Feedback from featuring discussions

to feat or not to feat?

for the past few years, tracks have been featured by Maple, max007x, mR..A, Eryp, and myself, usually without discussion.

to establish a more consistent featuring standard and to provide feedback to trackmakers, a few changes have been made to the featuring process, including:

• expanding the decision-making to include all VIPs & staff
  
• putting the decision to a vote. we all get one vote, majority or tie decision gets a feature.
  
• after a track is discussed and the poll ends (seven days from the discussion starting), we will post an update in this thread, including constructive criticism from our discussion.
  
• having a process for revisiting tracks that weren't featured. a month after a failed vote, the track can be discussed and voted on again.

because of these changes, it will be slightly harder to get a feature, and it will take more time. but features will be more meaningful and consistent, and the featuring process will be more helpful and constructive (even if a track isn't featured).

keep suggesting your tracks in the Suggest a featured track thread. if a VIP puts the track up to a vote, I'll update the list below. the poll results will be posted in this thread with our feedback.

Spoiler: list of tracks voted on:

SMITHEREENS - feedback
2020 Ghosting Collab - vote closed, feedback in progress
La boîte de Pandore - feedback
Potato soup - feedback
Demi-goddess, Demi-diety - feedback
Adventure II - feedback
Kelp Me I'm Drowining - feedback
Questionable Social Constructs - feedback
Path to Paradise - feedback
The Ultracave - feedback
Weasel - feedback
The Scientist - feedback
the Whaler - feedback
Terrain Park - feedback
when white flowers bloomed ~ - feedback
The Felines - Part 1 - feedback
Steady Going Numb - feedback
Temple Run - feedback
Santorini - feedback
STONEY PARK - feedback
Altruism - feedback
Miscellany Bunker - feedback
Super Mario World. 1 + 2 - feedback
1-4 - feedback
Poseidon's Dock - feedback
Glavna ulica - feedback
turkey stuffing with celery - feedback + volund comments
Updraft - feedback
Bad Trip - feedback
Super Mid Bros - feedback
Cent - feedback
Blossom - feedback
The Bark - feedback
deferred - feedback
SMITHEREENS (revote) - feedback
Vita - feedback
Bay of Biscay - feedback
Solar System - feedback
South Dakota - feedback
Ramps + Portals - feedback
Double Blacks - feedback
Mint Sauce - feedback
Weem's Dream - feedback
The Less I Know the Better - feedback
Gibraltar II - feedback
Landslide - feedback
Fever Dream - feedback
SLD 3200 -
feedback
Saigo No Mono - feedback
LIMBO - feedback
SKATEYARD GRAVEPARK - feedback

 

SMITHEREENS by Nitrogeneric
poll results: yea 3 / nay 4

 

i actually kind of prefer this way of judging, with the voting, especially hearing the VIPs thoughts on the tracks, that i think is of most benefit to everyone, especially the trackmakers themselves. i understand that there have been a very large amount of feats recently, but if this is what is needed to keep the feature standards high enough, then i cant complain

*cut to me in the future when a track i make doesnt get a feat when i thought it should have and i throw a hissy fit *

also i would certainly not complain if potato soup got featured

 

i personally don't think potato soup should be featured although that's not up to me to decide.

anyways i think this system is an improvement on the previous system as it ensures that the standards stay consistent for the foreseeable future, which is only a good thing. i think it's definitely a plus to have the voting results and feedback public like this thread does, and i appreciate the increased openness on discussing old tracks and deciding whether they deserve a feature, or even an unfeature (*cough cough* circle of life)

my only concern is that with this i can kinda see the featured tracks list almost becoming what it was like in 2015-2016 (e.g. elitism) which ultimately would have a negative impact on the game, but i dont see that being likely as the community from that era has matured since then

e; Eryp Totoca12 @max.007x pin this thread

 

Our aim is to keep the featured list going. I don't think any of us want a one a month scenario again but it's maintaining a standard.

 

Very cool new system. Are there any plans for looking back at older tracks (feated or not) and updating them? My first thought when I saw this thread was back to when Eryp made the Wintertide post in the suggest a feat track thread 10 months after the track was originally posted and it got featured upon re-examination. Understandably it's probably not too high of a concern, given that everyone has lives and no one wants to spend hours going back to review old tracks just to deny them lol.

Also with increasing amount of feats since the start of the year I think it's a great idea to show off the thought process behind what works and doesn't work for getting a featured track. This could easily help those few authors that are right on the edge of getting their first feature get over the line which is cool.

Though this thread won't be helpful for me since from now on I'll only be posting undeniable fire. no cap guys fr fr.

 

We will be looking to reflect on older tracks yes

 

very happy to see that featuring has gone back to a vote, with CC posted afterwards; this can only be a positive influence on the trackmaking side of the community, which has suffered a lot in the last few years, imo. the addition of some fantastic authors to the featuring process too is an excellent choice, bringing perspectives which the old feat track mods lacked

i encourage EAs especially, but really everyone, to also get opinionated, leave CC, etc. you never know if you could be the next VIP, or if your feedback provides an insight that the existing VIPs overlooked

given that old tracks may be re-considered for features, ill likely compile a list that i think were borderline features at some point. very excited for the future of the featured tracks list, which i cant say ive really been excited about in a long time !

 

I'd say this is a welcomed update to how tracks are featured from now. Yeah theres a risk of reverting back to featuring tracks with reasoning based mainly, if not purely, on things like the authors reputation on forums, among other things

The addition of VIPs I think will bring some more scrutiny into deciding what track deserves a feature, but not so invasive or elitist that it ends up being a decision based on, eg, favouritism to certain authors and indifference to others. Think these guys are mature enough not to base their decisions from that perspective

Looking forward to seeing this system in action

 

I know people have been talking about this already, but it does seem like this is a good opportunity to address certain tracks that were featured and, according to what seem to be current standards, don't deserve the feat. Citadel by GMSkittles comes to mind, along with a couple others. I might be out of my mind and these might be masterpieces and I should just shut up; however, I do think that it is worth a look at old tracks to see if they really did deserve a feature or not. (I know that I am not on the team and in no place to be giving orders.)

 

Citadel by GMskittles is more than deserving of a feature. It's perfect symmetry and one of the best remix tracks ever.

Not to belittle your opinion. It's fine you're entitled to it. I believe it's to review in the positive way not to cull

 

hopefully I get a feat of things considering... r2 might earn me one?

 

after hearing feedback from Nitrogeneric about how our criticism came across, we will be making some adjustments.

quoting from our discussion (and having to painfully hear 5-6 people repeating flaws) was more hurtful than helpful. this was my mistake, as I was focused more on the debate for featuring than how the feedback would be heard by the trackmakers.

instead of quoting the full discussion, our reasoning for feat / no feat will be summarized briefly, and we will be taking a more advice-oriented approach. if a track isn't featured, the trackmaker wants to know how to get better, not just what went wrong. and we want to encourage trackmakers and help with improvement, and this will be a much better way to do it.

thank you to Nitrogeneric for speaking up and allowing us to see how we can improve our feedback.

 

brb in 2024 when ive finished updating the featured tracks/authors leaderboard as a result of 2020 ghosting collab feat

 

People do have to understand though this is a learning curve for us, our system is still being created again.

Fear not feedback on how we give you feedback on your tracks is also greatly appreciated, if there's something we've missed or you want a more in depth CC or discussion come forward it won't hurt.

Just so everyone is aware the current tracks being spoken about are:
La boite de pandora by skii-jumping (Closing soon)
Potato soup by Goatosaur (yet to fill cc)
and demi-goddess, demi-diety by Malicia

keep posted guys

 

malicia just came outta nowhere and dropped two of the most fire drawings ever LOL

 

Since the discussion is open, on a personal basis, I'm interested in getting feedback on ways to improve the next tracks.
It helped me when Eryp told me about the regular 1000 jumps details and it paid off.
Ok, I see we are talking about Pandora's box. It's cool to think that it can be debated.
I based myself on the criteria of Feat (max007's post) a few years ago, including in particular : playing time, originality, tool usage and track size. I know in advance that my details are improving but could still be developed. We are very far from the insane drawings of Malicia for example, so I focus more on the game itself, which is, in my humble opinion, the basis of this game.
It would be a lie to say that I don't care if it's Feat or not. In any case, your feedback is welcome because my pleasure is the pleasure of other riders looking for something new.
In short, I see that all of this is in good hands and that it is not the emotional lottery of a few people in power.
These regular updates on open debates promise a good future for this game, stay the course
SJ

 

Bro just saw this, kind of sucks for people on the edge like me I guess. I feel like this new system will turn into EA's getting all the feats and no one new ever getting feats.
(Just my opinion)

 

Just curious, but could I get some feedback on how to make https://www.freeriderhd.com/t/931865-kyurems-awakening better from some of you fancy schmancy VIP's, if you have the time? thanks