A Reader's Guide to Simtropolis City Journals

[louisville327 0]

Personally, I like the chronological sorting method, but that's just me.

Regardless, you've done a really amazing job here---the work is no doubt tedious, but helpful beyond words!

[choco1 4]

Thanks Mayormommy for your induction of Green Depra, and the little comment! I'd never thought of Green Depra as a series of costal towns, but now that I think about it, they are! So thanks for that!

Oh and I agree with louisville327, I don't think sorting them would be very acturate, because even for my CJ, I don't think it would fit in any of those sections. But thats just me!

Great work BTW!!

[mayormommy 8]

Well, I'm happy to keep the chronological sort if most people like that the best. Considering this from an editorial point of view, you might think about what piece of information here is the most important. Most journalists are trained to consider the date (when) as a necessary but not really very interesting piece of information in most stories. For CJs it is perhaps only useful to define whether a CJ is pre-BAT or post-BAT (which came out around January or February 2004). Historians, however, probably have different views on this subject. Certainly you get a better sense of the evolution of CJs and patterns of authors influencing each other from a chrono listing.

The other ways we could sort this (besides attempting to categorize the CJs) would be by author name or by size or views. However, sorting by size or views would require constant reshuffling of the order which sounds suspicously like more work for me. Plus one could argue those aren't really a critical pieces of information either. Anyway, I'm happy to reorganize the list or keep it the same - all I ask is that you give me your input by Christmas. <--ninja Santa

[MasterPlanMan 1]

I say keep it the same and with each caption you could just add what category the CJ fits in with bold lettering. It could be done something like this Style: Realistic North American 

Right now your guide is easy to follow and skim through. Making things more complicated would take away from that.

 

Again thanks for your work on this!

[louisville327 0]

I support MasterPlanMan's idea 100%. Adding a short tag defining the particular style of each journal would be the easiest and most browsing-friendly way to do it.

Good idea, MPM!

[brtim2 11]

Yes, but you can't classify everything. Things in the real world do not always fit in nice and neat catagories. Take The Empire of Chaumont for example. Where would that fit? It is realistic in building style. It's North American. Therefore it is realistic North American. And yet it isn't. There is no Empire in Virginia, only a Commonwealth. So then would that be Fantasy North American? But what about the parallels to real life? The characters that actually existed? And the Old World feel to some of the cities? What I am trying to say is you can try and classify all you want, but there are journals that fit many descriptions and ones that cannot be classified. You can't have one journal in a classification by itself. A classification (as like outlines) must have two or more members.

The only real and concrete catagorizer of each and every city journal is the date it was created. That cannot change and it will not change. That is also the easiest and most available piece of information that MayorMommy has.

Not to say the tag idea is bad, I just think it can be refined. Perhaps having the authors (that are still around) offer a few tags of their own for their own CJ's, that is an idea. Less work for MayorMommy and the author can decide what they want prospective readers to know about their journals in a quick glance.

[ginchael 1]

But, Chaumont is still a European Style city, although it is located within NA. It would probably be classified as a European Style, Fantasy Region.

Styles
European
North American
Wasteland (Desert/Snow)
Asian
Extraterrestrial
Fantasy
Other

Regions
Real-City Recreation (like San Fransisco)
Fake-City Recreation (like Anduin Valley)
Fantasy

Some other examples:

Mount Royale-- North American Style, Fantasy Region
San Fransisco Bay Area-- North American Style, Real City Recreation
Crystal Junction-- Wasteland Style, Fantasy Region

Get it?

[jarnomiedema 52]

I agree with you, Ginchael.. Chaumont is probably more European in feel than North-American, though that is the continent upon which it is located, but I would not classify it as Fantasy, as that would immediately make me as a reader think of 'Lord of the Rings', 'Harry Potter' and 'Narnia'.. If possible the category Alternate History would be better, since other city journals like Giran de Cani also seem to fit in that category.. But that's all debate about classifications..

 

Thanks so much for your introduction to Chaumont on the first page, MayorMommy! I really appreciate the way you've introduced the Empire.. A perfect summary of Chaumont! Again: thanks..

[mayormommy 8]

Perhaps we could use the term fictional region instead of fantasy region, although the latter is the term used on the STEX. That's a pretty broad category though, since the fictional regions far outnumber the real city re-creations. And even the cities that are built on real world maps often are not intended to resemble the actual cities located there. But I think there is some promise in having a two-step category system and I think it would also be easy to tag the various types of CJs in different colors for easy browsing. So for example, Chaumont could be European style, historical fiction or alternative history. And Edmonton could be North American/modern style, real city recreation. New Holland would be European style, science fiction. Do let me know if I'm making this overly complicated.

[Iknowu 0]

this is getting far and i like it good way to check out the best of the bst cjs around!!

[louisville327 0]

mayormommy, I think no matter what categories you settle on, someone will feel as though you've left something out. It's a difficult, imperfect process.

I think the two-part tag system will work just fine for the list you've created so far. Sure, it's not absolutely exact, but in the interest of accessibility, a simple and straightforward method is really the best choice. The tag system is most certainly that.

Ultimately, whatever system you choose, it's waaaay more than what anyone else has come up with, and we're all better for you doing the hard work to make this all possible. You're providing one heck of a service here, and I just wanted to say thanks!

[mayormommy 8]

Thanks for input, everyone. I'm beginning to feel a bit like Linneaus but taxonomy was never one of my strengths. This genus/species classification system for CJs seems workable but I think I'll skip the Latin if that's okay with everyone.

My plan is assign tentative categories for all of them and any author who doesn't like how their CJ was categorized can PM me and request to be moved. If they want to invent a new category, that's fine, but they have to find one or two other CJs that could fit there too, as brtim2 noted. I'm stubborn but not unreasonable.

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Do you need any help with the organization of CJs?

[mayormommy 8]

Help would be much appreciated! That way we can share the blame, er, I mean work. I wasn't planning to start on this until Christmas break, so anyone who would like to help can drop me a pm about what they have in mind.

[katie2007 0]

like the work that is being done about this cat.

[sloppet 3]

very good topic!!

[choco1 4]

Oh, I noticed you updated the list for all the trixie winners! Great idea.

[louisville327 0]

Date: 12/15/2005 2:12:07 AM
Author: chocolatemax285
Oh, I noticed you updated the list for all the trixie winners! Great idea.

quote>

Sweet!

This list is so impressive! I certainly hope Eureka hits 10 pages soon so I can see it on the list as well.

[MrCinatit 30]

once again, you cannot imagine how much i appreciate this list, MayorMommy. it helped me so much when sorting out nominations and so forth.

 

[mayormommy 8]

Thanks, everyone. I'm hoping to figure out a way to put little Trixie medals next the winning CJ listings someday.

lousiville327 - ack, I knew there another double winner that I needed to add. I'll get Eureka on there soon, but not today I'm afraid, because we're having our office holiday party. *hovers impatiently waiting for shrimp tray to be put out*

MrC - Glad the list was helpful. And I'm very glad you were counting with the nominations and not me, because I don't think a single CJ I nominated actually won in that category (though some did win in other, totally unrelated categories). Once again proving that it is best to leave any of my opinions out of this list.

[Compromise 1]

Yes thats a great list. Will make browsing City Journals a lot easier.

[mcarch 15]

Well, I think Im afraid Im a little late for the list... however, I would like to add mine.  I just started it about a week ago... Please take a look

The New City of Barcelli

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=71549

 

Enjoy!

[mayormommy 8]

Date: 12/17/2005 7:32:37 AM Author: mcarch

Well, I think Im afraid Im a little late for the list... however, I would like to add mine.&nbsp; I just started it about a week ago... Please take a look

The New City of Barcelli

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=71549

Enjoy!

quote>

I've looked at your city already and it's off to a great start. But this list is for CJs with a little more history/page count. So keep at it and you'll get on here eventually.

[SYM Productions 7]

Wow MayorMommy great listing! 

 

I hope to someday be on that list, if I ever start a CJ...

 

- CDI_spy , proud part of SYM Productions

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Excellent job Mrs. Dirk's Warm Fuzzy. [can't resist but to use your award title]

Hmm, I've got a suggestion. Keep them organized by date, but just have quick little tags, so people can sort em out by color coding. I'd suggest having it offsite in a database, but they're time-consuming to set up.

[aldara6166 109]

mayormommy,

 

First off, great job with this list.

 

My suggestion for additional styles would be eNovel and Suspense.

 

For example, Stranded by MrCinatit and Tarrytowne River Valley by myself could both fit better in to either category even though mine leans more towards eNovel and Stranded leans towards suspense because of the shorter chapters.

 

Second, as for the Trixie medals...you mean this    

 

I just did a right click on the Medal and then clicked properties to get the hyperlink of the picture file.  It is https://www.simtropolis.com/images/i_trixie_1_0_0.gif for this years medal.  You then can just add it in to the mix like any other picture.    Great idea by the way...

 

Great work... keep em coming...

[Lyhoko Leaci 770]

For the classifications, what would Myon be? I know it would be sci-fi, but what about the building style, as there are some North American style, but there are other cities in there that I am trying to make more European style...

[mayormommy 8]

Thanks, aldara, for telling me how to add the medals. I think they look quite nice! Categories are still a work in progress, though gincheal is making some progress on the older CJs.

[thatmonkeysim 8]

OMG DID WE FORGET A CJ!!!

this is was one of the best CJs back in the time before Rush Hour and then it was Updated to Rush Hour afterwards... it won a trixie in 2003 and was where i had my 3rd post...

Screwball's Screwballl County

Another Great one Somehow missed... this one was from one of the former staff members and greats at the site and has the CJ that was at its time a 'Mega CJ' and many people still use this map today....

Jhipolito's Eaton

[mayormommy 8]

Yeah, those were great CJs (along with Mount Zim and a few others) but they don't have any pictures anymore. While I still think they're interesting because I remember what they used to look like, I'm not sure the effect is the same on newer readers. But I would like to at least list the 2003 Trixie winning CJs, when I get a chance to look them all up. Good idea.