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Post by Kortelan on Feb 8, 2007 23:57:52 GMT -5
As much as I'd like to keep playing forever with the same world, I really doubt the gamemasters would have enough time to manage both the forum and whatever the final game turns out to be, Kortelan. I know. I am putting it out there though because I would like it to happen and it is nice middle ground.
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 9, 2007 6:42:12 GMT -5
Actually, we're not sure what we're going to do. The difficulties of play-by-email that we discovered early on have caused the original concept to be all but abandoned. We always expected to have a forum, but we did not plan on making it the main method of playing. Now that seems to be the most efficient approach yet.
We're going to keep playing around with the game in various ways, sort of experimenting. Normally playtesting just irons out the bugs and that's it. Obviously this game is at a much earlier stage than that.
We could leave the forums up even if game master support for them has to stop at some point. But it could also be that the game on the forums evolves into the final version of the game and doesn't stop.
Also, you guys will probably consider it good news that most of the options we're looking at for going public would give us no reason to reset the game. The action that is taking place in playtesting mode just adds more history. That means that playtesters who build up countries or empires would be able to keep them. It also means that players who achieve high positions within the Zekresh Empire could keep those positions after a transition to a more public version of the game. We're not guaranteeing that, but that's what we're looking at now.
On the minus side, we haven't got a game here that is financially viable at all yet, so we're still working on that.
Some new ideas involve recruiting volunteer gamemasters. Perhaps the volunteer gamemasters get to play later with better than usual characters. The professional staff would focus on some of the more important in-game events and supervise the volunteer gamemasters. Players would have the right to appeal any decision of the volunteer game masters and it could be overruled by the staff if it were deemed unrealistic or inconsistent with the game universe.
That's not a plan yet, just another option we thought of. That still envisions a game something like what it is now. We're still not sure how much additional programming we want to do or pay for.
Another option we are looking at is a sort of open-source kind of concept where versions of the game can be played and modified by thousands of people who can be their own gamemasters and the best of these will be incorporated into the "official" game universe. That idea still needs work, but it's definitely another option.
By the way, we have been slow in keeping up with in-game events. That's partly due to the fact that we actually lost internet access for a while and also because other things are taking our time. Bear with us. Also, we have just received a request from a new playtester to begin playing. The name is Jade Green. I presume that is one of the friends mentioned earlier.
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Post by Kortelan on Feb 9, 2007 10:50:22 GMT -5
Actually, we're not sure what we're going to do. The difficulties of play-by-email that we discovered early on have caused the original concept to be all but abandoned. We always expected to have a forum, but we did not plan on making it the main method of playing. Now that seems to be the most efficient approach yet. We're going to keep playing around with the game in various ways, sort of experimenting. Normally playtesting just irons out the bugs and that's it. Obviously this game is at a much earlier stage than that. We could leave the forums up even if game master support for them has to stop at some point. But it could also be that the game on the forums evolves into the final version of the game and doesn't stop. Also, you guys will probably consider it good news that most of the options we're looking at for going public would give us no reason to reset the game. The action that is taking place in playtesting mode just adds more history. That means that playtesters who build up countries or empires would be able to keep them. It also means that players who achieve high positions within the Zekresh Empire could keep those positions after a transition to a more public version of the game. We're not guaranteeing that, but that's what we're looking at now. On the minus side, we haven't got a game here that is financially viable at all yet, so we're still working on that. Some new ideas involve recruiting volunteer gamemasters. Perhaps the volunteer gamemasters get to play later with better than usual characters. The professional staff would focus on some of the more important in-game events and supervise the volunteer gamemasters. Players would have the right to appeal any decision of the volunteer game masters and it could be overruled by the staff if it were deemed unrealistic or inconsistent with the game universe. That's not a plan yet, just another option we thought of. That still envisions a game something like what it is now. We're still not sure how much additional programming we want to do or pay for. Another option we are looking at is a sort of open-source kind of concept where versions of the game can be played and modified by thousands of people who can be their own gamemasters and the best of these will be incorporated into the "official" game universe. That idea still needs work, but it's definitely another option. By the way, we have been slow in keeping up with in-game events. That's partly due to the fact that we actually lost internet access for a while and also because other things are taking our time. Bear with us. Also, we have just received a request from a new playtester to begin playing. The name is Jade Green. I presume that is one of the friends mentioned earlier. I like the first idea but I don't like the volunteer gamemasters idea. If you want more gamemasters I would, if I were in your spot, pick from playtesters and top players. People who know the game the best and that can be trusted. By the way Jade Green is a person I know who says he will try it out.
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 9, 2007 23:48:45 GMT -5
Kortelan,
I'm not sure which idea you meant when you said you liked "the first idea". As for volunteer gamemasters, we meant volunteer as in not part of the paid staff. We did not mean anybody who volunteers for it.
You are right that experienced playtesters and players would be best. The problem is that they have a conflict of interest if they are still playing the game. One idea is to offer top players who die a chance to be gamemasters for a while and thereby earn the right to have a new player with a very good starting situation that they could not otherwise start off with. For example, we might give someone a character who is an Imperial prince 3rd in line for the throne or something. Or someone who is very rich. Or someone who has huge popular support among a particular tribe or nation of people. Or a high ranking general or admiral in the Imperial military. Or the leader of a religion. Or the chief of a tribe of barbarians just beyond the borders of the Empire. That sort of thing.
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Post by Kortelan on Feb 10, 2007 0:02:04 GMT -5
Kortelan, I'm not sure which idea you meant when you said you liked "the first idea". As for volunteer gamemasters, we meant volunteer as in not part of the paid staff. We did not mean anybody who volunteers for it. You are right that experienced playtesters and players would be best. The problem is that they have a conflict of interest if they are still playing the game. One idea is to offer top players who die a chance to be gamemasters for a while and thereby earn the right to have a new player with a very good starting situation that they could not otherwise start off with. For example, we might give someone a character who is an Imperial prince 3rd in line for the throne or something. Or someone who is very rich. Or someone who has huge popular support among a particular tribe or nation of people. Or a high ranking general or admiral in the Imperial military. Or the leader of a religion. Or the chief of a tribe of barbarians just beyond the borders of the Empire. That sort of thing. Well I have forgotten what I meant then so no big loss I guess. That sounds like a good idea. The top players one. Sorry if I seem a bit off I have been sick the past two days.
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 10, 2007 2:34:19 GMT -5
I hope you feel better.
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 10, 2007 6:27:05 GMT -5
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Post by Kortelan on Feb 10, 2007 13:04:47 GMT -5
I am feeling better today. Not the best but better then I have been. Also I liked the scroll. I am assuming I can use the information in it in character correct?
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 10, 2007 15:51:48 GMT -5
Yes, you may use that information in-character. The author, Ekanor Arno, sent the scroll to a friend who had it copied several times and one copy was donated to the Imperial College library.
From there, many people saw it and many copies were made. Now copies are circulating among literati all over the Empire. The Empire has no real news media and most people are illiterate. But news still spreads by gossip and rumor in the market places, carried from one to another by travelers. And though a scroll cannot, by itself, get a message to a mostly illiterate audience, it can start the process.
The scroll inspired a student at the Imperial College at Zekran to write a song about it. Variations on the song are now popular among minstrels and bards and now the illiterate majority are being thrilled by tales of the Mission to Kopixer. Due in large part to a bored officer writing about what he saw and one scroll getting into a library, Nemt has started to become a heroic figure, a legend in his own time.
Why Nemt? Fate. Luck. Who knows. Maybe just because someone wrote down what happened.
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Post by Nemt on Feb 10, 2007 16:49:35 GMT -5
Ahh, very nice work! I'm impressed. I think nae is becoming much more immersive with the background information expanding and more playtesters joining.
I hate to point this out, but I think there may be a word missing here, "He made them listen to the speech [before] he gave them any food."
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 10, 2007 17:21:45 GMT -5
Thanks for pointing that out. That's the problem with only being able to copy scrolls by hand, sometimes the scribes make errors!
If any players downloaded that, the error will be perpetuated in future copies, just as with real scrolls. But the copy in the library will be corrected.
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 10, 2007 17:23:21 GMT -5
Nice avatar, by the way.
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Post by Nemt on Feb 10, 2007 19:56:10 GMT -5
I'm glad you approve. I figured it was very fitting, both time frame appropriate, as well as personally appropriate - as prefect of a remote, rebellious desert province.
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 11, 2007 6:38:50 GMT -5
I'd like to mention that the latest news item about Ulor Gefanin of Glantogran province resigning is not something we made up. Ulor Gefanin was a player character. I received an e-mail from the player saying that due to unforeseen circumstances he can't keep playing.
He was one of our e-mail only players and actually had not been responding to e-mails for a while. He was also the second playtester to join the game.
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 11, 2007 6:53:06 GMT -5
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