Okay, so, I'm going to rant. I know I probably shouldn't, but what's posting once a week on a local blog about LARPing for if not for the occasional venting session? I will try to make it a little useful, since I think the situation also illustrates some important do's & don't's in communication that apply easily to a hobby situation at LARP.
Here's the story, which you could skip and just skim the main points below :) For my Hubatron's 30th this year, I wanted to get him something really awesome. I remembered a leather cowl we'd seen, and ordered it about 5-6 weeks out. No problem, they said, we're starting work now and it should be there soon. Great! It should make it for his birthday! 2 weeks passed, and the birthday, but I'd ordered it hoping to make it to his party later, and there was still time. I tracked them down - no problem, they said, it will be there! The week of the party came, and I hadn't heard a thing. After a few emails and calls, I finally heard from them and they said they had some troubles, and would ship it overnight with a free apology gift and confirm with me in the next 2 days. Again, nothing. I waited, and tried them again. And again, after multiple calls and emails, I got a hold of them and asked if they could at least send it in time for the event he was going to in 2 weeks. No problem, they said, we are so sorry, they said, it should be there. As you can guess, it didn't arrive. Only this time I had to tell him what it was so he didn't make himself a new cloth version. At this point, not only was my triumphant gift late, now it was spoiled. So sad. :( Again with the tracking them down, and so on, and again they assured me it would be there soon.
Of course, it didn't come. And despite trying to get a hold of them, they've never returned my calls or emails since. And I swear, I wasn't crazy mean or anything!! :) So now, here I am, present-less, and trying to think of what I can learn from the whole thing that might be useful. So here goes.
-Tell it Straight - I worked customer service, and it's a crummy job, and I don't like applying it to a volunteer situation. But one thing I know is that you should still be courteous - and to under-promise but over-deliver. I don't mean lie, I mean set up realistic expectations. If you are running a game, don't promise your players things you aren't sure you can deliver on. This goes for players too. If you're making something for someone, or offering other help, be honest about what they can expect. Even if it's just that you aren't sure you can make it to the game - if plot is running something around your character, it's good to let them know to have back-up ideas. Even if you really think you can do X, take a minute to think about it before you set something in stone, and maybe build in a little wiggle room if you're not 100%. You don't have to divulge every uncertainty, but let people know in advance that they may need alternatives if that's the case, and give plenty of notice so people can plan. I think it's very easy to forget that other people are planning around you when you're in the middle of things. LARPing is what we do to have fun on our free weekends, so people may be basing their good time on your help! :)
-Keep Up to Date - Things change, problems come up, and drama happens. I feel bad that it might have happened to the company I ordered with. :( And if they'd just let me know, I wouldn't feel so frustrated. When things do come up, let people know. Don't make them track you down, that just makes everyone more frustrated. Even if it's not good news, most people would rather just know so they can adjust their plans. So the sooner you know you have to cancel that event, or that you can't NPC as promised, the sooner you should send that email to tell people, if you can. If you don't have time, or aren't up for it because of the situation, try to have someone else do it for you if needed.
-Be Clear - I have to take some of the blame for my situation, because I should have pushed to have things laid out from the start. When you're communicating, make sure you are as clear as possible with the details. Say what exactly you're looking for (this goes for props, plot requests, anything), any rewards desired/offered, any time limit you have, and so on. It is hard, because we are all volunteers, and we need all the help we can get! But if you need that one prop to look a certain way, or if you aren't okay with donating something with an uncertain reward, then set it up. Be nice about it, but try not to leave room for misinterpretation that could lead to frustration.
I should also say that, in regards to my above rant-story, I didn't ever pay, so I'm not in too bad a spot :) Even so, I'm not sure what to do. Should I wait and still hope that it'll come, or go get something else and risk it coming and having to pay for both? Make sure if you do get into a sticky situation to lay it out as well as you can so everyone knows what they need to do with whatever fallout there may be.
-Consider an Apology - Like I said, things happen, and sometimes they're not anyone's fault, so not every situation needs a big apology, or any at all. But if it's appropriate, think about how you could make up for a mistake. Maybe it's some kind of goblin reward, maybe it's making an extra set of claws, maybe it's offering to do extra NPC time. Or just saying you're sorry :) Just make sure you can follow the first point here. Most times you don't have to do anything extra, but if you offer it, it does make it worse to be told you'll get something more and then not get that either.
Although, I admit, that cowl is beautiful and I still really want it for him :) All us LARPers are usually willing to forgive any mistakes that are made so we can get back to doing what we enjoy - we should just remember to be courteous in cleaning things up so that no bridges are burned.
Okay, there you have it! What communications tips do you have?
Showing posts with label Rant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rant. Show all posts
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
LARPing while Injured - Know your Limits!
This post was inspired by my sprained ankle, and the fact that I've got an event coming up (two, actually) that I may not be 100% for.
It's tough when you are unable to perform at your best during a LARP game. It's even worse when you're hurt and further strain might cause more of an injury.
For me, the question arises on whether or not I'll be able to function as a non-combatant at the events.
Exiles is a very combat oriented game, and my character there is combat oriented, so being unable to run may be a no-go. That, or start another gentleman character.
However, at NERO, my current character is a merchant who is very economically and politically motivated, so it would be very easy for me to play light or even go completely non-combative.
It's of the upmost importance for a good LARPer to know where they have to draw the line. It would be selfish of me, to both other players and game staff, to try and LARP beyond my capacity. If I were to get injured, it could put them in hot water and could stall the game for my fellow players.
I've seen far to many people try and push past their injuries, and more often than not, it ends up backfiring on them.
So here's the PSA: If you're hurt, don't try and be a hero and don't be selfish. If you don't think you can do something, don't do it.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Business of LARP
Money is one of the largest causes of argument in any relationship. Everyone wants more of it, and everyone has different ideas of how to get it. From a LARP perspective, it's been a lot on my mind lately. With the NERO potential issue of buying magic items, I've been wondering more and more: Should a LARP operate like other for-profit businesses?
Let me just say first off that I've never owned a for-profit LARP, and I don't know the specifics of how any of the local games do things. So I am not trying to call anyone out or point fingers or say what anyone is doing wrong. I don't know what goes on, so my thoughts are just based on general observations and curiosity. There's a disclaimer for you :)
If you're running a LARP as a business, then obviously a goal, if not THE goal, is to make money. You should create a product that people want - which means running a game at consistent quality (rules, mechanics, plot, phys reps, all that). It should follow all the laws and guidelines of the business - whether that means acting ethically or not is probably a philosophical issue that's too big for this post :) However, if you're not creating an environment where your customers are treated well and fairly, you're likely to go out of business.
So on the thought of "LARP as money-maker" - is there a problem with offering in-game items for out of game money? Well, in the world, if you have more money, you get better stuff. From that perspective, then it makes sense. Heck, look at the free to play mmo's that are everywhere - that's how they make their money. It seems things are shifting in that direction.
But a LARP, to many people, is more than just a business out to make a buck. First, they don't often make much money, so operating like they're Apple might seem silly. :) Second, the community becomes very close-knit, and is small enough that it's hard to say "it's not personal, it's business." It becomes very personal to the people who play, and they become very invested in the game and the society that grows around it. Making decisions based just off of the "it's a business" aspect can be tough if they're unpopular - especially at smaller games.
In the end, most people run games for the same reason they play them. They enjoy a story where they can act out an adventure, they like the role-play, and they enjoy the people. They want a good game. Most people aren't thinking of making money off of it. And those that are, I think they eventually want to share the profit with their "employees" - after all, it's the staff who make the game what it is! But I think that most games can't get that far.
The game should make enough money to break even, pay for upgrades, and maybe even pay out to the people running it (gas money? prop budget? Ahh, I can dream!). But is there enough capital, and is it worth it, to make it for-profit in the very business sense of the idea? Or is it enough to run the game, since the people running it are doing it for-the-love anyway in most cases, give people a good time, and put any profit right back into the pot rather than worrying about who's getting paid? Do you think that kind of game is successful?
As I said, I don't know how for-profit games do it. I'd be interested to hear how the LARP business works for them!
Let me just say first off that I've never owned a for-profit LARP, and I don't know the specifics of how any of the local games do things. So I am not trying to call anyone out or point fingers or say what anyone is doing wrong. I don't know what goes on, so my thoughts are just based on general observations and curiosity. There's a disclaimer for you :)
If you're running a LARP as a business, then obviously a goal, if not THE goal, is to make money. You should create a product that people want - which means running a game at consistent quality (rules, mechanics, plot, phys reps, all that). It should follow all the laws and guidelines of the business - whether that means acting ethically or not is probably a philosophical issue that's too big for this post :) However, if you're not creating an environment where your customers are treated well and fairly, you're likely to go out of business.
So on the thought of "LARP as money-maker" - is there a problem with offering in-game items for out of game money? Well, in the world, if you have more money, you get better stuff. From that perspective, then it makes sense. Heck, look at the free to play mmo's that are everywhere - that's how they make their money. It seems things are shifting in that direction.
But a LARP, to many people, is more than just a business out to make a buck. First, they don't often make much money, so operating like they're Apple might seem silly. :) Second, the community becomes very close-knit, and is small enough that it's hard to say "it's not personal, it's business." It becomes very personal to the people who play, and they become very invested in the game and the society that grows around it. Making decisions based just off of the "it's a business" aspect can be tough if they're unpopular - especially at smaller games.
In the end, most people run games for the same reason they play them. They enjoy a story where they can act out an adventure, they like the role-play, and they enjoy the people. They want a good game. Most people aren't thinking of making money off of it. And those that are, I think they eventually want to share the profit with their "employees" - after all, it's the staff who make the game what it is! But I think that most games can't get that far.
The game should make enough money to break even, pay for upgrades, and maybe even pay out to the people running it (gas money? prop budget? Ahh, I can dream!). But is there enough capital, and is it worth it, to make it for-profit in the very business sense of the idea? Or is it enough to run the game, since the people running it are doing it for-the-love anyway in most cases, give people a good time, and put any profit right back into the pot rather than worrying about who's getting paid? Do you think that kind of game is successful?
As I said, I don't know how for-profit games do it. I'd be interested to hear how the LARP business works for them!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
I Wish I Was Special - Character Backgrounds
I've been thinking a lot about character histories and origin stories lately. Most people who want to play a LARP want to have a unique and interesting character who gets to be a hero in their own way. And plenty of folks use their backgrounds as a way to get there - but sometimes not in the right way.
Maybe there's nothing in them that makes their character unique (I was a farmer then my family was killed by undead so I took to the road), but a lot of times they're attempting to do too much (I'm the secret heir to the elven kingdom). Not everyone is into giving their character a rich background story, and that's okay. Some people don't LARP for that sort of thing. And for those that do, a lot of your character will be defined when you actually play them.
And that's kind of my first point. Some people seem to want to make their characters interesting by virtue of what they are instead of who they are. They want to be half-fae, or secret royals, or destined artifact wielders. Maybe I'm alone in this, but I find that the character rather than their bloodline is more interesting. Examples: "The Phantom Menace" explaining Anakin's midi-chlorians are the reason he's the way he is; versus "The Dark Knight" where the Joker's background is unclear. Joker's the better character, hands down, right? Didn't most of us roll our eyes at the whole midi-chlorians thing? And what happened in "Highlander 2" when they tried to create an explanation for the whole "immortal" thing? Anyway, the point is that not everything has to have a direct, biological reason, and forcing one can take away the magic.
I'm not saying it's not cool to be the child of the prophecy or find out you're the scion of a lost alien race. But I think you've got to have a strong character before you do that, and characters, like people, aren't made interesting based solely on their bloodline. Sure, that can add to it, but it's what the person does with it that makes them who they are. It's their experiences that shape them, just like us. Sometimes it's more interesting to see someone pull themselves out of a normal background and become a hero because of their character rather than special abilities. So instead of telling me what the character is, I'd rather see what happened to them to make them who they are.
The other obvious problem with these types of backgrounds is that they set the expectation that the player/character wants to be more powerful than the average bear already. They're trying to skip in line, so to speak, and start out with a character that has personal plot attention and is ready to receive their pew pew special powers. In most LARPs, that kind of personal attention is earned by being a good player and pursuing it in game. Plot can certainly pick out someone to hook without that, but by creating a background that asks for extra attention, that player can come across as greedy and entitled at worst, or maybe just clueless.
And for me, at least, I don't find it fun to just be handed things - a reward isn't a reward unless you did something to earn it. I know some people don't mind coming out of the gate with eye lasers and an "I win" card, but for me I might as well stay home and write myself into some fan fiction. :) Heroes are heroes because they overcome obstacles, imo. But that's not everyone.
So, if you want to be special, as we all do, but you can't ask for it, what can you do? Well, there are certainly exceptions to the above. For example, a long term player creating a new character with Plot's help.
But the backgrounds I appreciate the most are those that demonstrate an understanding of the setting, based on reading whatever in game material is available, and sets up the character within the world instead of the exception to it. They explain the character's goals, motivations, fears and loves so that Plot can get an idea for what they're trying to play. They do it in a way that shows how the events in their life made them who they are.
And they leave a little room open for Plot to play with. I'm not talking the "I've forgotten everything about my past" cliche, but just a few things that Plot can use as your character develops. If you want to steer the plot in a certain way, steer your background in that direction without coming out and telling plot what to give you. For example, if you want to be more magical, maybe the character's father was on the council at the school of magic and was involved in secret experiments. This could go in a lot of different directions, making for interesting plot and possibly even those coveted special abilities (maybe the experiment was done on the character as a baby!) A lot of times, Plot can be creative in unexpected ways, so giving them room to work not only avoids hubris, but could open the door to something more interesting than you thought!
So put in some side characters and facts that Plot can use to make your story come to life in game. Have siblings, old lovers, best friends; throw in mysterious encounters or significant events your character witnessed. You don't need to write a novel, here, although I'm making it sound like it :) Keep to the main points, and if you have an idea for your character's goals, tell Plot! (although if it's a super powerful artifact or something, that may again come across as greedy).
For the Plot side of things, when I get a character history I usually try to work in some extra information to throw to the player. Even if it's just giving some names to their people and places to get them into the setting. This is especially nice for new players - you can give them not only some more in game info to help them play their character, but you can make them feel special just by throwing some tidbits their way. Give out a few hints that have to do with the plot you're running maybe, so the player can jump in and feel useful right away. This is a great way to hook people in! Maybe while on their farm they witnessed a secret meeting of your evil NPC group and overheard a few things they didn't understand out of context. Maybe one of your NPCs is their uncle. It doesn't have to be a major spoiler or connection, but just something to get them going.
For both player and plot, it's important to be willing to work together. Plot should have an open mind and be willing to maybe add a little spice to a character history. The player should be aware of what they're asking in terms of fairness and setting, and be willing to work with plot to create something that fits for everyone.
What do you think about character backgrounds? Do you use them? What do you like or dislike about them?
Maybe there's nothing in them that makes their character unique (I was a farmer then my family was killed by undead so I took to the road), but a lot of times they're attempting to do too much (I'm the secret heir to the elven kingdom). Not everyone is into giving their character a rich background story, and that's okay. Some people don't LARP for that sort of thing. And for those that do, a lot of your character will be defined when you actually play them.
And that's kind of my first point. Some people seem to want to make their characters interesting by virtue of what they are instead of who they are. They want to be half-fae, or secret royals, or destined artifact wielders. Maybe I'm alone in this, but I find that the character rather than their bloodline is more interesting. Examples: "The Phantom Menace" explaining Anakin's midi-chlorians are the reason he's the way he is; versus "The Dark Knight" where the Joker's background is unclear. Joker's the better character, hands down, right? Didn't most of us roll our eyes at the whole midi-chlorians thing? And what happened in "Highlander 2" when they tried to create an explanation for the whole "immortal" thing? Anyway, the point is that not everything has to have a direct, biological reason, and forcing one can take away the magic.
I'm not saying it's not cool to be the child of the prophecy or find out you're the scion of a lost alien race. But I think you've got to have a strong character before you do that, and characters, like people, aren't made interesting based solely on their bloodline. Sure, that can add to it, but it's what the person does with it that makes them who they are. It's their experiences that shape them, just like us. Sometimes it's more interesting to see someone pull themselves out of a normal background and become a hero because of their character rather than special abilities. So instead of telling me what the character is, I'd rather see what happened to them to make them who they are.
The other obvious problem with these types of backgrounds is that they set the expectation that the player/character wants to be more powerful than the average bear already. They're trying to skip in line, so to speak, and start out with a character that has personal plot attention and is ready to receive their pew pew special powers. In most LARPs, that kind of personal attention is earned by being a good player and pursuing it in game. Plot can certainly pick out someone to hook without that, but by creating a background that asks for extra attention, that player can come across as greedy and entitled at worst, or maybe just clueless.
And for me, at least, I don't find it fun to just be handed things - a reward isn't a reward unless you did something to earn it. I know some people don't mind coming out of the gate with eye lasers and an "I win" card, but for me I might as well stay home and write myself into some fan fiction. :) Heroes are heroes because they overcome obstacles, imo. But that's not everyone.
So, if you want to be special, as we all do, but you can't ask for it, what can you do? Well, there are certainly exceptions to the above. For example, a long term player creating a new character with Plot's help.
But the backgrounds I appreciate the most are those that demonstrate an understanding of the setting, based on reading whatever in game material is available, and sets up the character within the world instead of the exception to it. They explain the character's goals, motivations, fears and loves so that Plot can get an idea for what they're trying to play. They do it in a way that shows how the events in their life made them who they are.
And they leave a little room open for Plot to play with. I'm not talking the "I've forgotten everything about my past" cliche, but just a few things that Plot can use as your character develops. If you want to steer the plot in a certain way, steer your background in that direction without coming out and telling plot what to give you. For example, if you want to be more magical, maybe the character's father was on the council at the school of magic and was involved in secret experiments. This could go in a lot of different directions, making for interesting plot and possibly even those coveted special abilities (maybe the experiment was done on the character as a baby!) A lot of times, Plot can be creative in unexpected ways, so giving them room to work not only avoids hubris, but could open the door to something more interesting than you thought!
So put in some side characters and facts that Plot can use to make your story come to life in game. Have siblings, old lovers, best friends; throw in mysterious encounters or significant events your character witnessed. You don't need to write a novel, here, although I'm making it sound like it :) Keep to the main points, and if you have an idea for your character's goals, tell Plot! (although if it's a super powerful artifact or something, that may again come across as greedy).
For the Plot side of things, when I get a character history I usually try to work in some extra information to throw to the player. Even if it's just giving some names to their people and places to get them into the setting. This is especially nice for new players - you can give them not only some more in game info to help them play their character, but you can make them feel special just by throwing some tidbits their way. Give out a few hints that have to do with the plot you're running maybe, so the player can jump in and feel useful right away. This is a great way to hook people in! Maybe while on their farm they witnessed a secret meeting of your evil NPC group and overheard a few things they didn't understand out of context. Maybe one of your NPCs is their uncle. It doesn't have to be a major spoiler or connection, but just something to get them going.
For both player and plot, it's important to be willing to work together. Plot should have an open mind and be willing to maybe add a little spice to a character history. The player should be aware of what they're asking in terms of fairness and setting, and be willing to work with plot to create something that fits for everyone.
What do you think about character backgrounds? Do you use them? What do you like or dislike about them?
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Why Anecdotal Evidence is Balls
Everyone who is involved in anything thinks that they're an expert. They think they have a pulse on what the people want, simply because they've heard some people talk about stuff. And then they use this information to guide judgement.
So here's your public service announcement, followed by a wall of text!
Friends don't let friends use anecdotal evidence to make decisions on how a game should operate.
So here's your public service announcement, followed by a wall of text!
Friends don't let friends use anecdotal evidence to make decisions on how a game should operate.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The Plot Thickens: Deleted!
Many of you saw the National Post that Mickey created yesterday regarding the stuff that was published on the NERO Cincinnati Boards. But many of you did not.
Ken Gillis posted some stuff on the boards. It was the first time he's posted anything in weeks and I'm glad that the web admin is talking rules and not fixing one of the many blatant typos on the main page. But when I tried to respond to him, I found I got an error saying I couldn't post to that thread. I figured maybe someone locked it (like a proper moderator would).
But no, the post was gone. I went into full on "Night before Christmas" mode.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
Joe can't be bothered to actually respond to any questions people have, but he certainly has time to rip stuff off the boards.
I feel bad for the "Anonymous" that posted before, because we were just trying to get some talk on the National Forums. But Joe would prefer these discussions to go on here.
So here's Mickey's post in full. I apologize to the people who had legitimate comments (bgardner) that weren't asked, but I'd be happy to answer them here, or you can take your questions to the NERO Cincinnati forums.
Finally, I apologize to the non-NERO readers for all this drama. I want to get this in a timely manner. Tomorrow's post will have a sick prop for your eyes to lust over.
---
Hello everyone, I have found some discussions I think would interest people. This is the place, according to one "anonymous" commenter at larpohio.blogspot.com, where these kinds of discussions should happen afterall.
Here is where you can still see the goblin point system policy proposal, thanks to the kind efforts of NERO Cincinnati. It was taken down from discussion on the naitonal forums for some reason, but luckily you can comment at Cincy or even in response to my post here.
http://www.nerocincinnati.com/messages/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2139
And here, also thanks to Cincy, is a link to a policy document Joe Valenti has been nice enough to make public on the internet for people to discuss as well. Some interesting thoughts on goblin stamp redemption and the use of banks by local chapters.
http://www.nerocincinnati.com/messages/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2196
And lastly, here is the larpohio blog post with the "anonymous" commenter followed by a link to my reply.
http://larpohio.blogspot.com/2012/02/nero-question-magic-items-for-goblins.html
http://larpohio.blogspot.com/2012/02/rebuttal-from-mickey.html
Hopefully this stuff will interest NERO players and jumpstart some much needed discussion and debate on these forums.
Mickey
Ken Gillis posted some stuff on the boards. It was the first time he's posted anything in weeks and I'm glad that the web admin is talking rules and not fixing one of the many blatant typos on the main page. But when I tried to respond to him, I found I got an error saying I couldn't post to that thread. I figured maybe someone locked it (like a proper moderator would).
But no, the post was gone. I went into full on "Night before Christmas" mode.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
Joe can't be bothered to actually respond to any questions people have, but he certainly has time to rip stuff off the boards.
I feel bad for the "Anonymous" that posted before, because we were just trying to get some talk on the National Forums. But Joe would prefer these discussions to go on here.
So here's Mickey's post in full. I apologize to the people who had legitimate comments (bgardner) that weren't asked, but I'd be happy to answer them here, or you can take your questions to the NERO Cincinnati forums.
Finally, I apologize to the non-NERO readers for all this drama. I want to get this in a timely manner. Tomorrow's post will have a sick prop for your eyes to lust over.
---
Hello everyone, I have found some discussions I think would interest people. This is the place, according to one "anonymous" commenter at larpohio.blogspot.com, where these kinds of discussions should happen afterall.
Here is where you can still see the goblin point system policy proposal, thanks to the kind efforts of NERO Cincinnati. It was taken down from discussion on the naitonal forums for some reason, but luckily you can comment at Cincy or even in response to my post here.
http://www.nerocincinnati.com/messages/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2139
And here, also thanks to Cincy, is a link to a policy document Joe Valenti has been nice enough to make public on the internet for people to discuss as well. Some interesting thoughts on goblin stamp redemption and the use of banks by local chapters.
http://www.nerocincinnati.com/messages/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2196
And lastly, here is the larpohio blog post with the "anonymous" commenter followed by a link to my reply.
http://larpohio.blogspot.com/2012/02/nero-question-magic-items-for-goblins.html
http://larpohio.blogspot.com/2012/02/rebuttal-from-mickey.html
Hopefully this stuff will interest NERO players and jumpstart some much needed discussion and debate on these forums.
Mickey
Monday, February 20, 2012
A Rebuttal from Mickey
The following is a comment from Mickey that got cut off and flagged as spam, and is a rebuttal to the comment from "anonymous". For those of you interested in the comment that this post is referring to, check out the comments on this post.
----
The following is my line by line reply to a comment by "anonymous". My replies are inside of asterisks [italicized] to differentiate. All of my references to National and how it acts, behaves, and so on exclude Bill Tobin, Dan Comstock, and Noah Mason unless I say otherwise. They're good people trying to help.
This conversation about nero and its proposed future rules should not be discussed in public. Nowhere in any documents about being staff for NERO National office does it say to go to the public to discuss possible rules changes.
I would think player feedback would be welcome. Heck, even pretending to care would be an upgrade at this point.
There is a specific Rules forums on the NERO LARP site at http://NeroLarp.com that should be used.
As already mentioned, Bill didn't want people to inflate the post into something official yet. This was a low-key way to get input.
The idea that people on this blog site will give better feedback than people on the nerolarp forums is false.
They will, however, likely get more feedback since this blog is a more active posting community
The idea that everyone who is a LARPer and on the NET is connected to this site is also a false statement.
Ok, so the internet is a world wide computer network that, absent limiting software (ex. workplaces, parental controls, Iran) or other odd circumstances, lets everyone who is on it see any site. Thus, and this is the subtle point you apparently missed, Bill posting the policy idea here wasn't meant to be private or secret and so clearly it's ok to repost it elsewhere if someone felt strongly about discussing it elsewhere.
The NERO LARP forums are seemingly empty because the NERO LARP forums have been 'overrun' by a few people who are promoting thier own LARP website on the NEROLARP forums, who are repeatedly putting links to thier own website blog to get nero members away from the nerolarp forums. Offering discussion points about nero LARP on non-nero forums and promoting that to NERO Members seems like a way to get people off the nerolarp forums.
If my 8 posts announcing a new larpcast episode (including one today!) constitute an "overrun" of the forums and are enough to drive away readers to the point where it is the empty wasteland it currently is... the problem is not 8 posts. The problem is the lack of community building, content, attention to customer concerns, failure to update the site, failure to follow through on promised explanations, and so on. Basically, "anonymous" (with an amazingly distinctive writing style), 8 posts should be a drop in the bucket and it's sad that it's even noticeable. Oh, also, this is a blog about LARPing and the forums are a place for members of one LARP to talk amongst themselves, why would you consider the sites themselves to be in some sort of zero sum competition? Amazingly, you can check both! Actually, it's very easy to check both, this one is the one with actual new content from time to time. See below for new content on the National site... that went away.
NERO Owners and NERO Members give the feedback that NERO management wants to hear. The feedback should be given via the NERO LARP forums.
See above as to some of the reasons this wasn't on the forums. And if "NERO management" wants to hear it, here it is. Enjoy it and whine less about where it is.
NERO Policy is the same for every NERO Member. So it would seem logical that policy that benefits only Staff who are basically given what-ever number of goblin points an Owner or more likely, a Staff member of a Chapter, is not a policy that NERO National will put into place.
It benefits anyone with goblin stamps. And if the people with the most goblin stamps happen to be staff members, then you have a situation where the people who work the hardest have an additional outlet for their rewards. Sounds good to me. If your concern is that Owners give too many goblin to staff in the first place, take it up with them. This policy idea won't make that better or worse.
As soon as a policy goes into effect that gives donators magic items for goblin points, every nero member will get a magic item as neighboring chapters compete for donations and goblin points awards skyrocket at each chapter - this has happenned before why will it not happen now?
Ok, this is some feedback about the idea itself. A concern about donation competition. Bill has posted an answer to it in reply so I'll let that speak for itself. Though, I know that this was intended as part of a bigger policy update to the goblin stamp system. Heck, that system was even posted on the National Forums for a couple days before National took it down from public comment. Which is rather funny in conjunction with your earlier comments about how the National Forums should be the center of these discussions. Clearly they're unsuitable, the discussions get removed. But anyway, hopefully we'll get a chance to see the full system somewhere where people can comment on it in a useful, and non-transitory, fashion.
The cost to buy a magic item with goblin points actually has to be low enough for everyone to buy one, and the maximum needs to be high enough so that players do not need to find a magic item in game if they do not wnat to.
Everyone would be able to buy one, they just have to contribute to the game enough to earn the goblin necessary
Having 5 players with 10 columns of life spells show up at a game you are running absolutely causes the staff to run things differently. more monsters, bigger monsters, and more defensive skills, to name but a few of the ramifications of excessive magic items / additional skills.
What is a 10 column of life spells? 10 life spells? 90 spells, 10 of which are life spells? Regardless, apparently you missed the 1 item per player per year limitation that would keep this from coming anywhere close to the effects you're worried about.
Having 25 players arrive with 4 effect per day life items each, or 4 effect imprison, or any portions thereof, will absolutely effect the way the scaling of the game.
Two things. First, if 25 players all donated or NPCed or staffed or otherwise contributed to NERO sufficiently to each get a magic item... Good! We should encourage that, it's good for the game. Second, even if these hypothetical 25 players all coordinated their efforts in some secret meeting to all get the same magic item effects to maximize the game impact, my experience tells me that any competent staff can handle it with ease. It's just not that big of a deal. It's a little more longevity. Luckily, unlike the anonymous commenter, people know who I am and can weigh my experience when deciding how much credence to give my predictions about scaling impact.
----
The following is my line by line reply to a comment by "anonymous". My replies are inside of asterisks [italicized] to differentiate. All of my references to National and how it acts, behaves, and so on exclude Bill Tobin, Dan Comstock, and Noah Mason unless I say otherwise. They're good people trying to help.
This conversation about nero and its proposed future rules should not be discussed in public. Nowhere in any documents about being staff for NERO National office does it say to go to the public to discuss possible rules changes.
I would think player feedback would be welcome. Heck, even pretending to care would be an upgrade at this point.
There is a specific Rules forums on the NERO LARP site at http://NeroLarp.com that should be used.
As already mentioned, Bill didn't want people to inflate the post into something official yet. This was a low-key way to get input.
The idea that people on this blog site will give better feedback than people on the nerolarp forums is false.
They will, however, likely get more feedback since this blog is a more active posting community
The idea that everyone who is a LARPer and on the NET is connected to this site is also a false statement.
Ok, so the internet is a world wide computer network that, absent limiting software (ex. workplaces, parental controls, Iran) or other odd circumstances, lets everyone who is on it see any site. Thus, and this is the subtle point you apparently missed, Bill posting the policy idea here wasn't meant to be private or secret and so clearly it's ok to repost it elsewhere if someone felt strongly about discussing it elsewhere.
The NERO LARP forums are seemingly empty because the NERO LARP forums have been 'overrun' by a few people who are promoting thier own LARP website on the NEROLARP forums, who are repeatedly putting links to thier own website blog to get nero members away from the nerolarp forums. Offering discussion points about nero LARP on non-nero forums and promoting that to NERO Members seems like a way to get people off the nerolarp forums.
If my 8 posts announcing a new larpcast episode (including one today!) constitute an "overrun" of the forums and are enough to drive away readers to the point where it is the empty wasteland it currently is... the problem is not 8 posts. The problem is the lack of community building, content, attention to customer concerns, failure to update the site, failure to follow through on promised explanations, and so on. Basically, "anonymous" (with an amazingly distinctive writing style), 8 posts should be a drop in the bucket and it's sad that it's even noticeable. Oh, also, this is a blog about LARPing and the forums are a place for members of one LARP to talk amongst themselves, why would you consider the sites themselves to be in some sort of zero sum competition? Amazingly, you can check both! Actually, it's very easy to check both, this one is the one with actual new content from time to time. See below for new content on the National site... that went away.
NERO Owners and NERO Members give the feedback that NERO management wants to hear. The feedback should be given via the NERO LARP forums.
See above as to some of the reasons this wasn't on the forums. And if "NERO management" wants to hear it, here it is. Enjoy it and whine less about where it is.
NERO Policy is the same for every NERO Member. So it would seem logical that policy that benefits only Staff who are basically given what-ever number of goblin points an Owner or more likely, a Staff member of a Chapter, is not a policy that NERO National will put into place.
It benefits anyone with goblin stamps. And if the people with the most goblin stamps happen to be staff members, then you have a situation where the people who work the hardest have an additional outlet for their rewards. Sounds good to me. If your concern is that Owners give too many goblin to staff in the first place, take it up with them. This policy idea won't make that better or worse.
As soon as a policy goes into effect that gives donators magic items for goblin points, every nero member will get a magic item as neighboring chapters compete for donations and goblin points awards skyrocket at each chapter - this has happenned before why will it not happen now?
Ok, this is some feedback about the idea itself. A concern about donation competition. Bill has posted an answer to it in reply so I'll let that speak for itself. Though, I know that this was intended as part of a bigger policy update to the goblin stamp system. Heck, that system was even posted on the National Forums for a couple days before National took it down from public comment. Which is rather funny in conjunction with your earlier comments about how the National Forums should be the center of these discussions. Clearly they're unsuitable, the discussions get removed. But anyway, hopefully we'll get a chance to see the full system somewhere where people can comment on it in a useful, and non-transitory, fashion.
The cost to buy a magic item with goblin points actually has to be low enough for everyone to buy one, and the maximum needs to be high enough so that players do not need to find a magic item in game if they do not wnat to.
Everyone would be able to buy one, they just have to contribute to the game enough to earn the goblin necessary
Having 5 players with 10 columns of life spells show up at a game you are running absolutely causes the staff to run things differently. more monsters, bigger monsters, and more defensive skills, to name but a few of the ramifications of excessive magic items / additional skills.
What is a 10 column of life spells? 10 life spells? 90 spells, 10 of which are life spells? Regardless, apparently you missed the 1 item per player per year limitation that would keep this from coming anywhere close to the effects you're worried about.
Having 25 players arrive with 4 effect per day life items each, or 4 effect imprison, or any portions thereof, will absolutely effect the way the scaling of the game.
Two things. First, if 25 players all donated or NPCed or staffed or otherwise contributed to NERO sufficiently to each get a magic item... Good! We should encourage that, it's good for the game. Second, even if these hypothetical 25 players all coordinated their efforts in some secret meeting to all get the same magic item effects to maximize the game impact, my experience tells me that any competent staff can handle it with ease. It's just not that big of a deal. It's a little more longevity. Luckily, unlike the anonymous commenter, people know who I am and can weigh my experience when deciding how much credence to give my predictions about scaling impact.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Balancing Power With Frustration
So WAR and NCN recently changed nature rules to adjust the way that nature's revival works. Originally, it simply brought you back when you would have resurrected. Now, it brings you back as an animal with no skills and only a few options in which to remove it.
I must say, I absolutely hate this change.
Don't get me wrong, I always thought that revival was way overpowered. It definitely needed scaled back. However, the way they chose to balance it wasn't specifically to bring the power level back. Instead, they decided to counter the power of the skill by making it less fun to use.
Nobody want's to be stuck as a wolf until the end of the game day. There is a potential for that to happen in the current design. I know, you say you can always resurrect to end this ability. Correct. But let's take a step back and look at it this way.
A player now has to make a decision on whether he plays a gimped monster for the rest of the game day or he can take a death on his sheet. They have to balance discomfort (OOG concept) against staying alive (IG concept).
I know, there's a potential for roleplay. But that would get old pretty fast. Imagine having to play a character that's different than your own for as much as 8 hours. How horrifying.
I always cringe whenever I see people try and balance power by making a skill un-fun to use. If you're going to do that, just take the skill out of the game altogether. There are always ways to make people pay for hard decisions. But you should never make them pay in frustration. This is a game, after all. It's supposed to be a way to relax. It's supposed to be fun.
They could have simply said that a person could only be affected by the cantrip or formal magic 1/day, and it would have put more of a limitation on the revival skill than there is now. And it wouldn't have made players suffer in any way.
The skill is still overpowered. It's just more likely to be abused by the players who value IG strength over OOG fun, which isn't really the point.
Anyways, that's my 2 cents.
I must say, I absolutely hate this change.
Don't get me wrong, I always thought that revival was way overpowered. It definitely needed scaled back. However, the way they chose to balance it wasn't specifically to bring the power level back. Instead, they decided to counter the power of the skill by making it less fun to use.
Nobody want's to be stuck as a wolf until the end of the game day. There is a potential for that to happen in the current design. I know, you say you can always resurrect to end this ability. Correct. But let's take a step back and look at it this way.
A player now has to make a decision on whether he plays a gimped monster for the rest of the game day or he can take a death on his sheet. They have to balance discomfort (OOG concept) against staying alive (IG concept).
I know, there's a potential for roleplay. But that would get old pretty fast. Imagine having to play a character that's different than your own for as much as 8 hours. How horrifying.
I always cringe whenever I see people try and balance power by making a skill un-fun to use. If you're going to do that, just take the skill out of the game altogether. There are always ways to make people pay for hard decisions. But you should never make them pay in frustration. This is a game, after all. It's supposed to be a way to relax. It's supposed to be fun.
They could have simply said that a person could only be affected by the cantrip or formal magic 1/day, and it would have put more of a limitation on the revival skill than there is now. And it wouldn't have made players suffer in any way.
The skill is still overpowered. It's just more likely to be abused by the players who value IG strength over OOG fun, which isn't really the point.
Anyways, that's my 2 cents.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
The 'Unscaled' Module
Tim and I have written several modules about scaling on the fly and working that into your plot lines. However, we had an interesting conversation regarding the 'Unscaled' module.
Back in the day, we used to scale most modules to fit the group. If low level players came up, we'd bring it down a notch so it was a challenge, but was still fun for the players. If higher level players came, we made it a challenge for them, making it fun for them.
But we also had 'Unscaled' encounters. These were encounters where the stats were set, and we wouldn't change them. Bring the power. Tim likes calling difficult modules 'Unscaled'.
I think it's a shit term. And here's why.
'Unscaled' means that plot is lazy and won't bend the module to make it fun for the characters. Scaling doesn't always happen in stats. I also determines the way the NPCs react to a situation.
If you had a dragon and lower level players came to fight it, would you really just obliterate them and move on? I know I wouldn't. I'd probably scare them, followed by threatening to kill them and someone else (helpless farmers), followed by killing them and that someone else.
That way, your plot line isn't busted by a bunch of lower level players. As an added bonus, they now have a story to tell people (about how they faced off with a dragon and lived to walk away), as opposed to saying, "I got eaten by a dragon."
So, I believe that every encounter should be scaled in some way. It just doesn't have to end in victory.
Now, Tim argues that when he uses 'Unscaled,' it means dangerous. My counter to that is that you should just use the term 'Dangerous'. Big difference, right?
Well, yes, it is a big difference.
We are always looking for ways to portray OOG information without breaking immersion. You can't have a hook come down and say "PS, This module is unscaled." You can, however, have your NPC say "This is going to be a very dangerous mission, so you might want to bring some the more sturdy adventurers for this task.'
We've used the term 'Deadly' in Exiles for a while now, to indicate that the module has kill effects or NPCs ready to do coup'de'grace PCs. In fact, deadly modules give players more experience on the whole (as it increases the event danger component for awarding learnin'). And the term has a specific OOG meaning and legitimate IG usage. Win-Win.
So, in summary, unscaled can mean one of two things.
1) You're too lazy to try and make this module fun for the PCs.
2) It's highly tuned and deadly.
In the case of A, you should try a little more to make your game more fun for the players. In the case of B, the modules are fine. I would just use a different term.
But as a PSA, I would strongly recommend people stop calling modules 'Unscaled.'
Back in the day, we used to scale most modules to fit the group. If low level players came up, we'd bring it down a notch so it was a challenge, but was still fun for the players. If higher level players came, we made it a challenge for them, making it fun for them.
But we also had 'Unscaled' encounters. These were encounters where the stats were set, and we wouldn't change them. Bring the power. Tim likes calling difficult modules 'Unscaled'.
I think it's a shit term. And here's why.
'Unscaled' means that plot is lazy and won't bend the module to make it fun for the characters. Scaling doesn't always happen in stats. I also determines the way the NPCs react to a situation.
If you had a dragon and lower level players came to fight it, would you really just obliterate them and move on? I know I wouldn't. I'd probably scare them, followed by threatening to kill them and someone else (helpless farmers), followed by killing them and that someone else.
That way, your plot line isn't busted by a bunch of lower level players. As an added bonus, they now have a story to tell people (about how they faced off with a dragon and lived to walk away), as opposed to saying, "I got eaten by a dragon."
So, I believe that every encounter should be scaled in some way. It just doesn't have to end in victory.
Now, Tim argues that when he uses 'Unscaled,' it means dangerous. My counter to that is that you should just use the term 'Dangerous'. Big difference, right?
Well, yes, it is a big difference.
We are always looking for ways to portray OOG information without breaking immersion. You can't have a hook come down and say "PS, This module is unscaled." You can, however, have your NPC say "This is going to be a very dangerous mission, so you might want to bring some the more sturdy adventurers for this task.'
We've used the term 'Deadly' in Exiles for a while now, to indicate that the module has kill effects or NPCs ready to do coup'de'grace PCs. In fact, deadly modules give players more experience on the whole (as it increases the event danger component for awarding learnin'). And the term has a specific OOG meaning and legitimate IG usage. Win-Win.
So, in summary, unscaled can mean one of two things.
1) You're too lazy to try and make this module fun for the PCs.
2) It's highly tuned and deadly.
In the case of A, you should try a little more to make your game more fun for the players. In the case of B, the modules are fine. I would just use a different term.
But as a PSA, I would strongly recommend people stop calling modules 'Unscaled.'
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Stake of Woah
Note: This is a guest post by Mickey. If you've got something to say and would like to make a guest post, feel free to send it to larp.ohio@gmail.com.
There is a real life lesson I have learned that I think is very helpful for a staff dealing with stress; that some people will never be pleased. There are players, fellow staff members, NPCs, campsite personnel, and so on that will never ever actually be happy with what you do. You know the type, always griping and complaining, always whining, always bringing you and your staff down. You’ve tried to engage them in different ways, listen to them, change based on feedback, and yet nothing works. You despair of a solution. But, odds are many people overlook the simplest solution of them all. Stop caring.
It sounds callous I know, after all the person might be a paying customer or a volunteer helping you out so you feel like you *have* to care about their complaints. But the truth is, the simple and fundamental truth is, that you don’t. Not really. As soon as you identify someone as someone who will never be pleased then every second you spend on trying is wasted time you could better spend elsewhere. Rather than throwing your time and effort down a useless rat-hole, spend it on all the other people who are not just energy sinks. The amount of net positive resulting from this is pretty amazing.
See, we all have those people in our lives and our games. We fret and worry and gnash our teeth about how to please people who, at core, prefer to complain than actually have fun. And while we do so we wind up neglecting all the other people who are genuinely interested in a positive experience. Focus on the latter, stop feeding the former, and your games will be healthier and happier. You might lose a player here or there, though odds are they’ll stick around so they can complain more, but you’ll be less stressed and anxious about them.
This is an outgrowth of the 80/20 principle. Put simply, it states that 80% of your outputs come from 20% of your inputs and it can apply in a lot of ways. In this case, 80% of your complaints are usually from 20% of people giving feedback. If you can refine it down and determine which of those 20% are just never going to stop you can probably eliminate 50% or more of your complaint headache at any given event or game. You just have to let it go and stop catering to the vampires of your goodwill. The second, and I mean the *second* you realize that your reactions cannot change the outcome it is time to stop worrying about it. Their complaints no longer have any deterrent value to your behavior if changing your behavior does not stop their complaints.
Anyway, I’m beating a dead horse here, but it’s worth it because LARP staff are often inherently people pleasers (why else spend so much time and effort staffing?) and it needs to be drummed into them that not all people are able to be pleased. Cut them loose and focus on the rest.
-Mickey
Editor's Note: Mickey didn't like his title, so I changed the name to match his reference to Goodwill Vampires. Also, he loves sparky vampires. That'll teach you to change my avatar on the national forums.
There is a real life lesson I have learned that I think is very helpful for a staff dealing with stress; that some people will never be pleased. There are players, fellow staff members, NPCs, campsite personnel, and so on that will never ever actually be happy with what you do. You know the type, always griping and complaining, always whining, always bringing you and your staff down. You’ve tried to engage them in different ways, listen to them, change based on feedback, and yet nothing works. You despair of a solution. But, odds are many people overlook the simplest solution of them all. Stop caring.
It sounds callous I know, after all the person might be a paying customer or a volunteer helping you out so you feel like you *have* to care about their complaints. But the truth is, the simple and fundamental truth is, that you don’t. Not really. As soon as you identify someone as someone who will never be pleased then every second you spend on trying is wasted time you could better spend elsewhere. Rather than throwing your time and effort down a useless rat-hole, spend it on all the other people who are not just energy sinks. The amount of net positive resulting from this is pretty amazing.
See, we all have those people in our lives and our games. We fret and worry and gnash our teeth about how to please people who, at core, prefer to complain than actually have fun. And while we do so we wind up neglecting all the other people who are genuinely interested in a positive experience. Focus on the latter, stop feeding the former, and your games will be healthier and happier. You might lose a player here or there, though odds are they’ll stick around so they can complain more, but you’ll be less stressed and anxious about them.
This is an outgrowth of the 80/20 principle. Put simply, it states that 80% of your outputs come from 20% of your inputs and it can apply in a lot of ways. In this case, 80% of your complaints are usually from 20% of people giving feedback. If you can refine it down and determine which of those 20% are just never going to stop you can probably eliminate 50% or more of your complaint headache at any given event or game. You just have to let it go and stop catering to the vampires of your goodwill. The second, and I mean the *second* you realize that your reactions cannot change the outcome it is time to stop worrying about it. Their complaints no longer have any deterrent value to your behavior if changing your behavior does not stop their complaints.
Anyway, I’m beating a dead horse here, but it’s worth it because LARP staff are often inherently people pleasers (why else spend so much time and effort staffing?) and it needs to be drummed into them that not all people are able to be pleased. Cut them loose and focus on the rest.
-Mickey
Editor's Note: Mickey didn't like his title, so I changed the name to match his reference to Goodwill Vampires. Also, he loves sparky vampires. That'll teach you to change my avatar on the national forums.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Business is Business
I know that there's been a lot of drama recently in the NERO world, around what is and what isn't legitimate requests for transparency. And I'm here to tell you this:
NERO is a business, running a NERO chapter is a business, and they do not need to, nor should they show you their business records or licenses.*
I understand that there is a real concern about where the money for national goes. But it's not a non-profit group (even though it should be if it's losing 20k a year). You are not a share owner of the company. You have no say in the day-to-day use of said finances.
And as a whole, the business never improves when customers see their finances. If the company is perceived as making too much (aka any profit), customers will whine about how much they pay for events and will want to pay less. On the other hand, if the business is losing money, few will actually opt to pay more at an event. The business has little to nothing to gain in this strategy.
People in general are not trained to interpret finances correctly. There's a lot of work and knowledge that goes into coming up with that magical profit number, and it takes years of higher education to understand a lot of those concepts. And no, being a scientist or engineer doesn't mean you can interpret those numbers. There are still concepts that you are not aware of unless you're trained in business/finance.
As for the contracts, stop asking for them too. It's more private business information. You don't know for a fact that there aren't terms in that contract that might affect future business if they became public. You don't know if part of the contract means that they cannot reveal the contract to the public. If they are in breach of their contract, it's not your place to get in the middle of that mess of crap.
NERO is not a club. Running a NERO chapter is not a club. They are businesses. They don't have to prove anything to you. Simply ask yourself if what you're getting is worth what you're paying. If yes, have fun.
But seriously, stop asking for private information.
*The exception would be a chapter that runs as a non-profit, but I'm not sure if that's allowed when the licenser is a for-profit business.
Note: IANAL - I am not a lawyer.
NERO is a business, running a NERO chapter is a business, and they do not need to, nor should they show you their business records or licenses.*
I understand that there is a real concern about where the money for national goes. But it's not a non-profit group (even though it should be if it's losing 20k a year). You are not a share owner of the company. You have no say in the day-to-day use of said finances.
And as a whole, the business never improves when customers see their finances. If the company is perceived as making too much (aka any profit), customers will whine about how much they pay for events and will want to pay less. On the other hand, if the business is losing money, few will actually opt to pay more at an event. The business has little to nothing to gain in this strategy.
People in general are not trained to interpret finances correctly. There's a lot of work and knowledge that goes into coming up with that magical profit number, and it takes years of higher education to understand a lot of those concepts. And no, being a scientist or engineer doesn't mean you can interpret those numbers. There are still concepts that you are not aware of unless you're trained in business/finance.
As for the contracts, stop asking for them too. It's more private business information. You don't know for a fact that there aren't terms in that contract that might affect future business if they became public. You don't know if part of the contract means that they cannot reveal the contract to the public. If they are in breach of their contract, it's not your place to get in the middle of that mess of crap.
NERO is not a club. Running a NERO chapter is not a club. They are businesses. They don't have to prove anything to you. Simply ask yourself if what you're getting is worth what you're paying. If yes, have fun.
But seriously, stop asking for private information.
*The exception would be a chapter that runs as a non-profit, but I'm not sure if that's allowed when the licenser is a for-profit business.
Note: IANAL - I am not a lawyer.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Adjudication 101
Truth time, people. We don't play LARPs. We actually play LARPGs, but that just sounds gross.
The 'G' is for GAME.
Any game you play is going to, at some time, come down to some sort of rules dispute. Was he in-bounds? Did he roll a 5 or a 6? Did he actually swing at least 45 degrees on that strike? We do our best to play the honor game, and for interpersonal rules disputes, we have marshals. Marshals are human. Marshals are fallible. Sometimes "Marshals" don't even know the rules*.
We don't have instant replay, but what do have (at least in NERO) is the system for adjudication. Anything that is lost (except your dignity) can brought back, a la retcon. Some people think this only exists for deaths, but really any loss of items or gold can be adjudicated.
I see so many people holding grudges about rules calls that didn't go their way, and I've heard, and in my younger years said, "I'm not going to adjudicate, but I'm still angry about..." In my more recent, more lucid years, I've discovered that this is actually the opposite of what we should be saying. Keep in-game shit in the game.
I'm not asking for people to adjudicate every last thing that happens ("Some Orc didn't take my slay, I want his treasure!") You're going to simply waste the time of the rules council and create a longer delay for people who have real adjudications in process. But if something is a serious rules offense that leaves a bad taste in your mouth or would keep you from going back to a town, chapter, or game, then you might want to think about submitting an adjudication.
They're easy. Simply write a cordial letter to the appropriate party in that chapter (rules council, plot team, owner, etc). In this letter, include your name, your character's name, the event, the date of the incident, and all the involved parties. Separate the letter into 3 parts.
This is the only method that can get what you want, unless you're asking for a pony from Ghostcrawler. No amount of name calling or making people look stupid publicly will get your magic sword back.
Now, there is no guarantee that you'll actually get what you're asking for. What you will most certainly get, though, is closure. They will explain to you why the rules fell as they did, and everyone will be able to move on. And if their explanation is terrible, you now have a few options, including going up the chain to national or Gquitting (the G stands for game).
Almost every game has rules for adjudication, but the means and what can be overturned varies from game to game. If you can't find the rules for adjudication for your game, just ask them!
This reminds me of a saying my mom once told me.
You can catch more flies with honey than with forum trolling****.
*Some marshals are plot marshals, who are given power just because they run the game. This doesn't mean that they have passed any rules tests or anything.
**Tim loves those Geico Caveman commercials. I encourage everyone to post about them on his facebook.
***Plot teams are actually paid per death wail, so learn to die quietly if you want to directly reduce their income.
****Bad analogy. Why would anyone want to catch flies? We want to kill flies! Forum trolls have beaten horses to death - what makes you think they couldn't handle flies? I guess it's more like "a penny saved is a penny earned." I've got to work on that.
The 'G' is for GAME.
Any game you play is going to, at some time, come down to some sort of rules dispute. Was he in-bounds? Did he roll a 5 or a 6? Did he actually swing at least 45 degrees on that strike? We do our best to play the honor game, and for interpersonal rules disputes, we have marshals. Marshals are human. Marshals are fallible. Sometimes "Marshals" don't even know the rules*.
We don't have instant replay, but what do have (at least in NERO) is the system for adjudication. Anything that is lost (except your dignity) can brought back, a la retcon. Some people think this only exists for deaths, but really any loss of items or gold can be adjudicated.
I see so many people holding grudges about rules calls that didn't go their way, and I've heard, and in my younger years said, "I'm not going to adjudicate, but I'm still angry about..." In my more recent, more lucid years, I've discovered that this is actually the opposite of what we should be saying. Keep in-game shit in the game.
I'm not asking for people to adjudicate every last thing that happens ("Some Orc didn't take my slay, I want his treasure!") You're going to simply waste the time of the rules council and create a longer delay for people who have real adjudications in process. But if something is a serious rules offense that leaves a bad taste in your mouth or would keep you from going back to a town, chapter, or game, then you might want to think about submitting an adjudication.
They're easy. Simply write a cordial letter to the appropriate party in that chapter (rules council, plot team, owner, etc). In this letter, include your name, your character's name, the event, the date of the incident, and all the involved parties. Separate the letter into 3 parts.
- Introduction, stating what you are adjudicating
- Description of the incident, stating only facts as you can remember them.
- Why you believe it should be adjudicated.
This is the only method that can get what you want, unless you're asking for a pony from Ghostcrawler. No amount of name calling or making people look stupid publicly will get your magic sword back.
Now, there is no guarantee that you'll actually get what you're asking for. What you will most certainly get, though, is closure. They will explain to you why the rules fell as they did, and everyone will be able to move on. And if their explanation is terrible, you now have a few options, including going up the chain to national or Gquitting (the G stands for game).
Almost every game has rules for adjudication, but the means and what can be overturned varies from game to game. If you can't find the rules for adjudication for your game, just ask them!
This reminds me of a saying my mom once told me.
You can catch more flies with honey than with forum trolling****.
*Some marshals are plot marshals, who are given power just because they run the game. This doesn't mean that they have passed any rules tests or anything.
**Tim loves those Geico Caveman commercials. I encourage everyone to post about them on his facebook.
***Plot teams are actually paid per death wail, so learn to die quietly if you want to directly reduce their income.
****Bad analogy. Why would anyone want to catch flies? We want to kill flies! Forum trolls have beaten horses to death - what makes you think they couldn't handle flies? I guess it's more like "a penny saved is a penny earned." I've got to work on that.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Spirit of the Rules
No game has ever been able to define every single rule and every possible outcome using any combination of rules. There's always some grey area that has to be interpreted.
LARPs, being absolutely fluid games with immeasurable possible outcomes, tend to utilize the "Spirit" of the rules more often than tabletop games. We have to get an idea of the goals of certain rules to see what the intended outcome is, despite the fact that it's not actually defined.
Unfortunately, I believe that we have had far too many people make terrible calls for the game under the guise of this "Spirit of the Rules" clause. I think it's important to understand that Spirit of the Rules is not actually intended for the average player. It's a clause intended for use by judges or game masters.
I am a person who prides himself on knowing the rules for games. I have read game design books focusing on goal-oriented design and designing for fun. I have spent the time in the trenches as a staffer, plot person, player, and marshal in two different LARPs. And from my experience, knowing the rules simply is not enough when it comes to interpreting them and making rules calls. In fact, knowing the rules isn't even the most important thing.
The most important trait of a judge or marshal is the ability to admit that you were wrong.
I have seen too many people make a call on something, and when told that they were wrong they would start defending their call like it was a dissertation. Chances are, if everyone is telling you that you're wrong, you are probably wrong. Being able to process input and change your decisions is a necessary skill. Inability to change your mind identifies you as being a biased individual.
There was a big thing about enslavement in NERO. I was a big opponent based on the way it was originally worded as it appeared to benefit cheaters. There was a lot of back and forth, and I gave my reasons for my feelings on the call. After hearing a more descriptive ruling than was posted, I 100% back the decision made in regards to truth.
Mickey was right, I was wrong. I admit that. Whenever players bring up that call to me (since I was staunchly opposed), I calmly explain that I support the ruling and, most importantly, why.
This is a little disjointed, but there is a point to all of this. "Spirit of the Rules" is in a game so that an educated and qualified person, like a marshal or a GM, can make a call on the grey area of the game. It's not intended so that the average player can make rules calls.
The other side point I have to this is that all rulings, not just major ones, should be published, including the methods that led to that decision. Not only does this full disclosure make the game seem like a more professional and tighter community. It also provides precedents and examples that marshals and would-be-marshals can use to help them become better at interpreting the grey areas of the rules.
LARPs, being absolutely fluid games with immeasurable possible outcomes, tend to utilize the "Spirit" of the rules more often than tabletop games. We have to get an idea of the goals of certain rules to see what the intended outcome is, despite the fact that it's not actually defined.
Unfortunately, I believe that we have had far too many people make terrible calls for the game under the guise of this "Spirit of the Rules" clause. I think it's important to understand that Spirit of the Rules is not actually intended for the average player. It's a clause intended for use by judges or game masters.
I am a person who prides himself on knowing the rules for games. I have read game design books focusing on goal-oriented design and designing for fun. I have spent the time in the trenches as a staffer, plot person, player, and marshal in two different LARPs. And from my experience, knowing the rules simply is not enough when it comes to interpreting them and making rules calls. In fact, knowing the rules isn't even the most important thing.
The most important trait of a judge or marshal is the ability to admit that you were wrong.
I have seen too many people make a call on something, and when told that they were wrong they would start defending their call like it was a dissertation. Chances are, if everyone is telling you that you're wrong, you are probably wrong. Being able to process input and change your decisions is a necessary skill. Inability to change your mind identifies you as being a biased individual.
There was a big thing about enslavement in NERO. I was a big opponent based on the way it was originally worded as it appeared to benefit cheaters. There was a lot of back and forth, and I gave my reasons for my feelings on the call. After hearing a more descriptive ruling than was posted, I 100% back the decision made in regards to truth.
Mickey was right, I was wrong. I admit that. Whenever players bring up that call to me (since I was staunchly opposed), I calmly explain that I support the ruling and, most importantly, why.
This is a little disjointed, but there is a point to all of this. "Spirit of the Rules" is in a game so that an educated and qualified person, like a marshal or a GM, can make a call on the grey area of the game. It's not intended so that the average player can make rules calls.
The other side point I have to this is that all rulings, not just major ones, should be published, including the methods that led to that decision. Not only does this full disclosure make the game seem like a more professional and tighter community. It also provides precedents and examples that marshals and would-be-marshals can use to help them become better at interpreting the grey areas of the rules.
Friday, August 20, 2010
A Plea for Summer Armor Rules
I am usually saddened to hear that we're going into Summer Armor rules. I understand the need for it. This is especially true when a few specific people are playing who will wear their heavy plate armor until they pass out unless we MAKE them take their armor off.
I am saddened by the fact that people will try to keep Summer Armor running far into the night when it should no longer be an issue. That's bad, but usually a plot team can deal with that by making it clear that they're going off Summer Armor. Even then, players cry when they hear it's off as if they didn't know.
What really saddens me is the fact that so many people who use their armor as costume do not have an alternate costume. I have absolutely no chance at immersion if you're wearing a t-shirt and roleplaying with me.
So to all you people who use their armor as their costume, please invest in a simple tunic or tabard. They're pretty easy to come by and not to terribly expensive. In fact, you might even be able to purchase one from a local seamstress.
But seriously, get something to cover up your shame.
Edit: Oh, and let's work out a system of armbands for the type of armor you're wearing. I am sick of seeing a bunch of A's. I know people will say "but I can hide my armor so it shouldn't be visible how many points I have!" Tough shit. It's a trade-off for not having to wear your armor.
I am saddened by the fact that people will try to keep Summer Armor running far into the night when it should no longer be an issue. That's bad, but usually a plot team can deal with that by making it clear that they're going off Summer Armor. Even then, players cry when they hear it's off as if they didn't know.
What really saddens me is the fact that so many people who use their armor as costume do not have an alternate costume. I have absolutely no chance at immersion if you're wearing a t-shirt and roleplaying with me.
So to all you people who use their armor as their costume, please invest in a simple tunic or tabard. They're pretty easy to come by and not to terribly expensive. In fact, you might even be able to purchase one from a local seamstress.
But seriously, get something to cover up your shame.
Edit: Oh, and let's work out a system of armbands for the type of armor you're wearing. I am sick of seeing a bunch of A's. I know people will say "but I can hide my armor so it shouldn't be visible how many points I have!" Tough shit. It's a trade-off for not having to wear your armor.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Armor at NERO
I get the fact that running around in armor is kind of a staple in fantasy LARPs. I'm someone torn as to how we treat armor in NERO, since I think we don't really know what our goal is for armor.
In my opinion, in NERO, Armor is added to increase the quality of the atmosphere and help players suspend disbelief.
For this reason, we need to stop discouraging the use of modern materials, such as aluminum, titanium, and some plastics. These materials offer so many benefits against an essentially invisible effect (assuming the armor looks good) upon our goal. We should also be giving more credit for how the character looks than what they're wearing.
Modern materials (like plastics and aluminum) are much less expensive than period materials. They're easier to find and easier to work with. This translates to more players wearing armor, including players who may not have a ton of disposable income. If it looks good and in-period, it's not going to affect anyone's suspension of disbelief.
In addition, since these materials are lighter, there's a greater chance that players will feel hits when struck by weapons or magic spells. This would stop players who swing hard on armored targets from swinging hard on others in the heat of battle. This also makes those players less of a health risk to themselves (over-exertion, heat stroke) and to others (players wearing 300 lbs of armor falling on someone else).
I would also give more armor bonuses to well made leather items, since it looks good and doesn't weigh significantly more than light chainmail. As is, no one who honestly needs armor goes for leather.
NERO needs to figure out the kind of game they want to be. Fighting games like Amtgard have rules for weight and materials, because armor is much more powerful than in NERO. That's their game, and I feel their armor system fits their goals quite well.
At NERO, I would much rather see someone wearing a nice leather jerkin or a suit of aluminum chain than someone wearing football pads on their legs or nothing at all.
In my opinion, in NERO, Armor is added to increase the quality of the atmosphere and help players suspend disbelief.
For this reason, we need to stop discouraging the use of modern materials, such as aluminum, titanium, and some plastics. These materials offer so many benefits against an essentially invisible effect (assuming the armor looks good) upon our goal. We should also be giving more credit for how the character looks than what they're wearing.
Modern materials (like plastics and aluminum) are much less expensive than period materials. They're easier to find and easier to work with. This translates to more players wearing armor, including players who may not have a ton of disposable income. If it looks good and in-period, it's not going to affect anyone's suspension of disbelief.
In addition, since these materials are lighter, there's a greater chance that players will feel hits when struck by weapons or magic spells. This would stop players who swing hard on armored targets from swinging hard on others in the heat of battle. This also makes those players less of a health risk to themselves (over-exertion, heat stroke) and to others (players wearing 300 lbs of armor falling on someone else).
I would also give more armor bonuses to well made leather items, since it looks good and doesn't weigh significantly more than light chainmail. As is, no one who honestly needs armor goes for leather.
NERO needs to figure out the kind of game they want to be. Fighting games like Amtgard have rules for weight and materials, because armor is much more powerful than in NERO. That's their game, and I feel their armor system fits their goals quite well.
At NERO, I would much rather see someone wearing a nice leather jerkin or a suit of aluminum chain than someone wearing football pads on their legs or nothing at all.
Friday, August 6, 2010
L2Playtest
So the hot topic in NERO in Ohio these days is the extensive use of Playtests by WAR. In addition, they brought Nature Magic back from the grave. For those of you interested, you can find all of WAR's policies and playtests here.
While there has been some proper discourse on the subject of these playtests, I must say I am somewhat alarmed at the number of people, on both sides, that do not understand the concept of a playtest. Hell, I don't think that word even means what they think it means.
The most common, and most successful, model for game design is called Iterative Design.
Iterative design consists of a cycle of several steps. The first step is designing the product. Minds come up with what they can from a cloud of ideas to put a basic structure and goals together. The second step is prototyping. This is where you take the cloud of ideas that you prefer, and turn it into an actual product that can be used. This usually thins out vague concepts and forces designers to make hard choices. The third step in the design cycle is playtesting (or beta testing). This is where you give the user the product, see how it actual works compared to theoretical models, and get user feedback. The fourth step... well the fourth step is back to design, silly!
Most (good) designs uses this model. It just so happens that products with limited application (tools, parts, etc) often stall out at a point where the playtesting reveals no new information. However, it turns out that extremely complicated products (software) and games both exhibit an essentially infinite cycle. For software, the high complexity and internal referencing in the programming means that when you fix a bug, it will probably create another one. In some gaming, the application space is so large (whatever a player can think of within the rules) that there will inevitably be a lack of balance or holes that cause problems within the game. The tighter the ruleset (chess, go, checkers), the less playtesting is required. The more open the system (Tabletop and LARP systems), the more playtesting is required.
In summary, a playtest is intended to obtain feedback on a design prototype, and the results of that feedback will be fed into the next level of the design. So the WAR "Playtests" are actually prototypes. The process of testing them is the playtest.
Now you know what a playtest is and why it exists. Now I'll show you an example of doing it wrong.
Playtester - "So your prototype sucks. It sounds dumb. You're dumb."
Designer - "Your mom's dumb."
This is an example of poor feedback. If the playtester does not give reasons for their qualms and rely on subjective reasons ("This doesn't feel right."), they are not doing their job. This offers no real value to the designer.
Sometimes I'll hear this exchange as well. Once again, this is a sign of poor playtesting.
Playtester - "It appears that using X/y/z together creates a rather unbalanced situation. How do you plan to deal with that?"
Designer - "We expect our players to know not to do that."
In this example, the designer forgot the goal of the playtest is to make the game better. Playtesters are expected to try and break the system. Ignoring valuable feedback keeps the playtest from doing it's job. A prototype that ignores feedback is a (poorly) finished design.
So here's an example of a proper exchange regarding a playtest.
Playtester - "I know I haven't had a chance to test it yet, but it certainly seems like base 10 celestial damage is going to be a little bit excessive. I'm somewhat concerned about how powerful it will be when used by NPCs, especially against lower level players. Please test this."
Designer - "We will try and do some realistic testing in those situations to see if it's really as bad as it sounds. I appreciate the feedback."
And another...
Playtester - "It appears that using x/y/z together creates a rather unbalanced situation. How do you plan to deal with that."
Designer - "Well, from our feedback it appears that y is a bit too powerful, and z simply isn't going to make the cut. While the combo of x and nerfed y is still pretty powerful, we feel it is more in line with the other options a player would have."
So, as we can see, it's a playtester's job to find actual problems (or apparent problems) and voice their concerns. It's a designer's job to take actual player feedback and, you know, design around it. Playtesters voicing concerns to others and not to the designer is a bad idea. Designers ignoring honest feedback in regards to your prototypes during the playtest is a bad idea.
So let me ask this.
WAR (or OOC) Players using playtested skills - Have you given any feedback to the WAR Ownership regarding those playtest and how they function, whether written or verbal?
Out-Of-Chapter Players - Have you given any feedback to the WAR Ownership (or someone to take to the ownership) regarding the playtests and how you would expect them to function, whether written or verbal?
WAR Ownership - Have you honestly read, analyzed, and made decisions regarding how the new rules fit into the game, and whether any of them need to be dropped/modified?
If you answered 'No' to the above questions, then you have two options.
1. Either give feedback to the ownership (or someone to take to the ownership) or take a minute to read the honest feedback.
-or-
2. Shut the hell up.
While there has been some proper discourse on the subject of these playtests, I must say I am somewhat alarmed at the number of people, on both sides, that do not understand the concept of a playtest. Hell, I don't think that word even means what they think it means.
The most common, and most successful, model for game design is called Iterative Design.
Iterative design consists of a cycle of several steps. The first step is designing the product. Minds come up with what they can from a cloud of ideas to put a basic structure and goals together. The second step is prototyping. This is where you take the cloud of ideas that you prefer, and turn it into an actual product that can be used. This usually thins out vague concepts and forces designers to make hard choices. The third step in the design cycle is playtesting (or beta testing). This is where you give the user the product, see how it actual works compared to theoretical models, and get user feedback. The fourth step... well the fourth step is back to design, silly!
Most (good) designs uses this model. It just so happens that products with limited application (tools, parts, etc) often stall out at a point where the playtesting reveals no new information. However, it turns out that extremely complicated products (software) and games both exhibit an essentially infinite cycle. For software, the high complexity and internal referencing in the programming means that when you fix a bug, it will probably create another one. In some gaming, the application space is so large (whatever a player can think of within the rules) that there will inevitably be a lack of balance or holes that cause problems within the game. The tighter the ruleset (chess, go, checkers), the less playtesting is required. The more open the system (Tabletop and LARP systems), the more playtesting is required.
In summary, a playtest is intended to obtain feedback on a design prototype, and the results of that feedback will be fed into the next level of the design. So the WAR "Playtests" are actually prototypes. The process of testing them is the playtest.
Now you know what a playtest is and why it exists. Now I'll show you an example of doing it wrong.
Playtester - "So your prototype sucks. It sounds dumb. You're dumb."
Designer - "Your mom's dumb."
This is an example of poor feedback. If the playtester does not give reasons for their qualms and rely on subjective reasons ("This doesn't feel right."), they are not doing their job. This offers no real value to the designer.
Sometimes I'll hear this exchange as well. Once again, this is a sign of poor playtesting.
Playtester - "It appears that using X/y/z together creates a rather unbalanced situation. How do you plan to deal with that?"
Designer - "We expect our players to know not to do that."
In this example, the designer forgot the goal of the playtest is to make the game better. Playtesters are expected to try and break the system. Ignoring valuable feedback keeps the playtest from doing it's job. A prototype that ignores feedback is a (poorly) finished design.
So here's an example of a proper exchange regarding a playtest.
Playtester - "I know I haven't had a chance to test it yet, but it certainly seems like base 10 celestial damage is going to be a little bit excessive. I'm somewhat concerned about how powerful it will be when used by NPCs, especially against lower level players. Please test this."
Designer - "We will try and do some realistic testing in those situations to see if it's really as bad as it sounds. I appreciate the feedback."
And another...
Playtester - "It appears that using x/y/z together creates a rather unbalanced situation. How do you plan to deal with that."
Designer - "Well, from our feedback it appears that y is a bit too powerful, and z simply isn't going to make the cut. While the combo of x and nerfed y is still pretty powerful, we feel it is more in line with the other options a player would have."
So, as we can see, it's a playtester's job to find actual problems (or apparent problems) and voice their concerns. It's a designer's job to take actual player feedback and, you know, design around it. Playtesters voicing concerns to others and not to the designer is a bad idea. Designers ignoring honest feedback in regards to your prototypes during the playtest is a bad idea.
So let me ask this.
WAR (or OOC) Players using playtested skills - Have you given any feedback to the WAR Ownership regarding those playtest and how they function, whether written or verbal?
Out-Of-Chapter Players - Have you given any feedback to the WAR Ownership (or someone to take to the ownership) regarding the playtests and how you would expect them to function, whether written or verbal?
WAR Ownership - Have you honestly read, analyzed, and made decisions regarding how the new rules fit into the game, and whether any of them need to be dropped/modified?
If you answered 'No' to the above questions, then you have two options.
1. Either give feedback to the ownership (or someone to take to the ownership) or take a minute to read the honest feedback.
-or-
2. Shut the hell up.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The Truth about Truth in NERO
I'm pretty sure that every NERO player in Ohio is aware that some drama went on recently, regarding the use of Enslavements to make characters tell the truth. But many of you might not know the full situation, and what level of rules clarification failure occurred.
Let me start by saying, I was happy with the Truth clarification at first - because I thought it was intended to prevent irresponsible plot from ruining characters by revealing extremely dark skeletons in their closets. Now, I believe that the clarification is incorrect, although I still appreciate the time and effort that the national rules committee puts in. There could be things I don't know about from previous rule sets, but if there is, please make this ruling more transparent, so I can take my foot out of my mouth.
Let me start by saying, I was happy with the Truth clarification at first - because I thought it was intended to prevent irresponsible plot from ruining characters by revealing extremely dark skeletons in their closets. Now, I believe that the clarification is incorrect, although I still appreciate the time and effort that the national rules committee puts in. There could be things I don't know about from previous rule sets, but if there is, please make this ruling more transparent, so I can take my foot out of my mouth.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
NERO: A business or a club
LARP is a hobby, it is a hobby that is pursued by normal(sort of) people. We give up our weekends and pay to come to a game that is run by our friends, our friends are not paid, they volunteer to run this game for us, we pay to help rent the camp. Does this sound like a business model or a club? To me it sounds like a club. There may be a business model hidden within the larp concept but I do not believe we have seen it yet.
FACT: A game is only as good as the plot people who run it. Plot people pour out their creative ideas into the game, they wrangle NPCs and point them in the direction they wish them to go in. They schedule the event(Not rent the camp I am talking about the schedule DURING the event) and play important NPC roles. They are a director, a traffic cop, a final rules authority and the writer at every event they attend, and they are not paid. How then do we differentiate good plot people from bad? Truthfully, we don't, ouch. I have seen so many bad plot people it makes my head spin and not in obscure out of chapter play, I have seen bad plot people in my primary chapter. How long can these bad plot people stick around, until they don't want to do it anymore, because no one else is beating down the door. NERO cannot be a valid business concept with no valid way to select above average plot people and no way to dismiss those who are poor. NERO cannot be a valid business model without a way to compensate those who DO run above average plot to keep them running above average plot.
FACT: Plot is limited by the props and costumes that are available to them, if NERO is a business the chapter must provide props and costumes. I have heard from many people that they are satisfied fighting on modules with tabard monsters and face paint, I too am satisfied with that for most of an event. Once in a while though I want to go on a module where all the stops are pulled out, where I have to fight a giant 20 foot dragon in a cave filled with sounds and flashing lights, with fog billowing and people shouting. Production value on ONE MODULE can make an event 100 times more memorable, if this were a business, owners would realize this and strive for that one impact module. The one scene that you see in the trailers for movies, the one that gives you tinglies down your spine, do that once per event. And it should not be the plot people paying for this for some imaginary currency, it should be the owners paying for it. In the last two years the one chapter in Ohio that does value production value has seen its average event size go up by a large margin and the ones that don't have dropped off. How can you be a valid business model if you do not follow market trends? How can you expect to draw people away from computer graphics when all you offer is tabards and face paint? NERO will be a business when production value across events is standardized.
FACT: NERO events have no guarantee of satisfaction, it is possible to show up to an event and have 5 hour down times with nothing happening. You could come to an event and not go on a single module, there could be no NPCs to interact with. If an owner sees these things happening, they should be outraged that the people that they have selected are not entertaining the people who are paying...but I have seen owners not get outraged. NERO cannot be a valid business model if the owners do not take responsibility for the quality of events, customers will go to the chapters that do run quality events or they will return to their computers. Club managers may be able to allow a meeting to slide or degrade but owners of a business must first think about the satisfaction of their customers and with a live action game, the only time the impression can be fixed is while it is happening.
What then can be done? The first question that must be asked is what do we want to do? Owners are you trying to run a business? If so then you must take responsibility for the satisfaction of your customers. If you cannot determine who is and is not acceptable to run plot you must find someone who can. Invest some money from your proceeds to design an impact module for every event, make sure that it is widely experienced Guarantee peoples satisfaction, money back guarantees are a staple of marketing because satisfied people do not ask for their money back, even moderately satisfied people do not. Most of all, listen to people after the events, really listen and attempt to fix what they are suggesting. Constant improvement and sustainable results make a great business model, can you make NERO do that? If you cannot then run it as a club, reduce the costs down to what it costs you to operate and ask for people to help out. Other organizations do this and it works out fine for them.
NERO is a business? I admit that some chapters are closer than others but in general no...NERO is a club. Volunteers running events and donating all the props and special effects gear, below par plot people running below average plot and no guarantee of satisfaction are symptoms of the disinterested management of a club. If we are playing in a club then it is our responsibility to make sure that we have fun, and it is the so called owners responsibility to book the camps. So owners, what have you done for me lately? Why am I giving you the extra money on top of the camp costs?
FACT: A game is only as good as the plot people who run it. Plot people pour out their creative ideas into the game, they wrangle NPCs and point them in the direction they wish them to go in. They schedule the event(Not rent the camp I am talking about the schedule DURING the event) and play important NPC roles. They are a director, a traffic cop, a final rules authority and the writer at every event they attend, and they are not paid. How then do we differentiate good plot people from bad? Truthfully, we don't, ouch. I have seen so many bad plot people it makes my head spin and not in obscure out of chapter play, I have seen bad plot people in my primary chapter. How long can these bad plot people stick around, until they don't want to do it anymore, because no one else is beating down the door. NERO cannot be a valid business concept with no valid way to select above average plot people and no way to dismiss those who are poor. NERO cannot be a valid business model without a way to compensate those who DO run above average plot to keep them running above average plot.
FACT: Plot is limited by the props and costumes that are available to them, if NERO is a business the chapter must provide props and costumes. I have heard from many people that they are satisfied fighting on modules with tabard monsters and face paint, I too am satisfied with that for most of an event. Once in a while though I want to go on a module where all the stops are pulled out, where I have to fight a giant 20 foot dragon in a cave filled with sounds and flashing lights, with fog billowing and people shouting. Production value on ONE MODULE can make an event 100 times more memorable, if this were a business, owners would realize this and strive for that one impact module. The one scene that you see in the trailers for movies, the one that gives you tinglies down your spine, do that once per event. And it should not be the plot people paying for this for some imaginary currency, it should be the owners paying for it. In the last two years the one chapter in Ohio that does value production value has seen its average event size go up by a large margin and the ones that don't have dropped off. How can you be a valid business model if you do not follow market trends? How can you expect to draw people away from computer graphics when all you offer is tabards and face paint? NERO will be a business when production value across events is standardized.
FACT: NERO events have no guarantee of satisfaction, it is possible to show up to an event and have 5 hour down times with nothing happening. You could come to an event and not go on a single module, there could be no NPCs to interact with. If an owner sees these things happening, they should be outraged that the people that they have selected are not entertaining the people who are paying...but I have seen owners not get outraged. NERO cannot be a valid business model if the owners do not take responsibility for the quality of events, customers will go to the chapters that do run quality events or they will return to their computers. Club managers may be able to allow a meeting to slide or degrade but owners of a business must first think about the satisfaction of their customers and with a live action game, the only time the impression can be fixed is while it is happening.
What then can be done? The first question that must be asked is what do we want to do? Owners are you trying to run a business? If so then you must take responsibility for the satisfaction of your customers. If you cannot determine who is and is not acceptable to run plot you must find someone who can. Invest some money from your proceeds to design an impact module for every event, make sure that it is widely experienced Guarantee peoples satisfaction, money back guarantees are a staple of marketing because satisfied people do not ask for their money back, even moderately satisfied people do not. Most of all, listen to people after the events, really listen and attempt to fix what they are suggesting. Constant improvement and sustainable results make a great business model, can you make NERO do that? If you cannot then run it as a club, reduce the costs down to what it costs you to operate and ask for people to help out. Other organizations do this and it works out fine for them.
NERO is a business? I admit that some chapters are closer than others but in general no...NERO is a club. Volunteers running events and donating all the props and special effects gear, below par plot people running below average plot and no guarantee of satisfaction are symptoms of the disinterested management of a club. If we are playing in a club then it is our responsibility to make sure that we have fun, and it is the so called owners responsibility to book the camps. So owners, what have you done for me lately? Why am I giving you the extra money on top of the camp costs?
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