Endless Season Ideas

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

We have had this kind of idea brought up before and it has recently been brought up again. So I would like to discuss it with everyone on the forums and get a handle on how people feel about this kind of idea. If people decide they want this I also would like to understand what kind of groundwork I need to set on the forums to handle it, since these would occur at differing rates to seasons.

Pondering aside let me at least explain what I am talking about. The more recent endless season to be brought up is this one

GAME OF CHAOS: ENDLESS SEASON

So an Endless season is exactly what it sounds like, its a game that doesn't end. THAT SAID that would mean the mastermind always has some responsibility in masterminding for this endless game. It also means the goals of the game change since murder doesn't win the game nor is their some kind of FINAL MYSTERY that wins the game. The endless game could possess a mystery and murder, along with trials, but doesn't need them as there can be a myriad of other activities as is implied in the Game of Chaos application.

These Endless Games could then in theory be TRULY anything and could stretch very far away from our DRMMO/DRG roots. Similar in how we have had more combat centric seasons we now have new idea on the table that could work well. Unlike that situation this is so different in how its handled we cannot simply have it merge into our current setup with seasons and the like. The endless seasons, as mentioned in the chaos app, would run in-between seasons. That would be due to a couple reasons
A. If the mastermind who hosts the endless game is busy playing one they would have difficulty masterminding
B. It would pull the player base away from the major games that do have conclusions and large plots/mysteries.

So here is where I need you guys to ponder with me. First, would you all like to have a kind of slow game that runs whenever we are not having a big game running? These would be slower and calmer(probably) due to it having a semi active mastermind instead of our normal highly active mastermind. We had a roleplay hangout once with a small map where we could be in character, but nobody used it. That said it wasn't managed by anyone. Second, if we do want this, where should I put it? Would it be preferable to have a section under seasons where our endless games are running? That way i could hide it away when a game is on and its readily visible to everyone. Should it be under Minigames somewhere? As it isn't necessarily a full season, but at once it could be. Should I make it so every 3 Star mastermind has a section called "Endless" and have them host their endless games on their Mastermind boards? This would make it very obvious who the host of any Endless game was along with giving a good place for masterminds to work on them. It would also mean if a mastermind was away for a time then the endless game board wouldn't be cluttering public space that people can be confused by.

Lastly, I want to know how you guys feel about the mechanics of these seasons. Do they need certain rules or can I let three star masterminds go buck wild with what they want to accomplish with the games?

Unless one of you has a key point to bring up to change my mind, I plan to require at least 3 star mastermind privileges to host an endless game. Hosting a regular game I could be flexible, but I cannot be with these games as they require a larger presence on the site and I don't trust just anyone to be capable of maintaining a game of endless length.



So tell me below your thoughts, feelings, and ideas. I need to know whether you feel like this...



Or like this....



Its all for making the site a better and funner place so I want your feedback!
(I don't know why I used all the cat pictures, but it worked out)

[Hereiss Aelori]

I don't think we're ready for one of these yet.

An endless game implies that every player who signs up for it will be able to play it at any given time it is going on. Our current season setup has seasons going on during certain fixed time intervals, which means players can anticipate when they should be online to participate. With an endless game I can see a whole lot of problems in terms of participation.

If the game didn't require much input from the players, I think it could work (something like DRG's system where the players only need to pm the mastermind the room they are investigating), but an endless version of CR2 seems like it would run into participation issues very early on. Granted we have more people now than when the roleplay hangout was a thing, I still don't think there are enough extremely active players to make an endless season possible.

This judgment is based solely on my observations of previous games where participation seemed to drop quite a bit later into the game. It's not that the idea of an endless season is bad, it's that it doesn't seem practical given our playerbase.

[Yuni Shingyouji]

Hmm, I'll comment, even though this is about my season.

On paper, yes, not practical. That's given the circumstances revolving around a normal season. Seadrias mentioned here "an endless version of CR2", in which case CR2 meaning the actual season.

However, as mentioned, there would be many rules and changes to the system to allow a really casual game. If anything, CR2 focused quite a bit on murder and story investigation, these elements will mostly be removed. Things like super powers and unlocking powers are also toned down an extreme amount, turning them more into Special Skills.

More focus goes on daily life and prosperity, and on survival. The games are mostly based off surviving in the world with your character in every way you can. This means the games are much more based off surviving then murder, making murder happen much less frequent.

In all honesty, I know I suggested it, so yes I want to hear what others have to say. However, I also don't truly see the issue with attempting it. It fails, then it stops. It succeeds, then it continues. I personally thought there was no way in hell CR1 would be active since it was a minigame with no plot that started 2 days after a season, i was proven wrong. There is much more members now.

[yaes]

This is an interesting idea, but it places a burden on the person who hosts. If this were to happen, the way it works would need to be largely different, perhaps something similar to the Mafia Games, or how DICE was handled in beginning (at first, aka send daily activities).

In any case, if someone wishes to create this endless season, then there is no harm in doing so. I will participate, and help smooth out the rough edges if it's necessary.

[Monika]

I voted no because if it is going to be anything like CR2, I would rather not personally. I didn't have a good experience with it.

Regardless, I really don't feel like I would have the motivation to keep up with it every time it became playable. I would probably just quit due to pure boredom.

[Yuni Shingyouji]

I updated my app with a better explanation. However, please let me say this.

Thrax, this isn't entirely about CR Infinite, in fact, it's about Endless Season in general. As Eclipse said, others would be able to jump in and start one as well, so it wouldn't even be limited to just CR.