Well, I thought I would put my money where my mouth is, and attempt to write an article about LFS, and let me tell you, it wasn't easy.

Its called "10 reasons why you should play LFS", please read it with an open mind, and try to understand the thought process behind this article, the process being, a list of reasons to use LFS, rather than a list of reasons not too.

As I say in the article, this is not because I am biased, but because I was deliberately avoiding this negative issues, and concentrating on the positive.

I am no fanboy, I am well aware of LFS's problems, but positivity was the key, maybe the article looks a bit biased, well, if it does, that wasn't my intention at all.

Anyway, just read it and see what you think, it took me a while to do, and maybe its total hogwash, but I at least wanted to attempt one article and see what its like to write them.

It has given me a great deal of respect for writers all over, so at least its done that for me.

Dan,

Nice one, it's a good read.
A few typos, but what the hey...a big thumbs up from me.

Would you believe I didn't do to well at English at school LOL.

Quite a good article, it's a good read. I'm sure it will motivate sim-racers that haven't tried LFS to give it a go.
I see you bring a good amount of arguments, some are backed-up well yet some aren't backed up very well with a solid reason WHY it's good/better.. wich might need some work.

It kind of looks like you're trying your absolute best to make it shine wich sometimes looks like a bit too much. As alot of sim-racers are quite sceptical about an LFS-racer's opinion.
I think it would come across far better if it had solid arguments without the 'it is absolutely really good' feel to it.
And you need to fix quite a few spelling errors.

Overall, I think if this article is looked over some more it would do a good job at convincing new sim-racers.

Cheers Sam, good constructive stuff.

I don't doubt it's a little "fuzzy" in places, and could do with a (fair) bit of work, but as an excercise for me to find out what writing an article is about, it did what I wanted.

TBH, I never really for one minute thought it would ever leave my HDD, but I thought what the hey, at least I had a try.

And yes, my English isn't very good at all, I am a maths / science guy at heart, my English has always been lacking

I agree with Sam. Sounds harsh, but people aren't really interested what you think if you don't have a known name. You really need to back up arguments so they hold, opinions do not matter itself because they are about taste, which can be argued like nothing else.

Few typos I think, like "the slo-mo video's", when obviously you mean "videos", and correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't question mark end the sentence, and you can't but a comma after it? Another thing that bothered me was the long sentences, it's a style issue but can really make the text harder to follow.

But overall, it was a good text and while I do agree with you points I don't know if it would make me play LFS. It would need something to do that.

edit. maaaaan I'm a slow typ(o)er...

I would agree with the others - more attention to grammar, punctuation and spelling required really, but you've already said that's not your strong suit.

My only complaint would be that reason #1 immediately jumps in with the classic ASS language, like "... and LFS's [physics engine] is, certainly in my opinion, the best currently available" and "... arguably the best tyre model available,". If you read your other thread where the ASS editors turned up, this is exactly the sort of language people were picking on them for using.

I think you picked some good subjects though. Stuff I wouldn't have thought to include in the list.

Hehehe, I know, and in doing what I did makes me more focused on how hard it actually is to write a decent article without defaulting to "classic ASS language", there are only so many words in my (limited) vocabulary.

I think from now on I will be less critical of other articles in the future, now that I appreciate just how hard it is.

I like the effort you put into it and I'd like to give some constructive ideas:
- Try to be more disciplined while writing. In the beginning you promised to make a positive article and say why LFS is good, but quickly went into a defensive stance, explaining why LFS isn't bad. Think about the cars section, f.e.
Similarly, you promised to tell me why I should play LFS, but then I found you telling me why you are playing LFS. One of the examples for this was the GUI-section. You switched from pointing out facts to giving me your opinion.
On a similar note you sometimes used adjectives like "arguably best" that aren't obvious to the reader at all. To you it might be, but to the reader GT4 is better than driving for real. Try to avoid such assumptions and rather explain why exactly it is objectively the best.
- Try to restrict yourself to points that matter for the enduser. The typical user couldn't care less about who the developers are. The users don't buy a chat with the developers. I don't need statistics from 2003 either.
This point of criticism surely sounds unfair to you, but what I'm trying to say is that you have a limited time of reader attention. Don't waste it. Few words, many hard facts.
- Structure follows content. I think you first came up with the structure of 10 points and then filled it with content. It looks a bit as if you were struggling to find good points to fill the structure. e.g. Hardware requirements and graphics should be talked about together. The alpha-tag isn't actually a positive argument, but needs seperate discussion. I can see that the structure doesn't allow that, and so you had to force it into the article as a positive point.

That's just my opinion. Feel free to think "Bah, german structure nazi!" or something like that .

Vain

To someone who has never written an article before Vain, I guess structure is something I never thought about, thanks

Yeah, I did struggle, at the beginning I thought, bah, this will be easy, by the end of it I was struggling big time, IT ISN'T EASY LOL

At the end of it all, I tried, and ultimatley failed I think, but I do think it was a worthy attempt, even if the end result wasn't that good

Nicely written, liked it.

1) The Physic Engine, explained good the sensation and enjoyment of driving it. What would be nice is if the Physic Engine is explained a bit more. So why is it good? What does it. What parts of the car are simulated? The tyre flex could be mentioned, how it affects the handling and its visibility. What does the Physic Engine accomplish and how will it be improved in the future?

2) Fictional Cars/Tracks is a downer of LFS I and many others would say. The second reason why you should play LFS got to be the Online Racing. The sensation and experience of Racing against other real People is working smoothly and with features unmatched by any other Sim.
Automatical download of other cars skins, Live Results for all Online Races and all drivers statistics documented forever at LFSWorld, the easy access and reliability of Racing Online in LFS is Top.

3) About the Community part, think it sounds to apologising, the community is helpful and friendly overall, the big plus here is that you can have contact in this community with the Developers of the Sim, with people who can help you with any Sim problem you can think of in a short time. The great things about the community is that you first off have a real big community from people all over the World, and have the Developers in the community who listens and communicate.

Like all following points you made and it is nicely written. Although I think you should change the order. 10 reasons why you should play LFS?

1. Physics
2. Multiplayer Mode
3. Graphics (the realistic appearance top the cartoon colors of many other Sims for alot of people)
4. Community
5. Variety of cars
6. Workings and Infos of the Sound
7. The Leagues
8. Low System Requirements
9. The fast and good User Interface + the amount of tweaking Options
10. Constant Development and improvement of the Product.

The last point could describe where LFS comes from and what the Goal is of the Developer, all previous mentioned 9 points could be mentioned again, focusing on what is planned to implement until the final Version.

Quote from danowat :

At the end of it all, I tried, and ultimatley failed I think, but I do think it was a worthy attempt, even if the end result wasn't that good

Writing engaging and interesting prose is a skill like any other - the more you practice it, the better you get.

I think you actually made your job harder by choosing to write a list, because it's such a rigid format and the end of each list item gives the reader a perfect opportunity to stop reading! Unless there's some continuity between the items it's difficult to keep the article working as a whole.

nice work dan.

you have "per say" written... it should ne "per se"

Quote from nikimere :

nice work dan.

you have "per say" written... it should ne "per se"

you have "it should ne" written... it should be "it should be"

well to be pedantic, you should have "you have wrote "it should ne".. it should be "it should be"

Quote from DejaVu :

well to be pedantic, you should have "you have wrote "it should ne".. it should be "it should be"

You lot make crap pedants, you really do. How many quotation marks? And his "written" is correct, it just has an odd meter to it. I would prefer "written" prior to the quote, rather than your "wrote".

<pedant mode>Yes I know they're actually double primes, not quotation marks.</pedant mode>

Good work. Though, some paragraphs seemed to me "apologisive".

Your "real vs fictional tracks" paragraph seems to have a bit weak arguments. You decline the problem, but don't say why. Why is it good for a racer to drive a fictional track? You restate that LFS does better physics, then that it doesn't constrain devs - but a user doesn't care about them. Maybe he'd better come 5 years later when there might be real cars? Why sould he drive fictional tracks now? A positive statement? Ultimately, simulation is made to match the real world. My answer would be that 1) a fictional track is better because your immagination smooths the picture, while with a real track your eye would notice the differences, and a copy of a real track always looks cartoonish. 2) the same for cars: you take them as-is, nothing distracts you.

Anyway, go on, not everyone can take a breath and write a complete article.

[edit] I agree on most points with Vain.

George Kuyumji - one of the best posts you've come out with for a while, I like your 10.

I've got to make a good post once in a while

I like the enthusiasm in the article, Dan. If you cleaned it up (and there certainly seem to be plenty of people offering helpful advice on how to do that) it would be great to see it submitted to one of the relevant publications.

I hope this doesn't sound too condescending, but if you ever wanted to write anything else, can I suggest getting a copy of Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style"? It's only about a fiver on Amazon, and it would be perfect for someone in your position who wanted to improve their writing skills.

<typo nit mode> You seem to spell "their" as "there" a few times. </end>

Cheers,
Jason.

Nice read. When using some good suggestions given in this thread, it will be an interesting read for people not already familiar (enough) with LFS, and a possibility to get rid of some of the common misconceptions about LFS.
Maybe it would also be an idea to put some more emphasis on the development of LFS, particulary future plans. Maybe some info about what's expected to be in store for LFS in the future. I realise that we players don't have 100% certainty about what's coming for LFS, but some things are very likely to come. Just a little glimpse of LFS post S2 so to speak, just to indicate that a lot of things are going to be even better

Overall a very nicely written article IMO Not perfect but a good read none the less.

I think perhaps it would have been worth mentioning in the bit about its continuing developing that its planned to be 3 releases, and in spite of purchasing S2 while in alpha you will benifit from additional features/enhancements made as it reaches beta & final releases, which will give it a bit more value for money than what the current product has.

A bit about leagues would have been a nice addition as well - its something I'd like to start doing at some point, and it seems LFS does league racing very well, espically with the communication features of the forum + LFSWorld, and the ability to swap drivers etc.

Once the sounds are finished, I think the final result will be a good selling point as well - communicating to you whats going on and not relying on samples. We're already starting to see what its capable of since other users have started tweaking the engine profiles.