[General Battuta]

I think Akalabeth may be concerned that this thread is making the argument that BP is somehow worth less for its similarities to HW. Alternatively, he may think that people are accusing BP of ripping things off.

Enumerating similarities (which are self-evident and inarguable) and thereby pointing out that BP, BSG, and HW all belong to a fairly tight-knit genre, is not by any means the same as passing a value judgment on any of the stories.

[Akalabeth Angel]

I think Akalabeth may be concerned that this thread is making the argument that BP is somehow worth less for its similarities to HW. Alternatively, he may think that people are accusing BP of ripping things off.

No. It's more the fact that I get annoyed that the only comments people can make about new things are "gee, this reminds me of . . ."

ie. Post a new model in the mod forum, people will say "oh, that looks like a klingon bird of prey with the engines of a perseus" or "looks like the child of a Nahema and a Dragon".

The only thing less constructive is "wow, looks great!" or "or wow that was super duper".


Of course the original post was not really in that spirit, but it is along those lines.
And no offense is intended to anyone who drew comparisons to HW btw.



A more interesting and useful conversation would be discussing the failings of Blue Planet if the story was set-up such that it was similar enough to Homeworld to distract the players and take them out of the moment (for whatever reason). Though personally I would have no place in such a conversation since Homeworld and other stories didn't come to mind at all, BP kept me engrossed and focused on it's unique story for the one time I played through it.

[-Norbert-]

No. It's more the fact that I get annoyed that the only comments people can make about new things are "gee, this reminds me of . . ."

You do know that Age of Aquarius is out for almost two years now?
And at least for the whole last year, since I found this mod, there was no such discussion for sure and I doubt in the year before that, there was one either....

Anyway I think this is a good time that you two agree to disagree, since apperently you both have made up your minds and at this stage it's unlikely that there are any more agruments for either side, that havn't been made already.

[The E]

No. It's more the fact that I get annoyed that the only comments people can make about new things are "gee, this reminds me of . . ."

ie. Post a new model in the mod forum, people will say "oh, that looks like a klingon bird of prey with the engines of a perseus" or "looks like the child of a Nahema and a Dragon".

The only thing less constructive is "wow, looks great!" or "or wow that was super duper".

Why, thank you. Now I'll get get right on switching my CS degree to an Art or Engineering one.
On further consideration, no, I think not. While comments like these are not that ... elaborate, shall we say, they are literally all I can think of when making them. And, let's face it, a bit of fanboyish excitement is in anything we do here, isn't it?

[Akalabeth Angel]

Why, thank you. Now I'll get get right on switching my CS degree to an Art or Engineering one.
On further consideration, no, I think not. While comments like these are not that ... elaborate, shall we say, they are literally all I can think of when making them. And, let's face it, a bit of fanboyish excitement is in anything we do here, isn't it?

You don't need an art or engineering degree to know what you like and what you don't like. In terms of campaigns everyone's been exposed to stories through movies and other medium so if there are parts of the story that a person likes or doesn't like they can bring that to view. Similarly, while not everyone can design a new model for example, a person doesn't need that ability to appreciate or not care for certain aspects of a design. Saying something like "make the front half more similar to the Perseus" is helpful for example, because the designer can interpret what you mean. People can't always articulate what they want so they can draw upon existing art as a frame of reference to express themselves. However, just observing something like "wow that looks like X" is pretty irrelevant.

In fact while positive feedback is generally appreciate by most artists, be they artists of the visual or storytelling medium, that form of feedback is also the least helpful (except perhaps as a motivator to do more). Which is generally why when I comment on a design I try to give some contructive criticism, usually wrapped up with some sort of compliment so that the person doesn't feel totally defeated.

[General Battuta]

Well, I think Akalabeth has some fair points, but I think the hugeness of the Blue Planet release thread, and the fact that BP has received more praise and discussion than any other campaign out there, suggests that this thread is also fairly harmless. Everyone wins!

[Stormkeeper]

Indeed. Basically, BP is awesome, HW is awesome, end of story every one's happy.