Hello judges!
In past couple of years, some of us have been working on the
Rules by Example project, a wiki document (derived from the work of the awesome Diego Fasciolo) that tries to provide an example for every single paragraph in the Comprehensive Rules.
While working on it, we found ourselves stretching the project in two different directions: some pages are light-hearted articles that guide the reader in the intricacies on the rules, rewriting and restructuring them when deemed necessary; other pages follow very closely the CompRules, acting as a collection of glossae that the studious judge will be interested in.
We realized that there was a real need that was not being addressed by the Rules by Example project, so we spun off the lecturing pages into a different wiki. I’m glad to invite you to the
Judge Candidate Textbook project!
Who’s the audience?The intended audience of this project are L1 judge candidates.
After the level redefinition, I’ve been doing a whole lot of mentoring, and as I walked aspiring judges around the resources at their disposal, I’d always pause before telling them where they had to study the rules of the game (that, incidentally, form the bulk of their preparation).
The Comprehensive Rules felt very bulky and difficult to approach for them: when I pointed them to a massive and overly technical document written in a foreign language, I knew I would not see them again soon, if ever.
On the other hand, when I suggested them to study on the nimble Basic Rulebook provided (and translated) by Wizards to starting players, I had them fail miserably on the written test.
I feel the program needs a document that covers the middle ground between these. A document that is friendly, inviting to read and easy to grasp, but at the same time teaches aspiring judges all the rules they’ll need in their activity within stores.
What’s the medium?We’ll be using a wiki to develop this project, but don’t let the software fool you: we’re not doing an encyclopedia here, nor a reference sheet of eminent rules. We’re writing a
book, intended to be read from cover to cover, and then referenced as need arises.
The final result should be a book available in a number of languages (ideally, all the languages Magic is sold in) and in a plethora of formats: HTML, ePub, PDF, and maybe as dedicated apps on iOS and Android.
Sounds cool, I’d like to help you.Great! This project will be very challenging and complex, and a wide array of skill sets will be needed. Here are all the positions we need to fill, with a list of the skills required for each. If you wish to apply, please send me a private message specifying which role you’d like to fill - of course, you’re welcome to apply for more than one role!
- Section Lead. We’re keeping the basic structure of the Rules by Example project, which means the material will be split in four major sections, with the possibility to add more in case we decide to expand on it. Each section will be supervised by a Lead Editor, whose role will be to guide and harmonize the effort of people working on that section.
The skills you need to fill this role are: motivate others, lay down a structure and overview.
- Contributor. Editors will be assigned a topic (for example, “triggered abilities” or “combat phase”) and a generic outline, and will have to produce an informative article - basically, they’ll provide the meat and potatoes of the project! The estimate time needed to write an article is between three and five hours.
The skills you need to fill this role are: good rules knowledge (however, you don’t need to be a guru), good use of written English, ability to work on a schedule.
- Copy Editor. The average judge is quite good with English, but our writing style will always have a shade of our language in it. After each article is written, we’ll need a native speaker to review it and tweak the language.
The skills you need to fill this role are: strong mastery of English as a native language, good knowledge of Magic jargon, ability to follow a style guide.
- Translator. English is a lingua franca in our community, but many aspiring judges who approach us are scared off by the English documents they’re supposed to study. After each article is written, we’ll need to translate it into as many languages as possible, to make it accessible to all candidates.
The skills you need to fill this role are: good English comprehension, strong mastery of your native language, ability to follow a style guide.
- UX Designer. The final document will need to have a strong identity and offer as less friction as possible to the reader. In particular, we’ll need to distantiate ourselves from Wikipedia and facilitate reading on mobile devices.
The skills you need to fill this role are: knowledge of UX principles, ability to produce mock-ups and guide developers.
- Web Developers. The document will live on a wiki platform, and we’ll need to customize it according to the vision of the designers and the needs of the editors.
The skills you need to fill this role are: knowledge of PHP and/or HTML, CSS and Javascript, ability to debug code both yours and others’, ability to provide a schedule and respect it.
I've created the
project on Judge Apps, and I'm eager to start working on it with you! I'll start distributing roles around mid-January, so if you want to join this project you have a whole month to apply. Please apply via private message, or reply to this post if you have questions about the project.
Thanks for your time!