Developing a test on card design?

[Darj]

So, this is an idea I had for a while: It would be neat if someone made some sort of test on card design and it was pinned on the RC section so both new and veteran members could take it and get an idea of how their concept on card design is (if it is good, a bit off, or just plain wrong, etc.). This would be a great tool for complementing the guides on RC and would also be helpful for those new members who usually have no idea of what good card design is and jump straight to RC posting their cards.

 

I think the test could be as simple as posting 5~10 cards and ask the reader if they are well designed, with the following 2 choices as answers:

A.Yes

B. No

 

The examples could be either official cards, or custom cards that further challenge the reader by forcing them to judge cards that have never been played or discussed neither on YCM nor other YGO forums.

 

After that, the correct answers could be revealed and, if possible, proceed with an analysis depending on the number of correct answers:

1-2: Your definition of card design is way off. [Insert explanation/feedback here. e.g: You think cards that do X or Y are fair when they are not, etc.]

7-9 (or 3-4 on a 1~5 scale): Your definition on card design is fine. [Insert explanation/feedback here]

 

Or simply wrap things up with a couple of guidelines or advice on card design like:

Cards or combos that generate multiple pluses with little to no cost are not good design.

Be careful with Quick Effects.

etc.

 

This is something I would do myself... if I was 100% sure my definition of card design is accurate, which is not the case. And even if I a was a pro on card design, I don't think a test should be done by a single person, because card design can be slightly relative (e.g. what you think is fair might be actually unfair) and a better test could be built if, let's say, 5 or more equally good people worked on it. This is why I am posting this on Theory section instead of Suggestions, so we can discuss about it and come up with a test that most of the YCM community agrees with.

[Sleepy]

Card design should be a very solid concept, and it probably is, but how I've seen it, judgment is never the same for every individual. It always differs at least ever so little. There's also how some people switch between "who cares since X deck sucks and needs it" complemented by "some badly designed cards make the game interesting once in a while", opposed by "X is degenerate as f***".

There's also the switch between "You fucking morons, don't you know what a vacuum is?" opposed to "there's too many cards that can play around it and everybody knows looking at what can interact with it is key".

 

After that, it's very hard to grasp what people really want to see.

 

Btw, how would that test be different from making a thread at "Realistic Cards Multiples"? 

Making a bunch of cards for others to judge sounds pretty similar, and if there's appointed judges it means it might have more of a chance to get reviewed than a regular thread, making many users take advantage of that, just like it was at the "Hall of Fame" thread.

 

So it doesn't feel "commercially viable" (rough equivalent for lack of a better term from the top of my head) as an idea. 

[Darj]

Card design should be a very solid concept, and it probably is, but how I've seen it, judgment is never the same for every individual. It always differs at least ever so little. There's also how some people switch between "who cares since X deck sucks and needs it" complemented by "some badly designed cards make the game interesting once in a while", opposed by "X is degenerate as f***".

There's also the switch between "You f***ing morons, don't you know what a vacuum is?" opposed to "there's too many cards that can play around it and everybody knows looking at what can interact with it is key".

 

That's why the test must be designed by more than 1 person. My idea is that we could come up with a general definition of "card design" that most people, if not everyone, agrees with, and from there work on the test.

 

Btw, how would that test be different from making a thread at "Realistic Cards Multiples"? 

Making a bunch of cards for others to judge sounds pretty similar, and if there's appointed judges it means it might have more of a chance to get reviewed than a regular thread, making many users take advantage of that, just like it was at the "Hall of Fame" thread.

 

So it doesn't feel "commercially viable" (rough equivalent for lack of a better term from the top of my head) as an idea. 

 

The big difference is that the test wouldn't be open to discussion nor reviews, except for improving the test itself; judges or reviewers wouldn't be involved at all. It would be more of an established guide or tool that would be just there on RC to help people understand better the concept of card design. Just like any of those "How much do you know about..." quizzes you can find in magazines or the internet.

 

Think of something like this (the test is silly, but it serves its purpose as an example), except with a card on each question and Yes/No as possible answers.