Gamingparents.org Created 18 years ago2006-08-22 01:28:49 UTC by satchmo

I am starting an online community called www.gamingparents.org. It's created for older gamers (like myself) who are about to become parents in the near future.

Here is the general organization for the site. Please offer any suggestions. Thank you.

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News
Gallery

• Screenshots
• Desktop
• Hardware
• Members
• Misc

Forums

• General Discussion
• Gaming

PC (shooter, rpg, strategy, modding, misc)
Consoles (shooter, sport, racing, etc)
Hardware

• Parenting

Gaming (good, bad, ugly)
Internet (MySpace, blogs)
Media (movies, music, books)
Misc

GP Game Ratings

• Recommendation (poll)

7 and up
12 and up
15 and up
18 and up

Game Reviews

• PC (shooter, rpg, strategy, misc)
• Consoles (ps2, psp, xbox, xbox 360, gamecube)

Hardware Reviews

• PC (graphics card, peripherals, misc)
• Consoles (controls, ...)

Non-Gaming Parents

• Introduction
• Glossary
• FAQ

Can't connect. Either the DNS is fuxt or your server is fuxt. If you've only just bought the domain, it should work in a few hours, to a day.

Put in a section for how gaming destroys lives and that GTA is worse than AIDS.

Put in a section for how gaming destroys lives and that GTA is worse than AIDS.

Only if it's played by the wrong people.
As a parant you can explain - for example - that GTA is just a game and you should not act like you do ingame in the reality.
I played GTA, and well, you don't see me running around killing people on the street, matter of fact, you don't see me at all!

Satchmo: I think it's a great forum idea (even though I'm just 14 myself)
because if parants present PC/video games for their childs they are also responseble for the posseble consiquenses.

Are you kidding? Have you ever played AIDS? If you never played in that how can you tell it's better then GTA!

I can't imagine someone producing a game with the title 'AIDS', even if it was a mispelling of a game about personal trainers

??
Is AIDS a game?

yea, it's about the aftermath of one of the GTA games

Great idea, Satchmo.
Really, it's about fucking time the parents got a better, more realistic view of the gaming world..

NOBODY UNDERSTANDS US KIDS!!

Looks cool, and I agree w/ Daub. Too bad I'm 14 though . Even if it's not a forum for kids, it would be interesting to simply read through it.

Can I join and have a loud voice spewing out biased opinions even though I'm just 16?

I know what's best for kids EVERYWHERE!!!

Seriously though, good idea, I'd love to pitch in if you need help with anything.

just mention how much you love valve in every paragraph, you'll do fine.

mumble content contributor you didnt get those in my day mumble mumble

Can't connect.

I haven't put anything up yet. It's only at the planning stage.

When I came up with the idea for this gaming community, I was planning to serve the need for all of us (you guys, in particular). Sure, you play a lot of games now as adolescents, but what's going to happen twenty years from now? Are you all going to stop playing HL3/HL4 immediately once you turn 34? I don't think so.

There is such a void in the online community serving older gamers (like myself). When this current gaming generation grows up, my community is going to be the new "geek heaven" for all the gaming adults who love to share their gaming experience with their children.

I can't wait to have my son/daughter play my custom maps I made for HL1 and HL2. It'll be such a bonding experience.

TWHL is the first online community that I ever joined. Mapping for HL1 started it all. You guys are some of my closest friends, that's why I came back for your opinion. I would love to have you contribute (perhaps even moderate) my community.

Imagine that, a fourteen year old moderating a community for thirty-somethings. It's the perfect chance for you to get back at your parents for not letting you play games.

Of course, I would expect certain amount of maturity if you want to be a moderator.

Honoured that you approve of us, anyway. Keep us up-to-date.

Have you actually bought the domain yet?

Sounds like a very interesting idea. The only suggestion I have is maybe narrow the forum sections down a bit. It will make the community on the site feel larger if less sections on the forum are available, and encourage more interaction

ya, consolidated forums = win

maybe just narrow it down to
General Banther
Computer stuff
^ Online gaming
^ Non Online gaming
^ tech
^ etc
Parenting stuff
^ games for your kids
^ effects of gaming
^ general good parenting stuff
^ logical arguments against washinton
^ etc

maybe a bit more subsectioned if 3 fourms are too few.

and I would be a proud content contributor to your site. I can be as mature as any adult when im not in a happy go lucky enviroment that is built for bouts of sillyness

Have you actually bought the domain yet?

Yes, I am the proud owner of www.gamingparents.org

I get my hosting from Surpass Hosting. It's a very good and reputable company.

It sounds like the first step to create the community (after paying for the domain name) is to download and install Apache and MySQL on my computer.

Then, I'm using Joomla and phpBB for my site. I've read some guides on these tools, and they seem very easy to use. With my existing HTML and CSS knowledge, I shouldn't have much problem creating the community (I hope).

its going to be a bit hard to run a site off a comp in your home. the bandwidth would be a bit to low

Probably, yeah. Cable?

its going to be a bit hard to run a site off a comp in your home. the bandwidth would be a bit to low

No, the local server is created for the sole purpose of testing the site and design. Once the site is up and running flawlessly, I'll upload the files and publish them.

The real server that handles the traffic is at Surpass Hosting. It has a bandwidth limit of 200 GB per month and 5 GB of storage space. I think that's plenty for a start-up community. I can always upgrade my hosting if the traffic gets busy.

By the way, how heavy is the bandwidth traffic at TWHL? Does it use any PHP tools? Like Mamba or Joomla? Does Seventh code it himself?

I like the consolidation suggestions. Three forums sound good:

General Discussion (any topic)
Gaming (discussion about your favorite and current games--you as a gamer)

• PC
• Consoles

Parenting (parenting stories and opinions--you as a parent)

• Children and Gaming (share your children's gaming experience)
• Misc (general parenting tips and experiences)

Seems like a good idea, I guess this is where all the questions about php suites and forums came up

As for the color scheme for the site, I plan to use one similar to TWHL. I want to pay tribute to my favorite games of all time--Half-Life and Half-Life 2. Orange with black menu (with pale-yellow menu text) should be clear and distinct. A touch of gray (to similate the Black Mesa science lab feel) should be in place too.

Interesting project Satch, still aint working though.

By the way, how heavy is the bandwidth traffic at TWHL? Does it use any PHP tools? Like Mamba or Joomla? Does Seventh code it himself?

20GB/month is our limit. I think you'll be fine

All custom-coded, PHP-side. atom did most of this incarnation as a "my first PHP" thing. I'm re-writing it at the moment.

still aint working though

I am at work now, and I have to finish my book first before diving into this project.

I have too many things all going on at the same time right now. I have to control my excessive motivation sometimes.

I'm re-writing it at the moment.

Impressive. If I run into any problem with PHP coding, I'll be sure to seek advice here.

Whats the hosting per month?

If you waited i woulda suggested dream hosting. It would cost about 15 US dollars a month, with hundreds of gigs of bandwith a month (and it keeps getting bigger), and you have tons and tons of space.

I'm getting $6 a month for 200 GB of monthly bandwidth.

That's a pretty good deal I'd say.

Very good

And for now, it should be good.

If atom and Seventh don't mind, I am going to incorporate some features of TWHL into my site design.

For example, I love the "Hello <user>! This is your ##th login." message. It's very endearing and welcoming.

I also like the newest member welcome message.

Both of those are going to be elements of my community. Of course, it won't be a mapping community, so other aspects of the site design will be quite different.

I won't publish the site for another three or four months, so be patient. The link will be dead in the mean time.

ooh, 200Gb monthly, nice price, but I can get unlimited for 6 as well

chris@infanethosting.com

email him. I think the offer is still valid, Im planning on getting one from them myself either way though

Surpass Hosting has been around for years now, and they have unfailingly provided amazing support and service. I think I'll stick with them.

Thanks for the offer.

Would there be some sort of age limit applied to the forum? It sounds like a fun and informative place to be and I'm sure many other 14-year-olds here, at TWHL, would enjoy being a part of this as much as I would .

Its all up to you though .

Get a girl pregnant and you can join.

Seeing how your here, its safe to say i can join. :>

Would there be some sort of age limit applied to the forum?

No, I don't want to be discriminatory. Anyone can join and become a member, although I am designing the site for an older audience. Some of the topics in the forum will be about parenting experiences.

I am trying to sell it to the gearhead parents who don't want to give up gaming once they are suppose to be responsible adults.

I am trying to sell it to the gearhead parents who don't want to give up gaming once they are suppose to be responsible adults.

It's not always because of the kids, Satch.
Sometimes it's just the job. They come back home really tired and haven't got the energy to play anymore.

If you need design, CSS or HTML suggestions, I'm all there, . I suggest putting up an information front for gamingparents.org so people know it exists.
Make it state the purpose of the website and an approximate ETA on the actual content.

With 200GB bandwidth per month, you can afford pretty heavy traffic, I wouldn't worry about that.

And yes, limiting the forum to a maximum of 4 sections would be a good idea. Too many sections make a site very confusing and almost always makes it seem empty.

Sometimes it's just the job. They come back home really tired and haven't got the energy to play anymore.

It's just the opposite for most gaming adults. My clan mates and I are most likely going to fire up HL or CS after a long and stressful day at work. It's hard for my wife to understand why I want to shoot someone in the head after working for fourteen hours straight, but it's a tremendous stress reliever for me.

I suggest putting up an information front for gamingparents.org so people know it exists.
Make it state the purpose of the website and an approximate ETA on the actual content.

Great minds think alike! I was just about to do that before I read your post.

If you need design, CSS or HTML suggestions, I'm all there, smile -

I am actually starting a graphics competition for the header graphics of the community. The rules are listed below:

• It has to have the words "Gaming Parents" in the traditional Half-Life 2 font and kerning.

• The background should be mainly orange, like TWHL. The color of the text should be some variation of black, but I would allow some creative leeway.

• The border should be somehow HL-themed, it could be Xen-related, Combined-styled. . .whatever. But the border has to fit well with the font and the background. I don't want to make the theme too gritty for the site (not like Snarkpit), but bright and happy like TWHL.

• It should be a relatively high-quality JPEG, of the dimension 800x200.

Post your final work at imageshack, so we can all browse the thumbnails at this thread.

Thanks in advance to all the contributers. I'll let the competition run for a month (deadline September 30th).

I quickly put up some info about the community, and now it's ready for viewing.

www.gamingparents.org

Great idea, but I totally disagree with your design scheme, especially if you're targetting an older audience. I'd say go for something a little more professional, rather than spew the fact that you love Half-Life.

If this site is to be read by parents of all ages, I would cater to them by creating an easy on the eyes, professional and sleek looking site. I would also work hard on the layout and functionality of the site, to ensure that it's easy to use and easy to read.

As for the idea itself, I think it's awesome. A lot of parents are pretty retarded when it comes to games, in the same way that they were retarded when movies got more violent, or when the VCR became popular.

I must agree with Anty on the design and colour scheme. Black-on-Orange looks pretty... soggy. I'd much rather prefer a more neutral white/gray silvery scheme, with a fancy 2.0 look. My header will be in shortly.

Agreed.
Tons of Hl-Related sites use that exact theme.
Try something more original.

I'm not too happy with how it turned out, but it's a general idea. 800x200 is really big, by the way. When you get to making the site, make sure it's smaller than 800 pixels wide, so you cater for people using 800x600 as their resolution too.

I quite like Zombie's header, actually.

Do you guys really think 800x200 is too wide? I figure it is still able to fit onto the screen for those with 800x600 resolution.

I made a few of my own, but I want your opinion on them. They don't look as nice as Zombie's, but I am just throwing ideas out.

This one uses the background from a screenshot within HL2. I don't know whether I can use it legally for my site, since Valve mappers designed the HL2 train station.

This one uses the background from my very first map (submitted right here at TWHL). It's got the HEV HUD on it, which I like. It also (by chance) got the year of my birth as the health level.

I like Zombie's idea of adding ".org" at the end to emphasize the URL of the site, so I made this one:

I would also work hard on the layout and functionality of the site, to ensure that it's easy to use and easy to read.

I picked out this Joomla! template out of hundreds because of it's straight forward organization and layout. It's got the menu, login box, and latest news and posting up-front. I could just keep the color scheme, even though that's very easy to change.

Tell me what you guys think. I may change a lot of things according from the feedback I get. Thanks, and I would love to see more of your own creations too.

Having a screenshot as a background for anything on a site is an awful idea, because it;
a) Steals attention from the logo itself
b) Often gives stark contrasts from the text, making it harder to read
c) Is almost impossible to "fit in" with the rest of the site.

The template is alright, I guess. Some of the fonts needs changing and a few more "flashy" additions'd be nice.

Thanks for the suggestions.

What sort of "flashy" additions do you have in mind? I am planning to add thumbnails of the latest gallery submissions to the front page also. That should keep the appearance of the front page continuously changing.

If the screenie is blurred and the text - blended, there's no problem with a screenshot as a background. :

I think it's feasible to utilize screenshots as background. The new Steam site use screenshots as background. I think as long as it is done tastefully (and with the contrast lowered or the brightness modified), it can be done successfully.

By the way, what's everyone's opinion on the header options we have so far?

Go with ZLs, and then theme the site around it.

I like steam's. In fact, on the Garry's mod site, the depth blur looks awesome.
http://gmod.garry.tv/

Its random, so keep refreshing for more.

Or even the front page he has. The Fire hydrant is sexy.

http://garry.tv/

Fine, for headers it works. But as for backgrounds to actual content...