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Post:< 11516 >
Subject:< Unknown >
Topic:Community >
Category:General >
Author:txurce
Posted:Jun 21, 2009 at 11:29 am
Viewed:1078 times

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My first thought is that there may be a limit as to how many dedicated and viable players and GMs are out there. Quality of games is bound to drop with an increase in quantity. There's nothing wrong with DC's explosive growth slowing down.

It never occurred to me that one reason for dropouts by newcomers is that they’re trying out the game, decide they don’t like it, and opt not to stick out a months-long commitment regardless. The negative impact of this could be minimized by having a rookies-only game available alongside the standard game, as Mike suggested.

Players who have proven their reliability deserve games with fewer NMRs and abandonments. Maybe there could be an open standard game limited to players with a few games’ experience and good response records.

GMs should take the time to vet who’s signed up for their games, and either get a firm commitment from applicants with unreliable histories, or rule them out, as the GM sees fit. I realize that some Variants take a long time to fill up and the GMs get antsy, but they would probably be happier in the long run. If game entry weren't wrapped up until each game was over-subscribed, and players were contacted not once, but twice, before a game, and their response times factored into their eventual admission, I'd guess that NMRs and abandonments would decrease.

The issue of how best to deal with NMRs is probably in the eye of the beholder. I would prefer no NMRs at all, instead pausing the game either to find a replacement or do some sort of auto ordering like Edi suggested. This could be a task for the Light Brigade*, if not the GM. Filling these slots could probably be done very quickly if replacements had an option not to have the game count as part of their record. (I'd take almost every mercy opening overnight.)

* for the unaware, a group of dedicated backups managed by Former Trout

There may also be a need for more GM management. Whatever happened to DC251 seems to be unprecedented, and shouldn't have happened. (This could be another case where replacing players who NMR would have resolved things.)

Jorge
(txurce)

This message is in reply to post 11506:

Hi guys,

Anyone feel free to add anyone else to the email chain… but I’ve seen a few discussions fly thru various channels lately about quality of games. I suppose this would mean NMR’s, Abandons, and general lack of communication in games.

How can dc improve this?

A few things about the status quo…

- Right now… we recruit one standard game at all times, which has an invitation for newbies to join it, as it is after all, standard. Easiest to learn the game on.

- Newbies are – and always will be – welcome here, (we were all one at some point) however we need to be able to limit the disruption they can do to games, and the frustration they can cause to other players.

- Anyone can play here. There is no proving ground.

Is this appropriate? If a leader of a country isn’t very good – and doesn’t write, and misses turns – is it up to the “good” players to be the best to capitalize on this, or should that player not have played in the first place? How can we realistically prevent such a player from causing disruption, given that new players have to get a start, somewhere?

Should we go to a system of newbie-only games? I’ve run, I think 2 of these over the years, and they were a big hit.

Can GM’s do more to avoid NMR’s? Pumping up the players, sending reminders, etc?

Should players get more limited on the number and type of games they can play, based on their propensity for NMR’s? We have the new NMR stat on the Profile pages, which gives us info, but currently there is no mechanic in the system to limit players in any way based on their frequency of missing turns.

Anyways just looking for insight into what might really breed good hi-caliber players, and provide a fun gaming environment that isn’t met w frustration when players drop out.

-mike
Order of the Garter
www.diplomaticcorp.com

There are 9 Messages in this Thread:


Quality of games (FuzzyLogic) Jun 20, 10:13 pm

Quality of games (EdiBirsan) Jun 20, 10:59 pm

Quality of games (Montgomery) Jun 20, 11:56 pm

Unknown (txurce) Jun 21, 11:29 am

Quality of games (Kenshi777) Jun 22, 10:45 am

Quality of games (garry.bledsoe) Jun 22, 12:16 pm

Quality of games (Kenshi777) Jun 22, 02:06 pm

Unknown (txurce) Jun 27, 05:45 pm

Unknown (charlesf) Jul 03, 07:24 am

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