<<Richard DEVEREUX wrote:>>
<<Firstly, voting should be voluntary. Any attempt at compulsion would
be resented by those who don't want to vote. Why should they vote if
they don't want to? Let's keep freedom of choice. Probably only a
minority of players will vote, but that makes their votes all the more
valuable. Players who receive votes know they have earned them! You
could even have a whole new category: players' most respected player
(g)!>>
I was concerned that having only 2-3 people per game vote would tend to
make the vote results of minimal importance. I doubt MeGames can afford
to offer a significant enticement for anyone who votes, so I was trying
to come up with something that cost them nothing, but would still be an
incentive. Also, people wouldn't be forced to vote, as they could still
not vote if they wished. They just wouldn't receive their final PDF.
Still, I agree that there might be some players who resented being
"forced" to vote, so it would probably be safer just to let voting be
voluntary, despite the possibility of minimalizing the result.
<<Secondly, should eliminated and dropped/replaced players be allowed to
vote? I would argue yes in every case. Eliminated players should be
asked to vote with their final resultsheet. It's no good asking such a
player to vote when the game finally finishes. It might be YEARS later
and that game would be a distant memory. Similarly, players who drop
should be asked to vote at the time. I suspect that this category will
yield the smallest number of votes as many such players are disgruntled
for one reason or another, or simply don't have enough time/can't be
bothered. Therefore I see no harm in allowing standby players (who are
generally of sterner stuff) to vote as well.>>
I personally disagree. As you stated, many players who drop are
disgruntled for one reason or another. I'm not certain their vote would
be objective at that time. Also, if someone doesn't care enough about
the game to stay in, do we really want their opinion about who the best
player was? A player who was eliminiated is another story, and I agree
that they should still get a vote. I don't think I'd be interested in
the opinions of someone who dropped the game and left their allies high
and dry, (possibly after a few non-cooperative, non-communicative
turns).
<<It is a very BAD idea to "punish" players for bailing out. Some
players drop for very good real-life reasons. Sometimes these reasons
are of such importance that the courtesy of telling Harle and/or their
team-mates is forgotten. Sometimes players fall out with team-mates and
drop a game in a huff. Sometimes players simply disagree so strongly
with the strategy being pursued by their team that they drop. There is
a good chance that most of these players will join another game of ME,
but if you "punish" them you may very well put them off playing
altogether.>>
It takes a matter of seconds to send an E-Mail to former teammates
telling them you can't go on. Also, since this is a team game, if a
player drops a game in a huff, or disagrees with their teammates so much
that they drop, then it seems fair that their team-based player rating
shouldn't benefit if their former allegiance wins the game.
I agree that you need to somehow separate players who dropped a viable
position from those who dropped a hopeless one, and we have yet to
define viable and hopeless in any sort of concrete way. We may not be
able to find a way to fairly punish dropped players, but I don't think
we should reward them by allowing them to vote either. I would also like
to see a cap applied to their player rating for that game. (ie; They can
go down if their side eventually loses, but they can't go up if their
side eventually wins.) After all, their drop probably contributed to a
defeat, and likely didn't help a victory.
In any event, while punishing a dropped player without a way to
determine if the drop was reasonable may be a bad idea, neither would I
want to see them rewarded with a vote (or a team-based ratings
increase).
Mike Mulka
I think players would compain though.