Clint:
Good answers. I'm impressed.
Ed
···
From: ME Games Ltd <me@MiddleEarthGames.com>
Reply-To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [mepbmlist] Intrusion and ME's policies
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 17:04:44 +0000>I'm curious about a possible contradiction. A clarification would be welcome.
Always a pleasure.
>In the House Rules Harley, says it has only intervened in one game in the
>past three years. I know some people reject the accusation that Harley is
>over intrusive in these games. Below you say "partlly due to a lot of
>effort on our part" there is less friendly-force on friendly-force activity.Yes we've reduced the impact DGE/GSI's VPs have on game play and that has
had a big impact so there's no real reward for doing so. Also the game
changed a lot over the years so that the way players play the game has
changed - I think that email and sharing of PDFs more regularly has done
that. Not sure if the latter is anything to do with us. Generally the
players who did attack their allies no longer play the game as well as the
sort of player who did this doesn't appreciate the system we run. There
are less players running names under pseudonyms for example - how can I
tell for definite? I can't, but I have a lot of subjective experience at
this sort of thing and am pretty sure that's that case. (I also have some
definite situations where a player has owned up to such things if that
helps give my subjective experience any value).>So, just what was this lot of effort? Presumably many instances requires
>a lot of effort. In what situations do you intervene and which ones do you
>not?Depends on the situation. A recent one was we were asked to find out if a
player was playing so we contacted that player as I thought that there was
a problem that could be averted if he missed a turn. If you want me to
list every situation where we have added a service and where that was
enacted I'm sorry I would not feel that a valid use of my time on player's
behalf.>Thinking along these lines it strikes me that you have put forth so many
>manhours ans effort on this PRS that the temptation to intervene in this
>must be present.Yes, of course such a temptation is there. If I see money on the floor
it's tempting to pick it up and keep it for myself, but I won't. If you
are saying am I ethical enough to not interfere then I think I am but only
time can tell.If it ends up a bad idea then I am also prepared to let it go. I'm a
reasonable enough person. Some projects work, others don't. So far we've
been pretty successful with them but only time can tell with this one. It
actually takes me a lot more time to answer these sort of emails, I've
asked before if I should reduce such man hours on that but so far there's
been no response.>An example from a couple of months ago comes to mind. You wanted to
>reject Council of the Wise votes because those players voted for a
>player who did vote himself.Correct - his votes were not counted as he did not complete the form
correctly. I had contacted the players concerned but nothing was returned
and the date for sending in the votes was missed. (In the same way for
turns if you miss the deadline we don't process the turns). Although
personally I am not a big fan of this voting system I have supported it as
best I can as it was requested by players.> Sure sounds like an extra subjective layer to me.
How so - the rules are clear on this point? Clearly as humans we're open
to making errors, but part of the reason that I actually listen to these
sort of emails is to attempt to give the players what they want and what is
best for the game. If you are attempting to say that we will make
subjective rulings on situations, the answer is yes we will but only within
the guidelines we have set - which are open for debate and change if they
can be improved. I think we're pretty open in such a manner - it does open
us up to attacks like this one but that's the price you pay for such things.For example sometimes players ask for a delay in turns (say a family
situation has developed). We then contact the teams and ask if that's
appropriate and if the other team is up for it and a replacement player for
that turn can't be found we'll certainly consider using our "subjective
experience" and "interfere". Note consider doing so. If the opposing
team says no thanks run the turn then we will do that but we do allow for
the human element.>How hard and how often are you going to nudge this baby to meet your
>expectations?I don't know - I have no expectations on what "this baby" will do. I
think it will add some fun to the game that's all for minimal
effort. Ditto colour turnsheets, AutoMarket, Grudge games, World
Championships or the War of the Ring Variant game. That's reflected in the
player base I think.In answer to your question: minimally to zero I would guesstimate? I don't
particularly appreciate trying to defend each and every decision I have to
make but if that's what you want I can do that. As Monty Python says "I
never expected the Spanish Inquisition"!Some players will use this to attack us due to ulterior methods but that's
okay as well. Some even have serious worries about the impact that this
will have on the game - to which I have attempted to answer. I think only
time will tell. I don't think that backing off due to a few vocal players
is good for the game, but backing off because it doesn't work and damages
the game is a good reason to do so and I am prepared to do that. For
example SS turns used to cost but we removed that, and had to battle with
GSI over it as well. We removed the charge as it was damaging to the
game. Ditto a player using the loophole of going inactive when they were
about to go bankrupt, and then getting money/a back-up and then
reactivating. We certainly interfered there and I think for the good of
the game.You've mentioned that you are worried that the economic aspect of us
running a PRS system (on the Forum) is a waste of our time but I have
analysed the impact it has compared with effort and it's about 1/2 hour
work per week (and that's tied in with doing the GWCs, sending out game end
reports etc). Compare that with the time that I've spent about answering
emails on this subject during the last month.Generally I think the game benefits from an active GM and an interactive
player base. Anything that I can do to encourage that I will attempt to do
so if I can as I am reasonably sure (based on 12 years of GMing PBM games
full time, 19 years of playing PBMs) that this will make the game better
for the majority. Our general policy is to make the best game we can and
go from there.Clint
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