Concept, Fundamentals and Guidelines

[Cooper]

We need in written form a concept, that describes our idea of the clan, how it's supposed to work, what you have to do to become part of it, what are no-gos, etc.. The history has to be written down. Also I think it would be a good idea to have a site with information about the members so newcomers or future newcomers can identify themselves with members and the clan.
The best way to let everyone's ideas be part of the development is that I write my idea as a first try and basic structure so we have something concrete to change or complain about. I will edit this post continously until the majority is happy.

Applying some changes, suggested by SirAlex

History
Cubic Matter was founded by SirAlex after the Mapping Hell clan collapsed.
The leaders of MH decided to make some drastic changes without questioning or even pre-informing their members. The new rules were converting the clan into a map factory. The membership depended on the productivity and map-output of a member. Therefore many members left the clan. SirAlex decided to found a new clan with the old MH members as base. Name of the clan, tag and policy were selected democratically while SirAlex sponsored two Sauerbraten servers, established this forum and secured the IRC channel.
The members of cubic matter are now continously forming the forum and the clan, ready to expand.


Concept

What is the purpose of an editor clan? Everyone can produce playable, all of a piece maps on his own. It even works better alone, as it is much easier to keep one style and achieve the conception someone has in his mind. The purpose of Cubic Matter is to experience and gain what you won't get editing on your own.
Let's start with the communication. Soliloquys are boring in the long run. Noone is there to answer, noone will comment on your stuff or advise you of mistakes. In Sauerbraten multiplayer you always meet different people whose intention you never know. What if the guy who just told you your house looks like shit doesn't like houses in general? What if the guy who just told you your map looks absolutely deformed didn't even /getmap?
Cubic Matter with its forum and the IRC chat offers a great opportunity to have reliable reviewers and critics, even if Sauerbraten is not running.
You get new ideas and perspectives and can always be sure that they are meant seriously as others expect the same from you.

Why not edit something together? With other people directly watching you, your motivation increases and by watching others you gain new ideas which may be the base of a great new creation. Also you may see technics you didn't know before. Others can teach you many things and to be honest - simple small talk beside editing is always fun.

Fun is another key word for Cubic Matter. Sauerbraten is a game and games are made to have fun. We all do this in our free time and want to relax or allow free play to our creativity. Rules, limitations and reprisals should be kept minimized.



Guidelines

Minimized doesn't mean not existent, so there are a few rules every member has to stick to.

Basics
Be polite. It helps to keep conversations factual and prevents emotional reactions.

Be communicative. Saying "Hello!" when you join and saying "Bye Bye" when you leave is also part of being polite. Some "Hellos" may continue with an additional question and conversation which helps getting to know each other. When someone is asking you something you should answer.

Be open minded Don't make it difficult for youself. Accept other people's critisicm as their opinion, don't judge people instantly and be open for new developments.

Be self-confident and honest You think the idea of someone, who is much longer in the clan is complete rubbish? Tell him. (In a polite way of course) Always position yourself where you want to be positioned and feel free to bring counter-arguments at any time.

Cubic Matter is formally a clan without leadership. For administration there are of course a few admins. Still all decisions are made by the community and every vote is counted equally. Anyone can propose any proposal any time or question anything he or she wants.

Concerning your membership

There are no rules for members of Cubic Matter except the basic guidelines.

How To Join

If you want to join Cubic Matter (CM) write an application in the recruitment area.

Before writing your application, make sure you match the following criterias.

-I accept the basic guidelines

-I am not part of another clan

To ensure that this clan won't convert into a mapping school it is necessary to assume a certain editing level. Therefore your application should contain screenshots, showing a few of your creations or maps. You can also upload a hole map.

Furthermore your application should have a written part with any information you think is helpfull for you. Additional information about your carrer in Sauerbraten and your mapping style or personal information about yourself improve your appearance considerably.
Less effort in your application means less motivation, means less chance to get into the clan.

After submitting your application, clanmembers will check it out and give their opinion. At least three "YES" votes which represent more than 2/3 of the clan members are necessary to get you in the clan.


So far...
I'm looking forward for your ideas.

[Calinou]

..

[SirAlex]

This info has been moved to the Wiki. Please comment on stuff there if you want changed.

[Cooper]

I changed the text concerning joining requierements.

Before:
You must have a few map projects that current members or the quadropolis community likes.
If you see they are on par with other maps that we have you are on the right track.
Present your maps in the best way possible, to increase your chances, this means both screenshots and ogz files.

After:
You must have creations or entire map projects in order to present your skills.
If you see they are on par with other maps that we have you are on the right track.
Present your creations and maps in the best way possible, to increase your chances, this means both screenshots and ogz files.

"You must have a few map projects" wasn't true and noone cares what quadropolis likes.

[Cooper]

I would like Alex to replace the picture on cubicmatter.net with this one. Feel free to complain and upload an own version.

[chris0076]

here is the correctly scaled image: [url]mandelbrot.cubicmatter.net/~chris/cubicmatternet2.jpg[/url]

Chris

[Ac]

its pretty good angle;
some more ideas:

cm2.jpg (148.04 KiB) Viewed 4474 times

cm2_1.jpg (84.13 KiB) Viewed 4474 times

cm3.jpg (129.94 KiB) Viewed 4474 times

[SirAlex]

Ok, i posted cooper's angle. But I started from scratch with different sauer settings at a huge resultion, rescaled with sinc3. It's also a png.