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Census [Official C&G Discussion Topic] Game Rotation System

Discussion in 'Archive: Census and Games' started by The Loyal Imperial, Jan 7, 2011.

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  1. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2007
    As some of you may have noticed in the past, Census and Games presently takes a somewhat disorganized approach to the order and sequencing of what games start when. Today, I bring before you a proposal to institute a considerably more orderly system.

    The premise is simple: the creation of a single thread, containing within it three broad categories of C&G games, the first of which would be divided into several subcategories containing those games that are currently running or have run regularly in the past. These subcategories would divide up games into broad sections, such as "strategy games" (Junta, Risk, Mafia), "drafts", "trivia games", "games of chance" (Yahtzee, Blackjack), and so forth. When a game in any one of these categories ended, rather than starting again immediately (as is the custom now), they would instead be replaced by another game from the same subcategory, preserving the theme of the games being played while allowing for variation in the actual content to keep things interesting. Some subcategories would have only one of their games running at a time, such as drafts and strategy games, while others might have two or three, with the total number of active games at any given time coming to around ten, give or take a few. This would also allow us to better combat the host and game fatigue that longer-running games tend to eventually fall prey to.

    The first of those three categories we'll call the "A-list", which is intended for those games that have proven themselves functional already and can be played again at any time. The second of these categories is the "B-list", for those games that have been tried once already, but require further refining before they're ready to be tested again. The third and final category is the "C-list", and lists the names of those games which remain in the conceptual stage, waiting for further rule refinements and a willing host before they can progress to the next stage of the game-building process. Once a game has been run once, it would automatically move from the C-list up to the B-list, and if its second run proceeded smoothly without further issues, it could then be added to one of the subcategories of the A-list.

    Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
     
  2. FelsGoddess

    FelsGoddess Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 5, 2004
    It sounds like a great idea.
     
  3. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    That sounds like an excellent plan -- that way players who like and excel at the creative off the top games like Pass the Paragraph or Man Bites Dog could play games in sequence from that same subcategory.

    And if more than one subcategory is running at once, a gameplayer could sign up for quite a few games! (Yup, I'd be up for that!) [face_laugh] ;)

     
  4. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    I don't really like the idea.

    Here's why: there is typically a long period in between sign-ups for many games (especially long games such as Risk and Yahtzee, which can take months to complete due to length of turns and multiple facets of every turn). Say you don't really like or understand the next game in sequence; you effectively have to wait several months until it comes back in the rotation before you can play it again, effectively shutting you out of playing an entire category instead of one individual game. Waiting times for games to reach the sign-up period will increase, and the variety of games open for signups at any given time will decrease sharply. In the current system, if you miss signups, you have to wait a month or so before being able to sign up for it again. But that game will still be there for the next round of signups, instead of being backlogged behind long games that take two months to complete just because they are in the same "category", potentially pushing that game's next round to five or six months in the future depending on the category. Thus, it is very possible that if you are a little late to sign up, you will be unable to play ANY games for quite a bit of time (as only 18 players will be active in the games at one time with three categories and one game in each, instead of the much-higher figure we have right now due to the sheer number of games). Having a lot less games to pick from at any time, plus a rotation system of just one game at a time, wouldn't work for games that take a while to complete. What works for the short games, of which most can be finished in about a week, doesn't work for month-long games.

    The only way I can see something like this working is to have the system of categories with TWO games going at the same time in each category. For example, Yahtzee takes a while to complete (about two months, depending on my schedule as the Host and when I can post results for each dice roll), while Blackjack, if things go right, can be finished in less than a month. If someone misses out on the Yahtzee signups, they can choose to play another game in that category, which would be the shorter game of Blackjack in this instance. That way, we can have more people play, and maybe get in two games of Blackjack for every game of Yahtzee.

    I understand that our number of players is decreasing, but I don't think that lowering the amount of active games at one time in such a system will help boost interest. I think it'll have the opposite effect; people won't get to play many games, if any at all.
     
  5. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2007
    Couple of points:

    We're looking at a total of about seven active categories, not three, with a good number having two or three running at a time.

    Room would be made for certain popular games to be restarted as soon as they've ended, if the demand is actually there and the host is willing.

    Once a game in a subcategory has ended, it is not intended that every other game in the subcategory would have to go up before it can come back.
     
  6. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    OK. With those points made, I can agree with the system a lot more. What categories do you have in mind?

    Only problem I see is the one thread thing; how can you run multiple games in a single thread? Maybe two threads for each category, one for each game?
     
  7. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2007
    The thread is only intended to keep track of the various games and categories and the state of how developed they are: not for games to be run in the thread itself. The current system of one thread per game would remain in place.

    As for categories, we have drafts, word games, trivia games, games of chance, miscellaneous games, strategy games, and room for categories for hosts that run multiple games, but only one at a time. And that's just as of now.
     
  8. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    Wow, my mind's really off right now. 8-} Must be the homework.

    I think I get it.
     
  9. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2002
    To add to what Loyal said, signups for some games can be expanded to include more players (or can be cut down when there aern't enough - several games have done both).
     
  10. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2002
    Does anyone else have thoughts? We'd love to hear from hosts and players alike, whether you think this is a good idea, a bad idea, or think it's worth a shot!
     
  11. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2002
    Something I've been noticing latly is that some games are having trouble getting people to sign up. That makes me think that a rotation would be good for the games and the players - give everyone a rest and get excitement going again.

    What do you all think? If you have an opinion, either for rotation or against it, please let us know - Loyal and I would really like to hear from more people.
     
  12. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    Well, it's always the lack of interest vs. lack of time. You could always give the rotation system a try and see if participation increases.
     
  13. Mister_Master

    Mister_Master Jedi Master star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 17, 2007
    I think this sounds like an interesting idea. One thing I am not too clear on though. You said, "We're looking at a total of about seven active categories, not three, with a good number having two or three running at a time." does this mean there will be several games running in each category at a time, or that several categories will be running at the same time?

    I also have a question about my own game. In this system what would Pirate Dice fall under? Would it be Chance or Misc? And if not either of those what?
     
  14. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2007
    All categories will be running at the same time, constantly, some with multiple games from them going at once (mostly for those games that don't suffer from chronic lack of interest). Pirate Dice falls under games of chance, at the moment, though what game goes in which category may be subject to change if a compelling reason is given to move it.
     
  15. FelsGoddess

    FelsGoddess Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 5, 2004
    The rotation seems like it could help with the lack of players. Not only would it provide a break, but it'd also help manage the number of games people sign up for. As in, if they sign up for too many going on at once and have to drop one or two.
     
  16. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    I'm worried that the lack of participation is not because of the number of games, but instead is more of a RL vs. board time struggle.
     
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