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trans_pilgrims2010-07-11 12:22 pm
sonofalderaan.livejournal.com) wrote in trans_pilgrims2010-07-11 12:22 pm
discussion of OOC game issues
Okay I know I said no more planning/discussion posts from me, but I lied. Evidently there are enough people who don't feel comfortable bringing issues up non-anonly, so I am going to try to start some discussions for them, with the intent of getting things out in the open so we don't have stuff seething under the surface which inevitably explodes with drama.
Since not all of these are my own personal concerns, I am making an open post, so that everyone can add their voices/their concerns to it. This is not going to be an exhaustive list, it is just meant to be a jumping off point.
Here's the list to get us started:
1. the game runs very slow for long periods, and then there are bursts of activity where everything else has to stop, while we wait for a plot to finish. During this time, non-combat characters feel like they have nothing to do and that they're closed out of the game since they have to wait for plot to finish before open posting is allowed again.
Thoughts: away teams (especially those that are for non-combat characters) and player run plots should help this issue. Can we get an actual estimated time-frame on when away teams/player plots will actually go into effect, IC?
2. people might feel like mods are not addressing an issue when in fact someone might have brought it up to the mods privately and they are working on it.
Thoughts: more mod to the game as a whole communication is needed. Something like a regular post from the mods saying "we are aware of issues XY&Z and we are working on them" might be appropriate?
3. on the front of mod communication, is there a reason we don't have a drop box where people who don't feel comfortable speaking up logged in can tell the mods their concerns anonymously?
4. Also in the vein of mod communication, some people feel there's too much secrecy in terms of what's going to happen, which hinders player plotting, and also can slow up the game if people feel like there's nothing going on or that they're not allowed to be involved in whatever's going on. I know this has been brought up to the mods before but I don't think it's ever been satisfactorily resolved?
Thoughts: the mods could do a regular post of "this is what we can and can't tell you about what is upcoming in the game." It would also give players an opportunity to say "I want to do X, is that going to interfere in the game plot?" and the mods could say "we can't tell you specifics, but yes, there will be something going on during that frame of time." or "no, go ahead," or whatever. An actual post seems preferable, because even if the mods say something in chat, only a small percentage of the game is actually in chat at any given time.
5. there does seem to be a recurring problem where people will bring up issues/concerns/things that need to be worked on, and discussion will start on the issue, but then nothing will ever be finalized. The two specific examples I'm thinking of here are:
a. I know there's been discussion of how to re-structure the away teams, but if any actual decisions were ever made and implemented, I don't know about them. That could be a fail on my part, but I kind of think it's because things didn't actually get finalized.
b. after the drama after the nightmare king plot, there was discussion on the issue of the fact that a lot of the day to day things characters do get handwaved instead of actually threaded out, (for example, regular training. the rogues train every day, but we obviously don't have daily logs) however, other players would not know that you are handwaving certain activities for your character, unless you tell them. Making assumptions about what is and isn't being handwaved ... well, it's trite, but we all know what happens when you "assume".
Thoughts: if issues get brought up in the OOC, I think someone needs to be responsible for making sure the issue is actually resolved. My suggestion would be that a mod or helper mod step forward and say "Okay, for issue X, I am going to be responsible for making sure a resolution is reached" and then they follow through, and if the discussion dies out or whatever, say "Okay, a call needs to be made on what the conclusion here is, so here's the call."
a: if people who know about the away teams could step up and get things finalized, that would be awesome sauce
b: there was a proposal of having some kind of regular weekly or bi-weekly post where players could check in and say "in this week, my character has been up to X" or "I've been handwaving my character doing X". that way we would have all that information in one place, and if people wanted to know what was going on, they could check that post. also if they saw something they were interested in threading out, it would be a place where they could drop the other player a line saying "hey, can we actually log this?"
And now I'm tired of typing, so I'm going to let other people do the talking.
Since not all of these are my own personal concerns, I am making an open post, so that everyone can add their voices/their concerns to it. This is not going to be an exhaustive list, it is just meant to be a jumping off point.
Here's the list to get us started:
1. the game runs very slow for long periods, and then there are bursts of activity where everything else has to stop, while we wait for a plot to finish. During this time, non-combat characters feel like they have nothing to do and that they're closed out of the game since they have to wait for plot to finish before open posting is allowed again.
Thoughts: away teams (especially those that are for non-combat characters) and player run plots should help this issue. Can we get an actual estimated time-frame on when away teams/player plots will actually go into effect, IC?
2. people might feel like mods are not addressing an issue when in fact someone might have brought it up to the mods privately and they are working on it.
Thoughts: more mod to the game as a whole communication is needed. Something like a regular post from the mods saying "we are aware of issues XY&Z and we are working on them" might be appropriate?
3. on the front of mod communication, is there a reason we don't have a drop box where people who don't feel comfortable speaking up logged in can tell the mods their concerns anonymously?
4. Also in the vein of mod communication, some people feel there's too much secrecy in terms of what's going to happen, which hinders player plotting, and also can slow up the game if people feel like there's nothing going on or that they're not allowed to be involved in whatever's going on. I know this has been brought up to the mods before but I don't think it's ever been satisfactorily resolved?
Thoughts: the mods could do a regular post of "this is what we can and can't tell you about what is upcoming in the game." It would also give players an opportunity to say "I want to do X, is that going to interfere in the game plot?" and the mods could say "we can't tell you specifics, but yes, there will be something going on during that frame of time." or "no, go ahead," or whatever. An actual post seems preferable, because even if the mods say something in chat, only a small percentage of the game is actually in chat at any given time.
5. there does seem to be a recurring problem where people will bring up issues/concerns/things that need to be worked on, and discussion will start on the issue, but then nothing will ever be finalized. The two specific examples I'm thinking of here are:
a. I know there's been discussion of how to re-structure the away teams, but if any actual decisions were ever made and implemented, I don't know about them. That could be a fail on my part, but I kind of think it's because things didn't actually get finalized.
b. after the drama after the nightmare king plot, there was discussion on the issue of the fact that a lot of the day to day things characters do get handwaved instead of actually threaded out, (for example, regular training. the rogues train every day, but we obviously don't have daily logs) however, other players would not know that you are handwaving certain activities for your character, unless you tell them. Making assumptions about what is and isn't being handwaved ... well, it's trite, but we all know what happens when you "assume".
Thoughts: if issues get brought up in the OOC, I think someone needs to be responsible for making sure the issue is actually resolved. My suggestion would be that a mod or helper mod step forward and say "Okay, for issue X, I am going to be responsible for making sure a resolution is reached" and then they follow through, and if the discussion dies out or whatever, say "Okay, a call needs to be made on what the conclusion here is, so here's the call."
a: if people who know about the away teams could step up and get things finalized, that would be awesome sauce
b: there was a proposal of having some kind of regular weekly or bi-weekly post where players could check in and say "in this week, my character has been up to X" or "I've been handwaving my character doing X". that way we would have all that information in one place, and if people wanted to know what was going on, they could check that post. also if they saw something they were interested in threading out, it would be a place where they could drop the other player a line saying "hey, can we actually log this?"
And now I'm tired of typing, so I'm going to let other people do the talking.
Re: issue 1: game speed and character involvement
Of the plots, while doing the plan, Karl and I split them into combat plots, non-combat plots, and hybrid plots. There are actually more non-combat and hybrid plots than combat plots and Karl said that each cycle, there'd be a mandatory non-combat plot, and most of the times the other plots will be hybrids, where combat happens but there's definite stuff for other people to do.
So that is something that will go a ways towards resolving that issue and the issue of non-combatants not having a lot to do was specifically why we organized it that way.
For this, I need to make a big, BIG suggestion of more plot ideas, specifically for non-fighty characters to be made to the plot suggestion post (http://community.livejournal.com/trans_pilgrims/10258.html). We have a ton, but if they're going to be mandatory every time, we definitely need more of them.
So for the system what we're getting put in place both puts the selection of plots in the hands of the players, and makes one plot per plot turn a non-combat plot every single plot round. (And most of the rest will be hybrids that have both combat and non-combat roles).
Re: issue 1: game speed and character involvement
But another problem also comes up when combat characters are also qualified for noncombat roles. If the mission involves six people entering Nathan's Famous Hot-Dog Eating contest, those six people could just as easily be Badass McGrizzledspacemarine and his crew as they could Average Joe. And let's face it, we have a majority of Badass McGrizzledspacemarines. I know there's been several occasions when the part fills up too fast and nonfighty people get left out anyway.
I'm not sure exactly how to remedy this aside from players agreeing to take turns, because we don't want to get to the point of mods policing who does what everywhere.
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I think, considering that the combat characters get plenty thrown their way, that it's fair even just having a rule in place that any hardcore combatant isn't allowed in those plots. The hard part is deciding who counts as a fighter.
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Karl gave me the okay to post this here, that's the only reason I said it.
But I think the mods were planning to start discussion on it, and about the bits that need to be worked out, like the voting, soon. Again, something a "What the Mods Are Working on" post would help with.