What are Creative Engines?

[Cyberlizer]

Written by SciFii (Clay Marks)
Edited by mmatt (Matt Morris) for viewing on the forum.

Terminology

Creative Engines Project - the top level of organization consisting of the admins of Gusicx3 and the Discord infrastructure that enables Creative Engines to be run.

Creative Engines (aka Engines) - a remix media event in which 1 or more pieces of input media are remixed or transformed into another type of media by participants from the community.

Creative Engineer (aka Engineer) - a trusted individual who decides to design and host a Creative Engine.

Main Idea

The Creative Engines Project is an offshoot/continuation of the Musicx3 Remix Contest server that is more integrated with the rest of Gusicx3 (now merged with NJOM) community activity. Each Creative Engine is a remix media event in which 1 or more pieces of input media are remixed or transformed into another type of media by participants from the community.

The primary goals of the Creative Engines Project are to:

1. encourage more activity on the art side of Gusicx3,
2. act as an entry point for new artists to meet others and grow the community, and
3. foster a community-oriented creative process that may lead to a more cohesive shared artistic vision within Gusicx3.

Creative Engine Architecture

My vision for a Creative Engine is a media remix event that exists parallel to others. A variety of Engines can run simultaneously (and asynchronously) on a timeline, and artists can choose which Engines they choose to interact with at any given time.

Despite a wide degree of variability, at its core, each Engine consists of:

1. a name,
2. a description,
3. a time frame (a start date through an end date OR repeating segments of time) during which the Engine is running,
4. a piece or grouping of input media (visual art, sound, prompt, etc),
5. a set of rules that guide the efforts of participating artists,
6. a license that dictates who owns what rights to the submitted work in an Engine, and
7. a submission format.

Creative Engineers and the Community

By default, community members and artists can freely drift between Engines and participate when they feel like they can. However, if a registration system works better for a given Engine, Engineers are allowed to create these systems themselves as they see fit.

Engines can be started and run by a Creative Engineer (any trusted person who is willing to organize one or more of these events). Each Creative Engineer has a wide degree of freedom regarding the duration, input media, rules, submission format, and (optional) rewards.

This extremely broad degree of flexibility is intended to allow Creative Engineers to experiment with different types of Engines and to find models that work best for the largest range of artists. However, rather than creating a hostile and competitive environment where participants and Engineers of different Engines engage in factionalism to boost participation in their own event, performance metrics will not be taken by individual Engine. Rather, Engineers will be lauded collectively based on total participation, encouraging cooperation and providing direct incentives to grow the community overall. To cement this trajectory even further, channels will be provided to allow Engineers to discuss learned lessons and strategies, write summary reports about their experiences with specific Engines, and discuss/experiment with theories to further improve Engine form.

How Artists can Participate:

To participate in a Creative Engine, browse the Creative Engines forum page for an Engine you like and follow the rules outlined in the description of that post.

Use the #find-a-team channel to either form a new team or join a team that already exists. (this isn't on the forum yet, Discord Link Here)

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions/requests about how the server architecture should be improved, send a message in #ce-support-and-suggestions.

What Engineers Need to Know:

To become an Creative Engineer, you must request that the role be given to you by a moderator. This ensures that only trusted individuals can become Engineers.

Once you become an Engineer, you can share ideas in the Reports, Ideas & Advice topic to get a grasp of the current methods and best practices. When you feel like you understand what you want to do, post your new Engine as a topic in the Creative Engines forum page. In your initial post, make sure to include:

1. a name,
2. a description,
3. a time frame (a start date through an end date OR repeating segments of time) during which the Engine is running,
4. a piece or grouping of input media (visual art, sound, prompt, etc),
5. a set of rules that guide the efforts of participating artists,
6. a license that dictates who owns what rights to the submitted work in an Engine, and
7. a submission format.

Rule 6 is very important. It is a BANNABLE OFFENSE to use Engine submissions for commercial purposes without the explicit permission of the participants, so make sure you have clearly explained who owns the rights to the finished work in your Engine description.

Mark the forum post with the "Active" while it's running and change it to "Ended" when it's finished. That way, participants can filter out inactive Engines and find ones they want to participate in.

Engineers are encouraged to display the results of their Engine in the Gallery topic. Make sure to include a description of the Engine as well as proper artist credits.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions/requests about how the server architecture should be improved, send a message in Support & Suggestions topic.