XKCD [vacationed]

[a.sub]

They let u use their idea, not their map. YOu cant just draw lines and put some circles on it--you have to remake the whole thing.

i got permission to use the map its self sorry if i didnt make it that clear

[Avaris]

I like the idea of trade routes, with the seas resetting to neutral each turn; makes an interesting change. I for one am unsure as to the value of the xkcd region though; it doesn't have much of a purpose imo other than giving whoever owns it a massive advantage.

As for continent bonuses, might I suggest dividing it based on the compass rose? Designate some regions Real Life, some Intellectuals, some Web and some Practicals. Certain regions could be unaligned or belong to both continants (for example, areas of the Blogipelago would be both intellectual and real life).

Oh, and though you have permission to use the map as is, I would still redraw it. Means you can change stuff as you wish, and the idea is to maintain the style, not necessarily the actual map.

[MrBenn]

max size you can use for the small CC map image is 630x600 so you have to fit it into that. if you can't then there's no point working on the map.

You also need to explain any attack rules and bonus values within the size limit.

[a.sub]

so im thinking, i like the dividing the map into regions based on what they do, ie real life
about the XKCD island, how about everything can attack it but it cant attack anyting?

[Ditocoaf]

If you're going to have an XKCD island, I don't think the top-right is the best place for it, at least according to the map's theme (north is practical, south is intellectual, east is focus on web, west is focus on RL). XKCD may have a focus on the web more often than not, but it definitely isn't the very most practical and very most web-focused thing on the internet. I personally would just remove it.

[a.sub]

If you're going to have an XKCD island, I don't think the top-right is the best place for it, at least according to the map's theme (north is practical, south is intellectual, east is focus on web, west is focus on RL). XKCD may have a focus on the web more often than not, but it definitely isn't the very most practical and very most web-focused thing on the internet. I personally would just remove it.

i like your thought, but do you know of anyother way to show that this map was from XKCD.com with having something like "Made by XKCD.com"?

[Ditocoaf]

Well, I assumed the map's title would be something like "xkcd Map of the Internet" or just "xkcd: The Internet." If the name's not going to have xkcd in it, then I really would just put "xkcd.com" in the credits, next to your name (and whoever helps with the xml, etc).

[a.sub]

draft 2
edits:
No XKCD island
Addition of one more sea (sea of memes)
i drew some line to clarify the few islands that can attack with out a sea route because hey are so close
i drew the borders of the probable continents but its changeable
[bigimg]http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m390/asub3293/XKCD2.jpg[/bigimg]

[Ditocoaf]

This is looking great. I'd say the border colors should be less saturated, to clash less with the sepia map.

[The1exile]

Yeah, also use of a kind of glow or soft edged pixel rather than the hard edges you've got round the continents currently would probably help.

[a.sub]

Yeah, also use of a kind of glow or soft edged pixel rather than the hard edges you've got round the continents currently would probably help.

so u mean lower the opacity?

[a.sub]

sorry it took so long to do this event hough it only took me 10 mins of effort to reduce how strong the colros were but i was taking my Highschool exit exam.
any way!
i would like more advice on how i could improve this thanks!
[bigimg]http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m390/asub3293/XKCD3.jpg[/bigimg]

[a.sub]

sorry for double posting and bumping up the topic but i had a question for the masses, to how many troops should the seas reset to? should they even be the same amount for every sea?

[oaktown]

wont the names for each territory be copyright?
Even though you got permission from XKCD, I think you'd still have to ask each indavidual company if you could include their name in the map.

...or maybe I am wrong, I'm not sure.

Your wrong.

Sorry to beat what seems to be a dead horse, but in light of recent copyright infringement discussion around here I think that it is worth bringing up. The original comic using the names of these websites as lands was intended as parody, and therefor would be considered fair use, or "transformative" use. Using the name of internet businesses to make a map of the internet and then using it on the internet to make money may or may not be considered transformative use - it would likely take a costly legal battle to decide this. Chances are most of the companies mentioned wouldn't give a damn, but it would only take one.

Beyond that, it's a really, really messy map. It looks like what it is - a hack-job. Clever, yes, but I would say somebody should start over and do this properly in photoshop with layers to make this look like something worthy of the CC brand.

[Ditocoaf]

wont the names for each territory be copyright?
Even though you got permission from XKCD, I think you'd still have to ask each indavidual company if you could include their name in the map.

...or maybe I am wrong, I'm not sure.

Your wrong.

Sorry to beat what seems to be a dead horse, but in light of recent copyright infringement discussion around here I think that it is worth bringing up. The original comic using the names of these websites as lands was intended as parody, and therefor would be considered fair use, or "transformative" use. Using the name of internet businesses to make a map of the internet and then using it on the internet to make money may or may not be considered transformative use - it would likely take a costly legal battle to decide this. Chances are most of the companies mentioned wouldn't give a damn, but it would only take one.

Beyond that, it's a really, really messy map. It looks like what it is - a hack-job. Clever, yes, but I would say somebody should start over and do this properly in photoshop with layers to make this look like something worthy of the CC brand.

In regards to the copyright issue... xkcd is also published entirely on the internet, for a profit (via ads). This is still an obvious parody, and there's nothing that says a board can't have comedy value as well. A costly legal battle would not come up. If it was an issue, Randall would have been sued by now--I cannot see any difference in this setting that would cause it to be more legally questionable. This is not mistakable as being endorsed by these companies, this is not in competition with any of these companies; in fact, it is not harmful to these companies in any concievable way-- why would they waste money seeking legal action?

In regards to the quality: everyone has to learn their graphics skills sometime; we shouldn't start only allowing professionals to make maps here. Either he'll eventually develop the map to perfection and it'll get in, or not. You're suggesting taking the map from its creator and giving it to someone else because you don't like the graphics in the draft stage.

[a.sub]

wont the names for each territory be copyright?
Even though you got permission from XKCD, I think you'd still have to ask each indavidual company if you could include their name in the map.

...or maybe I am wrong, I'm not sure.

Your wrong.

Sorry to beat what seems to be a dead horse, but in light of recent copyright infringement discussion around here I think that it is worth bringing up. The original comic using the names of these websites as lands was intended as parody, and therefor would be considered fair use, or "transformative" use. Using the name of internet businesses to make a map of the internet and then using it on the internet to make money may or may not be considered transformative use - it would likely take a costly legal battle to decide this. Chances are most of the companies mentioned wouldn't give a damn, but it would only take one.

Beyond that, it's a really, really messy map. It looks like what it is - a hack-job. Clever, yes, but I would say somebody should start over and do this properly in photoshop with layers to make this look like something worthy of the CC brand.

In regards to the copyright issue... xkcd is also published entirely on the internet, for a profit (via ads). This is still an obvious parody, and there's nothing that says a board can't have comedy value as well. A costly legal battle would not come up. If it was an issue, Randall would have been sued by now--I cannot see any difference in this setting that would cause it to be more legally questionable. This is not mistakable as being endorsed by these companies, this is not in competition with any of these companies; in fact, it is not harmful to these companies in any concievable way-- why would they waste money seeking legal action?

In regards to the quality: everyone has to learn their graphics skills sometime; we shouldn't start only allowing professionals to make maps here. Either he'll eventually develop the map to perfection and it'll get in, or not. You're suggesting taking the map from its creator and giving it to someone else because you don't like the graphics in the draft stage.

i would like to thank everyone for their help, as for copyright, if one company tried to sue then take it down, i wont say one word.

as for quality, sorry for poor quality, im am new at this, but i will take ur criticism like i should and i will restart from scratch

[oaktown]

as for quality, sorry for poor quality, im am new at this, but i will take ur criticism like i should and i will restart from scratch

My sincere apologies if my choice of words earlier was too dismissive of this project... let me try again.

CC has recently pulled two very popular maps. While Lack hasn't been sharing the specifics as to why, most CC users have come to the conclusion that there were some copyright issues that needed immediate attention. Whether or not this XKCD map would, by using a bunch of registered trademarks, lead to any legal problems for this site is not for me or any of you to decide - it's up to the companies listed on this map. It is highly likely that Google or Facebook wouldn't care to go after Conquer Club for using their names on a map that people pay to play. And maybe Google or Facebook wouldn't have a strong case against us, as it could be argued that this is fair use. But if Google or Facebook wanted to find out if they have a case they have the lawyers and the money to do so; considering the events of the past month, I'm not sure that this is a legal hassle that our little site wants to get involved in right now.

I am certainly not saying that you can't go ahead with this... I don't make those decisions, nor does anybody else who has posted in this thread. I think it's an interesting idea and that it could make for a very popular map. What I am saying is that if you are going to proceed you should be aware that this map is treading on unsteady ground right now, so don't be surprised if in two months you are told that you can't do this.

As for the map itself, it started out looking fun and clean - it's a great comic. But as I think you are finding as you add borders, attack routes, army shadows, and eventually a legend with region names and bonuses, a great comic may not be set up to be a good CC map. As somebody who learned the hard way on his first map, you really want to be working from a file that allows you to manipulate all of the elements of the image, especially the territory titles and locations. This map will probably have dozens of versions before it makes it into live play, so using an image editing program such as Photoshop that allows you to work in layers will make the work ahead immensely easier, despite the steep learning curve that you're going to encounter.

[a.sub]

To: Oaktown
Firstly i see your concern on the copyright issues as a site such as CC obviously doesnt have the funds to hire a couple hundred international lawyers like say, MSN. I appreciate your concern and warnings and in the event that my map gets taken down for copyright issues i will go down quietly and not argue.

As for my poor skills, sadly i have phtoshop (CS3 infact ) but i just need to work on my abilities, i guess it may just be that i need a bit more practice. I wont claim to be intelligent but i think i could pull this off and i dont mind learning a few (or a lot ) of things along the way

[oaktown]

don't sweat the lack of Photoshop skills, a.sub. When I started my first map here I didn't know what layers were, as my only prior experience with Photoshop had been on a version that was pre-layers, so the first attempt was rough. But once you figure out the basics it becomes really fun.

One thing that I find useful is poking around in somebody else's PSD files to see how they've made things. If you'd like to look around, this is the PSD file of the India map that I was working on last month.

http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m390 ... /XKCD3.jpg

Note the folder of regions - that's the bulk of the map, and with each region created as a shape using vector paths it is easy to tweak then as needed. This is probably what you'll eventually need to do to your map rather than working over the flat original; you'll want each island or continent to be a stand alone shape that you can manipulate to better accommodate titles, attack routes, legends, etc.

[a.sub]

hey thx oaktown but i think u sent me the link for my own crappy XKCD map

[oaktown]

hey thx oaktown but i think u sent me the link for my own crappy XKCD map

You're absolutely right... now how the hell did I do that? You'd think that after 20 years of using these things I'd have mastered copy and paste. Let's try this again...

http://senduit.com/8ec305

[a.sub]

dont feel too bad oaktown, im in AP calc right now and in my HW i added 12+8 wrong

[bbqpenguin]

where's porn? that's have to be the equivalent of asia...

[a.sub]

redone from scratch
[bigimg]http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m390/asub3293/XKCD4.jpg[/bigimg]

[a.sub]

UPDATE:
k so what i have done here is i now have a list of all the countries, i have added numbers to places with no name or names too small to read. i also added the Ocean of Subculture.
Normal Countries
AOL
Broadcaster
classmates.com
Cyworld
Deviant Art
Digg
Facebook
Faciparty
Flickr
Friendster
Irc Isles 1
Irc Isles 2
Irc Isles 3
Last.fm
LJ
Myspace 1
Myspace 2
Orkut
Pizco
Reunion.com
Second Life/Lineage
SPAAARTA
The Blogipelago 1
The Blogipelago 2
The Blogipelago 3
The Blogipelago 4
Wikipedia
Windows live
WoW/Runescape
Xanga
Yahoo

List of Bodies of water that reset to a neutral after each turn.
Bay of Angst
Gulf of Youtube
Irc Isles Water
Noob Sea
Ocean of Subculture
Sea of Culture
Sea of Memes
The Blogipelago Water

32 countries and 8 bodies of water that totals to 40 places in total.
[bigimg]http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m390/asub3293/XKCD5.jpg[/bigimg]