Note from your Producer

[Karl Jak]

I thought for a while about whether or not I wanted to type this up or to just let it go, take a break from the site for a few days, and then just move on with one of my various future plots.
 
I figure it best that I type it anyway.  If only because it’ll bother me if I just kept my mouth shut.
 
Over the last few weeks, I’ve had the strained ‘pleasure’ of hosting a competitive event.  As part of my role as ‘host’ or ‘showrunner’ or ‘gm’ or whatever term you’d like to use, I was in conversation with the majority of the people who volunteered to participate.
 
Which meant I’ve had to deal with weeks of complaining, salt, and angst – directed at me, directed at other people, directed at everything.
 
I say this with zero regrets – some of you shouldn’t participate in competitive events like this.  It turns you into awful, unbearable people.  I know that people get competitive (and that’s healthy), but sometimes, it’s just way too much.  I love your passion.  That’s why I (usually) like dedicating myself during this time of the year to holding an event with a group of writers/people that I respect.  I get to see some of my ‘old favorites’ gear up for another shot at glory.  I also get to see new faces to the website get their feet wet. Better yet, I get to see people I remember from X months ago, and I get to be so impressed at how much they’ve grown since I last had the free time to read their writing.  It’s usually a really wonderful experience.
 
This year, I can’t say that I genuinely enjoyed this.  The raging (or salt, whatever you want to call it) and the hideous amount of meta-gaming is just frustrating.  It got to the point where I felt like the nonsense bled down into your character’s actions (avoiding fights, odd ball pairings for the fact that the writers were colluding, etc).
 
And don’t get me started on consumables or movement.  Both were just awful and gave me migraines.  In both instances, I quickly realized they were just things people were going to abuse (and I don’t mean ‘abuse maliciously’, because I don’t think anyone here is malicious), despite the fact that they were set up to try and create a leveled field.  The intent of this event was for people to wander around and fight one another.  The logistics of item drops and spam-movement wound up helping turn this more into something like DA15, where meta-groups (because even if you people aren’t together, you still feel compelled to  collude anyway so your friends win) ran the madhouse.  I think it’s just part of human nature, so I personally don’t hold ill will.
 
And neither should any of you.  All this crap about “Man, I lost respect for X” is garbage.
 
Cut it out.  You’re are all guilty of frustrating crimes of passion.  Wonderful passion but passion nevertheless.
 
So I hope you enjoyed it.  Despite the persistent headaches and mild frustrations, I did.  I always like to see people ‘kick it up a notch’ to try and do their best.
 
I will see you next year.  You’ll have your choice of a Syntech Story, a traditional competition, or something that Greg and I are going to work on at some point over the coming calendar year.
 
So again, thank you for your time and your frantic passion.
 
Love each other.
 
Love you all,
 
-Karl Jak/Alex

[Omni]

While I love you for running the event, out of your own time, I do feel that this DA was left far too unfinished. The design left far too many holes that I knew were going to get fixed the moment you realised, but frankly, I could see most of the problems miles off. I didn't want to say as such or tell you how to run it, because it felt disrespectful. However, I do feel it contributed to what ended up being a really salty game.

Unfortunately being part of it, that made it near-impossible to fix without having a vested interest in any changes.

Next year I won't be participating, so that I can oversee the design and help give advice while it's going on. I feel I'm uniquely good at design for stat-based PbP RPGs. It might be the one thing I'm better at than anything else. Therefore I could've helped, but I chose to participate instead and so a lot of people got (rightfully) upset about various problems that created an unfair, and oftentimes random playing field. I don't blame anyone for using the rules to their full advantage. But I do blame the system itself for creating salt.

It's all fun and games, but we have a lot of passion for our writing on this site and the time we put in, and I want to respect that, which is why I'll be dipping out next year to help with the design side. I wanna clarify that I take full responsibility as site admin for NOT doing so earlier - I had full opportunity to do so, and I take full responsibility for everything that's allowed to happen on the site. S'why I've been helping out with DD updates, and why I should've helped here as well.

I do have some feelings of my own I'll probably be sharing in another topic, once I've had the time to sort them out in my head.

[Oleander]

If I might toss in my two cents, I think the biggest flaw was the horrible mix of eager anticipation and oversight on the competitive nature of the game and the secret desire of players to have their name in the top slot.

Basically, the blame is on everyone. Maybe before next year, pop a thread about the mechanics. Have the OC be rules, then people start posting exploits below it. Second post be a list of patches (placeholder at first.) This is how we did a lot of our high-intensity competitions on [politely censored to avoid product contamination.] The RP site was SUPER heavy on these sorts of minigames, with usually three or four a year. This was the "tried and true" method they found to work for six or so years running.

The whole point of that thread is to try and break the game. You don't have to worry about all the minor issues, but you'll quickly find the biggest issues, after getting a dozen variants of the same exploit.


Of course you can stick to the generic ruleset, leaving special encounters/events/etc as a surprise.

[Handsome Jack]

Since I already threw up a thread of the things I saw that were... less than optimal, I'll just say here that I'm impressed that you were able to keep a cool head yourself throughout the event. Because, even with the patience I've gained through raising a brood of needy children, I was getting incredibly frustrated.

As for how I feel about everyone else, I've told others I've been talking to that I feel exactly the same about these people that I did before. Some people I feel better about because I had a chance to interact with them when I hadn't before. Mark I barely knew before this DA. Now Archer and Cell are practically best pals.

For all the craziness that this DA had, it allowed Cell to grow in ways I hadn't even considered before. He no longer sees EVERYONE as food. He's started to develop relationships with people he'd otherwise have simply seen as a threat, as competition, or as worthless. It's become further ingrained in him that this world isn't like his own and that there are beings here that are incomparably stronger than he is. He has goals and motivations outside of "eat 17 and 18".

So, even though it was stressful and gamey and salty and everything else, I honestly DID enjoy this DA. At least 90% of it. Thanks for putting it on, pal! And... sorry if the other thread seems bitchy. It really wasn't my intent to come off angry/salty/gripey there at all.

[Karl Jak]

I take nothing personally. It might irritate me for a few days but then I get over it and move on with my life. That stems mainly from having to deal with the egos of 120+ pubescent teenagers over a ten month period.

[Handsome Jack]

Does that mean you'll let me eat you, then?

[Professor Sunshine]

Wait are you leaving for a year or skipping DA next year for something else? Your post was a bit vague. But either way I can understand. We have kinda been a bunch of jerks for using the map to our advantages and planning fights without telling you. We're sorry.

[Gildarts]

Wait are you leaving for a year or skipping DA next year for something else? Your post was a bit vague. But either way I can understand. We have kinda been a bunch of jerks for using the map to our advantages and planning fights without telling you. We're sorry.

He's hosting the next one next year is what he means.

[Professor Sunshine]

Wait are you leaving for a year or skipping DA next year for something else? Your post was a bit vague. But either way I can understand. We have kinda been a bunch of jerks for using the map to our advantages and planning fights without telling you. We're sorry.

He's hosting the next one next year is what he means.

Thanks Gildarts.

[Karl Jak]

With the last people departing and that last post from Karl, that brings this season of "Summer Syntech Shenanigans" to a conclusion.

Until we meet again, Omniverse. I'll be watching.

Smooches,

-Karl

PS - This board will remain open until the end of the weekend, after when it will be archived and the Dante Verse will shift back down to the 'Special Verses' category.