07-06-2018, 08:21 AM
So, I do feel a certain desire to address a statement here very specifically:
I'm really disappointed by this statement. Not just because it minimizes an issue to it's easiest-to-attack point by satirizing it with the bullet line.
That being said, I wanted to talk about this because it's personally affected me. I have several different people who I used to roleplay with who I don't now. One of the main issues I've heard is the problem with moves.
Now, in particular, I attempted to get one of my friends from another old site onto here. This lady is someone I have worked with before, in capacity as an admin on another site. She used to do move approval for me and help me out when I was just starting off. She's got more experience in roleplaying than I do. I tried to explain the move system to her, and eventually she ended up deciding not to bother.
Now, one could say it's due to impatience? but we took a few days working through the site together. One could say it's due to inexperience as a roleplayer? Except this is a girl I consider my peer if not outright better than me at roleplaying. This is the person who helped me learn a lot of what I know. She's clearly capable of understanding move mechanics to some degree given she was the taught me how to read them back on our old site, when I started. This is someone with well over 6 years of experience in roleplaying.
What does this outline?
Someone with many years of experience in roleplaying finds the move system currently too much of a problem to want to play here. And honestly?
I feel like that sometimes too. I don't find it fun to make new moves for approval. I find it exhausting to do the back-and-forth of how things work. And like I said, I still don't understand it well enough, now, to generally make a move that works the first time. I've been on the site for three years, I have a move (that was a team effort built with Greg, I’ll note, in order to avoid stealing credit) on the example list, and I still can't manage it on the first go-around.
I'm bringing this up because I feel like the issue of losing potential players because of the move system being a road-block isn't something that should be ignored, or can't be over-stated. This is a problem I've had with three different people who would have been great, fun additions to the Omniverse when introducing them to the place. I wasn't given room for ambiguity upon asking them about it - the move rules were overwhelming and they weren't willing to take days of time and effort just to figure out the basics of it. It didn't seem fun.
And my thoughts are - if so many people that I'm showing this site to, that come here looking at the place with a glowing recommendation from a friend they trust, still don't want to jump in after seeing the Move system - I can't help but think that we're missing a bunch of anonymous people who've come to see the site through voting, search terms, etc. that had an honest interest in joining - and saw the moves - and left.
even if that's just 1 person, I'm counting a total of four members minimum we've lost from the system.
I’m aware everyone is working really hard on the staff side of things, and by the fact that the survey question has come up in the first place, It’s clear that everyone’s open to input, and I appreciate that, but I’d also like to use this feedback opportunity to stress this: the move system is a roadblock to a lot of new players looking to join the site is a very real problem, and not one that should be minimized.
Quote:I doubt anyone didn't join because they didn't want to say "my gun has X bullets". Maybe being intimidated by the idea of having to add or balance charge times. That said, I wouldn't be too surprised if someone didn't because they were under the impression they were expected to try and keep track of those X bullets. I think a lot of the problem is people overestimated what's required of them when making moves. If you say what you're wanting to do, I will help. Or someone else will.[/color]
I'm really disappointed by this statement. Not just because it minimizes an issue to it's easiest-to-attack point by satirizing it with the bullet line.
That being said, I wanted to talk about this because it's personally affected me. I have several different people who I used to roleplay with who I don't now. One of the main issues I've heard is the problem with moves.
Now, in particular, I attempted to get one of my friends from another old site onto here. This lady is someone I have worked with before, in capacity as an admin on another site. She used to do move approval for me and help me out when I was just starting off. She's got more experience in roleplaying than I do. I tried to explain the move system to her, and eventually she ended up deciding not to bother.
Now, one could say it's due to impatience? but we took a few days working through the site together. One could say it's due to inexperience as a roleplayer? Except this is a girl I consider my peer if not outright better than me at roleplaying. This is the person who helped me learn a lot of what I know. She's clearly capable of understanding move mechanics to some degree given she was the taught me how to read them back on our old site, when I started. This is someone with well over 6 years of experience in roleplaying.
What does this outline?
Someone with many years of experience in roleplaying finds the move system currently too much of a problem to want to play here. And honestly?
I feel like that sometimes too. I don't find it fun to make new moves for approval. I find it exhausting to do the back-and-forth of how things work. And like I said, I still don't understand it well enough, now, to generally make a move that works the first time. I've been on the site for three years, I have a move (that was a team effort built with Greg, I’ll note, in order to avoid stealing credit) on the example list, and I still can't manage it on the first go-around.
I'm bringing this up because I feel like the issue of losing potential players because of the move system being a road-block isn't something that should be ignored, or can't be over-stated. This is a problem I've had with three different people who would have been great, fun additions to the Omniverse when introducing them to the place. I wasn't given room for ambiguity upon asking them about it - the move rules were overwhelming and they weren't willing to take days of time and effort just to figure out the basics of it. It didn't seem fun.
And my thoughts are - if so many people that I'm showing this site to, that come here looking at the place with a glowing recommendation from a friend they trust, still don't want to jump in after seeing the Move system - I can't help but think that we're missing a bunch of anonymous people who've come to see the site through voting, search terms, etc. that had an honest interest in joining - and saw the moves - and left.
even if that's just 1 person, I'm counting a total of four members minimum we've lost from the system.
I’m aware everyone is working really hard on the staff side of things, and by the fact that the survey question has come up in the first place, It’s clear that everyone’s open to input, and I appreciate that, but I’d also like to use this feedback opportunity to stress this: the move system is a roadblock to a lot of new players looking to join the site is a very real problem, and not one that should be minimized.