Demo vs Dev Thread

[Soeht]

Demo being short for Demonstration.

I was wondering about the general opinion of using a thread to demonstrate the typical use of a Factory submission.

To me, Development threads are boring and cheap and don't really show how one plans to use their "Super Powerful Armor" or "Super Powerful Weapon." I just have to make X amount of posts with X amount of Writers? Let me PM my buddies and have us stretch out an activity that would normally be one or two posts. And in that X post thread, it's typical that you don't see if someone is planning to use their submission in an anti-fun way.

The same could be extended to Dev Threads for Restricted Materials. They're written in such a way that it doesn't give people much insight on how one will actually use Songsteel or Phrik or other materials. It just has unique requirements that are, honestly, very cheap.

Meanwhile, a short thread that shows how someone will use that "Super Powerful Armor" will demonstrate much more effectively if the writer is planning to make himself invincible or add an interesting element to combat. (I say interesting because most restricted materials, by themselves, can be countered by nearly any character meant for combat without the need for a Factory submission.)

So, I was wondering if they are accepted. If not, why?

 

[Ellie Mors]

[member="Spencer Varanin"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

Speaking for myself, I'm pretty sure I've always accepted prototype demonstrations and field tests as valid development threads. [member="Spencer Varanin"] can correct me if standards have changed, but so far as I'm aware, there's nothing forbidding it. It's just not a frequently used option.

Complications can occur when someone uses a prototype ship in battle, but they're one of fifteen posters and still want to claim the entire thread as development. Still, most judges are pretty solid about managing that kind of thing.

The only firm line, so far as I'm aware, is the rule about approved submissions not being used in threads that start before the submission is approved. That's meant to keep people from, say, creating something game-changing in the middle of an invasion and getting it stamped for immediate use. A lot of people tend to hesitate about things like inventing and using something over the course of an invasion. Some of that probably comes down to the old 'factory is mandatory' misconception. I think a lot of people find that best practice is to clear it with your RP partner first: "hey, mind if I wear my prototype armor for our invasion duel so I can use it as dev?" And I find people tend to be amenable to requests like that, and those threads generally get accepted as dev.

 

[Raziel]

That's how I do about 50% of my dev I'd say.

I'm less impressed by being linked dominions or invasions or skirmishes with just a hint of relevance to the product being submitted.

 

[Elaine Thul]

[member="Soeht"] currently doing that in a ga dom, on how my disc cannon works

 

[Allyson Locke]

[member="Soeht"]

I'm 100% okay with this and support it. Development threads are boring and Demonstrations are fun little bits that you can do. My only thing is don't do them in Invasions because that's just asking for reports and drama. Demonstrations should only be done in controlled threads such as Dominions and Private threads where all writers are aware that "this is a demonstration of the item I want to submit in factory etc". As long as its not in an invasion, I see no issues with a demonstration being used as a support for a submission.