[Discuss] Activity (was: The state of the game)

[Robert Croson, Jr]

On 11 Jul 2006 at 10:41, Timothy Collett wrote:

> On Jul 11, 2006, at 10:29 AM, Robert Croson, Jr wrote:
> > Then perhaps we should limit the amount of messages people can send.
> > Someone who can log on a lot can send many more messages than  
> > people who
> > log on only once a turn. That makes unlimited, instant messaging an  
> > advantage
> > that people who can log in a lot have over people who can only log  
> > in once a
> > turn, or once a day.
> 
> That has actually been contemplated, in a few different forms.

I know. And, as far as I remember, every one of these suggestions was 
dumped because they take away from the lightweight nature of the game, or 
they were too burdensome, they were just plain annoying as heck, or were 
simply circumvented by using OOC communication methods.

> But the particular point that makes late-turn moves so different from  
> language barriers and player intelligence is that it's gaming the  
> system.
> 
> We have the following OOC constructs:
> - Turn change at 0600 and 1800
> - "Time pool" of 8-12 hours per turn (ignoring priests)
> - Cancelling travel or misdirection to do something else costs you  
> only an hour out of this time pool
> - Scout reports which show a picture of what the *players* have  
> decided to do at that point in the turn
> 
> Combining these you get the following effects:
> - Even if it takes 8 hours to get from point A to point B, you can  
> scout 2 hours before the turn, and see no one moving to point B, but  
> everyone at point A can still get to point B by the turn
> - Or you can have everyone at point A appearing to be going to point  
> B for 11 hours and 50 minutes, but then actually end up at point C,  
> because they could cancel their movement and still have 11 hours in  
> their time pool
> 
> The OOC constructs are there, in general, to keep the game  
> lightweight.  However, the combination of all these OOC factors  
> *built into the game* gives an advantage to certain people who are  
> willing to play BattleMaster as a *non*-lightweight game--or who just  
> happen to be able to log in briefly at certain times.
> 
> Because the problem is created by several of the OOC constructs that  
> make up the game, I believe it is reasonable to attempt address it by  
> changing the game, while other OOC advantages (such as language  
> barrier or intelligence) are beyond the scope of the game to address.

So your concern is not with late-turn moves, per se. Your concern is that you 
can misdirect for most of the turn, then cancel that and go somewhere else for 
a very small hit to your time pool?


-- 
Rob

Never try to outstubborn a cat.




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