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| Felipe Musco |
 Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 6:15 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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Hey, Conor, aside from the whole gp idea, which seems to be twisting some people’s mind around (buying moderatorship or Administrator-like powers? What is this, a coup d’Etat?), how do you feel about the Download Area? It would sure bring in some more people. And I liked Carpe Guitarrem’s ideas, even if not involving gp (although I think it should), like downloading Screensavers, Wallpapers (maybe even Apprentice skins), Virtual die rolers and astuff like this, aside from, of course, stuff directly related to the TCGs. If this means lots of work, you could ask the mods for some help on this, I’m sure that La_Sin_Grail has most of the online Magic-related stuff lying somewhere inside his computer, and if he doesn’t, all he’d have to do is post a thread at the MTG area, most of us would be more then happy to help him gather stuff. As for LotR, the LotR area’s sure got a lot of moderators, and they probably have that kind of stuff, too. I liked the new way of handling gp (kinds fo gets to what I was trying to suggest, when I threw some random amounts of gp for different kinds of posts, but in an actually better way - as I said, I have no idea what you can/cannot do), but I was wondering: can we give gp to existing posts, or only to new ones?
I think a download area would rock big time, just imagine: instead of having to delve into the banner-filled Wizards or Decipher websites, we could just come to Cobra and download the spoiler we want to check out. Also, as I suggested SDA and Apprentice, again, with help from the moderators, you could (now, I know this would be time-consuming, but I think it would be worth it) add another button to all the main posts linked at the Deck Design Archives: download. This would automatically download the deck in Apprentice/SDA (as appropriate) version, so players wouldn’t even have to bother building them, just testing and tweaking them to their liking. Now what do you think about this? If you don’t like the idea, I’d like to know why (aside from maybe being a bit of extra work, since this is a good investment to the site). If you don’t feel like posting them here, you can PM’em to me (although I don’t think you’d do that, you usually don’t).
Also, I have a final idea, but this would be ABSURDLY time-consuming, so it’s more like a dream for the future, when you totally dominate the web, and have a staff of, like, 500 people working under you: having a portuguese version of the MTG area. LotR already rocks here, and the game’s a bit warm ’round Brazil right now, but Magic is ALWAYS pumping. Problem is, most people don’t speak English that well, so their access is somewhat limited (I, for instance, have 4 friends that think Cobra Cards Forums rock, but they only access it from my house, since I have to translate everything to them). You could, for instance, translate only the main posts of the Deck Clinic/Strategy Article Contest into a portuguese version, but they’d have to reply to it in English (so eventually they WOULD learn at least the necessary to enjoy the site), as well as you could get their main posts translated into English, but the replies AND THEIR replies to it would have to be in English. As I said, it’s ABSURDLY time-consuming, and you simply can’t do it right now, but keep it as an idea for the future, to make the MTG community grow, since, for that matter, cards ’round here are A LOT more expensive (with a rare, few exceptions), so people would most gladly buy from Cobra, fi they understood/learned how and, well, Brazil IS one of the best-ranked teams of Magic ’round the world. Oh, and we DO have 170,000,000 people living here, so, well, you know... lots of Magic players. Aside from this last day-dream, hope you put some thought into the Download Area, though, killer idea! |
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| Cobra |
| Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 8:34 pm |
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Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 1202
Location: Austin, TX, USA
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Felipe Musco wrote: Hey, Conor... how do you feel about the Download Area?
I like the idea a lot! Expect to see something like this in the future.
Felipe Musco wrote: I liked the new way of handling gp... but I was wondering: can we give gp to existing posts, or only to new ones?
You can award gold pieces for any post at all; you can even award GP more than once for the same post if you wish. (That’s the real beauty of this new version -- each user can award GP as he/she sees fit, so the system will be a much more accurate reflection of what our users like to see!) The only restriction is that you can vote only once every 15 minutes, which means you can’t vote for everything...
Felipe Musco wrote: ...add another button to all the main posts linked at the Deck Design Archives: download. This would automatically download the deck in Apprentice/SDA (as appropriate) version
The trouble is that these decks don’t exist anywhere as actual "decklists" per se, just as forum threads, and different people use different formats, abbreviations, and so on. Everything would need to be standardized; or alternately, I’d need to write a whole new deckbuilding program that could be integrated into the website.
In other words, this is an excellent idea, but don’t hold your breath.
Felipe Musco wrote: Also, I have a final idea, but this would be ABSURDLY time-consuming... having a portuguese version of the MTG area.
This isn’t nearly as difficult as you think; it’s just a matter of knowing where to find the right tools!  Stay tuned... |
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| Felipe Musco |
| Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 11:02 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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Quote: Cobra wrote: The trouble is that these decks don’t exist anywhere as actual "decklists" per se, just as forum threads, and different people use different formats, abbreviations, and so on. Everything would need to be standardized; or alternately, I’d need to write a whole new deckbuilding program that could be integrated into the website.
In other words, this is an excellent idea, but don’t hold your breath.
Now, you see, I don’t know how SDA works (haven’t downloaded it yet, but I will, be sure!), but have you ever used Apprentice? When you build a deck there, and save it, it gets recorded as a .DEC archive (a special format, fit only to Apprentice). So what I meant was: have mods build the decks on Apprentice (it doesn’t take a lot of time, when you’re looking at the decklist, as Apprentice has a "search by name" tool), and save it as a .DEC archive. Then, you link that download button to the archive, and kazam! You have just downloaded a fully assembled deck ready to be played in Apprentice, PLUS it comes "standardized".
And I seriously believe SDA works the same way, so see, it’s actually not that difficult, and would be great with the whole Download Area thing, since you could not only get Apprentice/SDA, but also some pre-constructed decks to store, tweak, or even use to test your own designs!  (btw, I just LOVE this emoticon, never saw it before coming to Cobra Cards, nice choice!)
EDIT: Quote: Cobra wrote: Felipe Musco wrote:
Also, I have a final idea, but this would be ABSURDLY time-consuming... having a portuguese version of the MTG area.
This isn’t nearly as difficult as you think; it’s just a matter of knowing where to find the right tools! Stay tuned...
Hum... actually, it’s harder than you might think, since, first of all, brazilian portuguese is different from "just portuguese" (you might notice that in some sites and programs with language options, they usually have portuguese - Portugal and portuguese - Brazil). Not only that, but translators usually don’t turn out that great for this kind of stuff... But, if you can find it, though, it’d be a KILLER idea, lots of costumers for sure!  |
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| Cobra |
| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:05 am |
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Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 1202
Location: Austin, TX, USA
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Doh, I didn’t realize that Brazilian portugese was significantly different from regular Portugese...
At any rate, I’ve added a bunch of translation links on the left-side navigation bar. Click a language name once, and you can browse the whole site in that language thanks to the Google translation program.
Let me know how it works out for you.  |
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| Felipe Musco |
| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:30 am |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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Sorryto say that, but not that great. I don’t speak German, but since I checked Spanish, French, Italian AND Portuguese, and they all turned out the same, I think it’s fairly safe to state German won’t work out that great, either. The problem with the translation toll from Google is: it DOES work wonders on small sentences, but when you attempt to translate BIG things (like a whole Article) it simply makes a direct translation, word by word, not considering sentence structure, or even synonyms, so the Articles become so senselessit’s almost impossible to understand them. Also, when you deal with something like RPGs and TCGs, there’s A LOT of slangs, which WE don’t consider as so, but they ARE. So for instance, when browsed in Portuguese, the site refers to Magic Plataforms, instead of Decks (since the program see deck as "pool deck" or "wooden deck", or something like this). That’s why I told you it should be a project for when you "own the market", since you would need SOME "human" translators.
But anyway, thanks a lot for the effort put, too bad it didn’t work out that great. At least, for now, I’ll keep on translating important stuff to friends so you get more costumers, and MAYBE in time some Magic players from ’round here will try to dabble into the Forums, at least those who know some small amount of english...
Well, thanks again!  
PS; I awarded you a gp for your effort  ! I know, you can simply CHOSE your amount of gp, or HAVE any kind of purchased privilege you want, but since I can’t do much more to show my appreciation (aside from posting an order, or course, which will be posted after I play the Coldsnap Pre-Release in Brazil, next saturday), I thought it’d be a nice gesture... |
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| Cobra |
| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:38 am |
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Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 1202
Location: Austin, TX, USA
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Heh, just checked a couple translations out myself and you’re absolutely right. Every sentence is like trying to decipher a Riddle Game level. I thought those translation engines had been improving over the years, but I guess not...
I’ve removed those links; but if someone reading this wants to play with the translations for whatever reason, you can do so here. |
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