[Farottone]

As all of you by now know, C3X is under way and close to the end of the first leg of its tour. Starting from Leg 2 we will be enforcing a policy we should have started on Leg 1: we will only allow in the database the C3X release of a song that is featured on C3X. That means that if you plan on working on something that is being authored for C3X, we are going to have to ask you to release it in your own thread.

 

But wait, why?

There are multiple reasons. The first one is that C3X schedule requires a lot of work and preparation, and once we commit to a release it’s complex to move away from it. The second is that we want authors who commit to work on their songs for this project to feel protected in some way. Finally, we ask our authors to deliver to certain standards, so ideally C3X versions are as a general rule the better versions.

 

What if MY version is better?

If you think you can do a better job than the current roster or if you can deliver additional content, come aboard! Contact a C3X agent and you’re good to go!

 

What if MY version is posted on the DB way before the C3X version is released?

We promise that C3X authors will take a look at your version and if they believe they can simply improve on that you will be contacted for shared credits.

 

Thank you all for your understanding and see you on the road!

[yaniv297]

I agree with the idea, but I have two issues/suggestions with it:

 

1. How are non-C3X authors supposed to know which songs are being authored for C3X? We want to keep the releases a surprise obviously. But people might commit a lot of work to a song, only to find it released as a C3X song and their work became in vain, which is very disheartening and might even discourage people to author.

(Funnily enough, HMX can do the exact same thing to us, but the amount of content they release nowadays is fairly small so the risk is low…).

 

To solve that problem, my suggestion is: let’s give authors some platform to check if a song is scheduled for C3X or not.

 

The simplest way would be a private message. If an author would like to char a song for non-C3X release, I think he should be encouraged to message a mod, who’ll check on the scheduler and give him an answer. Sure, some secrecy is lost, but we’ll ask the author to keep the information private. I think one person knowing about one song is much better than double work, taking off releases from the database and disheartening authors.

 

Also, this places some accountability on the authors – if you didn’t check with a mod first, you take the risk of your song being taken down. I think it’s better than the correct proposal of “releases might be taken down, and non-C3X authors have no way to foreshadow/prevent it”.

 

2. What if the C3X release is scheduled for a long time away? If the C3X author didn’t do any work on the song yet, and a quality version appears in the DB, wouldn’t it be better for everyone involved to simply change the C3X song? No work is wasted and everybody gets an extra song.

 

A similar thing happened to me recently (The National’s “I Need My Girl” – it wasn’t on the scheduler yet, but it was a strong contender for a future pack I was planning). It was released by BornGamerRob and my response was “excellent, that’s less work for me”, and I replaced the song with something else. Everybody get an extra song, and of course Rob is an excellent author so quality is high.

 

We all have many songs we want to chart. I’m sure many of us would be happy to simply switch their song. Personally, I think those kind of decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account: how far away the C3X release is, how much work was already done on the C3X version, and the quality of the non-C3X version.

 

So combining both ideas, I would propose this workflow:

-Author wants to chart a non-C3X song.

-Author message one of the mods, who check the schedule to see if the song is scheduled for a C3X release.

-If it isn’t – mod gives author the OK to chart the song.

-If it is – mod contact the C3X author and asks for progress on the song, and how willing he would be to replace it.

-If no work was done on it yet and C3X author doesn’t mind, C3X is replaced and original author gets an OK.

-If significant work was already done on the C3X version (or C3X author is strongly against replacing it), original author is asked to chart something else.

 

Problem with this idea: since normal releases aren’t as ‘committing’ as C3X ones and follow no schedule, original author might end up not finishing the song, and we end up with no release at all. I hope that knowing a C3X release was changed for you, will give authors some extra responsibility to indeed deliver their version.

 

Further suggestion: if the song was a part of a planned C3X pack (I was planning a pack of band X, and author asks about a specific song from it), than non-C3X version can simply be added to the pack and become a C3X song. Possibly solving the problem I mentioned (as now there’s a commitment to this version too).

 

Hope this makes sense, sorry for the long post btw.

[DoNotPassGo]

Unfortunately, as someone coming from the previous C3 releases when they were happening…. there really isn’t a “perfect” solution. Being able to have a way to perfectly check if something is being worked on in some capacity would either be too stressful on the people running everything behind the scenes, annoying to the people within the project, or impossible to easily implement with an “auto-check” type program which could be created.

 

I can say that, personally, whenever I go to create a custom… the first thing I do is search in the forums for the song and/or artist and see if I can find any inkling that the song is already being worked on. From there, it’s a simple message to that person to see if it’s a project they’ve already started, would be willing to step back on or work with, ect. Due to the secrecy of the C3 releases (which is for the best in the end), it’s kind of a one way street in that aspect. The best thing I can suggest is that if you are an active author, create a Work In Progress post in the forums. Even if you don’t “ping” it fresh on every update, you should still keep it updated so that anyone searching can find something you’re working on.

 

I can also say that, for the most part, any of the C3X authors are usually very* open to talking with someone about customs being worked on. Wither it’s reaching out to see what’s been done, asking to update an old custom, or things along that line.

 

In the end, however, the main thing to take into account is that the admins put stuff in place like this for a reason. The main reason being is that the quality of content put out by the C3-specific authors will be of a guaranteed high quality due to the testing and review process done in the back-end. It’s not to say there aren’t authors out there that could put out the same or possibly even better charts in the end, but on the whole* the C3 release are just that guarantee of a certain level of quality. The authors that can put out that quality of customs SHOULD be part of the C3X release process; thus why Far is suggesting anyone message a c3x agent if they feel that way. Become a part, and then you don’t have to worry about being left out of anything.

 

I personally joined the C3 side years ago when I wanted to release a Journey pack. I knew those songs had a chance of being taken so I asked to check, but I also knew if I was to work on them at that time (early in my charting days), that I would need some help and assistance to make the pack up to a quality that I envisioned in my head.

[Blake]

The authors that can put out that quality of customs SHOULD be part of the C3X release process; thus why Far is suggesting anyone message a c3x agent if they feel that way. Become a part, and then you don’t have to worry about being left out of anything.

This is the very simple answer.. If you’re good join the team. If not, we are all truly sorry but there is a chance you’re song won’t be permitted in the database.

 

However, what I’ve been doing and what some C3X authors may be open to is offering to help spruce the chart up and letting them release it through C3X as long as it was good enough to begin with.

[ws54]

I’d allow any non-C3X author that is concerned about duplicating effort to apply for a limited privilege of being able to see what is planned so long as they agree to keep the info private and to not start any song on the schedule (or alert about songs added to the schedule that they are working on.) The only qualification to apply would be the author has released a minimum number of customs to show they are serious enough about it.

[BornGamerRob]

A similar thing happened to me recently (The National’s “I Need My Girl” – it wasn’t on the scheduler yet, but it was a strong contender for a future pack I was planning). It was released by BornGamerRob and my response was “excellent, that’s less work for me”, and I replaced the song with something else. Everybody get an extra song, and of course Rob is an excellent author so quality is high.

 

This is why I have a WiP and am always open to being contacted for songs that aren’t on my “Currently Worked On” list to have someone else do them. So far, no takers. The National’s song had been on my WiP for quite a while, so you should have let me know and you could have put it on the C3X list. One less song I have to try and figure out.

 

I’d allow any non-C3X author that is concerned about duplicating effort to apply for a limited privilege of being able to see what is planned so long as they agree to keep the info private and to not start any song on the schedule (or alert about songs added to the schedule that they are working on.) The only qualification to apply would be the author has released a minimum number of customs to show they are serious enough about it.

 

This is a good solution. From what I remember though, it was hard to find the new stuff though without fishing through every song again. But it may be better now. At least it something better than being in the dark.

[Farottone]

I forgot to add the last point to the original message, something that I realized while reading yaniv297’s post, but for the rest this is the best compromise possible we came to after what are really years of experience. Personally, if I release more content and that content is not essential, and that content is released by someone else with a comparable quality, I will pull my release, but that’s a personal choice.

[Author]

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