Discord
Aircop
Newcomer
Are the developers thinking about starting a "discord channel" that would allow people to meet and exchanges ideas or even put on classes, I do not know if anyone here is aware of a program called "Fantasy Grounds", its is a VT, but what is great is that some people started a Fantasy Grounds College on discord thats brings the players together for classes where people can sign up, listen and watch people explaining how to run or play in a game, I was just thinking with all the wealth of knowledge here it would be great to get into a live class where someone would actually show how to make some of these great maps and promote this product. I have been in several of these discussions and showed people the maps and dungeons I have made using CC3+ and Dungeon Designer. Just a thought.
Comments
The main issue I have with it is the way it just swallows broadband like there's no tomorrow. I am on metered broadband which is dirt cheap, but only as long as I don't run over the 20GB limit in any one month. I also didn't find it really added anything to all the other online media already available, like YouTube tuts and FB groups.
The worst thing, though (for me personally) was they way it started messing with my autism in such a way that I wasn't able to properly concentrate on the task in hand because there was just too much going on simultaneously - too many rapid fire exchanges and distractions. To much information to process - something I have to do by conscious effort because I lack the automatic mental filters neurotypicals are born with, and which they take so absolutely for granted.
Discord made me feel like I was trying to watch the TV, listen to the radio, and draw a masterpiece while explaining my techniques AND the terminology I was using to describe them all at the same time. It totally did my head in, and was about as useful for me as trying to study transcendental meditation in the middle of a New Year's party at midnight in the noisiest nightclub in the universe.
However - that really is a very personal opinion. I just wanted you to know that I would be avoiding it like the plague for genuine reasons that are nothing to do with being old-fashioned or snobbish
I will also add that as an informational source, Discord, imo is pretty poor. Discussions get lost pretty quickly etc. But, it is a good social and organizational platform and works well for actually conducting classes.
Have you checked out the CC FaceBook group? The discussion is fairly active (and it has the same problem as Discord when it comes to info) BUT, it has a section called Units, which one of the folks over there has put together a bunch of training materials for. Not live classes, but from what I've heard it's well done; https://www.facebook.com/groups/CC3plus/learning_content/
I give a lot of my time to mapping and making things for others, both free and paid. I just can't use that particular interface to do it.
But I can type up a tutorial. I may do that.
NOT difficult to set up. OR maintain. Why not set it up and see? Have a section for people to sign up as Mods, Staff, or Aides, and just see? Can't hurt?
I know the benefit I have received from FGC (Fantasy Grounds College) over on Discord. I am taking a class tomorrow AND another on Friday morning. IT has been a tremendous help, and as "complicated" as Fantasy Grounds can be, CC3+ is exponentially more complex/powerful.
It would appear that having a Discord for a program like this is a perfect match and would literally take ONE person maybe 30 min to create.
The real question is Why wouldn't you have a Discord for Pro Fantasy Campaign Cartographer 3+?
If there's any traffic at all, somebody from Profantasy needs to keep an eye on it, especially if it's in any way official. It is foolish to the point of being hazardous to one's reputation not to. This takes time.
And the more social media venues there are, the more diluted each one becomes. Instead of everyone being in one place, you've got some here, some there, some over yonder. This means that new users looking for help have to look in that many more places, and that can be discouraging.
These are not automatically compelling arguments, of course. Many companies maintain multiple social media presences successfully. But there are potential downsides to be considered.
I can't say what the situation really is since I'm not part of the team. I just do commission artwork and articles from time to time when invited to do so, but I feel pretty sure that if the capacity to monitor this and to be sufficiently involved was available within the PF Team, then the PF Team would have set it up themselves already and we wouldn't be having this conversation.