The-Red-Jack 2008-11-14 08:04:06

Original = awesome

BoonChild 2008-11-14 08:10:09

some good points right here but...
"To encourage users to be more original, maybe there should be a "category" selection when uploading your flash. You can pick from either "sprite toon, parody, original" or what not. If users fail to pick incorrectly, the flash can be flagged and changed appropriately by a mod."

If this change happened, some really annoying people would abuse it just to piss off the mods. Sure, it's great idea, but I seriously don't think the mods would wanna trawl through hundreds of submissions with an incorrect category just so some immature kids could get some laughs.
Anyway, back to business.
sure, originality is great, but some people don't really wanna be original or they have to start somewhere, which leads us to video game parodies, and lets be honest people, we have all done at least one VG parody at one point, I know I have, but that's where we all start, then build our way up to an awesome original idea. But I think it's been said before, it's not the VG parody that's the problem, it's the voters that constantly vote five that are the problem. i mean, i'd love to see some more original content but, there's a lot of parodies out there and people will look at the portal and see a whole bunch of parodies, then leave, without even trying to look for the original stuff.
that said, VG parodies are something that the NG community love. its one of the things that makes Newgrounds what it is. sorta like the Clock Crew, it's love, hate.

but like i said, you have some good points and ideas right there, but...it may not help. people will still make parodies whether we like it or not.

Olimar011 2008-11-14 08:11:34

You have some point to it, but it sounds like you want to restrict everything. I mean with the review restriction, what the hell? So you have to be talented enough to make a flash quite a few people like before you can express your opinion on others?

And with the sprite animations not getting prizes etc. who's to say they're not as good as a drawn animation? It's still an animation just in a different style, here you are preaching about art I thought you would have realised that.

And yes it is sad that horny guys everywhere vote 5 on Meet N Fuck games, but sex sells and unfortunately they thinking with their penises when they vote 5 (mind you it's cartoon charcters on the screen).

So that's my opinion,

lenkalamari 2008-11-14 08:12:44

Idiots and 13-16 year olds = NG's main audience

How to pander to idiots and 13-16 year olds: give them what they want

Anyways I've seen a lot of awesome original stuff these few last months so I ain't gonna complain.

I think the voting has started to go a bit haywire though...people see a bit of fancy frame by frame, or Mario fighting Link, and vote 5 straight away. I mean even the Brackenwood flicks used to struggle to meet 4.35, whilst nowadays we have a stick movie about Counter Strike sitting with a fucking amazing 4.43. But again, audience.

I don't wanna see people who just make sprite movies because they enjoy it be 'forced' to stop making them altogether because they want to be part of the cool kids or whatever though....but anyone who makes sprite movies just to swipe daily awards and get ultimately pointless 'internet fame' should jam a fork in their eye.

Also

WE WILL NEVER SLEEP
COS SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK

lenkalamari 2008-11-14 08:24:56

Also camp north's pretty cool.

Gerkinman 2008-11-14 08:25:41

When i vote 5 for my favorite Mario flash i slap my penis down on the keyboard over and over. It feels good and Mario gets the score he deserves. Sometimes tho, the flash is so good that i get a hard on, and then i have to pick up my keyboard and push it down over my penis.

BoonChild 2008-11-14 08:28:00

"Yes the parodies will keep on flowing in by the thousands. But there should be some kind of filter that reeps them of getting any sort of prize, it's not fair to all the hard working original artists in my opinion."

At first this may sound great. I mean, it'd keep all those really poorly animated sprites movies from gaining awards and the like so all the original stuff gets the spotlight. But, it does not cater for the spriters that actually "work hard" to impress the audience with a compelling storyline, great humour and wonderful animation (yes, they do exist, it is not a lie). It doesn't seem fair to those spriters that work hard. As I said before, great ideas, but it won't help.
Anyway, I'm off to sleep. I'm tired and gots work tomorrow.

Greg-Anims 2008-11-14 08:32:32

there is a good mix of origionality, parodies, videogame movies and stickmovies on NG..

but yeah id agree Tom needs to do something about the voting system, it really isnt holding up against all the parodies/videogame movies.. an slowly this place will be mostly videogame parodies an stuff, an it will basically be crap.

LENKO- new bmth sucks.. a lot

lenkalamari 2008-11-14 08:34:03

"LENKO- new bmth sucks.. a lot"

I don't listen to them, but it was in Blordow's movie

Nogfish 2008-11-14 09:17:08

Yeah, the majority of the audience here just doesn't get what it takes to make a cartoon, and their interest is so narrow that unless they find something they truly love, like mario,

they don't give two shits about it.

there are, of course, exceptions

Psi43 2008-11-14 09:29:37

I read the first few paragraphs so you maybe said that somewher ein your post but;

I think that the 3 categories you mentioned should have their own awards.

Cut the daily 4th and 5th though. Daily first, second and third in the categories sprites, parody and original content.

TomFulp 2008-11-14 09:49:15

I don't get how people can still think sprite movies are a "growing" problem on the site... Newgrounds is a big ship and doesn't make 90 degree turns on a dime, but over the past two years the site and culture has been stearing in a pretty good direction. Adult Flash very rarely gets the spotlight compared to years ago, and sprite movies get way less spotlight than just a year ago. These are two categories that have always driven a lot of traffic around the site, but there is a gradual transition going on. Maybe it hasn't been happening fast enough but it's happening. Anyone I'm done defending NG people either see where it's going or they don't.

Psi43 2008-11-14 09:53:39

I actually kinda agree with that guy above me who clearly stole tom's username.

It's true that sprite and hentai movies are getting submitted by far less, now the problemes are the whole vg parody movies but the slogan is "Everything by everyone". Even though I don't like most of these parodies you can't denie that they bring a lot of traffic to NG, which also might get you a few more views for your flashes.

lenkalamari 2008-11-14 10:07:37

Oh there's only one thing thats annoyed me recently actually

Tywo at Large Ep 3 - under 20,000 views

That 4chan Lazer collab - around 100,000 views

: /

Blordow 2008-11-14 10:43:01

anyway. i'm going to bed, I'll reply to any more comments in the morning (aus time)

YouriX 2008-11-14 10:49:26

Well to my opinoin i HATE sprite movies. It doesnt requier any real animtion skills.
When i whas reading this post it whas like i whas hearing myself talk. People here on newgrounds forgot what originality is and probably the word itself. Okay self DRAWN game parodies are okay and i myself like those ones. Since i like gaming myself. But still because people here are so immature you get unfair votes and useless reviews. Like also in the audioportal zero bombs everywhere. Guess we gotta deal with it or find a strong salution for this problem or just simply look for another website and leave newgrounds for good!

W-P-S 2008-11-14 11:16:42

A few months ago ashford pride made a movie with a foreboding title. It was called "Awesome Grounds".

Well ladies and gentlemen, that's might as well what this site should be called (at least right now), with the top row on the front page slot dedicated to an "awesome" movie and an "awesome" parody, an "awesome" t-shirt in the newgrounds store, and pretty much every "awesome" movie in the top 100, along with han's "awesome's creed".

I can't go to newgrounds with seeing something not about egoraptor or his coveted video game parody series. It makes me wonder sometimes if pursuing anything but half-assed cartoons making mildly funny observations about video games laced with profanity is even worth it. Truly, they are what bring the masses of 13-year olds to this site, and thus increases traffic and competition in the internet world. But you have to ask yourself, with this sort of two-bit audience increasing in numbers, are they really interested in watching anything else?

I understand that it's a dog eat dog world in the online entertainment business, and to compete you have to pretty much put up content that a majority of internet browsers would click on. This includes either women or video games. Things they already know they want. And that's all they want. They sign up, watch more, and come back and do it again later. They're trained to know that what they want is easily accessible and is promoted all over the site.

Original content is often shuffled off to the bottom of the page, or never gets any attention to begin with. Now comes into play the whole 'they won't click on it unless there's a boob for the icon', etc etc. That's because they've been fashioned to think that way.

I'm not saying i have all the mysterious answers to the way people's minds work. But this much is true - if all people click on are breasts and video game icons, and you give them breasts and video game icons, you're not pushing the envelope.

Newgrounds is the epitome of user-generated content. We already have a massive advantage over youtube in the fact that making a cartoon involves so much more creativity than snappily editing your webcam footage. So instead of 200 cartoons coming out every minute, we have 200 cartoons coming out every day. That gives someone a better chance of breaking out and being discovered for his hard work, and a reward for a job well done.

But in the same way that viewers are trained that they don't have to go out of their way to avoid original content they would otherwise enjoy, authors are becoming more and more disenchanted with their personal creations and are turning to nerd culture icons and cheap tactics to get viewers.

I can't tell you how many animators I have spoken to that have shunned their own creations in favor of sub-pop culture parody and disjointed scripts sprinkled with toilet humor and profanity. a cartoon catering to everyone who's forgotten what cartoons are all about. And here we are shoving away everything about cartoons that was originally appealing and magical, because we're pretty much forced to.

I'm not pointing the finger at any one person here. I think it's part of the bigger picture - bigger than Newgrounds, too. But if people really care about the future of cartoons and animation, we wouldn't be seeing this kind of blatant favoritism.

People will find what they want if they want it. They don't need to be spoon fed it all.

For thirty years animators who strive to create something genuinely unique have gotten nothing but a slap in the face. It's sickening and it has to stop someday, before they all disappear.

Lastly, this post is not about me. I'm not writing this out of self-pity, bitterness or spite. I'm being honest. I care a lot about the future of animation, and what I see around me is very troubling. The industry is bad enough, but where the future lies is in the small corners of the animation world. Newgrounds is one of them. I spend a lot of time trying to encourage and teach frame-by-frame animation, and creating your own characters and scripts. That is what is important to me. If I really cared about being popular, my list of flash cartoons would look a lot different.

lenkalamari 2008-11-14 11:28:02

Come to think of it, where's the visual appeal with sprite movies anyways? They look ugly as fuck if you zoom in even as much as x2.

skarai 2008-11-14 11:49:21

The ratings and review systems sucks 'course. But I haven't seen any good rating systems anywhere. So don't know how anyone could say anything about that.
All the scores I see in everything, everywhere is from 8-10.
It's just biased and honestly it feels unnecessary.
Isn't reviews made to the creator themselves to begin with?

Reviews in NG is a comment section. Really, thats how they all turn out.
Would you tell people if you disliked a movie, or liked it?
Hell, go to imdb. They all go 8-10. I go piratebay.
"This movie sucks ass, don't watch it."

Oney 2008-11-14 11:58:58

there should be a button on front page that leads to a collection of (good) origional cartoons. the FP is what tom and wade like, not what we like. but it's pretty gay workin on an awesome toon to be beatin by a meet n'fuck game, but its the silly voters.