DZ-3: Lessons Learned

[Rodimus Prime]

Time on Gillanan III can basically be divided into four segments:

Initial Arrival
Battle of the Power Plant
Interim
DZ-3

As with our other wrap-up periods, I'd like to start a "lessons learned" thread for the purpose of improving game play. I'm going to do this in the form of a survey. Anyone who doesn't want to post their answers with their names attached can use the Anonymous account we have set up for posting praise. If you don't want everything you have to say posted publicly, please log in to the Anonymous account and PM one of our three Admin (Myself (rp), Emirate Xaaron (admin), or Hook (beccaness)).

1. What did you like best about the DZ-3 plot?

2. What did you dislike the most?

3. What do you think went well? What OOC features were in place that helped to run it better?

4. What were the biggest mistakes made in how it was run? How do we suggest avoiding them in the future?

[Rodimus Prime]

And now I will answer my own questions!

1. I loved RPing Rodimus Prime-3, first and foremost. I also enjoyed the drama involved in the original Autobase being destroyed and the Autobots being forced underground. I'm going to level with you: that was not the planned or expected outcome of that battle, but after a certain point, it just seemed inevitable, so we ran with it. I had a great deal of fun with a lot of the one on one character interaction scenes. I also enjoyed the Autobot party.

2. The Decepticon victory party was kind of a let down. Decepticons either don't know how to chill, or chill too violently, I'm not sure. I also dislike how long the plot went, and yes, yes, I know I'm part of the fault there. There were some very frustrating periods in there when pretty much the entire board seemed to lose its energy at once, and those were very discouraging periods to work through.

3. The timeline was a good idea. Yes, I know I haven't updated it for awhile, but at the point when Bait and Switch started, it became kind of moot, since Bait and Switch all happens in a single day. The running summaries were also good. They would have been better if I had kept up with them. Part of the issue is, once more, letting things drag on for too long. It's easier to keep up the energy to do this stuff when things are moving at a decent rate. Modifying the time-out rule so that threads with five-characters or more time out sooner was a good idea, and should have been implemented earlier.

4. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: it dragged too long. Segments that should have been done in weeks were done in months, and the whole plot took over a year! D: I would like to see more than one major plot in a year - there are just waaaaaay too many good ideas for us to continue at this pace! Emirate Xaaron elsewhere made a suggestion that when we go into a new time period, we set a limit. "Threads belonging to this phase of the game have to be started in the next X (weeks/months). After that, direct spin-off threads will be allowed, but no new threads for that phase." I think this is what we're going to be doing for the Small Plots period we have coming up.

Speaking of Small Plots, look for a formal announcement for it later this week. Right now my goal is to get that segment underway on or before Friday.

[Blitzwing]

1) The ability to interact with characters and some players in a non (Mostly) violent fashion that wouldn't normally be possible to the Autobot/Decepticon factions. I also highly enjoyed the shceming going on between Starscream and Shockwave and how that completly broke down at the end.

2) I can't say that I actually disliked anything, but as Jess said the 'con party was a let down. My theory on the matter is that the cons lack "joker" characters (Such as Skywarp, Rumble or (G1) Frenzy) who would have made everything more relaxed with thier probably drunken antics.

3) Timeline = Excellent. Some more actual battle planning on either side couldn't have hurt.

4) Agian, if both sides had actually set out objectives to be completed in more detail than "Go fight in this general area" or "Things need to blow up around here" Things would have gone more smoothly and not dragged on as much, since once people had completed/realized thier objective was impossible things would have died down quicker.

[Makeshift]

Considering I kinda faded out halfway through, I probably should shut my hole, but as my girlfriend (and my other friends, and my parents, and my co-workers, and....) can tell you, I'm not so good at that.

1: I'm a sucker for "evil alternate" plots, so this one had me from the word go. And I had no money to go to Botcon for Shattered Glass, so this is all the Evil Alternate G1 story I was gonna get this year. Roddy-3 was fun to read, too.

2: I'll agree that the Con party kinda fell flat, mostly for the reasons Blitzy stated, but also because it's understandably a little tough to chill out around people you know you're gonna be shooting at in a few days, especially when they know it too. These are the bad guys, the Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal is inevitable. A party with just the regular Cons might go over better (sure, they shoot at each other a lot too, but they don't have any excuses when they have to answer to Hook for it). Also, yeah, dragged a bit at the end.

3: The timeline and summary threads are most excellent, and very useful when, like me, you don't always check every day. Fireblade was a lot of fun, with stuff happening all over the place and things getting blown up and the general atmosphere of things all rapidly going straight to hell.

4: Aside from Beseeching, a lot of Bait and Switch felt kind of....aimless. I know this is gonna sound kinda whiny, and I apologize in advance for it (as someone who barely participated, I'm the last one who should be complaining; it's not like I helped), but largely it seemed like the only thing going on was "get Roddy-3 to the crater". It was like the good guys had time to plan and prepare, and then they all just hid around in the rocks. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of strategic planning involved, for a race that's been at war for millions of years (or more, or less, depending on continuity, but you know what I mean).

[Springer]

1. What did you like best about the DZ-3 plot?
The interactions between the Decepticons-3 and the Autobots were my favorite bits, especially getting folks who've clashed in-game to try and get along. Add me in for another that enjoyed reading Roddy-3.

2. What did you dislike the most?
The length, though I do admit that I wasn't much help a lot of the time.

3. What do you think went well? What OOC features were in place that helped to run it better?
The timeline and summaries are the bestest thing ever, and y'all rock out loud so hard for implementing them. <3

4. What were the biggest mistakes made in how it was run? How do we suggest avoiding them in the future?
I think the battles could've benefited more from the system from the Power Plant attack, in which some pair-offs get handled OOCly. Sure, that won't always go as planned, but I think it helped things go smoother in the Power Plant battle.

I also support the idea of time limits.

[Victoria Raines]

1. What did you like best about the DZ-3 plot?

I loved playing my alts, both of them. Getting to explore my characters from the standpoint of a What If? was quite interesting and actually helped me to get a better handle on my regular characters. The biggest surprise was exploring the dynamic between Rodimus-3 (kudos to Jess for playing him in perfectly evil fashion) and Mirage-3, something that had not been planned out originally. We fell into it and simply seemed to work. Also, getting to play Mirage-1 off of Xaaron-3 and Swerve-3 during the branding party was much fun. Thanks again to Tai and Luna for their great work on those two.

I will say that personally, I found more enjoyment in watching the small plots that will have lasting effects on the meta-game play out than the actual DZ-3 meta plot (which was, essentially, “Get them all home and kill RP-3.” The interactions and tensions between Rodimus and Xaaron, and between Shockwave and Starscream will certainly lead to some interesting gameplay in the next interim, for example. It is highly probably that my enjoyment of the overall meta-plot was lessened by the fact that it did run so long, and at times, seemed to lack direction. I understand not wanting to put too many restrictions on player’s creativity, but sometimes it’s better to over plan and have to back off than to underplan.

2. What did you dislike the most?

The pacing. Things would go from hectic to horribly slow and then to “hurry up and wait.” Now, I’m a person who likes to do small scene character interaction and I did a lot of it. However, there comes a point where it simply becomes filler, you’re posting on auto-pilot and just praying for an out. I honestly feel that what happened here is that we had too many people who decided after that first wave of activity that they a) couldn’t keep up with the plot pace, b) couldn’t think of anything to do without being given direction or, c) simply weren’t active for whatever RL reason. It literally felt like we only had a handful of characters in game despite having close to one hundred approved characters on the books. Because people simply dropped out of the plot, some side plots and threads simply didn’t happen, and there were just not enough characters to run those filler threads. Heck, we barely had enough active characters to make the plot go out with more of a bang than a whimper.

3. What do you think went well? What OOC features were in place that helped to run it better?

The sub-boards. This idea was excellent and I am very glad you all decided to implement the practice. It made keeping up with what threads were in what timeline much easier, and also made it easier to tell at a glance what was dragging or what not.

The summaries: These were so helpful, and I know they must have been a huge amount of work on the mod’s part.

The implementation of new policies in reaction to issues, specifically the 24-hour time-out rule on 5+ person threads and the multiple attack policy: It is good to see the mods behaving proactively when issue arise. These changes were timely and were made without a lot of negativity or calling of individuals on the carpet. Class, you guys have it. Hats off to you.

4. What were the biggest mistakes made in how it was run? How do we suggest avoiding them in the future?

I really do think that the plot suffered heavily from too little direction. I am the type to go and find my own rp’s and side plots, and to try and create plots for others. However, not everyone is that type. When you simply provide setting and a base order like “attack the place” or “mingle with this group,” you place those who are driven to start threads under the pressure of not only actually driving the plot but also providing direction for and keeping those who don’t or can’t drive the plot entertained. This very pressure can fizzle a thread before it starts, especially if it’s just a meet and greet social thread.

Take for example Fireblade. I enjoyed that sub-plot quite a bit, not just my own play but reading other threads. However, it was here that we really began to drag. No planning was done ahead of time that I am aware; it was simply, “We are now attacking the Autobot base.” But, in reality there were several things that various people wanted to get done that simply did not happen. Since no one communicated what was needed/wanted/etc for those interaction, we wound up with a lot of dogpile threads. I do think everyone needs to be more vocal about what they would like to see happen. It is also vitally important that threads be spun off if at all possible when they hit that crucial five-person limit. If Person A doesn’t do it, than Person B should, or at worst, Person C should whack them with the clue bat and holler, “New Thread! New Thread! Move dooooown!”

I do understand that we don’t want to take away people’s ability to be spontaneous and creative. Perhaps what needs to happen is a forum-based discussion before key points in the next plot. We all have a tendency to talk on IM about plot, but not everyone is always in chat. I think really pushing people toward using the forums as a discussion platform for plot would not only help with some of the confusion, but would also keep those people who do not have IM from feeling left out of the game, or like a hanger-on. I know that I have a hard time keeping up if I don’t sign on AIM and at least a talk to a couple people about the game every night or so, and that gets very draining for me.

And lastly, time limits are love.

[Perceptor]

1. What did you like best about the DZ-3 plot?

Getting the opportunity to explore my alts. Especially working with Barricade-3 since that actually helped to more solidly cement Barricade-1 in my head. Also, being able to actually be evil, which is something I have a very hard time with. I just have difficulty maintaining a "bad guy" outlook, but that was never an issue with Perc, which I really, really liked.

2. What did you dislike the most?

The pacing. One moment we would be moving along nicely, and then the next, things would drag, and then the next moment after that, it would either be dead, or things that had been planned would have to be abandoned because the plot was moving on, and damn the torpedoes. Granted, I contributed to some of the pacing issues, being unable or unwilling to post for weeks at a time while sorting out various issues, but it was disheartening to find that when I was posting, being told essentially that either my plots had to hurry up, or just be dropped because we are progressing beyond that point in the timeline, and oh well. That's happened before DZ-3, though, so I chalk it up to just a game dynamic. But the pacing was very frustrating.

3. What do you think went well? What OOC features were in place that helped to run it better?

I think the whole overall concept went well. The timelines were excellent, as were the sub forums. Much easier to keep track of everything that way. I think watching the interaction between some of the -1's and the -3's was very nice and came out well.

4. What were the biggest mistakes made in how it was run? How do we suggest avoiding them in the future?

It all boils down to one single word: COMMUNICATION. There just wasn't enough of it between the players, and especially between the mods. Players need to be discussing their wants and needs with each other, and coordinating things makes the whole game run more smoothly. But on many occassions, it was pretty clear that none of the three mods were really talking and discussing their thoughts, impressions, and plans. Things have seemed better on that front in the last month or so, but I'm wary of calling that issue "fixed" yet.

And I have to cautiously agree with Shox about time limits. Yes, they would be nice to keep the pacing more consistant, HOWEVER comma space... I have already seen scenes and small plots rushed through to a lame conclusion because of an externally imposed limit. I have also seen some scenes and small plots completely abandoned or not started due to an externally applied time limit. "I thought we'd planned on X before moving on to Y, but you're already starting Z?" "Well, Bob-with-three-ems-and-a-silent-que got bored with U and V, so we rushed W and we're just jumping right into Z so we can get back to A in three days. So sorry." Very, very, very frustrating. I fear that rampant time limits will only exacerbate this issue, and so I remain... wary.

Along with communication, I also have a significant issue with reading comprehension and paying attention, however this is not a strictly DZ-3 plot specific issue, but an on-going, consistent problem, and so I am not certain that this is the appropriate place to discuss it.

I am, otherwise, pleased with DZ-3, and I look forward to hopefully revisiting that world someday.

[Skyfire]

Jan 25, 2009 21:53:34 GMT -5 Rodimus Prime said:

1. What did you like best about the DZ-3 plot?

Being able to interact with friendly versions of enemies. Being able to play SNADs. ;-) ..or at least 'nice' versions of my Decepticons, and a twisted, evil version of Skyfire. (Except for Midnight-3, who was the 'nasty' version of the character.) Having expendable characters to kill off dramatically.

2. What did you dislike the most?

Lack of participation at key or interesting moments. In the Team Evil victory party, I had one (1) active 'native' character, Dead End, and one active DZ-3 character, Skyfire-3. Duskwing was avoiding most of the party because of his run-ins with Perceptor-3, Skyfire-1 was in a bucket, Hellbender was being rebuilt, and the Cons-3 weren't there yet.

We had a lot of players with Computer Issues, Real Life Issues, Issue Issues who had to drop out/go on hiatus, which caused a lot of potentially fun roleplaying to be aborted or never started. Such problems can't be helped, so I don't list them under 'mistakes in how it was run', but I was disappointed at several threads that either died or were never born that I would like to have been involved in.

3. What do you think went well? What OOC features were in place that helped to run it better?

The final battle got carried through in spite of most of each side's players being intermittently on hiatus (including mods at times), so something was definitely done right. The real test of a system or organization is in how it performs when things are going awry, not when everything is running smoothly. Mods did a fine job here, and yes, I agree that shortening the time-out for big battle threads was a good move and wish it had been done sooner.

The battle for the Autobase was well done, too, and the first arrival of the Autobots-3 in the person of Xaaron-3 and Swerve-3 was nicely done--a mystery, suspense ratcheting up as the nature of the threat is hinted at, and so on.

4. What were the biggest mistakes made in how it was run? How do we suggest avoiding them in the future?

We need more plot. I don't care if it comes from the mods, the players spinning their own, or what, but we need more things going on to tickle player imaginations and interest. I want to see Decepticons plotting to take over from Starscream, I want to see Weapon-of-the-Week plots, I want to see Autobots flying off the handle over weird misunderstandings the way they did on TV/comics ("Mirage is a traitor!", "Emirate Xaaron Optimus Prime is really a Decepticon imposter!", "Perceptor is a coward", "Unicron is blatantly pwning secretly controlling Rodimus Prime", "Oh noes, I killed pixels in a video game and I must kill myself in remorse", "I inexplicably assume that my best friend abandoned me to die for no good reason and join the Decepticons because they're so much more trustworthy!") ...and resolving them, of course.

The guys off in the "not involved in DZ-3" threads really needed some plot. The original idea was that non-participants would have their own side-plots that would be interesting. That fell down a bit from player hiatuses... but I suspect some slow posting was due to boredom.

The other big thing was pacing. Some plot segments dragged badly... perhaps a schedule for plot segments, as specified elsewhere, would keep things moving.

I wish there could have been some way to bring the Cons-3 in sooner, as the Autobots-3 and the Decepticons got a lot of quality RP time that was denied to the Decepticons-3 and the Autobots, due to people getting really bored waiting for the big battle to come up, IMHO. That may not have been the reason, exactly, but there was definitely pressure to get things moving once the Cons-3 showed up, and that, plus unexpected player absences, put a crimp on Con-3/Bot-1 interactions.

[Starscream]

1. What did you like best about the DZ-3 plot?
The unique interactions. Bumblebee and Goldbug vs Bee-3 was great; I liked the catch for the whole thing, with Swerve-3 and Xaaron-3 being refugees. Rodimus and Starscream dancing around each other and trying to trust the other party along with the mutual capturing of prisoners, all of it was great. Rodimus Prime-3 was fantastic, being able to play an sociopathic Bumblebee was fun, and at the end all the toys got put back in the box properly thanks to a clever plot device. Nice clean ending.

2. What did you dislike the most?
This answer is not going to be popular, but I didn't like the sudden banter on the General Broadcasts with characters from all factions hitting on each other in the middle of combat. Random sexual encounters with TFs does not interest me in the least, and the sudden shift from 'everyone is trying to kill each other' to 'everyone is trying to **** each other' was derailing as hell for me. It just seemed very OOC, to me.

3. What do you think went well? What OOC features were in place that helped to run it better?
I'm going to throw my hat in the ring on the whole time limits thing. Yes, I got confused with how the rules applied to begin with, but that was a rule that needed to happen. Jess in particular with her constant updates, of what was going on with the many factions, was very impressive. Having separate boards for distinct scenes was a great idea too, it really helped keep things together.

4. What were the biggest mistakes made in how it was run? How do we suggest avoiding them in the future?
The biggest 'mistake' was my own--there were points where I simply couldn't find the right headspace to go IC. I was the head of two factions and my inactivity caused key portions of the game to bottleneck, causing big delays before the next act could progress. Add in that I created further problems by not noticing certain things in posts, and I failed in a lot of ways, and stretch the patience of Adminimus, each component of which I consider a good friend. So, sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I'd like to think that as of Bait & Switch, my activity has significantly improved since the bad old days, even if it's not yet perfect. I'm also looking at taking other steps in this way, so we'll see what happens there.

As for improvements that weren't my fault, I think better OOC communication about what people are doing would be ideal. I can think of two separate occasions where plans were OOCly made between me and another player, and then without my being informed, they vanished or otherwise didn't start the thread. These actions have cost me RP I was really looking forward to, and also made me look bad because, to people who weren't aware that these scenes have been made and that I'm waiting for the threads to start, I'm just not posting with my characters again. If something comes up, guys, make a post, or IM me, get someone to pass the message on, just someting to spread the word. It's muchly appreciated. Gracias.