ROOM CREATION GUIDELINES THAT WILL MAKE THE QC’ER HAPPY

The purpose of this document is to maintain some uniform standards for the creation of rooms by ALAE members. With so many members working on areas, and utilizing very unique writing styles, it is important to mention several key issues that come up in QC time and time again.

As designers and QC'ers, we are less interested in the style in which you write than:

-- the comfortable, fluid flow of your descriptions,

-- the absolutely correct use of punctuation,

-- the adherence to a concise writing manner,

-- the correct use of each word, and knowing it counts,

-- the items and props being correctly built and completed,

-- the harmony between each room and its relation to every other room,

-- the overall ambiance of the area.

Many of us have a tendency to become superfluous with our writing style, generally for one of three reasons:

-- we are writing the way we speak, which is regional, or

-- we are not writers to begin with, and this is hard, or

-- we are just plain lazy.

These guidelines, therefore, are meant to help not only the new ALAE members as you grope their way through creating their areas. Examples given here are based on actual QC incidents, many of which occur all too frequently to be coincidental. There are also some notes worth keeping in mind as you sit down to write your descriptions. We hope you will find the information helpful without being intrusive -- the last thing we want is to cramp someone's style.

THE ROLE OF THE QC

The QC’er in charge of your area is -not- there to be a style policeman, but many times (especially in first areas), this becomes a necessary part of the job. Think of the QC’er as part of your team. Anyone edits extensively for a living will tell you there are things they’ve seen produced by the finest writers which are, on occasion, downright awful. The number ONE rule we have always offered --

IF YOU DO NOT FEEL LIKE WRITING, DON'T.

With deadlines so tight in our world, it is sometimes impossible to stick to the number ONE rule, so there is a number TWO rule as well --

IF YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO WRITE, GO AHEAD -- THEN DO SOMETHING ELSE FOR AN HOUR OR TWO, AND COME BACK AND READ YOUR STUFF.

Followed by the number THREE rule --

IF YOU THINK IT'S PERFECT, DO SOMETHING ELSE FOR AN HOUR OR TWO AND COME BACK AND READ YOUR STUFF.

When you first became an ALAE member, you were given tasks to learn the tools available to you. Your first project should be creating an area for yourself that embodied the basic principles of room design. How to make items, how to do a room description, how to set terrain, how to set climate, etc. These tools are all necessary in the creation of every single room you will ever do in our world. You may or may not have been critiqued on your writing style, depending on the situation. Some QC’ers are either not concerned with, or see no reason to push for, a revision of your style if it is acceptable for that particular room.

However, our world is much larger than just the one room to which you will retire after a tiring hunt. We have to think in terms of overall conformity. We have to spell things and do things to make every part of our world look and feel perfect, look and feel as if one, magnificent writer unfolded every magical word before our eyes. We don't have fantastic graphics to make up for bad grammar -- we must rely solely on our text to provide the image of perfection. In short, we are only as fabulous as our perfect text makes us.

The QC'er will want to arrive at your area knowing you have polished everything to the best of your ability. They will want to know that:

• you own a dictionary and were not afraid to use it,
• you own a thesaurus and were not afraid to use it,
• you possibly own a spell-checker and used it judiciously,
• you checked, re-checked and triple-checked your punctuation,
• you have modified your run-on sentences to make the description more fluid,

• you have done a steady -progression- from one sentence to the next in terms of describing the player's surroundings,
• you have finished your items and props, their look and appearance, and
• you have walked from one room to the next and back-tracked at least twice, to make sure each room makes sense going back and forth, back and forth.

If this is not the case, life can become difficult for both the QC'er and you. If the creator takes the time to do it right the first time, and chances are their QC will go smoothly and without incident. The most frustrating thing on a QC is when one or more of the above points is absent -- the QC'er will make suggestions you may not want to hear, or insist on changes you may not feel you want to make. ALWAYS bear in mind that the QC'er is not out to get YOU, but to ensure the quality of our world. But it CAN feel personal when it gets to a one-on-one situation over such things as constant misspelling, constant mispunctuation, constant run-on sentences, etc.

WHAT TO DO BEFORE YOU START YOUR AREA

Take an hour or so to walk through your favorite area in our world. Look at the descriptions and read them aloud. Check the items in the room and how they draw attention. Walk back and forth through several rooms and see how each description flows into the next. Read the room description you like best aloud. Does it sound nearly poetic? Does it slide out of your mouth? How it sounds is how it will read. Take notes on that area, making a list of what you like about it and what you think you could use in your own area.

Sketch out your area, using the world maps and a graph paper if you have it. Label your major rooms, where things will change the most. Envision your progression as if you were -actually- walking through each room.

Write your room description. Read it aloud. Take out every word that isn't absolutely necessary. Read it again. Read it one more time, and if you like it, stick with it. Save it!

Give thought to a history for your area, and how it would fit in with the world history!!! If it’s a Great House, what is the history of the House? If it's to be populated with creatures, know why they are there, what they are doing. If it's a remote settlement, why is it remote, what makes it special...do all this thinking BEFORE you write word one. Though it may only be a five-minute process, it will save you tons of time in rewrite when you're struck with your "theme" halfway through the last room.

POINTS TO BEAR IN MIND

Your QCer will have their own particular style of editing. Basically, though, standard rules of grammar apply:

1. Sentences are divided by TWO spaces.
2. Spelling should be American, not British (except we use GREY instead of GRAY.
3. The use of hyphenated words should be kept to the absolute minimum.
4. Parentheses should not be used unless there is absolutely no other way to deal with a phrase. Try commas first!!
5. Two dashes separate phrases -- like this -- with spaces on either side.
6. If Smiths is plural, then the possessive is Smiths'. If Cycysis is singular, then the possessive is Cycysis's. This is usually a BIG mistake made. The only time it is "s'" is if the following word starts with an "s."

Do’s and Don’ts:

1. Don’t use "you" and "your" excessively in your areas. Particularly, they shouldn’t appear in room after room in a sequence.
2. Don’t use a lot of "uncertainty phrasing", such as "seems to be", "looks like it could be", "looks to be". It IS or it isn’t.
3. Don’t use "here" to point out the player is "here." They know they are "here." You don’t need to tell them that.
4. Don’t start every room with "A" or "The." Vary the starting word of your rooms so it doesn’t read like an inventory.
5. Do make sure your similes and metaphors make sense. If you have trouble with them, don’t try to use them. Example of a bad one: The river rages past you like laundry fluttering in the breeze.
6. Do find ways to instill a sense of humor in your areas.
7. Do be inventive. Even in the harshest, most gruesome areas, a laugh now and then breaks up the tension.
8. There is only so much exploring you can do in a mucky environment before you find yourself tired, drained and hostile. Lighten up the area. Maybe a mysterious note on a skeleton. A flattened opossum.
9. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice. Everyone is in the same boat here.
10. Make sure portals make sense for the area they are in. Don’t make a set of double doors on a beach.
11. Don’t tell the player how they will feel. "The sound of birds chirping in the trees calms you". No! Birds might make me crazy if I hate birds.

Other points:

1. Do NOT make your room a travelogue. Immerse the player in an experience in each room. Phrases never to see unless a player is somewhere special

You are standing...

You find yourself...

You are now in a...

You have discovered...

2. NEVER make the player's thought process a -dominant- feature of the room. Many of us fall into this habit for lack of a better way to describe an experience, but some players hate it. The use of "you" should be minimal, and even then, only punctuating a particular aspect of a feature. "You become nauseous at the sight of..." is not the case for every player.
3. DO NOT assume the player's direction choices. He may not want to be "standing at the foot of" or "standing just to the left of." Actually, we should not assume anything about the player at all. Not even that they're standing. See #1 and #2 above.
4. It would be best if the same word is not used TWICE or THREE TIMES in your room description, if there is a way to avoid this. Use your thesaurus. This is what you had in mind when you purchased it!
5. When in doubt, ask other members what sounds correct. Don't think you have to go it alone, we are all there to help each other out.
6. When given a QC of your area, always respond back to the QCer that you have completed necessary changes, etc. Or get into a dialogue with them about something you disagree over. Do NOT dismiss their opinions, as chances are they are QCing you because they have had years of writing experience, or are editors, or are familiar with little quirks in your segment of which you are not aware.
7. Bear in mind that a QC is more intensive than a walkthru. The QC is supposed to catch -all- errors, whereas a walkthru is less concerned with the technical precision of your rooms. You can have a great walkthru, and your QC report can still amount to a couple of hundred lines of fixes. Check your details carefully.
8. Always remember that a QC’er assigned to your segment wants to give you the green light. They do not want to spend hours pouring over the faults -- they want to be amazed and impressed and ready to sing your praises. Make 'em proud :> None of us along the chain of command wants to make you feel inadequate. Quite the contrary, we want to make your work become so good that other players are awed.
9. If you find yourself at odds with your QC’er for any reason, which we really hope NEVER happens, feel free to discuss it with the EO or Chairman of the Board. Remember, the QC’er is part of your team. Together, you will accomplish this project.
10. Above all, have fun!!! :> :> :>