Elbirn here *Le headnod* :D

[Elbirn]

I'm fairly new to the community, just wanted to say hai / can anyone introduce me to your majickal world? :3 I figured I could learn it on my own, but I've gotten a little overwhelmed. "War"? Design-A-Game-Card sections? WHAT IS THIS WITCHCRAFT??? I want to be a part of the community but there's a lot that I don't know. I got all excited when I saw the "mentor program" section, but became infinitely disappointed when I saw the program was closed.

So..Yes. If there's anyone who can instruct me in the ways of this place, that'd be nice. I'm particularly interested in the card designing, war, aaand I'm a bit curious as to who the head-honchos are around here and what's up with the members who are supposed "Elemental masters" and how they earned those titles. The only people on here that I know of that seem to be in charge are scaredgirl, and...I think I saw the earth elemental master in a thread somewhere..That's about it. xD

[Xenocidius]

Scaredgirl is the main person in charge, yes, but there are other people in power such as Global Moderators, staff members (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?action=staff) such as Card Curators or Competition Organizers, the Lead Developer Zanzarino, etc. In particular, the Elements Council exists to help Scaredgirl make forum decisions.

You can read about War here (http://elementscommunity.org/wiki/articles/war/). Masters are respected PvPers chosen every three months or so through an event called Trials (http://elementscommunity.org/wiki/articles/trials/). They have the first choice of being the General of their element in War.

The Card Ideas and Art (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/board,6.0.html) section is awesome, but READ THE STICKY NOTE FIRST! You wouldn't believe the amount of noobs who spam that section like crazy with no regard for the correct formatting standard.

Also, welcome to the forums! We hope you enjoy your stay.

ALSO ... "*Le headnod*" ... When does the narwhal bacon?

[Elbirn]

1. Okay, so to make sure I understand the hierarchy..

Zanz: God
Scaredgirl: The chosen one (For whatever reason..Picked by Zanz? Started the forum? Earned it by being awesome?)
Elements council
Global moderators
Card curators/competition organizers

And I'm not entirely sure but I believe master deck builders are held in high regard as well?

2. I'll make sure to read up on war and trials. *nods* I don't think I quite have the skill (or card collection..) to be a part of war, let alone even qualify for a trial, but it sounds like a fun thing to be a part of, maybe I can work towards that eventually.

3. Card creating sounds funtastic, I could definitely get into that. I'm not really an artist, but I can play with photoshop a little..Or better yet, I have a few friends that are decent artists, maybe I can recruit them. I didn't get a chance to read too much, but I noticed that card designers kept "portfolios" if they had a minimum of 6 ideas? Are there any rules on portfolios for a designing "team" of 2-3 people using just one porfolio? I'll make sure to read all of the sticky's and have good, fully thought out ideas before submitting anything in this field.

4. The narwhal bacons at midnight.
 
..However I only know that as an general internet meme, and not as it's original purpose. I'm afraid I'm not quite one of your people.

[Xenocidius]

1. You've summed it up the hierarchy fairly well. Zanz definitely = God. There was another forum before this one, started by Pilchard123, then taken over by Evil Hamster. As I understand it however, it sucked, and Scaredgirl worked with the old admin and old assistant Developer chriskang to make a new, better forum where 100% ad revenue goes to Zanz. And this is it.

While I wish Card Curators were that high on the hierachy, there are tons of other staff positions, all at about the same level. Global Moderator is probably above Council, as the Council is temporary, chosen every few months by the old Council and Scaredgirl.

Of course people like master deck builders; we like having good decks. Many master deck builders are also Deck Helpers, which is a staff position.

2. You'd be surprised at the amount of noobs that get into War (especially Team Underworld). War 4 is currently running right now, but you may be able to get into War 5.

3. Some card designers keep portfolios. I've never seen any shared portfolios; if your friends aren't community members you can just create one, or if they are just mention them in your portfolio. To my knowledge there aren't any strict rules surrounding it.

4. So you're not a redditor? What a shame.

You've passed the non-noob test. Hopefully you'll stick around a while.

[Elbirn]

...So I just made a long response, then misclicked, the page refreshed and it was all lost.

So I'm going to sum it all up by saying: Hi. And thanks much. :3 I plan on staying here for a while, and hopefully I can make the most of my stay and give back to the community in whatever way I can

EDIT: Ohhh, almost forgot. I'm a bit confused by all of this rep stuff, my lack of ability to upload an avatar (I think), and so on ... I'm under the impression that there are things you have to have a "full member" status or something of the like to do? Am I right?

[ddevans96]

From someone who became active here because of war and card creation, and stayed because of the people, I like everything you've said so far. Welcome, and hope you stay around as long as you can

EDIT:

This post here sums up reputation better than I can type:

Reputation System
The new reputation system is a combination of posting activity and how much other users give you reputation. How much you give reputation to others, is related to your own reputatation. The higher your reputation is, the more reputation you can give.

Keep in mind that since the system is new, reputation is now only about your posting activity. After we use the system, posting activity will be much less relevant. One rep given by a high reputation player, can be the equivalent of posting more than 100 times.

Facts about the reputation system:
- You gain +1 rep for each post
- You gain +3 rep for each topic
- Previous Karma we had is currently NOT included in your reputation. This will be added later by multiplying your old Karma with a number, and adding it to your reputation.
- Some users have their reputation counted incorrectly. This is a bug that will be fixed.
- You need to be Jr. Member or above (30+ posts) to give others reputation
- Your "Reputation Power" determines how much rep you give to a person.
- You gain one Reputation Power for each 100 reputation points
- You one Reputation Bar (the green thing) for each 500 reputation points
- You can give reputation up to 6 times per day (to different users)
- You can give reputation again to the same person after you've given reputation to 6 other people
- You cannot lose reputation
- You can disable reputation from your profile. You will still receive rep from others, but it will only be visible to you.
- You can see who gave you reputation, and why, in your Profile - View Reputation (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;area=reputation).

As for avatars: 30 posts allow you to choose an Elements-related picture from a gallery, 200 posts allows you to choose an image on the internet, and 500 posts allows you to upload an avatar directly from your computer.

[Xenocidius]

Rep is quite simple. Everyone starts with 100 rep. You get 1 rep for each post, 3 for each topic (you don't get the 1 rep from a post if you post a topic). Your reputation power is your total rep / 100, rounded down. If someone gives you rep you gain rep equal to their reputation power. For example, if I gave you rep you would gain 26 rep. And if Zanzarino gave you rep you would gain 489 rep. It's meant to be a little 'compliment/thank you' system.

You need 30 posts (Jr. Member) to select an Elements-related avatar, 200 posts (Full Member) to specify one by URL, and 500 posts (Sr. Member) to upload one to the local server.

[Elbirn]

Nice summary by the both of you, thanks much. I think that pretty much answers all of my questions for now, I'll be sure to read up on those links posted and so on. See you gents around the forum  8)