The change from PlanetPhillip.com to RunThinkShootLive.com was all about changing the idea that the site is about one person. Yes, I still run it and contribute 95% of the content, but I want that to change.
I would like the site to be seen as the centre or hub for Half-Life SP content and not just maps and mods.
The site could easily host much more content and a perfect example is Jason Gimba’s article The Real World Brands of Half-Life 2.
Original content would be posted on RTSL first and then after a month could be posted to the creator’s own website if he or she has one.
So this post is to encourage readers to submit content in either articles or videos. Article would be posted on the site under a new category and videos would be hosted on the RTSL YouTube channel (not simply linked to). I want the YouTube channel to start to contain much more content created by other people.
While I am talking about readers contributing, please feel free to suggest new live streaming events. In fact, I will be starting a new series soon, but I can’t say any more than that because it’s still at the planning stage.
The same goes for article or video ideas.
PP and RTSL have a history of helping new maps and mods be created via the Mapping Challenges and it’s time for some of the energy to be put into other types of content creation.
Great idea, Philip. As a Half Life addict, I welcome more and varied material, although wanting good (mostly just reliable) mods is why I came here on the first place.
Yes, maps and mods are the bread and butter of the site, but interesting articles are always good and they help the site get linked to when maps and mods wouldn’t.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JCnn22EqLw
Vinesauce streamer playing half life with a controller 😀
I still have that combine soldier ai video I made a while back. Some of the information is wrong, but it can still be useful. You want me to send you the original video? It’s on my channel right now. I could remake it if you want, but that might take some time. I still have the source footage, though.
That sounds like a great idea, thanks.
I have a youtube channel with some mod play thrus, wrote some (extreme long gameplay experience) articles on mods I played, and also have a stream set up that I barely never use. I dont have a mic though. I know that more events will make the site get active and stuff and I think thats great
I’ll be in touch soon about how we could work together.
I remember when PlanetPhillip had the City 17 Times– would a renewed series of that be fitting?
That’s a possiblity, although they were really hard articles to write.
One thing I love to do for fun could be a nice addition to the site, scene builds. While it does not have the gameplay of HL2, sometimes its just nice to see the visual creativity that people have in regards to Half-Life.
I’m gonna flood that section 😀
Would have to turn it into a image gallery 😛
This is a great idea… like the Other Places series on Youtube… I love putting that on as a background thing on the telly while i’m working. loads of inspiration…
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRF11RoNylE0ANzj_Yq9ALjY2u-LI_GuI
I am hesitant about this. The site has always been about SP stuff, rather than just visuals, but it’s certainly possible we could adapt it for a mapping challenge.
If enough people want it, I would open up a section for it. I’ll ponder how best to do it.
These spambots are such failures. What’s the point of doing all this spamming if they don’t even have a link to what they’re pushing?
Poorly managed, heavy-handed Guerrilla Marketing, I would guess. The idea being to establish the personas as legitimate community members with a few inoffensive posts before dropping links to the actual scam. Why they pick the usernames they do, or use such hamfistedly generic language in the posts, is beyond me. I’d have thought advertising could do better than this in 2015; if you’re going to take me for a ride, at least put in some effort, you know? 😛
Well, no one ever said Internet advertisers were bright.
But then, what do I know, with my “genuinely fastidious thoughts?” XD
Hey at least sometimes they hit older mods that I haven’t seen yet! I tried out two of them because of that! It is like their random statement generator has almost got it down, but avoids specificity and that makes it easier to tell they’re just bots.
There’s a random mod generator already on the site. GO to EXPLORE and then RANDOM
I think that the site and name is the reason . Also a little bit because half life is a little old .
I ll start with the name . For me run think shoot live should be the motto of the site and not the name . A more suitable name would be with ‘half life’ in it .
And the site , it seems very complicated . For me , when I first started using the website , a lot of things were confusing , and seemed like an blog more than a community . A more suitable type of site would be the classic community site with different categories at the top :
Home-with news and recent maps/mods moderated by community admins .
Map/Mods/Play => and a menu that lets you chose game that you want maps for . A grid like view with windows of the mods with the title , a picture , and rating and comments (that the link shoul lead to the forum and the respective post ) The Phillip rating should be seen only if the map page is opened (so that the site doesn’t seem like a blog) .
Community =>with the menu where you can choose the the Audio nterviews , Challenges and Events . The audio interviews ,challenges and events should have a similar grid like view and little previews . also I in the menu should be a type of “Get involved’ that links to the forum post that admin requests for the site are made
Forum (new) : This should replace the discussion thingie and make it more easy for people to read disscusions for maps and event .
Submit : This will lead to submitting a map where you have to add title , photos (one of them will be the thumbnail preview) ratings and number of comments .
The color scheme is kinda ugly for me , and looks more like a personal blog . In my opinion I think that an olive green scheme would look better , and like the original half life /steam menus
Also at the sides of the layout should be ‘recent events ‘ , recent ‘threads’ .
I would love to try redesign this site because I wish half life maps where more popular , but I don’t have time on my hands because of school and stuff .
P.S in the Play category at the top should be the ‘hall of fame’ .
P.P.S sorry for bad englush D:
edit: also the read category w/ polls and Philip’s blog .
Thank you for your detailed comments. Below are my responses to most of your points.
The reason for what?
Yes, you could be right, but there are a number of issues to consider. Firstly, a name needs to be memorable and recognizable. There are plenty of sites with “half-life” in them, so the current name sets the site apart from others. Secondly, by having “half-life” in it, there is a chance that people will think it only covers the first game. Also, there is the doubt about whether the hyphen is used or not. I’m not saying you are wrong, but simply saying it should have half-life in it, doesn’t automatically make it right. Nowadays, most people find the site through a google search or a link posted elsewhere – either way the name is unimportant.
well, I can’t argue with your impression but I believe the site’s navigation is well-thought out.
Well, the design was created to be a simple list of posts. Unlike something like ModDB which has tens of posts everyday, the number of post on RTSL is much smaller, so a different style is suitable. You may like a magazine style but when most of the content doesn’t chance it has a negative effect on readers.
There are no admins, the site is run by me. Recent maps can easily be found for each or all games.
That’s exactly what the P{LAY archive does.
Besides the picture, that’s exactly what the PLAY table view is.
Some people asked for it, so I put it in. It’s not that I want MY reviews to have more prominence, it’s just that I nearly always review a map or mod as I post it, and once readers get to know the kinds of things I like, that initial review means they have a guide to its quality. If people asked me to remove it, I would have no problem doing it.
That doesn’t make any sense to me. The main menu items perfectly describe the items under them. Perhaps, your level of English is limiting you in this case?
That’s exactly what the PARTICIPATE menu under is. Also, there are no Admin requests. This post which we are commenting on is a yearly request.
I disagree. Firstly, running a forum is a great thing, but it is another piece of software to worry about. Updating is generally okay but when things go wrong it’s just more trouble. There is also the fact that people expect their login details to work on both and that’s a problem. I have run two forums in the past and they were a disaster. Unless I could find a really well written plugin that ran off WordPress, I would try again. The conversation via the comments menu are fine for maps and mods discussion.
I think you misunderstand this function. This is to send maps and mods for me to add. No comments or ratings needed. Those are added once I have posted the mod. I chose all the images and the featured image.
I understand why you would think this is better, but unlike ModDB where people add stuff themselves, I prefer to add things. I tried the other way and I wasted a lot of time correcting the submission. You must remember that ModDB is run by a few people full time, plus they have lots of people checking content etc. This site is just a hobby for me and I don’t have enough time to do everything I want anyway.
Good idea. I have added a table in the PLAY menu.