Computer Game Artists
Mail List FAQ
Super Basic Summary:
 | Subscribe : Fill out the signup form from http://www.vectorg.com/cga. You'll need to write a biography (see below). |
| Post : To write an email to everybody on the list, send it to cgaa@lists.best.com. Only subscribers can post. |
| Unsubscribe : write email to CGAA-REQUEST@LISTS.BEST.COM with "unsubscribe" in the body. That's it! If you feel like it, send reason for unsubscribing to cga@vectorg.com. |
FAQ CONTENTS:
| New to Mailing Lists? Read this first section. |
| WHAT IS THE CGA MAILING LIST? |
| WHY POST ON A MAILING LIST? |
| WHO, EXACTLY, IS THIS LIST FOR? |
| HOW DO I JOIN? |
| WHAT KIND OF THING SHOULD NOT BE POSTED? |
| WHAT'S WRONG WITH USENET NEWSGROUPS? |
| VOLUME: (20 EMAILS A DAY?! NOT!) |
| Q: SHOULD I GET A DIGEST OR SINGLE-MESSAGE SUBSCRIPTION? |
| HOW IS CONTROVERSY HANDLED? |
| EXAMPLE TOPICS |
| ARE THE POSTINGS PUBLIC DOMAIN? |
| WHAT IF MY COMPANY IS UPTIGHT ABOUT SECRETS? |
| WHAT HAPPENED TO THE RT3D LIST? |
| PROBLEMS: "WHY CAN'T I POST?" |
|
WHO IS THE MODERATOR?
|
Is this your first time? Cool! But be careful. If you have never been on a mailing list before, take a look at some basics on how to use them.
| #1: If you ever leave the list, don't send "unsubscribe" messages to the posting address! Remember, when you want off the list, come see this page. Many new users get this wrong; don't be one of them! |
| Stay cool. Don't argue pointlessly or insult ("flame"), do cut people slack when in doubt about their intentions. Sound easy? It isn't, but it's really important. |
| Be careful who you reply to. It's easy (and way embarrassing) to accidentally post a personal letter to the list. When replying to a mailing-list email; check the "to:" line carefully or you might mail to everybody, not just the author. |
| Don't post drastically off-topic. Don't post jokes, weird stuff unrelated to computer game art or stuff like chain letters, etc. Keep in mind who's reading this list, and why. This is a grey area, and some off-topic postings, like party announcements, are usually welcome. If you are not sure if it's appropriate, write the moderator and ask, or just compare your posting to other postings you've seen on the list and ask yourself, "Would this be weird to see on the list?" |
| Don't attach binary files (images, zipped files, etc) to your postings. If you want everybody to have a file, put it on a FTP site and then tell the list how to find it. (write cga@vectorg.com for help with this) |
| Last but not least, Do post! Despite all these dire warnings, don't be shy to ask, or share; people are in the CGA because they want to help each other and learn new things about computer game art (if you never post, you could even be considered greedy!). It's OK to "lurk" (only read postings) for a while, but don't be a wallflower forever - dive in! |
Q: WHAT IS THE CGA MAILING LIST?
The CGA mailing list is our general forum for all sorts of topics relevant to the CGA. We talk about topics like:
| techniques - how to do certain difficult tricks in game artistry |
| tools - what software and hardware is good (and bad), wish lists |
| gossip - industry rumors like new startups, our latest game releases |
| people - Interesting people in the game art industry, |
| events - conferences, speeches, parties, other organization meetings |
| jobs - if you're looking to hire or be hired |
| CGA events - what's going on with the CGA, and when and where |
| CGA management - Discussion & coordination on how the CGA works |
Q:WHY POST ON A MAILING LIST?
Well, I don't know about you, but here's why I do: First, I hate spending
lots of time figuring out tricky problems that I KNOW someone else has
already solved. I want to be able to write email and ask a whole crew of
peers if they know.
Second, I actually enjoy helping out my peers by answering questions,
sharing my knowledge, and generally showing off.
Third, I like knowing who else is out there doing this kind of work,
and talking with them helps me feel like part of a movement instead of
a geek alone with his computer. This is very important for my productivity
as well as my enjoyment of my job.
Q: WHO, EXACTLY, IS THIS LIST FOR?
It's for members of the CGA. The CGA is an open community of computer
game artists. For more information on this, see the CGA Basic
Info page (http://www.vectorg.com/cga)
Q: HOW DO I JOIN?
Easy - Fill out the form on the signup page, off the main page (http://www.vectorg.com/cga). On that form, there are a couple non-obvious questions - here's what they mean.
| Biography: Every CGA member writes an biography; this helps us get to know each other. What should you write? Start with the basics: (where you work, what kind of art you do) and expand from there (what art you like, what you hope to learn from the CGA and/or the mailing list, your work history, artistic things you are good at, your favorite software, etc) Here's a brief, hypothetical example: "Hi, I'm Jan GenericArtist. I've just started in computer graphics, having been a pencil-paper type illustrator for Calvin Klein men's underwear ads for the last four years. I've been learning Microshop XDesigner through this friend who works at GenericGames Inc, and they offered me a job designing and illustrating men's underwear for their upcoming adult-oriented game. So, here I am! I'm into sharing tips on male anatomy illustration, and also learning more about my software. If you know XDesigner, please post some of your favorite keyboard shortcuts! |
| Digest or single? There are two possible ways of subscribing: either single messages one-by-one or in a daily digest form. If you don't mind lots of emails each day and you like the interaction of getting a single email from a single person, choose "single". Otherwise, choose "digest" (which is the default). The single subscription makes the list more like a bunch of friends emailing each other and less like a newsletter. That encourages interactive conversations/debates and gives the list a sociable feeling. On the down side, a single subscriber can expect a much higher number of emails - the heaviest so far was July 22 1996, when we had a staggering 30 list-related emails! That was unusual - 5-10 a day is more likely. " |
Q: WHAT KIND OF THING SHOULD NOT BE POSTED?
Sometimes it's easy to forget just how many people read this list, and how valuable their time is. Treat your postings like conversation during an industry conference. Post easy-to-read, informal, messages that reflect your reasonable, tolerant self. With that in mind, here's some specific types of postings that shouldn't go on the list:
| Don't post insults! If someone posts an annoying email like "illegally copied software is morally just," do NOT post a reply like "No it isn't you twerp!" to the list. Feel free to write private email to the sender, but don't bicker in public. Just think of how you'd like getting a chain of personal attack/defense emails sent to your inbox. yuck! Mind you, constructive arguments are good; for example, debating the merits of SoftImage vs Alias can bring out some facts that are interesting to the list; "Macs RUUULEE!!!" doesn't really convey much of interest. |
| No hype-oriented advertising. If you or your company provides products or services to artists, be very careful about what you post to the list. If it would look good in Wired magazine ad, it's not meant to be posted here. On the other hand, fact-filled product announcements like "Adobe is cutting prices on Photoshop for the Amiga to $199 as of August 1" are cool, Statements like "this is the hottest tool since the pencil" type statements are not cool. Admittedly, this is a vague restriction, but I think it will be obvious when this line is crossed. |
| No irrelevant stuff: No jokes, "get rich quick" stuff, or cute little funny emails. There's nothing wrong with them, but there are many mailing lists for that purpose. Let's not clog up this one. |
| No non-english text. Don't attach binary files (like images, 3d models, etc) to postings - put the file on an FTP site and post the site name & file name if you want to share it with the CGA. If that didn't make sense, write me email and I'll help you personally. |
Q: WHAT'S WRONG WITH USENET NEWSGROUPS?
Nothing - we considered starting a Usenet group instead, and if this
list volume grows out of hand, we may do that, but for now, a mail list
is more convenient and appropriate. The problem with most forums like USENET
and general-purpose user's groups is that the topics are generally too
oriented to beginners, and/or devoted to one type of software. Nothing's
wrong with that, but we also need a place to talk that is more of interest
to professionals. Also, some people don't have Usenet access.
Q: THE LAST THING I NEED IS 20 MORE EMAILS A DAY.
Don't worry, this list is well moderated and low-volume. Using the digest
subscription, you can guarantee a maximum number of emails (like 5 a day).
To change your subscription, write cga@vectorg.com
and request a change.
Q: HOW IS CONTROVERSY HANDLED? (e.g. "I ( HATE / WANT TO SEE ) PIRACY POSTINGS!")
Postings about illegal activities like piracy will only be censored
if it's illegal for me to send them to the list. If the majority of people
ask me to, I'll call for a vote and go with the majority's opinion (as
long as it's legal!). Other controversial topics will be dealt with in
a similar way.
Q: TELL ME MORE ABOUT WHAT WE'LL TALK ABOUT.
The list would mainly be a forum for questions and answers about building artwork for computer games. Other related topics are sure to come up, and they'll be encouraged: video compression, and maybe legal issues like ownership or social event announcements, but the real purpose is to solve problems and share knowledge about creating real-time 3D models. For example, here are some likely 3D modeling subjects that might come up
| Methods of modeling, texturing, animating |
| Techniques and tricks for real-time lighting, sorting |
| Translating 3D files from one platform to another |
| Converting 5000 polygon models to 100 polygon real-time models |
Q: ARE THE POSTINGS PUBLIC DOMAIN?
This is a very sticky question. Generally, the answer is "yes, if the author & CGA get credit." The purpose of the CGA is to share information, help out others who are doing similar work. The emails we write to the list are owned by the writer, but obviously if we're writing to the group, we expect them to be read by the group; thus, the emails are freely accessable for each other to read, save, requote, etc.
The sticky part is here: If we are asked, we should not have a problem
with allowing our writings to be publicly available (like posted on a Usenet
group, a web site, quoted extensively in a magazine or even in a book),
as long as it is attributed to the original author and source (CGA mailing
list).
Q: WHAT IF MY COMPANY IS UPTIGHT ABOUT ME SPILLING SECRETS?
Whether we artists work by contract or are employees, our employers have almost certainly made us sign nasty legal contracts with big punishments for spilling company secrets. Thing is, they usually define "company secrets" to include just about anything you do at work, and when you run into a problem that the list could help you solve, you may have to share some details about your problem. This puts you in a jam. Do you get help on your problem, or protect your company's secrets? Obviously, any employer will have a big problem with you posting source code or finished artwork that you built while on the job, but we are all smarter than that--that's not the issue.
The easiest solution is this: If possible, use a hypothetical example that doesn't infringe on your company's secrets.
If that doesn't work and you really need to share something about the job you're working on in order to solve a problem you're having, do you write about it to the list? You'll have to make a choice:
- don't ever say anything that could be even remotely construed to be a company secret, ever.
- post and take the risk that you could get in trouble over it
- talk your company into giving you permission to post about it
Q: PROBLEMS: "WHY CAN'T I POST?"
Alas, nothing is perfect, and mailing lists have more than their share of problems. This list's mechanics are handled by Best , an Internet Service Provider. They wrote their own, custom list software (not majordomo or listserv), so if it's a little unconventional, that's why. Here's the basic facts for this list:
| Only the moderator can subscribe a new member. |
| Only the moderator can see who's subscribed. |
| Only members can post messages. |
| Currently, members can only post messages from their subscribed address. |
To resolve problems, contact the moderator. If you want to get into it, you can read more about Best's list server under "Support" at http://support.best.com .