Sanderson Elimination: Questions & Answers and Game Meta Discussion

[A Joe in the Bush]

I'd like to sign up to GM a MR, QF or LG. It's based on United States Government (Figured I'd do something different) and it can accommodate for as many or as little players that sign up

Did my wildly inaccurate portrayal of the senate scare you that much?

 

Also, I would like to sign up to run a QF as well. This game has given me lots of ideas of how to screw with players.

[DeathClutch19 he/him]

Did my wildly inaccurate portrayal of the senate scare you that much?

 

Also, I would like to sign up to run a QF as well. This game has given me lots of ideas of how to screw with players.

Maybe..

I just enjoy Government though and I thought of a super fun game.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

I've just been organizing my PMs from previous games, and when I got to LG5, the first I ever GMd, I realized how grateful I am that we no longer send new PMs for actions every single cycle. That was a pain.

[Elbereth she/her]

Oh, wow, that would be terrible. No. Definitely not.

[dants he/him]

Hey, I'd like to be GM sometime. I have some good ideas, but I'm not sure how to bring it into a full-fledged game. Is there a tutorial somewhere for GMing?

[A Joe in the Bush]

There's no tutorial, but there are a lot of experianced GMs you can pm for help and advice.

[Kasimir he/him]

Hey, I'd like to be GM sometime. I have some good ideas, but I'm not sure how to bring it into a full-fledged game. Is there a tutorial somewhere for GMing?

I think there are two separate things in your question: A. how to build a game (because that's what I get from you saying that you have some good ideas but are just not sure how to incorporate them) and B. how to run a game itself, etc.

With regard to the first, as Joe said, there's a lot of experience game builders and GMs you can PM, and of course, the Game Creation thread is a good place to bring problems of implementation to. With regard to B., there's another possibility, and that is that if you want some experience GMing (in tutorial mode, so as to speak), then you might want to ask some of the people up to GM a game soon if they'd like a co-GM. Doing so gives you some of the responsibilities of GMing and if you pick an experienced GM, you can learn a lot without being thrown down the deep end on Day One. That's what I did after the storming disaster in a bucket that was my first GMed game, anyway.

Anyway, just some suggestions. Also, I'm slightly drunk, so if there's a spelling error, hwoops, sorry

Edited April 14, 2016 by Kasimir

[Mailliw73 he/him]

FYI, LG20 signups will be going up in the next 24 hours.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

And LG20 is live!

[A Joe in the Bush]

Have the rules for Out Of Game pm's been written anywhere? Or are we just going with common sense of 'don't give away any info to players in the game?'

[Alvron he/him]

Sort of.  It's in the revamped rules that are still being worked on so they aren't really in force yet.  But one would think that common sense would rule here.

 

However if not, then here is the soon to be new rule:

Do not post in the thread after you die (unless you are given permission to by the GM). You’re dead, and the dead cannot speak. This also applies to dead eliminators. You cannot continue talking in the doc. If you have OOG PMs with other players, do not talk about anything with the game.

 

Edited May 3, 2016 by Alvron

[Seonid he/him]

LG21 is live and accepting applicants for fun, murder, and Shardic Power.*

 

*We regret that not all applicants will be able to receive Shardic Power. The successful applicant will be driven¹, active², strategic³, impetuous⁴, fun-loving⁵, and blessed by the RNG⁶.

 

1 - This is not actually true

2 - This either

3 - Who is writing these things?

4 - This is actually a bad trait for a Shard; I need to go speak with Legal

5 - Now this is just getting ridiculous

6 - Finally! This is actually the only trait that matters.

[Nyali she/her]

Could I sign up to run a game? MR or LG, whichever has fewer GMs already in the queue. From the looks of it, that'd be MR. This is one idea, but by the time my turns comes up, I might have a better one.

[Sart he/him]

Hey guys, who's running the next Mid-Range Game? Jain hasn't shown up since February, and Seonid is already running LG21, which should keep him plenty busy. I guess that means Ostrichofevil is GMing, but did we ever get a game concept from him? I just want the pipeline to keep moving smoothly.

[Elbereth she/her]

Hael is the next person able to do it, I believe. It'll be up in a day or two, I think.

[Haelbarde he/him]

To be honest, I was waiting to hear if Phat was ready to run something, because he's above the list. But if he can't, I do have something I can post.

[Metacognition he/him]

Just to let people know, we have Group PMs set up for figuring out who's running which games and when. We do try to keep on top of it. It's been a bit hectic at times, especially with the schedule change, but we've always done our best to make sure we keep to the schedule.

 

So don't worry about who's running what when. We've got that covered. Just prepare yourself for the next round, cause we'll always make sure that there's one available for everyone!

[Seonid he/him]

I'd like to be added back on the LG and MR GM lists, please.

[luckat she/her]

Just to let people know, we have Group PMs set up for figuring out who's running which games and when. We do try to keep on top of it. It's been a bit hectic at times, especially with the schedule change, but we've always done our best to make sure we keep to the schedule.

 

So don't worry about who's running what when. We've got that covered. Just prepare yourself for the next round, cause we'll always make sure that there's one available for everyone!

I appreciate that you try to keep on top what games are coming up. It is nice that the games typically start promptly and that the GM list is updated often.

However, the current list really doesn’t give a good idea of what is coming without a lot of supplemental information about who is active in SE. It is frustrating that it is necessary to be part of a hidden PM to have an accurate idea of what games are coming, especially when there is a public list that is supposed to give that information. I almost wonder what the point of having such a list in public is if all the useful, relevant information isn’t available to average players and apparently shouldn’t concern them.

Would it be possible to separate out the people who are unlikely to be ready to GM soon from the main GM list? They can have their position (probably at the top) back when they return, or be placed a few spots down if they’d prefer to work out the details of their game or get back into the community before they GM. Until then, they wouldn’t be taking up space at the top of the list and misleading anyone who looks at it. It would be less confusing if an occasional person jumped to the top instead of a whole bunch of people always passing. I think just that would go a long way toward making the transition between games smoother.

Also, I think it would be good to have some kind of “on deck” state for the next game of each type where it’s decided for sure (barring extreme circumstances) what the next game will be further in advance (like when the game before it starts). Then, for example, Hael wouldn’t be waiting until the day before his game’s signups start for Phat to pass, and GMs would have time when they know their game is coming next to prepare to run their game.

I just think it would be good if the list everyone can see accurately showed what the people who can see it care about (what games they can look forward to and about when--especially what’s next--and possibly how many games will probably be run before theirs if they want to be added to the list) instead of some kind of nebulous signup order with a bunch of permapasses at the top.

[little wilson she/her]

The list of who passes and such is something that we were tracking on the Master Doc, which you guys didn't have access to. But I've now linked it in the GM list post for view only mode, since there's really no reason why it can't be available. For convenience, here it is again.

[A Joe in the Bush]

What's the rules for using computer programs that can track player's online times? I was planing on asking Mestiv for a custom sog, but such a custom sig would track who viewed my sig at what time as a side effect. Is that allowed?

[AliasSheep]

Can I sign up to run a QF?  It'd be the spy themed one from this post.

[little wilson she/her]

What's the rules for using computer programs that can track player's online times? I was planing on asking Mestiv for a custom sog, but such a custom sig would track who viewed my sig at what time as a side effect. Is that allowed?

 

The simple answer is no. The more complicated answer is that if you can write a program that can merely expedite something that you are already able to do yourself, that's fine. If you cannot write a program or the program you've written does something that you wouldn't be able to do without the program, you can't use the program.

 

What this means is that if you have the skills to write programs, you cannot share them with other players--unless you're sharing them with everyone. You also can't have a program do something that you cannot do. Like writing an encryption program where you wouldn't be able to decode the message (or write a new one) without the program. Or checking online times/places of users when you're not online. 

[AliasSheep]

Whoever's editing the GM doc, it's the Spy game rather than the WoT game I'm doing.  

[Nyali she/her]

Whoever's editing the GM doc, it's the Spy game rather than the WoT game I'm doing.  

Good choice. That game looks really interesting.