A discussion about MOCing

[Ye Olde Republic]

Hey group, I've got a question for you and hope that it stimulates some conversation about some things.

Do you ever find yourself building along and the thought crosses your mind, "Should I go ahead with the way I'm building this because I'm not sure 'the public' will like it/think it's very good."?

I like to think that I build for myself and only myself (my kids are almost always a consideration of course) but every now and then I find myself thinking about the people who will be viewing it. 95% of the time I just forge ahead but sometimes I do try to 'impress'. What about you?

[Tedward]

Hmm, I don't know about the public (they seem pretty easy to impress) but I do occasionally wonder if something is good enough to NOT embarrass me when other AFOLs see it.

[Blueandwhite]

I think you should first and foremost build for yourself. It seems that a number of builders are trying to impress the AFOL community rather than building for the simple enjoyment of creating a MOC. I've never understood when people try fishing for compliments. A number of the best MOCs out there (IMO of course) go relatively unnoticed by most fans. AFOLs who are active on a number of forums tend to draw more attention than others but it doesn't mean that their MOCs are more noteworthy. The way I see it, some absolutely stunning MOCs like such as this build of Castel del Monte by Diabel tend to be overlooked by most of the AFOL community. Even when a well-respected moderator (Bruce) does the legwork and points out a gem like this, very few folks look at the thread and almost nobody replies. As far as I'm concerned, having others appreciate your MOC is a nice bonus but it should never be the goal.

[theboywarrior]

Oh, I definetly try to impress. However, Castle Bluegate was something I built for fun. In fact, as of yesterday, only one of my 'impressive' designs has survived to the photographing stage.

Not that my more 'impressive' designs aren't fun. They are, trust me.

[Fraslund]

After seeing many of mocs out there, I have no illusions that I can build anything to compare. I definetly have my opinions on what I like and would love if other people enjoyed what I am building as much as I do, but imho lego is the perfect vehicle to the human imagination and I just love to see what others dream up as well as what comes out of my head as i just start building.

I will say this: before posting on here (which I havent done a ton yet) I definetly give a 2nd 3rd look before taking pics.

[Formendacil]

A *big* part of the reason I've rarely ever posted a MOC on the forums here is because I don't build to what I think are public standards. Granted, there are other considerations, such as 5 years of university (and a partial separation from the collection during that time) and a predilection for keeping sets built... but by and large I don't tend to think that what I build is up to public standards.

That being said, I am perfectly content with my "amateur" MOCS (I am defining "amateur" as "done for me," and "professional" as "done for public viewing"--NOT the normal definitions relating to paid/unpaid). They do the job that I built them for, and they are often enough well-done enough that I am proud of the result--even able to "wow" the people who see them, since they tend to be non-LEGO people. That being said, I *know* they aren't of a professional calibre, if only because they tend to be playable rather than displayable. Certainly my skill in making them improves as time goes by (and as the collection of available parts grows), but since they were made for me rather than for others, I don't generally have the desire to post them--and so I don't.

There's also the fact that most of my MOCs tend towards Town and Space, despite Castle being my favourite type, but that only addresses why I might not post MOCs *here.*

So I come down completely on the side of "build for yourself, rather than others." That being said, however, the question arises as to the viability of a LEGO MOCing community if everyone had my preference for not sharing what wasn't built with the thought of others in mind. Since a LEGO community seems like a valuable asset to me, it follows that I ought to do my part in supporting it by building something that can be discussed and shared.

However, there is no logical contradiction between building for yourself first and wanting it to be "shareable." It's more a question, perhaps, of figuring out how high (or low) a quality standard you're comfortable with having in a MOC that is shared. My bar, I admit, is a bit higher than my general skill level.

[lord_of_orks]

well, until recently no one but me and a few of my friends ever saw my mocs, so I build 100% for me.

[Blueandwhite]

After seeing many of mocs out there, I have no illusions that I can build anything to compare. I definetly have my opinions on what I like and would love if other people enjoyed what I am building as much as I do, but imho lego is the perfect vehicle to the human imagination and I just love to see what others dream up as well as what comes out of my head as i just start building.

I will say this: before posting on here (which I havent done a ton yet) I definetly give a 2nd 3rd look before taking pics.

I don't think that's true. Everybody has something to contribute and even the simplest of MOCs are worth a look. The problem is that you're comparing your work to the work of others. Sure, it's easy to be overwhelmed when you look at some of the best works of DNL, Aliencat, Jojo and a number of others. Don't forget that many of these builders started from more humble beginnings. In a way it's unfortunate that some builders have become so revered.

Earlier in this thread I suggested that you should build for yourself. I don't think that means you shouldn't share your work with others.

[AK_Brickster]

I definitely build for myself, but I think that showing my MOCs on a forum like this helps to push me to be extra-creative and build more to the extents of my ability. Thinking about all of the ooh's and aaah's you're going to get can sometimes be what compels you to take something apart and start over from scratch because it isn't "just right" yet.

Then again, I'm an engineer, and I'm a little bit of a perfectionist sometimes anyway.

The bottom line is that you should enjoy the building process, and don't be afraid of critiques/comments because they only serve to hone your skills as a builder.

[TooMuchCaffeine]

For me it depends...

Some things I build are absolutely for my own entertainment. Quite often the photos I take of these don't even make it online - not because they're particularly "bad builds", rather than I just don't think anyone would be remotely interested.

However, I'm very competitive and really enjoy building for contests. At that point, I'm definitely not building "for myself" any more. From hoarding tricky little building techniques during the run-up to a big contest like CCC, or carefully designing stuff that will look good from a particular camera angle - it's all about considering the impact the creation will have on others. I'm ashamed to say that my inner attention-seeker gets free reign during competition time!

But let's be honest, most of us post photos of our creations online, and we wouldn't do that if we were not, at some level, interested in what our peers have to say about them.

[OverLoad]

I build a lot, but most of it doesn't end up on the internet. The things I build could fall into many different categories, such as: Table Scraps, Tests, Real MOCs for my own enjoyment, MOCs that never got finished. However, if something actually does get finished, I think, "Will somebody like this? Heck, do I even like this enough to post it?" If I like it but others won't, I take the pictures and it gets disassembled. If I do think others will like it, and I actually like it, I post it. If I don't like it and nobody else does, it won't be photographed.

So in the end, what people like doesn't affect how I build, but rather if I post it or not.

[Elephant Knight]

I build a lot. Most of which I would say is split between the two. As far as castles go, I mostly build them to put my figs of that faction someplace other then a plastic bag, so castles are mostly built for me. Castle creations that are not castles, however, tend to lean mroe towards the "Build for the public" side.

Sailing ships, are easily split in half. The bigger ones tend to be more for the public, and the smaller ones tend to be more for me. Though I really, really, really like the look of a good, big, detailed sailing ship, so every ship I build is for me first, and the public second. And any pirate creation is usaully for the public. Unless it is a port. Those are usually sub-par at best, and built so I can have a bit of fun.

Spaceships (Especially as they get bigger) are for me first, public an after thought. Mostly because I don't really delve into much complicated angleas and techniques, which most space creations seem to be these days. So I feel as if my spaceship style isn't really what the rest of the spapce community is interested in.

Anyother thing I build is for me. Which isn't much. A bit of town, some Bionicle (So shoot me) and the odd, very odd otherthiong that doesn't fit anything I have said already.

EKnight

[Hoboman]

I build for my own fun. Then, if I think people might like to see it, I post it. But I do not let what people might think stop me from building what I like.

[K3G]

Well, I must say that I started in building for my own pleasure and now I'm buiding for the others...
A quick introduction: I love castles first of all for their own architecture and building structure, I love to study them and learn about how they were built, about their inner plans... I can build a castle, look at it and find it beautiful even if it is empty and without layout. In a quite dogmatic position, I assume that sometimes minifigs distract from the castle itself.
A simple exemple: when I build the Krak des Chevaliers, after two years in drawing plans and elevations and five months in building a 58,000 bricks castle, I was really disappointed when I read a lot of comments and critics annihilate my efforts saying that the Krak had no minifigs... no layout...
SO, I confess that all my later castles have minifigs and layout only to please all those who look at them.
Please let me be a little "critic": I often see a lot of castles who integrate some "strange" elements such as fantasy creatures, syrens, aliens, SCI-FI characters... well, I have never seen anything of that in hundreds of castles I visited. This make me believe that those MOCers include all these elements not only for their own pleasure, but first of all to please all the others who are often fantasy lovers...
ATTENTION: I'm not saying that those castle are not true ones, but only that sometimes they will be more appropriate in a "Fantasy" category than in a "Castle" category...

[pijani]

First, I've never had a "dark age" (and I'm 33 )
Next, I've found about "lego internet community), three years ago

Playing by myself, I was always happy with things I've built, and it took some imagination, but I was playing so nicely with my castles made of all colors that I had, with pretty basic designs (VERY basic:)).

Then I found out about bricklink, and classic-castle. My lego collection grow x 30, and my building skills grow and flourish because I looked trough all those wonderful and genius castle MOCs trough threads. So, my castles became higher, prettier, more complicated, better.

But, somehow, I started making castles that people would like, thinking "oh, people are going to love this", "don't make that kind of window, think of something new, you had these windows before", and, somehow, even although I try to make castles playable, I so seldomly play with them

Also, before, I was extremely happy with castles I've build; I've never showed them around, maintaining "macho" image that I wanted others to have about me, and when girls came, I used to cover MOCs with sheets but not because I thought they were bad, I didn't want them to know that I was still playing with toys. But if the girl would expediently saw lego castles, I was proud on those small united-colors-of-beneton misshapen buildings:)

And now, I make a castle, take pictures and then I catch myself waiting for people's reactions. And when I do not get it, I am sad, and I think that maybe I should change the way that I am building, so large and with details, but without a compact shape, when looked from a distance...

And I know that is not important and I know that I should build because I enjoy it, but sometimes I catch myself thinking about what the public will like, and your (afol's) opinion has an impact in what I build and how I build and enthusiasm with witch I am building.

And I know I shouldn't have, but I have a desire to bi liked by everybody, and recognized, and it affects my playing with lego