Backup Season Site Mechanic

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

INTRODUCING……. BACKUP SEASONS! 

Or, well, the idea of backup seasons. This is a new system I am considering adding to the site for a couple reasons. Before I explain myself, I need to explain the Backup Season System.


BACKUP SEASON SYSTEM



What is a Backup Season?

A backup season is a season which forfeits its position in the Priority Queue and agrees to take the role of Backup. Backup Seasons are subject to a unique set of rules and may not be hosted unless all hosts in the priority queue are unavailable. The Application Process differs for Backup Seasons as well.



Rules Governing Backup Seasons:

None. You heard me. Backup Seasons are NOT SUBJECT to the base rules. It does not matter what rank of mastermind is hosting them they do not have to build the game around the base rules. The only requirement is that you keep it PG-13 unless you get explicit permission from me on going higher.



Applying to host a Backup Season:
There is no application thread for Backup Seasons. Instead, you need three things to get marked as a backup season host and start creating.

A. You need a Mastermind Rank. You must have applied as a mastermind and been accepted to host a backup season.

B. You need MY permission. You will get this by privately messaging me with your idea and the request to do a backup season. I will ask for the third item in that chat…

C. You need a Three Star Mastermind or higher who has agreed to proctor the backup season. If you are a three star mastermind you can be your own proctor. The mastermind who is your proctor will host the Backup Season board on their Mastermind Board for you to work inside. The proctor may have additional jobs assigned by myself. They WILL NOT assist in hosting the season, unless of course they are the actual host.



When a Backup Season is Hosted:

The Backup seasons are called upon if 10 days, 240 hours, have passed from when I created the Next Season Thread and if no hosts in the priority queue have posted. At that point, I will declare Backup-Season Time. All Backup hosts will lobby to me for the position of next host. I will decide who will host and then we are off to the races.



What is expected of Backup Season Hosts:

Backup hosts, while not bound by the base rules, are still expected to show a level of quality in their seasons. This means that the hosts will be present for their games and will host them to completion. If for any reason a host is chosen and is not prepared or fails their duties as a mastermind, they will be punished according to the standard mastermind failure path.



If you fail cause your season was bonkers mechanics and rules-wise and nobody wanted to play, I'll force you to use base rules, but won't necessarily punish you for failing as a host.



Ranking up as a Backup Host:

So, normally when you host a successful game and are approved by me, I will increase your rank. Tier 1 to 2 to 3 to Ultimate. One requirement I look into is your ability to follow guidelines, specifically the hosting guidelines. This topic is still up in the air, but what I am thinking is that a successful Backup game can raise your rank from 2 to 3, but it WILL NOT raise you from rank 1 to 2. Also, Hosts who are temporarily granted tier 2 under the Ultimatum CANNOT raise their rank with this method. The idea is that if you host a good backup season then you are capable of making your own rules and working with them. Then, if you have also proven you can follow the base rules, Tier 1, you can go to tier 3 and do as you please.



I appreciate thoughts on this topic especially.



The Explaining Myself Bit

There are two major goals and one general goal I am hoping to accomplish with this system. The general goal is the goal I always have as the admin of the site, more games, more players, more hosts. The two specific goals are different but encompassed under that general goal's umbrella. First, I wanted to create a better system for situations where we have no one posting in the Next Season Thread. Commonly this situation results in one of the major masterminds scrambling and throwing something together with C being the usual culprit. I personally am tired of seeing that where a host is rushed to put something out because there is no backup. So…I am trying to setup a backup. That way the number of times a host has to go from nothing to game to keep the site busy is reduced. That and we can sleep easy at night knowing someone else is in a position to host. The second goal is to provide a route for hosts who don't want to be bound by the rules. Ghost is going to be my primary example here.



Ghost has run games that have some incredibly different mechanics. I participated in one of them on ASF and while I don't quite have the fondest memories, it was certainly interesting. Wonderland was another game where I heard very little negative feedback, but I had to punish Ghost for breaking the site's rules. My excuse has always been that if you host twice under rules, you can then host without any of my restrictions, but the whole gimmick discussion is complicated enough that nobody really understands it but me since I wrote it. I also don't want to change the site inherently away from Murder Mystery Games as that is what we are(Unless I get an extreme majority wanting to change it, it'll stay that way). Backup Seasons let me allow some free reigning ideas by people who can't sit still inside my basic rules box but they only get to shine when people who are hosting normal MMG games cannot. A game is better than no game as they say.



I want to know what you guys think of this system so that I can decide if it needs tweaking or if it is a terrible idea, cause I have definitely had some of those. What do you all think of this Backup Season System? Is it worth the time? Or am I just being optimistic everyone won't go to the backup system and leave my queue empty to skip my rules?

[King V]

This is a good idea in theory, but there is one major problem I can see. Most hosts create their seasons because they are significant to them, and they want other people to play them and enjoy them. Backup seasons are very different since you can never know if you'll be able to host them. If people create a season for the specific purpose of it being a backup season, then I suspect it will be of lower quality than a normal season, because the mastermind isn't as motivated to create it given that they won't be able to know when they can host it. The downsides of this, I predict, is that most people won't create backup seasons and we simply won't have any seasons for those emergency situations.

What I'd suggest to fix this is to either make a way for a backup season to make it onto the priority list, or to integrate the system into the priority list in some way. From my experience, people create seasons because they want their seasons to be played and to succeed, and backup seasons don't fit this motivation very well.

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Right, it wouldn't surprise me if there were only a few backup seasons. I think this is fine since hopefully the main system works well and is popular.

The bait on this hook is the no rules allowance. I believe that two or three people might be willing to make games for that.

My worry is if the backup season becomes MORE preferable to a regular season, since if everyone did only backups, then no one would ever have to follow base rules which is something I would rather not have(Again, if everybody wants that, sure, but I need mass majority).

[Ryo Asuka]

There is only one problem I can see with this. There is technically already a system in place for this. We go down the priority list. From what I understand, you are suggesting that people take their season off the priority list and, effectively, put themselves at the bottom of the priority list. This work be find for people who did not have any urgency to host or anything. Unless you're suggesting having multiple seasons. For example, because by able to have a priority season and backup season. But still, theoretically, your priority season should be ready before the back-up. So, unless I'm misunderstanding it, I don't really see a clear use in it.

I guess my main concern is if the backups aren't ready when we need them to be.

[Chatt]

If you're working on two seasons, then I would assume you would obviously work on the priority season because ... it's priority. If you finish that, there would be no need for backup.

Maybe if you're working on a backup season, restrict the people from working on a priority if they're like 2 stars?

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Guess I wasn't clear enough.

I INTEND for people who won't host priority seasons normally to take backup. The end goal is to have people who are unwilling to participate in the priority queue to participate in teh backup queue instead.

More overall masterminds. The goal is to not encourage hosts to make backups over priority.

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Also, yes Priority is the idea for initial backups. Sadly, that has proven to not be enough so I was thinking to add a little more.