Projects. A word you've probably heard a million times on this forum:
'Hey wanna join my project?' 'So in my project we are....' 'This project is closing due to...' 'Our project is going great!' 'It's just a simple project guys, nothing big."
:shock: ...This is a thing that has been irritating me for a while. This is not a rant.
I'll begin with the roots by defining the word 'project' ~ Dictionary.com defines it as:
proj·ect [n. proj-ekt, -ikt; v. pruh-jekt]
1. something that is contemplated, devised, or planned; plan; scheme.
2. a large or major undertaking, especially one involving considerable money, personnel, and equipment.
3. a specific task of investigation, especially in scholarship.
A lot of people start projects without taking consideration in terms of conceptual development, staff, equipment and a lot of projects I have seen (most of which are not on this forum, thank God) are not planned out and are the result of random experiments in Wow.
I began getting into the private server/modding scene in late 2010. It has been almost two years since I have gained the knowledge of how to modify Wow. I remember how me and a dude called Alexandros from Echeloned-Wow started a project simply because he asked me. He claimed that he had previously owned a server called Prodigium-Wow which failed due to personal reasons on the hosts' behalf.
He wanted a new team and he wanted to reforge his project. So we began, developing ideas slowly over the weeks, and I had become attached to him. Now, I'm not gonna turn this into a gay love story >.>..
The point is - I could not develop without him and what made it worse is that we had very different timezones which often meant that he was online when I was tired and about to go to sleep. I became dependent on his supervision and acceptance. I asked him to agree with my ideas. This goes for everyone: DO NOT become dependent on another person in a project. This will stop you from producing work. Stick to your position and inform the owner about your work. Do not take their word for everything. Plus, if you become dependent on another person and they end up leaving because of personal reasons etc, you may end up depressed and unable to take their position and continue the project in the same way they did. I pretty much developed most of the stuff on the project until I left because it was going nowhere.
Another point is, when building your project - you have to have a backbone! You need to THINK about what you are going to include, and you need to make sure you have sufficient equipment and people behind you to produce what you want to make. Most projects that come out of faffing about and building random things in random places without a concept behind it are doomed to fail. You need to have plans and concepts for what you choose to create!
One thing that causes loss of motivation and total denial of progress within a project is depression. Remember to always keep calm and not let the project take over your real life entirely. Depression can be caused by things not working properly etc. This boils down to your equipment and your concepts. Make sure you CHECK everything and ensure that it is all correct and makes sense. Check to see if your equipment works properly etc. And remember: if you are having problems and don't know what to do, ASK for help! Most people get stuck and are too afraid to ask because they may sound noobish.
One of the greatest points is to make sure you are committed. Do not slack off and leave the project in a state of stillness for fifty years. Work when you can and always inform your team and give a reason for when and why you can't work.
The problem I have with a lot of projects is the arrogance of people - they claim their projects are amazing without feedback from honest and experienced critics. They completely separate themselves from communication with other modders with other projects. If you are in a project, take inspiration and ask for assistance from other modders! Do not believe that you can function entirely on your own and that all other modders and inferior to your skill. There are some modders I've seen on here which I believe are a trillion times better than me - yet I try not to be dependent on them and at the same time I try not to avoid helping them in their projects etc.
Poor planning, general arrogance, laziness and disorganization as well as dependence on other people and depression are some of the main causes of project failure. I have experienced these problems within my own, old project team and in autumn last year I decided to leave and never return. I believe the project has gone nowhere now. ~ Thanks for reading and I hope you have understood what I have said.
- Fellfoxen
