[Rule Suggestion] Plugin Requests

Currently, when browsing through the plugin requests, you see lots of different people requesting plugins for their servers. Apart from a number of people who haven't looked at the plugins that were already released, there are a number of cases where an almost identical plugin has been made, which just doesn't suit their needs. Why? Because it was made too specific.

Whether a plugin developer wants to make a plugin configurable, is his choice, but when I see someone requesting a plugin that nobody else can use, I always get irritated. They don't want to spend time to learn to make plugins, but they do want someone to spend their time making a plugin for them?

There currently is a "rule" saying you shouldn't request plugins that other people can't use. My suggestion would be to expand this rule into: "Plugin requests must be broad enough to allow other users to install it on their server, and use it for their purposes, with just a bit of configuration."

A great example of a plugin request would be this. It's a user asking for a plugin that, in its current state, can't be used by any other server owners, who don't have the exact same idea. If it were to be made configurable, any server owner with an idea in the general direction, could use it.

 

Plugin requesters cannot know what exactly can be done with plugins and what isn't, or how servers work internally, leave it to the plugin requesters to request what they need, and the plugin dev can make it as configureable as possible.

 

That's true, however most people know you can add customisation options in a YAML file, meaning instead of (again using my previous example..) requesting 3 pieces of food being good and 3 pieces of food being bad, they can request it to be configurable which food is good / bad / neutral. There's also a neat list explaining what is and isn't possible.

EDIT: That isn't true at all... Some don't know it, so they should read up on it before requesting it. Some do know it.

 

TheMcScavenger that list cannot cover everything and it can vary between MC versions and bugs, also, where do you put the line between what needs to be described and what not? Your above example can be also summed as "have a configureable effect when eating a certain food", and then the developer does not actually know what he wants, increasing response and development time, and may not do what the plugin requester wanted.

 

I'm not saying everyone has to use it, or it has to be configurable, I'm just saying that specific plugins that nobody else can use shouldn't be allowed.

 

TheMcScavenger are you kidding? That plugin can be used on any server. It just makes the game more challenging and fun.

Haters gonna hate.


Please explain how other servers can not use this plugin? It can work with pretty much any gamemode.

Survival servers, Faction servers, even Hunger Games servers.
What is your problem?

 

that list cannot cover everything and it can vary between MC versions and bugs
So? That's the same as a plugin that's a bit outdated; it doesn't cover every single thing. It's not supposed to. It's up to the author of the plugin if he wants to keep updating it or not.

where do you put the line between what needs to be described and what not
Leave it up to the players to report, and the moderators to decide. Like 90% of the reports on most forums.

Your above example can be also summed as "have a configureable effect when eating a certain food", and then the developer does not actually know what he wants, increasing response and development time, and may not do what the plugin requester wanted.
The person to request the plugin should explain it properly. It's an existing problem, not a problem in the rule.

Let me guess, you're the creator of the thread? Yes, you are. The only people that can use the plugin are the ones that have the same exact idea, with the same exact foods, and the same exact amount of steps to be walked. It isn't configurable, hence it is too specific for anyone to use but you.

 

Will you lose players that only join the forum to get a free plugin for their server? Yes. Will you lose actual community members? I doubt it.

 

TheMcScavenger then you could say that about any plugin!
Oh, well only this guy has the idea for a spleef arena, so only he will use it

 

They are indeed, and adding this rule will get rid of a lot of plugin requests, resulting in getting rid of a lot of threads with the possibility to be reported.

You're completely ignoring the idea because you don't like it. A lot of spleef plugins are customisable, allowing any server owner to use it, set up their own arenas, set up how long a game lasts for, etc.

On the other side, your plugin is limited to 3 bad foods, 3 good foods, and 10km of walking. It's not customisable, so nobody can add or remove foods from the list.

 

TheMcScavenger I tried to make the plugin idea as simple as possible. If a developer wants to go in depth with it and make customizable foods, then great! I dont really care.

Had I written all of that in the plugin description you probably would have ranted about how long my plugin request was, and claim my idea was too crazy to be developed. You have a problem with everything.

 

Not at all. If you were to have requested a plugin that gives people a positive or negative speed boost after eating some of configurable foods, that'd be a great plugin, which can be used by a lot of servers. However, limiting it to the food types you limited it to, makes it impossible for anyone with slightly different preferences to use it. That's exactly what this suggestion is all about.

At the moment, making this plugin is about 10 minutes. Making it with all the customisation options, is maybe 15? It's just a bit of different code, getting lists of what items are good / bad, and checking for them to be eaten. It's not difficult at all.

 

TheMcScavenger your suggestion still suffers from a massive amount of grey area: there's plugins that are obviously configure able for anything and everything, and others that are obviously extremely server specific. In the middle, you have plugins configureable in one place, and not configureable in other places, which makes up about all of the plugins. In the end, its up to the developer if he wants to customise it. If other people express interest in the plugin, then he could add in the customisation later. If he doesn't want to, chances are he wouldn't develop the plugin fitting your rule in the first place. All this does is void the most of the reason for plugin requests, which is to provide a safe place to request and get plugins.

Your rule is extremely based on one's specific opinion on what is configureable enough, and will simply trigger way too many debates on what fits this rule.

Most plugin developers here instead follow a different, unwritten guideline:
Is the plugin request already filled by an existing plugin, which does this job without too much unneeded features and/or configuration? Suggest plugin. If user requests a plugin out of laziness of refusal to use existing, easy to use, working plugins, then ignore the request. Your example does not fit this, as this isn't achievable using a known plugin fitting these criterias, and hence its considered a good plugin request and not a bad one.

 

TheMcScavenger dude I picked 3 healthy foods and 3 bad foods. The reason I did not make all foods affected was so players have an option. If they want to enhance their speed they go for those foods. If they don't, they can eat regular food like apples, etc.

Anyone who looks into an endurance plugin would get this one, because it is pretty realistic. Despite customized options, in reality, steak, chicken, and fish are healthy foods. Cookies, cake, and pumpkin pies are not.

Could there be more options? Yes. But I did not want a crazy overwhelming plugin. If the developer wanted to go the extra mile and add options they are more then welcome to.

 

Exactly. If a plugin dev wants to develop a plugin beyond the original request, so be it. It isn't the job of the plugin requester to go beyond his own request.

 

I just think it's incredibly selfish to request a plugin so specific that nobody else can use it without having the exact same idea. It's not just about this plugin, it's about a lot of plugins. By just adding some customisation options, a lot of people can use the plugin, meaning there'll be lots more people satisfied with the work of the creator of the plugin.

It's not a matter of "what do I want", it's a matter of "I have a good idea for a plugin, how do I make it so that the person that actually spends the time making it does it for a larger group of people, so more people can actually enjoy it.".

 

Like I already explained; it's not about what's possible to add to it, it's about the request.

 

TheMcScavenger plugin request's entire point is basically your called selfishness. You take a feature which you want, describe it properly, and put it on the section, hoping someone would fill the request. Then plugin developer is here out of volunteering, if he doesnt want to do the request, that's fine. If he wants to do the request, that's also fine (as long as it doesn't break other licenses or illegal). If the plugin developer wants to expand the plugin request that he took, so it may fit other plugin requests, that's fine. If he want to develop the request and nothing more, that's also fine.

Basically, the plugin requester does not dictate the developer what he should do, and do nothing else. This works like a feature request for a plugin: the developer sees the request, decides if he likes it, and if yes, he fulfills it according to his own vision, not the requester's.