Daily Click Etiquette
Etiquette: The customary code of polite behaviour in a community.

I just read a post about a lack of rules to inform newbies of the correct way of behaviour around here, so, voila, I’ve done something about it. Please note this isn’t an “official” guide per se, just a set of rules I think we all mostly agree on. If everyone does agree on it, I may well ask Shadow to put it on the “Are you new?” page. So here goes.

General Rules

No flaming: You’d have thought this would go without saying, but you know how it is. Of course, the odd witty comment directed at one of your peers is OK, but if flaming gets out of hand then it can easily spread and take the admin’s precious time to clear up, as well as being of detriment to the site in general. So don’t do it.

No spamming: And this includes hyping your games. Yes, it’s tempting, but we have the preview section for letting people know about the things you’re working on (more on that later).

No flooding: You can be deleted from the database, along with all your submissions, with the click of a button. And, in most cases, your IP can be blocked as well, so by trying to waste our time you’ll just end up wasting yours.

DC Points: These are a representation of your experience at DC, not as a clicker. So if you’re rated “newbie” and you’ve been clicking for 8 years, then don’t take offence! DC points seem to stir up quite a fuss, and they’re really quite a trivial part of life, so don’t get worked up about them. You receive points for submissions you make to DC (articles, games, links, previews), and they are also awarded as prizes in competitions.

No software piracy: We maintain a close relationship with Clickteam. You may not distribute (or offer to distribute) serial codes or CDs, etc, for Click porducts, via this site. Doing so will result in disciplinary action. If we allowed piracy, this would damage Clickteam, which would in turn damage us. So don't even think about it.

Download Section Rules
The Download Section is used for placing games and applications that you have created for everyone to read about and download.

Use Screenshots! If someone doesn’t know what your game looks like, then they probably won’t download it. And that’s a bona fide fact, so why try to argue with it? If you don’t have anywhere to put the screenshots, then find somewhere. (Use Geocities and place http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/ in front of the link.) If you don’t make the effort on the download page, no one will expend any effort downloading your game.

Check your download’s info BEFORE submitting! I’ve only been an admin for a fortnight or so, and the amount of downloads that come through with some gross error on them is obscene. And inevitably, some of these errors will slip past us, thus annoying everyone.

Use Detailed Descriptions: OK, maybe if the game is very simple then you don’t need a massive description, but all the same, do your best to make people aware of what they’re downloading. The more ambiguity there is, the less chance people will download. You like to know what you’re downloading, right?

Taking Criticism: Obviously, not everyone will like your game. It is important to listen to what people have to say about it, both good and bad. It’s nice to hear compliments but it’s also just as useful to know what needs improving about your game. If someone insults your game for no reason, by all means contact an admin, but don’t take matters into your own hands and rise to the bait.

Giving Criticism: Always try and be concise when describing errors and problems with someone else’s game. Simply writing “this sucks, too buggy” is useless to a creator. Tell him what the bugs ARE.

Write Sensible Reviews: A totally one sided review is of no use to anyone. Make sure you include both good and bad points about a game, and that these points are valid. And do not fill the review with nonsense characters because you’ve finished and want to pad it out for the character limit. This is not tolerated by admins or members.

Games made with non-click products: Contrary to popular belief, this isn’t a click-only site. Games made with programs like Game Maker or DarkBasic have just as much right to be here as click games, so don’t get your knickers in a twist if you see a non-click game.

Preview Section Rules
The previews section is used for posting information about games you are working on and plan to release.

Use Screenshots! The MOST complained about aspect of the previews section is a lack of screenshots. If your game is not progressed enough for screenshots, DO NOT post in the previews section.

Post only tangible games: “I hope to start working on this game soon…” are words that should under no circumstances be in your preview post. Post only games that are near completion, or at least a decent way into production.

Do not post if you plan on releasing your game very soon: What’s the point of doing this? Surely people can wait for a day or two without knowing about your game.

Articles Section Rules
The articles section is generally used to post information and code “snippets” on how to do specific things in Click Products, although articles on the community and game creation in general are acceptable too.

Make your article a decent length: If it’s only a few lines, it’s not going to be worthwhile. Make sure you’ve got enough information in there to make it worth the read.

Be specific: Make sure your article has a specific purpose and that it is going to be useful to others. Also, check to see if a similar article hasn’t been done before by searching DC.

Lay it out well: There’s nothing harder than trying to read a single block of text with no formatting at all. Use HTML tags to break your text up with headers etc, and spell check it in a word processor before you submit it! Feel free to embed pictures as well to try and illustrate your point, especially if you’re writing an article about drawing.

Forum Rules
The forums are the place on DC where most of the interaction takes place. Ask questions, get opinions and have a laugh.

Sections: Always be sure you’re posting in the right section of the forums. Read the forum’s descriptions carefully before you post.

Profanaties: Generally accepted in most circumstances, as long as you don’t use too many and they’re not directed at anyone . Pornography, however, is not allowed.

Admins: All the admins have the right to lock or delete topics if they deem it necessary. This is a rare occurrence, and the reason that a topic is locked for is usually obvious.

Search BEFORE you ask! This is a pet peeve of most frequenters of the Code-It boards. Answering the same question a million times gets very tedious, so please Search DC’s articles (there’s a link in you’re my Daily Click panel, on the left of every page) before you ask.

Useful links

Check these out before asking what could be an obvious question:

Search DC (for anything):
http://www.create-games.com/cs_search.asp

Retrieve your password:
http://www.create-games.com/sendpass.asp

HTML Tags and Smilies:
http://www.create-games.com/smilies.asp

The ClickTeam Knowledge Base (in depth clicking tutorials):
http://www.nmxt.com/kb/start/

ClickTeam Forums (probably more comprehensive than DC’s Code-It forum):
http://www.clickteam.com/CTforum/categories.php3

Thanks for reading.

Well, I’m sure there’s more than that, but I can’t think of it at the mo. Post anything you think should be amended/added in the comments section if you want.