MAGS December: "It's Me Again" (CLOSED)

[Atelier]

Icey this is the third time and last time I'll say it: this theme won't be appearing in February because I'm not running it again.

Radiant caught you out and now you're making up barely coherent excuses to cover your barely coherent cheating. Why would you even want to cheat on MAGS? I can't understand why anybody would go to such an effort (but ironically it was your lack of effort that caused this) to corrupt something which is solely intended for enjoyment and the satisfaction of completing a game, not joking about being on a metaphorical 'killing-spree' and harvesting grand-slams to boost your forum ego. So the only award you're getting out of this whole shenanigan is the Worst Compulsive Liar on Earth.

I don't think you should compete for a while, because it's likely you will ruin the competition for other people, and people would rightly get irked if I allowed you to continue like this. I don't think there's much else to say.

[ZapZap]

Maybe "Lying" should be February's theme 

Ideas to help you:

• A competitor cheats to win a prize
• A pathological liar makes a mess and has to win back people's trust
• You discover someone's lie so you start planning a suitable punishment

[Atelier]

Hahaha that's too funny

[Icey]

Ok I didn't see you say that and I don't care about wins if you heard me say that before. I already said that I wasn't going to enter cause not only am I busy but I mean I already got to see the two mags I wanted to see and I don't think I want to enter again cause the time is to much to worry about.

And stop calling me a liar. I don't make excuses, I only comment on what people say.

For example: Just cause you see me running with a game system down the street and I just so happen to pass the game store doesn't mean I stole it.

If you ask me why I was running then I will tell you why but if you don't want to believe and you just so happen to go grab your investigation items and start looking around the store and find something that seems odd then try to use it against me then that's when I have to give a little more information. I don't have to tell you guys every single bit of information but just the main or big details.

I don't wanna boost my forum ego cause that was not what I intended to for but I also don't want to be the little kid in the corner who doesn't wan't to say anything cause just about everything he says ether makes someone upset or triggers a long argument.

But hey look at it this way, I'm gonna clean up that game and if someone doesn't like it then oh well.

And you guys wonder why get mad. I have nothing against no one here but stop the side remarks cause I asked before not to joke around with me like that.

[ddq]

You brought this on yourselves. Just learn to ignore him instead of giving him a pedestal to spread his immaturity.

[Icey]

Ooh sometimes there is just so much I can say to you but it would so make me look like a bad guy.

[Icey]

Here is the fixed version.

Future.rar - 3.64MB

[OneDollar]

I think the rules could benefit from being re-worked to make them clearer. To be honest I thought you were allowed to use any free materials (which is why I made my comments in the January thread to that effect) but I see it is actually limited to sounds, music, modules and templates. Looking back to the days when Klaus ran MAGS it seems even modules and templates weren't allowed. I think I got confused because I know (in the days before OSD :o) people have submitted RON games to MAGS. I tried to find out if those were special months like the recent OSD theme or if people had genuinely remade the characters during that month, but the MAGS site doesn't seem to be working for me at the moment.

Anyway, I'll probably comment more when you put up your rules. I was thinking something like the below, but feel free to ignore them.

1) The game must be made in AGS.
2) Your game must not contain anything created before the theme was given, with the following two exceptions:
- Your game may use pre-existing sounds and music, but they must be freely available to the public.
- Your game may use pre-existing modules and templates as long they are freely available and the vast majority of the game is new.
3) You may work in teams or on your own.
4) Do not enter with a game you made at the last minute or one that does not work. Put a reasonable amount of effort into your game.
5) To enter you must provide a working download link in this thread before the deadline is reached.

I'm quite tired, so I don't know how much sense they make.

[Dualnames]

The rules are just fine, provided someone cares to read them. I've entered some MAGS myself, and I hosted some as well, before passing the torch to Atelier (who despite being 16, is quite a member/asset of this community imho).

It should be of no importance, if the link isn't working, those things occur here and there.

I recall some cases of people, cheating for mags, usually with the voting system.

This is not cheating, though. This is just lying. Therefore because the entry has been proven to be an attempt at winning the competition and it's quite obvious it's rushed, and build upon another game, must not be accepted, in my opinion of course, after all, it's Atelier's choice.

The rules are there:

"You are not allowed to use material already created before this competition. Your game must be completely new! Music and sound is an exception; you can use free material that is available to the public, if you wish. Modules and templates are also allowed. Please do not enter the competition with a rushed entry (a game created last minute). Sure, you can make a game and rush it - but don't do this just to win by default."

Several MAGS games have used roger, as he is part of the template, but they have actually created "content".

I'm not sure if it's me or Atelier, but the whole thing with the modules and templates, was to help people, by using a standardized interface or for instance the snow rain plugin for snow/rain effects. 

[Icey]

Sure, you can make a game and rush it - but don't do this just to win by default."

Look will you stop doing that, I don't care about the wins and heck that game came so late I didn't even know I was going to win but I was no going to complain. Sure it's rushed, I'm not gonna lie. But what I said was true but the cut stuff. You can't accuse me of lying cause the game didn't save when my computer shut off. I told you I was in a rush to try to compile the game and zip it up just so I could post it in time.

[Kastchey]

Like Ponch pointed out already, there's nothing surprising in what Icey did. Even though the kid does irk me with his arrogance, I said that I didn't intend to write yet another Icey-bashing post and I meant it.

What really surprised me here, and what was the reason why I made my post, is that Atelier let this one through even though it was clearly breaking the basic MAGS rules and wasn't even downloadable from the main thread. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the host should be responsible for checking if the provided links are valid and for qualifying the submitted entries. If an entry goes by the rules, the host confirms it for voting or lets it win by default. If it doesn't, they deem it not qualified for the competition.
Any thoughts on this?

[Khris]

Gah.

There was a thread over at pixelation some time ago where some guy posted an RPG sprite template for critique. It didn't take long until somebody noticed the uncanny resemblance to a sprite on deviantart which turned out to be not just well-known but actually declared PD(!) by the author.
This was pointed out by a mod since ripping off other people's art is really, really frowned upon over there.
The OP went on to post about 30 lines of excuses, in flawless English, mentioning how he got the pretty peculiar pose from Mega-Man and whatnot and saying how he knows it looked bad but it's really his.
People were still giving him the benefit of the doubt when somebody noticed that the five colors that made up the eyes had the exact same RBG values as the original.

Up until half an hour ago, this used to be the most pathetic and incomprehensible attempt at lying I have seen so far in an internet forum.

The time-stamp of the new files is 2012/01/05, 4:48pm.
And this joker is even trying to convince us that he doesn't care about winning!
To top it off, he wants to enter the fixed version in February's MAGS, assuming that A) he can choose the theme since he won December's MAGS and B) we somehow miss that he's going to enter a (")game(") he started over a month before he's allowed to!

What the, I don't even. Wow.

[ddq]

I hope that's a verbose way of saying "I agree with ddq, let's ban icey".

[Icey]

Fool I had already fixed the game. Complain all you want but I did what I was suppose to do and I said what I was suppose to say. I am not mad at everyone but you know what someone doesn't always need to stir some shit up every freaking time >:[

I mean why should I even argue with half of you all cause a lot of you are adults and I know I'm not gonna win against you if there are more than one of you. So with that being said I'm done, I got games to make and other stuff to do. Any bit of my time wasted going back and forth about a little problem beyond me so I yeah through with it.

I'm not leaving but I'm sure not arguing. \('.')/ woooop!

[miguel]

Listen Icey, you shouldn't be mad with anyone here, but people here are mad with you! Do you realize that your credit has just ran out? Trust is something very hard to gather but very easy to loose.

I agree that there should be some kind of punishment for what you've done, but the most important thing here is for you to understand why people are mad at you. And members your age prove every day that it's not that adults are hard on you but its your immature behaviour that can't be accepted.

Everybody here has failed and will fail again, we're all humans and allowed to have a bad day but what makes us grow up is accepting that we have failed.

Be a good boy, apologize and stay calm for a while. Do your thing but always acknowledge that for every act (post) you do there will be consequences.

[Sane Co.]

I hope that's a verbose way of saying "I agree with ddq, let's ban icey".

No, we shouldn't ban Icey, he made a mistake, and he will (hopefully) learn from it. That's not to say he should get off for free, as when someone like miguel said there are consequenses. We should put this behind us and work on the January competition.

[Atelier]

I know it's hypocritical of me for posting up a set of rules when I've made a couple of mistakes in recent days. But I'm actually grateful to those who challenged me on them. This is just basically a more draconian-looking reiteration of the rules in the first post (which won't be changing), but I hope it's good for discussion and reference in future scenarios. 2bi is an addition to the ruleset which may stop people entering to win by default; while also providing some slack for people who have been wanting to participate all along but couldn't post it up on time. It's only a quick draft so feel free to scrutinise.


     1 All material in your entry must be entirely new, and made during the respective month, with exceptions for:

          a) audio. This includes music and sound effects, but does not extend to any spoken dialogue. The files used must be freely available to the public.
          b) templates. As above, they must be freely available to the public.
          c) any other resources deemed acceptable by the host during the respective month, such as during a special RoN/OSD round.

     2 You cannot enter or participate:

          a) with any game started before the first day of the respective month, without exception.
          b) with any game after the effective deadline of the respective month.
               i) The only exception is if the entrant has announced their participation at least five days prior to the effective deadline, and only if
               there is at least one other entrant to the competition.
          c) if your game was created with anything other than AGS.

     3 In the post announcing the game you wish to compete with, you must provide:

          a) the full title of your game.
          b) a tested and working download link.
               i) You must ensure your download link remains active until the voting session has been declared over.
          c) at least one suitable screenshot.
               i) The screenshot may be a title screen or in-game screenshot; providing the screenshot depicts your entry 'in-game'.
               ii) This requirement does not apply to surplus screenshots.

     4 You may edit your game:

          a) at any time before the voting session.
          b) only during the voting session to fix bugs.

     5 You may work alone or in a team, providing you make clear you worked as a team in the latter case.

     N.B: The effective deadline is the last day of the respective month or a modified date set by the host.

[Ponch]

"i" for Icey?

Also, these are fine rules. But nowhere in this document is there a statement of my right to bear arms. And I can't support any document that doesn't guarantee my right to defend myself against zombies and / or the 2012 apocalypse.  8)

[nihilyst]

          a) audio. This includes music and sound effects, but does not extend to any spoken dialogue. The files used must be freely available to the public.

Meaning that if I, say, have gathered a database of self-recorded sounds on my PC (which I have), I can't use them, but if they're from the net (which I have, too), I can, but I have to download them again, or what? I can't quite grasp that.

[Khris]

I hope that's a verbose way of saying "I agree with ddq, let's ban icey".

Sure is. But let's only ban him from MAGS for a few months, not from the forums. He's too much entertainment. And it's enough punishment that when he has finally grown up, he'll occasionally remember this and other incidents and cringe with embarrassment.

What I don't get about this is why people cheat in general. I get cheating in a test to get through school, but why cheat on something where there's no point to winning other than winning?
If you cheat on a board game or competition like this, it seems the motivation isn't winning but succeeding in cheating without getting caught. Because how can you enjoy winning if you didn't do it honestly?