Second, I agree that forcing players to pay for more turns
up-front is
a bad idea. True, it would nearly eliminate players dropping
on turn
3. However, I believe it will only serve to delay their
dropping from
the game, not eliminate it. And in the meantime you have a
player who
knows he's gonna drop so he'll likely either trash the position
due to
neglect or (even worse) decide to attack allies for fun.
I'm sorry to have introduced the side issue in the discussion on
the surrender game thread: I just mentioned it because drop outs
and untidy game ends seem to be very much linked. So I've
separated the threads.
I accept that people here, including Clint, don't like the idea,
so I wasn't proposing it for MEPBM. I was just pointing out that
a mechanism exists for dealing with the problem of drop outs.
The bit I don't get is the assumption that someone would trash
their position or attack allies for fun. The first thing
that happens is that you only get *committed* players starting
a game. If you're worried about someone trying the game and
not liking it, you run sampler games of, say, five or six turns
with a smaller set up at little or no cost. (Pagoda does
this already for Godfather. You get to become familiar with the
game mechanics and you can get some of the inevitable mistakes
out of the way without hurting anybody. And you play at your
own pace, which is nice.)
The second thing that happens is that they play to stay in the
game. If they cannot stay, for external reasons, they can
transfer their position or forfeit the balance on their account.
The rules and penalties are clear up front.
Now, I know of at least one company that ran this system,
without complaint, for nigh on fifteen years. And nobody
trashed their position or turned on their allies...
not liking it, you run sampler games of, say, five or six turns with a smaller set up at little or no cost. (Pagoda does this already for Godfather. You get to become familiar with the game mechanics and you can get some of the inevitable mistakes out of the way without hurting anybody. And you play at your own pace, which is nice.)
Just as a quick note, ME does this with the BOFA games.
Perhaps it would work and it's at least worth a try. Heck, I would
join such a game just on the chance it would work.
If Harlequin is going to do it, I would suggest they run games with
both the current and the larger up-front commitments at the same time.
That way, most of those who have any thoughts of dropping early will
join the games that require lesser up-front commitment...and they're
welcome to each other. The rest of us who intend to be in for the long
haul anyway won't have any problem joining the games with the larger
up-front commitment and we'll get what we want as well. But it really
has to be a choice given to the players, not an edict handed down by
Harlequin.
Gavin, if you want to propose such a game to Harlequin as a
variant/trial-balloon then you can count me in.
> Second, I agree that forcing players to pay for more turns
> up-front is
> a bad idea. True, it would nearly eliminate players dropping
on turn
> 3. However, I believe it will only serve to delay their
> dropping from
> the game, not eliminate it. And in the meantime you have a
> player who
> knows he's gonna drop so he'll likely either trash the position
> due to
> neglect or (even worse) decide to attack allies for fun.
I'm sorry to have introduced the side issue in the discussion on
the surrender game thread: I just mentioned it because drop outs
and untidy game ends seem to be very much linked. So I've
separated the threads.
I accept that people here, including Clint, don't like the idea,
so I wasn't proposing it for MEPBM. I was just pointing out that
a mechanism exists for dealing with the problem of drop outs.
The bit I don't get is the assumption that someone would trash
their position or attack allies for fun. The first thing
that happens is that you only get *committed* players starting
a game. If you're worried about someone trying the game and
not liking it, you run sampler games of, say, five or six turns
with a smaller set up at little or no cost. (Pagoda does
this already for Godfather. You get to become familiar with the
game mechanics and you can get some of the inevitable mistakes
out of the way without hurting anybody. And you play at your
own pace, which is nice.)
The second thing that happens is that they play to stay in the
game. If they cannot stay, for external reasons, they can
transfer their position or forfeit the balance on their account.
The rules and penalties are clear up front.
Now, I know of at least one company that ran this system,
without complaint, for nigh on fifteen years. And nobody
trashed their position or turned on their allies...
