Ed Wilson: Let the Scripting Games begin

The 2009 Summer Scripting Games actually begin…well, let's see…yes, they actually begin today! For the last week, we have been revealing the events one day at a time. You can see that information on our blog. The events have been available for a week, but the opening ceremony is today. This year, we have changed some things with the Scripting Games. We are focusing more on learning, and less on competition. As a result, there is no leader board, and no all-time winners group. Everyone who takes the time and extends the effort to write a script or to modify a script, and to share the script with the community is a winner! Just like the thrill you feel after competing in a marathon; it is not dependent upon the time--it is showing up for the race that makes you a winner.

Because we removed the element of competition, it gave us the freedom to expand the games. This year, we have partnered with the group of Microsoft MVPs over at PoshCode to host the 2009 Summer Scripting Games for us. This allows you to review other people's scripts, to vote on the scripts you think are best, and to modify other people's submissions and submit the changes you like. This is how most scripters work. They look for scripts, find something they think is useful, and modify it. The same three steps are allowed in this year's scripting games.

Earlier last week we posted the details for logging onto the PoshCode site and the procedure for submitting scripts. We also posted the Competitor's Pack. We actually debated on the naming convention for this download and toyed with the idea of calling it the Participant's Pack, but in the end we landed on the side of consistency with previous games, rather than ideological purity. Call it what you wish. When you get it, you will need to unzip it to a folder that is easily accessible because you will be using these files in your scripts.

We have two additional resources that will prove vital to you during the Scripting Games. The first is a special Scripting Games Forum, and the second is our Twitter page. The Scripting Games Forum is where you can ask questions about the different events, report issues, and express concerns. Twitter is where you will get real-time, up-to-the-second status information about the Scripting Games and all things related to the Script Center.

Let the games begin!

Technorati Tags: ed Wilson,scripting guys,scripting games