has less posts than many of the users here but I still feel he is well known on the forum. This could be down to the map looking a lot better which immediatly will put people off submitting maps to the site. 'non-famous' mappers, or maps that don't look good tend to be the ones that need the attention rather than the pro mappers who's maps are already at a high quality standard.

Not entirely sure what I'm trying to say here, but I don't see a direct link between post whoring and being a great mapper or well noticed member of the community.
 

Fraz

Blu Hatte, Greyscale Backdrop.
aa
Dec 28, 2008
944
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Deep down I know we all probably want to be picked by Valve but most of us know we never will be. But what is the link between post whoring and being a great mapper?

I don't feel like a noticable member of this community, and maybe to some people that would stop them from responding to something but it doesn't make me want to stop mapping. I do seem to notice however that the more popular mappers tend to get pages of comments within an hour.
Take blobmap for example. Within a day that had more responses than any of my maps have had and it's not full of "updated to version x" comments either. He has less posts than many of the users here but I still feel he is well known on the forum. This could be down to the map looking a lot better which immediatly will put people off submitting maps to the site. 'non-famous' mappers, or maps that don't look good tend to be the ones that need the attention rather than the pro mappers who's maps are already at a high quality standard.

Not entirely sure what I'm trying to say here, but I don't see a direct link between post whoring and being a great mapper or well noticed member of the community.


I took a particular interest in Blobmap, because well, he always doubted himself so pushing him to make and release a map. To show himself he can do it, and I think it worked. I think the quality of work, and the way something is presented has a big part in thread responses etc. People shouldn't expect feedback to just jump into their lap, but rather go out and find it. Ask people in steam what they thought, I know I'll try and give feedback whenever I play a map. If I play a map, and I get to helping someone through steam I'll generally keep on it through development. I know I tried it with Bedrock, Saguaro, Alaska and I'm now doing it with Brook and Blobmap.

You also need to push your maps out some, be active in the chat, get tests going on it. If you don't do that then you're kinda dooming yourself.
 

Seba

DR. BIG FUCKER, PHD
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Jun 9, 2009
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I do agree about the popular map getting tons of hype and stealing attention from others issue, but I don't think there's much we can do about that. Some maps look better, play better, or suck so bad they rock so naturally people will want to play them. However, that doesn't mean people should ignore the less popular, 'indie' maps.

Someone once told us in the chat, while we were discussing the general stupidity of America (hey, it can't be undone - don't hate on me now), that most Americans aren't as dumb as we Euros and the rest of the world think - it's just that the dumb ones attract the most attention, and the audience focuses on them.

I guess this is kind of like SWATY's case, in a way (don't worry TPG, I'm not insulting you). SWATY's trolling continued because he wouldn't learn his lesson; those of us who feel like attention whores now know what others think about them, and if they have any self-esteem or value others' opinions, they will change their ways. As for the general public, we should ignore, or at least not pay any special attention to, the attention-whoring posts. From the outside, this may be seen as giving some users special treatment and leaving others behind, which leads to the map-attention issue.

tl;dr

I don't think this is a topic to be thoroughly discussed. Attention whores shouldn't whore so much attention, and we shouldn't give too much of it to them.
 

Gerbil

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Feb 6, 2009
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Since I've joined I've seen a lot of attention whoring in this forum (some of it being mine too). But I've rarely seen it escalate to a level in which we turn off other communities and/or individuals.

What I find especially weird is the fact that TPG was singled out in that post while there are a couple of more fun examples of much larger attention whoring here and offsite by members of the community.

Obviously attention whoring can be bad, but is it always? As far as I remember mapping is a cutthroat business. If you want to be noticed, you have to be loud.
 

DJive

Cake or Death?
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Dec 20, 2007
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Waif

L7: Fancy Member
Mar 22, 2009
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This thread seems like a cry for attention :/

Anyway what mmidget sorta said, many people only want to map as a hobby, maybe make a fun map to impress friends and clans etc.
 

Ida

deer
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Jan 6, 2008
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So basically, you're saying it's a problem that we all wish to make something that will be seen by others? Isn't that pretty much why this site exists? If we shouldn't show off what we do, there's hardly any reason to do it at all.

Heck, I wouldn't even go as far as to call it attention whoring. All we "whore" about is, after all, completely appropriate for this forum, so all in all I don't see what the problem is.
 

UGLYdumpling

L3: Member
May 24, 2010
127
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As the old saying goes "The squeaky wheel gets the grease"

I consider the attention whore as one that says ANYTHING for attention - even at the expense of it not making any sense. A Sarah Palin type, for example.

On these forums I'd say you must have a thick skin and yes, there are lots of semi-fragile egos in every social situation - but you really have to stick your neck out to participate.

If you're putting part-time hours into a project as a designer here, you also have to do double-duty and act as your own press agent.

In the game business there are many people who specialize in particular areas; be it design, administration or legal. In a public forum such as this, you do it all yourself. So often this can be mislabeled as attention whoring when, in fact, it is amateur image branding and publicity.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
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Mar 4, 2008
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Are you sure people don't come here to learn about Hammer and test maps? The people who crave attention are the ones posting surf, idle and aim maps on FPSB; hoping to get a slice of the action with as little effort as possible. Not here under taking the full development process, months of work that goes with play testing quality maps to release something we/they can be proud of. I'm pretty sure people come here to test their maps, a service not readily available anywhere else, and learn how to build better maps. Not show off.

Naturally as a community grows higher skilled individuals, versed in the topic a particular forum revolves around, will arrive and flurish. I'm not sure how you can mistake an individuals talent and knowledge for attention whoring. It's merely a universal status quo that others will look up to people like that (if not resent and envy); it's also unsurprising that individuals like this become a centre point of a community, how could they not?

I'm pretty sure Booj made the gametype and prop library's to help people. Not increase the size of his e-penis. I'm also pretty sure we all create maps so that others can experience fresh and interesting gameplay. The very reasons why most people here despise orange maps and valve remakes.

If people don't like that we have high standards then they don't have to stick around, but it is our high standards that allows people to improve so much. I'm not going to change myself, expect less from others, just so that i seem more "one of the chums".
 
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Passerby

L2: Junior Member
Mar 27, 2010
99
15
really in this community you need to be a attention whore or you get shit input on your maps or it seems to look that way.
 

A Boojum Snark

Toraipoddodezain Mazahabado
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Nov 2, 2007
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The reason I posted that is because I saw you make a thread here and on SPUF within a couple minutes of nine's convo for the purpose of posting it. It struck me as such. A bit ago when you brought this up you said you asked if you could, which does lessen it to some amount, but it's still the fact you wanted to anyway.

Sorry if I offended or hurt you. It just tends to irk me how you are so quick to post other people's things.
 

Tinker

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Oct 30, 2008
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There isn't too much attention whoring, although some people sometimes get on such a high horse it's got legs like a Dali painting. Then again, this is sporadic, and often those people deserve it. At least for a while. We're all friends here, don't try to see things that aren't there and always, as with any critique, assume good faith.
 

nik

L12: Fabulous Member
Aug 14, 2009
987
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Some of your points are correct, but I think the main part of this community is to grow together and get better at mapping. Yes, we all come here to try and show off our skills, and make our maps better than anyone else's, but it would be pretty hard to do it without everyone else's help. If what you are saying is true, then why do many members actively help out players/new members who are asking questions? Or when a guest joins the chat asking something, and 4 people yell out what to do? If all we wanted was to 'whore' ourselves out, then why would we help others?
 
Feb 18, 2009
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I don't mean to get all sentimental here, but I stick around for the great company. No seriously. Go on most other forums and you either have idiot noobs or dick-head bigots. Whereas, here, everyone (well, most of you ;)) is really nice. I've made some good friends here :D (or at least, I hope I'm friends with you guys :blushing:)
Also, I like to be useful, so where I can, I try to help people.