GM Signups & Discussion Thread

[JNV]

Hi can I have an LG slot for the Fallen London game maybe by the time I come up in the queue Ill have fleshed it out

[The Wandering Wizard]

Actually I think I'd like to sign up for a MR slot and a LG slot instead of a BT.

[Kasimir]

On 12/8/2022 at 9:29 AM, JNV said:

Hi can I have an LG slot for the Fallen London game maybe by the time I come up in the queue Ill have fleshed it out

Added.

On 12/8/2022 at 11:45 AM, Ookla the Myopic said:

Actually I think I'd like to sign up for a MR slot and a LG slot instead of a BT.

Done.

Edited to add:

In the hopes of speeding things up through committee -

My guess is that there will be at least one more QF before the AG. Either way, here's the list of the top five people on the hook, please go get yourselves sorted out and make sure to get your two approvals.

1. @Fifth Scholar
2. @Ookla the Omniscient (already approved I believe)
3. @Araris Valerian
4. @Karnatheon
5. @Kasimir

Fifth is currently really busy, so I expect it to functionally be between Szeth and Araris.

Edited December 9, 2022 by Kasimir

[Szeth_Pancakes]

I’m available to run it! I can get signups up this evening

[Kasimir]

18 minutes ago, Ookla the Omniscient said:

I’m available to run it! I can get signups up this evening

Fifth's passing so you're clear to go, yeah.

[The Unknown Ajah]

Will there be another LG before the AG?

[Kasimir]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Unknown said:

Will there be another LG before the AG?

Judging from the past two years, this is unlikely. And the current LG is also still running. Factor in the one week of sign-up time and the potential length of a standard LG and I don't really see a way to squeeze it in unless the mods are planning on pushing the AG back.

[The Unknown Ajah]

18 minutes ago, Kasimir said:

Judging from the past two years, this is unlikely. And the current LG is also still running. Factor in the one week of sign-up time and the potential length of a standard LG and I don't really see a way to squeeze it in unless the mods are planning on pushing the AG back.

I was asking because now would be the traditional time for the next sign-up to go up, but nice to know.

[Kasimir]

1 minute ago, Ookla the Unknown said:

I was asking because now would be the traditional time for the next sign-up to go up, but nice to know.

I mean, even if it were, Wilson and El have priority, followed by me...

[The Unknown Ajah]

1 minute ago, Kasimir said:

I mean, even if it were, Wilson and El have priority, followed by me...

...I wasn't asking if I could go.

[Kasimir]

4 minutes ago, Ookla the Unknown said:

...I wasn't asking if I could go.

No, I was implying that if neither of us are aware of any LG coming up, it probably implies the answer is doubly, "No, the AG is next."

[---]

I'd like to sign up for a BT spot

Compromises if not approved include (in order of preference)

96 hour d1 -12 for every death until 12 hrs, then -2 hours (still moving eod time at an awkward interval, should it get down there)

96 hour d1 and -12 for every death, min day length 12

24hr day 1, 20hr d2 with 4 hour night, 16hr d3 with 8 hrs night, so on. 

Other concepts id like to run:

Days last forever and only end when a majority is reached on a player (very different and would like to run regardless)

Days are 48hrs, nights are 120hrs

Spitting ideas here

Edited December 17, 2022 by Ooklil' the Wei

[Ashbringer]

My instincts are that a moving rollover time could be restrictive for a lot of people, but I guess a BT is where we’d figure this out. So I’d rather see the first (although a Day that only ends once majority is reached would be interesting).

[Kasimir]

3 hours ago, Ooklil' the Wei said:

I'd like to sign up for a BT spot

Compromises if not approved include (in order of preference)

96 hour d1 -12 for every death until 12 hrs, then -2 hours (still moving eod time at an awkward interval, should it get down there)

96 hour d1 and -12 for every death, min day length 12

24hr day 1, 20hr d2 with 4 hour night, 16hr d3 with 8 hrs night, so on. 

Other concepts id like to run:

Days last forever and only end when a majority is reached on a player (very different and would like to run regardless)

Days are 48hrs, nights are 120hrs

Spitting ideas here

In short, it's preferable if you run a modification off the base MR or LG format than the BT.

Given the recent amount of requests that regard the BT as the format for anything remotely experimental (not really), I've put in a request to have the rule further clarified going forwards.

[---]

1 hour ago, Kasimir said:

In short, it's preferable if you run a modification off the base MR or LG format than the BT.

Given the recent amount of requests that regard the BT as the format for anything remotely experimental (not really), I've put in a request to have the rule further clarified going forwards.

I understand the point of bt games being shorter and to test out mechanics, but also the idea that it's an idea that you can stop it if it's not working, or that it's something that people might not want to/be able to finish playing. 

Seeing as everything I have proposed falls into the latter category, I don't want to call it anything else. 

I think the initial idea that bts should be extremely short is flawed, because I at least personally don't want to end up being stuck in a line of MRs and LGs that ate borderline unplayable or jusy not fun long term simply because they don't fit the length "qualification"

Edited December 17, 2022 by Ooklil' the Wei

[Haelbarde]

1 hour ago, Ooklil' the Wei said:

I understand the point of bt games being shorter and to test out mechanics, but also the idea that it's an idea that you can stop it if it's not working, or that it's something that people might not want to/be able to finish playing. 

Seeing as everything I have proposed falls into the latter category, I don't want to call it anything else. 

I think the initial idea that bts should be extremely short is flawed, because I at least personally don't want to end up being stuck in a line of MRs and LGs that ate borderline unplayable or jusy not fun long term simply because they don't fit the length "qualification"

One of the important considerations of including Break Tanks as an additional format alongside the QF, MR, and LG formats, as far as I'm aware, was to specifically avoid any impact on the activity level of players in those standard format games. For that reason they are kept intentionally short, to prevent the limited numbers of players available from being taken away from signing up to the standard cycle of games, or to help remove any additional reason for what players we have going inactive in those games.

The point of the break tanks, to my understanding, isn't that they're short. Nor is it about the ability to stop midway. The core idea is the testing ideas that are nearly impossible to predict how players will react to them, without letting players give it a shot first and seeing what breaks. 

---

To address your game idea proposal specifically, I've two thoughts:

1. I've had bad experiences with GMs that have varied the end of cycle time. While due to Life happening to the GMs, which I understand, one game this was a large part of a serious of circumstances that changed a game that my team could not lose into a major loss, while a few other instances did interfere somewhat with the ability to hammer as elims, or properly respond to important questions in thread. A regular cycle close time, while it can be a really painful time depending on the time and timezones, it can be relied upon and planned around. While I guess the point of you testing this would be to gauge player responses to changing cycle ends, I can already tell you that I'm a player that wouldn't be keen on the idea.
2. I'm not keen on the possibility of cycles being less than 24 hours. The SE community covers, or at least use to, timezones from all across the world. The nature of this is that it limits the ability for everyone to be able to communicate with each other in real time. By making cycles a minimum of 24 hours long, you give all players, no matter their time zone, an equal amount of time to contribute to a cycle, without international players having to adjust their sleep cycle to even have a chance at posting in a given cycle. That fact is not something I'd want to lightly change, as to do so reduces the accessibility of the games to those international players.
   • Now, Break Tanks obviously break this rule. And for this reason, I've not been able to engage with any of the break tanks, as there's only a 3 hour window I can reliably be active in, i.e. once ever second cycle of a BT. However, it's ultimately not a big deal because of the nature of the break tanks not being proper games. 
   • You might then say that seeing as BT already break the normal timing rules, it's the perfect spot to test games that mess with the timing of cycles. But the whole point of the BT is that you're testing something which is to be eventually played as a QF, MR, or LG, and I'd argue that something with the potential for less than 24 hour cycles shouldn't ever be run in the first place. 

So I guess then I've two questions:

1. Is there a version of your concept that maintains 24 hour cycles as the minimum?
2. How exactly are you intending to have the cycles reduced. Is the subsequent cycle posted immediately after the close of the previous, with the new cycle time determining the close of the new cycle? Does each cycle have a fixed start time, and the reduction in cycle length then changes the actual end of cycle time each cycle? Or in reverse, does each cycle have a fixed end time, and so the reductions in cycle length cause the cycle to start later and later?

Finally, to address your last comment about unplayable/unfun MR/LG, Break Tanks aren't the only tool to address that, nor are they even intended to be the primary tool to address that. That's the purpose of the review committee, where at least two experienced players should have weighed in on the game before it's run. It's also part of the role of the Impartial Moderator, who might be able to comment on the specifics of your role distribution at the start of the game should that be likely to significantly impact the balance and fun of the game. 

[---]

Well then personally I think my answers to any of those questions are pointless, and I additionally think that BTs are useless now that you're saying what they were originally intended for. Because I understood that, but the implication is that they're to test out ideas that might be game breaking, but since my ideas are potentially game breaking I'm being told I'm not allowed to run them. 

Thanks for your time

[---]

Please remove me from all waitlists.

[Steeldancer]

If I'm not signed up for a Quick Fix slot and an anonymous slot, I'd like to sign up. Label it as "Bodyhopping at the Olympic games," it'll be a somewhat rerun of my old body hopping game. 

[StrikerEZ]

Oh hey I can be marked as not busy anymore on the spreadsheet. I may not take the next game right away, if it will end up conflicting with the trip I have in a couple weeks, but I want to get back into running games.

[Kasimir]

On 1/26/2023 at 9:33 AM, Steeldancer said:

If I'm not signed up for a Quick Fix slot and an anonymous slot, I'd like to sign up. Label it as "Bodyhopping at the Olympic games," it'll be a somewhat rerun of my old body hopping game. 

 

41 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

Oh hey I can be marked as not busy anymore on the spreadsheet. I may not take the next game right away, if it will end up conflicting with the trip I have in a couple weeks, but I want to get back into running games.

Done.

[StrikerEZ]

14 minutes ago, Kasimir said:

 

Done.

Sweet thank you!

While I’m thinking of it, at what point would the signups for the next MR go up? Also does anyone remember if we do a set limit on how quickly we can run anonymous games after one has been ran? Because I have an anonymous blackout MR I want to run. Probably shouldn’t do it right now though, considering we just had the AG and are currently having a blackout LG.

[Ashbringer]

MR Signups probably should go up soon. List right now is

1. @StrikerEZ (Scadrian anon blackout)
2. @The Known Novel
3. @Szeth_Pancakes
4. StrikerEZ again (Roshar)
5. @Fifth Scholar

Then Mat, Tani, Karnatheon, Ashbringer, Steeldancer.

Most of those probably aren't around but still, we can work with that.

[StrikerEZ]

57 minutes ago, Ashbringer said:

MR Signups probably should go up soon. List right now is

1. @StrikerEZ (Scadrian anon blackout)
2. @The Known Novel
3. @Szeth_Pancakes
4. StrikerEZ again (Roshar)
5. @Fifth Scholar

Then Mat, Tani, Karnatheon, Ashbringer, Steeldancer.

Most of those probably aren't around but still, we can work with that.

Well, I think I want to run an MR. Probably would not run that anonymous blackout game, as we just had an anonymous game and are currently having a blackout LG. I can't decide which game I want to run though. Which brings me to this!

Hello everyone (not just Ash)! I am making my grand return to GMing, and want to figure out what game you guys want to play. I have a few different options, and would greatly appreciate if you guys would vote on this poll for me!

[StrikerEZ]

With LG92 done and MR62 having a low player count, we should probably figure out who’s running LG93 (and get those signups posted soon). The current active list:

1. @little wilson/@Elbereth 

2. Myself, who will be passing so I can get my first game as an IM in.

3. @Ashbringer

4. @Random Bystander

5. Oops me again, so going to #6.

6. @The Known Novel