Category talk:Using SimPE

I took the liberty of setting up this new category as a means to start organizing articles that are traditionally though of as tutorials. As there is not much organizational structure to this site yet, I agonized over the titles, the article itself etc. etc. I am aware that it is important to set the tone at an early stage but in the end I thought it was better to actually try something & to build from there. I'm looking for feedback on all of this so that I don't veer off in the wrong direction. Thanks --Tatiana 20:20, 26 July 2006 (EDT)

SimPE Tutorials

If we're going to fill this with just tutorials, the name should be changed to "SimPE Tutorials". If it's going to have other pages, a subcategory for tutorials (with that name) would be very benificial. What direction are we going with this? Jaxad0127 11:16, 27 July 2006 (EDT)

Why tutorials at all?

My question is, Do we really want/need tutorials on the wiki? As far as I understand it, this wiki would be considered a companion site to modthesims2 (as they're both run by the delphy), which already has a lot of tutorials.

Why store the information twice? Why not just link to the tutorial section of modthesims2? Moving all the tutorials from MTS2 to here would be a large task, and a drain on server space.

To me, at least, the wiki should be the information database, and modthesims2 seems to be the file sharing (for lack of a better word) and help place, which would include tutorials. Trezero

Wikis were made for Information Sharing

I believe that the idea of a Sims2Wiki is really exciting. One of the reasons for this belief is that a wiki is an excellent way to share information of the 'tutorial' type. IMHO A wiki is far superior to even the best forum setup in this regard. I would envision that, over time, the Sims2Wiki becomes the authority source for this information. Likewise, a setup like that used by MTS2 is an excellent way to disseminate content (downloads). I see the two as companion sites but I see a shift of the tutorials to the wiki. While this shift will take some time, I believe that it is inevitable. The information will only be stored twice, while the transition is in progress. I agree that this may take some time but can be accelerated depending on how easy this wiki is to use & how much attention it gets. --Tatiana 14:32, 27 July 2006 (EDT)

Exploring the Definition of Tutorial

I will assume for the moment that 'tutorial' type information will be part of the Sims2Wiki. Since it is really early in the life of this wiki it is probably a good time to bring up the use of the word 'Tutorial'. When you explore the sims community through the forums, the word tutorial is used to group all types of things; list of instruction, tips, guidelines, etc. If you go with the definition that a required component of a tutorial is Some method of review that reinforces or tests understanding of the content in the related module or section. there are actually very few real tutorials out there.

Is this an opportunity to start categorizing articles by using 'correct' terminology or are there more advantages to just sticking with the word 'tutorial'? If correct terminology is used, you will be able to partition/classify information better. This becomes more valuable as the volume of information grows. You will also be able to avoid future discussions about bad terminology. On the downside, there will be a bit steeper learning curve for the community & categories will be sparser at the beginning. If the term 'tutorial' is used the community will initially be more comfortable with the familiar usage & the category itself will not be as sparse in the beginning. With this decision, there will always be questions from 'purists' asking why you have tips under the heading of tutorials. My personal preference would be to go with the correct terminology from the beginning but I wouldn't loose sleep over the decision to just use 'tutorials' as a global umbrella. --Tatiana 17:30, 27 July 2006 (EDT)

Back to the issue

To be honest, I've never seen any kind of purist complain about a tutorial, either on MTS2 or anywhere else. ;)

But this is a bit off the subject. As I see it, the real issue is where the rather large library of "lists of instructions" should be located: On MTS2 or here on the wiki. I personally would like to see the tutorials stay on MTS2, if only because they're posted as threads, to which people can reply, ask questions, and discuss the subject more deeply.

Plus the minor fact that I don't really want a 12 MB tutorial loading in my firefox window. I've tried it with PDFs; it doesn't work. --Trezero 18:09, 27 July 2006 (EDT)

Tutorials in the Future

I've been talking internally with the MTS2 about the issue of the tutorials and indeed a general wider revamp of the Create section itself. Yes, a lot of tutorials are currently stored on MTS2, however, I would like to see them moved to the Wiki since it offers much more powerful categorisation, presentation and linking facilities. This would be a large initial drive to move them over, yes, however, in the longer run would be more beneficial since it's much easier to link pages together to form a coherant tutorial section, and tutorials can belong to multiple categories or pages.

To that end I'd prefer for people to not go full out adding tutorials here until I've setup the initial categories and thought about the layout and how it'll appear to the user. The file format information that currently exists on the Wiki will stay and can be linked into the "Advanced" level tutorials or on a Developer/Programmer portal.

To preserve the existing threads that discuss the tutorials, each one that's moved will have 2 components - the actual tutorial itself (here on the Wiki, linked in a nice structure with others), and a discussion thread about it.

I'll be setting up an example of this in the next couple of day.

Delphy 19:17, 27 July 2006 (EDT)

That makes sense to me. I threw the Changing Lot Pictures article in to act as a trial ballon since it has connections to SimPe as well as popular words. It might be helpful to you when you are thinking about & testing out the layout & initial categories. I will hold off on putting any other tutorials here until that initial organization is set. Thanks. --Tatiana 19:35, 27 July 2006 (EDT)