Discussion Forum by SNORLAX
August 16th, 2007 4:16 PMThese are things I had suggested in comments a few times long ago. I suspect these ideas may not be received too well as they seems way more radical than the other ideas so far, but here's my piece:
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No Points, no groups.
Straight highjinks! and votes too. No points for lame tasks.
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ON GROUPS:
Player limits can force collaboration upon players. Groups limit which tasks you can do, as collaboration with a specific group for a specific task can be near impossible. While I feel groups are a decent enough way to encourage collaboration, i believe they act a little bit as a leash on creativity. If you see a good way of doing any task, you should be able to just go for it. Many awesome tasks have been done by 1 player alone, and there could be much more.
ON POINTS:
Votes are a better indicator of quality tasks than points. I think points can place more importance on completing tasks as opposed to completing them well. I think that is especially true for new players.
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I'm not so cool with eliminating points for tasks- while I don't particularly complete tasks with getting score in mind, there have been times where I've put significant effort into a task completion and gotten few or no votes- I suppose you could argue that that means I don't deserve any points for that, but getting absolutely *nothing* for it would be a bit of a letdown, and to quote your phrase, that is especially true for new players. If a player can't find his stride in the first week or two, do you really think they'll keep playing with 0 points? Points give an incentive for the newbie to keep playing, and hopefully, find out what it takes to start getting votes for their completion.
Would you propose removing the levels too? The idea of teams and points and levels are all elements from traditional game play. But do we really utilise them in this game? Removing them would certainly change the objectives.
When I signed up I joined the group of the person who recruited me to be on the same team, but the fact that we've collaborated on so many tasks together is mainly geographical, rather than because we're in the same team.
IMO There isn't really any sense of competition between the groups. This doesn't necessarily mean we should get rid of them, I quite like that I've subscribed to an ethos! The game could be restructured to place more emphasis on teamplay.
Sorry, I don't really have a point. I think I need to go to sleep.
darkaardvark: i think that the let down of getting no votes, while possibly demoralizing, would send an important message. don't just post whatever for a task. post something interesting.
meta-tron: while i have no strong feelings toward level either way, i would say keep them, just to keep some sense of advancement or progress or goals in the game ("elements from traditional game play"). so i guess that would have to be based on votes rather than points. also i don't think the groups are competitive in any way, just a little restrictive.
perhaps there should be a forum section.
what if a new player looks at the praxis and sees 6 completions of "discussion forum" they must think this is the most dull game ever.
I agree with Darkaardvark, this proposal is a little too revoluntionary to get my support.
I also agree with Matatron in that there isn't really any sense of competition between the groups - can that be fixed? (Should it?)
White Rabbit, I've just found out that you're the all-time highest scoring player, so I'm not going to disagree with you, I'm just going to bow down and worship your cottonball tail.
Dear Lowteck,
I disagree. I think groups force us to be *more* creative. To push beyond our comfort levels, to find ways to connect with people far away, to make this a "collaborative" game.
Love,
Inky
I love the groups. But i agree that they are rusty.
But i also believe that rather than the removal of teams we should be looking to make them matter, give them a new lick of paint, clean out the cobwebs and drive them with our drive.
I feel the teams are integral to the ethos of sf0, and its partially what really made me want to join when i came across this beauty of a website.
We have lost vision of what each group is trying to accomplish. When did we last address the crisis that is a plague in San Francisco? When did we last dérive for the greater good of the BARTpa?
We must look towards active goals among the groups, and the completion of work towards the completion of these goals must affect the movement of the group as a whole.
I want to achieve tasks in the name of my beloved BARTpa, and not just sf0. To fly their flag in the london underground and encourage the awareness of the effects of psychogeography to all... maybe i should be running for office with these sorts of statement.. but also perhaps maybe those who have already run for office and been elected should also look to improve their groups and devise a way to move forwards as a whole.
And maybe ive whittered on enough for the moment. But such is a discussion forum.
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I like the groups a lot, they give a strong backdrop to the game. On one hand I kind of wish that there was a stronger more structured hierarchy for each group, maybe have a leader in each group or something. On the other hand I hate the groups with a passion, I have no one that is really into SF0 where I live (god knows I've tried to get people into it) so if we removed the groups it would open up a lot of great tasking roads for people like who don't live in SF...aka civilization
I am scared of no groups, but I agree. i feel that the groups give a strong backdrop and shouldn't be completely discarded. How about individual characters making progress along each of the 5 paths in the trajectories of desire? You still need to start with the basics in each group before you can overcome a particular groups more serious desires, goals and challenges. Levels could remain somehow intact, but we would have a way to do other tasks, by slowly following our other desires. there is a lot of wiggle room on the specifics of an idea like that, but now you have me thinking...
Will you all collaborate with me?