| Revision as of 20:10, 15 September 2006 edit86.29.95.223 (talk) →Voting system← Previous edit | Revision as of 20:10, 15 September 2006 edit undoMalcolm Farmer (talk | contribs)5,747 editsm Reverted edits by 86.29.95.223 (talk) to last version by 71.202.89.97Next edit → | ||
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| Newgrounds allows its users to submit their own flash movies, games, and music, and view submissions from other users. Over the years Newgrounds has grown significantly, and must rely on the cooperation of its visitors. Visitors are encouraged to review the submissions. A rating system produces lists that direct visitors to the most popular flash movies and allows the site designers to easily locate any material that might be considered for deletion or promotion. The site now has over 1 million registered members and over 300,000 flash submissions. Out of those about 80,000 still exist due to the auto delete system known as "blamming". | Newgrounds allows its users to submit their own flash movies, games, and music, and view submissions from other users. Over the years Newgrounds has grown significantly, and must rely on the cooperation of its visitors. Visitors are encouraged to review the submissions. A rating system produces lists that direct visitors to the most popular flash movies and allows the site designers to easily locate any material that might be considered for deletion or promotion. The site now has over 1 million registered members and over 300,000 flash submissions. Out of those about 80,000 still exist due to the auto delete system known as "blamming". | ||
| == Voting system == | |||
| == THIS SECTION WAS WRITTEN BY PARADOX OF NEWGROUNDS, LOLOLOL == | |||
| The automated portal system has a simple voting system. One can vote from a scale of 0 to 5 on a submission. The system sends low-scoring submissions to the "obituaries", which is a collection of all ''blammed'' entries. An Entry is blammed when its score is below a certain threshold based on how many votes have been cast (with the required average score increasing with more votes). After a certain number of votes have been cast, if the submission hasn't hit the "blam" threshold, it is permanently kept on the website (unless if removed by an administrator, or if the author chooses to delete it). The deleting system was added recently to Newgrounds. If a submission meets a certain criterion (the submission has less than 400 votes, the submission hasn't been been featured in any collections or on the front page, and the submission hasn't won any awards), it may be deleted. Submissions with more than 200 votes (or which meet the other criteria) can still be deleted, but not by the author of the submission. | |||
| Man juice. | |||
| === Experience and levels=== | |||
| There are two ways of increasing the worth of one's vote (known as "Voting Power"). The primary method is to gain "levels" by accumulating "experience points" (also known as "Grounds Gold"). Members may gain 10 experience points per day by voting on 5 different flash movies or games in the Flash Portal they may also get points by Blamming and Protecting (see below). There are 30 levels within Newgrounds with progressively increasing requirements in terms of experience. The level requirements and range of levels 1 through 8 remain the same: 50 experience points to reach the next level. The requirement for level 30 is equivalent to the experience points of the user (or users, in the event of a tie) with the highest amount of experience. Levels 9 through 30 expand to even out the experience point differential between 9 and 30. Because they are variable, their requirements and range cannot be accurately given. To illustrate a user's level, an icon of a weapon is shown on each member's profile and below their names on each of their BBS posts (see for both the icons and experience requirements for each level). Levels influence one's voting power in the Portal and to indicate amount of experience. Thus higher levels do often command respect. Certain levels also unlock secret flash and options. These secrets are not allowed to be discussed at all, as stated by the rules. | |||
| === Blam/protect system === | |||
| The other method of gaining voting power is by accumulating "blams" and "saves" (also called "protects"). This system is often referred to as the "blam/protect" system. Existing primarily to encourage voters to vote on movies under judgement (thereby streamlining the process), users are given points based on whether or not their votes on flash under judgement reflect the flash's ultimate fate. Thus, if a user votes a two or higher on a flash that survives, the user is awarded a "save" or "protect point" and if a user votes a zero or 1 on a flash that is removed, the user is awarded a "blam point." Votes which are contrary to the flash's outcome award no points. While blams and saves are tallied independently, only their total is relevant to one's "rank," a title given to a user on their profile which also determines by what percentage their voting power is increased. For example, a "civilian" (a user with less than 100 combined blams and saves) receives no bonus to his or her voting power, however, an "Elite Guard Supreme Commander" (a user with more than 30,000 combined blams and saves) receives a 60% bonus. Each rank is also accompanied by another icon, a badge/insignia, however, unlike the level icon, this icon is only visible on a user's profile. See for a more detailed explanation and a link to a list of ranks, icons, and statistics. In order to prevent ] and attempts to game the system, a submission's score and reviews are not shown while it is under judgement. Also, users who uniformly vote zero or five on flash under judgement are often detected and punished by having their accounts erased. On the portal's page, movies that are about to be blammed are highlighted in red, but due to the efficiency of the system, the red highlight is rarely seen, although some users see them at least 4-5 times a day. | |||
| ==Portal awards== | ==Portal awards== | ||
Revision as of 20:10, 15 September 2006
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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Internet services |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Perkasie, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Key people | Tom Fulp, Founder & CEO liljim & Ross, Back-End Programmers Stamper, Web and media designer |
| Website | www.newgrounds.com |
Newgrounds is a website headquartered in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, USA and created in 1995 that primarily hosts Adobe Flash animated films and games. The site was created and is owned by Tom Fulp, who still maintains every aspect and regularly produces in-house content.
Newgrounds allows its users to submit their own flash movies, games, and music, and view submissions from other users. Over the years Newgrounds has grown significantly, and must rely on the cooperation of its visitors. Visitors are encouraged to review the submissions. A rating system produces lists that direct visitors to the most popular flash movies and allows the site designers to easily locate any material that might be considered for deletion or promotion. The site now has over 1 million registered members and over 300,000 flash submissions. Out of those about 80,000 still exist due to the auto delete system known as "blamming".
Voting system
The automated portal system has a simple voting system. One can vote from a scale of 0 to 5 on a submission. The system sends low-scoring submissions to the "obituaries", which is a collection of all blammed entries. An Entry is blammed when its score is below a certain threshold based on how many votes have been cast (with the required average score increasing with more votes). After a certain number of votes have been cast, if the submission hasn't hit the "blam" threshold, it is permanently kept on the website (unless if removed by an administrator, or if the author chooses to delete it). The deleting system was added recently to Newgrounds. If a submission meets a certain criterion (the submission has less than 400 votes, the submission hasn't been been featured in any collections or on the front page, and the submission hasn't won any awards), it may be deleted. Submissions with more than 200 votes (or which meet the other criteria) can still be deleted, but not by the author of the submission.
Experience and levels
There are two ways of increasing the worth of one's vote (known as "Voting Power"). The primary method is to gain "levels" by accumulating "experience points" (also known as "Grounds Gold"). Members may gain 10 experience points per day by voting on 5 different flash movies or games in the Flash Portal they may also get points by Blamming and Protecting (see below). There are 30 levels within Newgrounds with progressively increasing requirements in terms of experience. The level requirements and range of levels 1 through 8 remain the same: 50 experience points to reach the next level. The requirement for level 30 is equivalent to the experience points of the user (or users, in the event of a tie) with the highest amount of experience. Levels 9 through 30 expand to even out the experience point differential between 9 and 30. Because they are variable, their requirements and range cannot be accurately given. To illustrate a user's level, an icon of a weapon is shown on each member's profile and below their names on each of their BBS posts (see here for both the icons and experience requirements for each level). Levels influence one's voting power in the Portal and to indicate amount of experience. Thus higher levels do often command respect. Certain levels also unlock secret flash and options. These secrets are not allowed to be discussed at all, as stated by the rules.
Blam/protect system
The other method of gaining voting power is by accumulating "blams" and "saves" (also called "protects"). This system is often referred to as the "blam/protect" system. Existing primarily to encourage voters to vote on movies under judgement (thereby streamlining the process), users are given points based on whether or not their votes on flash under judgement reflect the flash's ultimate fate. Thus, if a user votes a two or higher on a flash that survives, the user is awarded a "save" or "protect point" and if a user votes a zero or 1 on a flash that is removed, the user is awarded a "blam point." Votes which are contrary to the flash's outcome award no points. While blams and saves are tallied independently, only their total is relevant to one's "rank," a title given to a user on their profile which also determines by what percentage their voting power is increased. For example, a "civilian" (a user with less than 100 combined blams and saves) receives no bonus to his or her voting power, however, an "Elite Guard Supreme Commander" (a user with more than 30,000 combined blams and saves) receives a 60% bonus. Each rank is also accompanied by another icon, a badge/insignia, however, unlike the level icon, this icon is only visible on a user's profile. See here for a more detailed explanation and a link to a list of ranks, icons, and statistics. In order to prevent group think and attempts to game the system, a submission's score and reviews are not shown while it is under judgement. Also, users who uniformly vote zero or five on flash under judgement are often detected and punished by having their accounts erased. On the portal's page, movies that are about to be blammed are highlighted in red, but due to the efficiency of the system, the red highlight is rarely seen, although some users see them at least 4-5 times a day.
Portal awards
When a movie or game is submitted to the Flash Portal, it has the chance to win any of the following awards:
- Daily Feature: The award given to the submission that scored the highest for the day.
- Daily 2nd/3rd/4th/5th Place: Lesser awards given to high-scoring submissions each day.
- Weekly Users' Choice: The award given to the submission that scored the highest for the week.
- Weekly 2nd/3rd/4th/5th Place: Lesser awards given to high-scoring submissions each week.
- Review Crew Pick: This award is given to the submission with the best "overall" score in reviews.
- Underdog of the Week: (Often referred to as UOTW) This award is given to the submission with the biggest discrepancy between the review score and the popular vote.
- Turd of the Week: (Frequently referred to as TOTW) This award is given to the submission with the lowest score that manages to pass judgement that week.
- King of The Portal: (Frequently referred to as KOTP) This award is given to the user with the most portal awards during the previous month. Each award is given a certain amount of special points, if you accumulate the most award points, you will be awarded KOTP.
Front page Icons
On April 19, 2001 the first front page icon for a user-submitted flash game was posted under the heading "Tom and Wade Recommend:". The game that was posted was Taipan 3000 by Psycho_Goldfish, a remake of a popular Apple II game called Taipan.
Over the years, as Newgrounds received more and more quality submissions the "Tom and Wade recommend" section grew from 1 to 2, 2 to 4, and 4 to 6 icons. There are currently 18 icons on the front page. The rate at which these icons was updated also increased, from weeks to days, eventually leading to the removal of the "Tom and Wade recommend" heading and becoming a staple of the front page, making it easy for new users to the site to find quality content.
Originally the icons were created by Newgrounds admins, as were the short text descriptions (The same process used for the collections pages), but this proved to be extremely time consuming and soon users were given the ability to attach their own icons with their submissions, and write their own brief descriptions.
In January 2005 the front page archive was launched, keeping a month-by-month list of flash content that was deemed to be worthy of display on the Newgrounds front page.
On July 26, 2005, the Icon Helpers system was launched for Newgrounds volunteers to make and submit icons for older flash content that was lacking an icon, making the integration to automated collections pages much more effective.
Site mascots
Besides Pico, the official mascot of NG, there are P-Bot, A-Bot,and G-Bot each respectively the mascot of their own portal (P-Bot being the Flash Portal Mascot, A-Bot being the Audio Portal Mascot, and G-Bot being the Grounds bot, responsible for lost passwords and account creation, etc.) all of which appear on their own pages.
The bots were originally designed by Andrew Dickman years ago. He was commissioned to design them for the site at the time (the original design can be viewed here). Since then, the two mascots have been redesigned by MindChamber, a popular NG artist and current staff member.
According to the P-Bot's NG profile, they have been with the site for 6 years now.
If one permits it to do so, the P-Bot alerts one each week of his/her Flash submissions' ranking and if one of his/her Flash submissions is blammed. An email received from P-Bot always ends with "Note: Do NOT reply to this message. If you do, it will get sent back to you.", however this is rarely the case.
Other unofficial mascots include Alien Hominid, star of the famous flash game and recent console game of the same name, as well as StrawberryClock, the "King Of The NG Portal", and Sherbert, Tom Fulp's own cat.
Daily collections
Daily collections existed between 2004 and 2005. The collections were headed by the user "Coolboyman(StrawberryClock)". They were written, created, and submitted to Newgrounds within the course of one day. Due to the short timeframe, the majority of the included animations are of poor quality, featuring little (if any) animation and for the most part, speech to voice synthesis used for voices. Each collection features from four to five animations, typically with each cartoon produced by a single animator.
These collections are generally themed. Most of them are based on TV shows, mainly sitcoms, anime productions, and kids' shows. Certain collections are based after people, while others have been based on movies, cartoon characters, and video games.
The collections have been taken up by the user, "Mr. Show" in early 2006; 8 months since a daily collection has been submitted. However, these collaborations are higher in quality. After a short test run two new collections lampooning The Daily Show and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, "Mr. Show" announced that it would be best for the collections to resume in the summer and that he would be glad to continue them.
Controversial content
Newgrounds is like freddyjrjr with more porn. They allow the cheap hentai quizzes to pass and get high scores. They even give them collection pages, which is another ripped off feature.