[Discussion] Private Invitation

[Razen]

Personally, I would say that it is the mod's right to do the signups however they want. The mod worked hard to create the game and it is highly disrespectful to sign up for a game and have to have the mod replace someone for inactivity. So if they feel that private invitations are the best way to go to get a fully active game, I support that.

 

If I was left out of a game due to private invite, I might be a little upset about it at first, especially if the game had a theme that I was really interested in playing. But I would try to step my game up so that I would be invited to future games.

[John E. Kelley]

Honestly Razen, I can't see a scenario where anyone that has posted in this thread so far would be left out of a private invite game. Everyone in here are the ones the mods want, or at least that's what I think.

[Nolder]

slightly offtopic but how do we feel about mods that are less active than some of their players?

 

I've been in a few games where I was wondering where the heck our mod went

I think each time they had a legitimate excuse but it still sucked

I'm wondering if we shouldn't run comodded games more often so even if the "main" mod falls off the face of the earth for whatever reason there's usually someone else to pick up the pieces

 

then again that decreases the player pool and it seems like games around here tend to be 16+ players more often than not

[Alanna]

I hate that. And I will admit that I have been guilty of it once or maybe twice that I can think of. In both cases I was modding a game right after I had just modded one, so what I've learned is to absolutely not do that, even if someone asks me to (yes, I am totally thinking of the Harry Potter game in the White Tower. I was way to burned out by a game I had just modded, and by HP Week itself, to be modding another game). I need to have at least a good month or two because modding games, at the very least.

 

But it really does suck to have an inactive mod, and yeah, like you said, sometimes unexpected life stuff just comes up and what can you do? Having more comodded games probably would help with that, or just having a "backup" mod maybe, in case something happens.

 

Certainly if you are inactive as a mod, you can't really complain about inactive players in your game.

[Arez Al'Loke]

I strongly support the idea of a co-modded game.. I can see no downsides with it, and the LilKat game worked very well, even if it was apparantly unbalanced at first =P

[LilyElizabeth]

It was good that we had two mods in our game, when Kat's computer went down. She could have done it from her phone, I guess, but it would have been harder. And shhh about the balance issues.... lol. We'll just keep that between us, okay?

[Kathleen]

I felt soo bad going out like I did and leaving lily with it all, but the same time I was soo glad she was there and stepped it up when I dropped out. I can barely type a post on my new phone, I was not about to fight over multiple pages open and vote counts and I still haven't figured out how to get to the qts on it.

[LilyElizabeth]

I'm just glad it worked out like it did.

[keyholder21]

I like co-modded games, coming from a player POV. They tend to have at least one seriously active mod, even better if it's both which generally also encourages more activity from the players as well.

[Red2111]

Honestly Razen, I can't see a scenario where anyone that has posted in this thread so far would be left out of a private invite game. Everyone in here are the ones the mods want, or at least that's what I think.

 

^ this

 

 

slightly offtopic but how do we feel about mods that are less active than some of their players?

 

I've been in a few games where I was wondering where the heck our mod went

I think each time they had a legitimate excuse but it still sucked

I'm wondering if we shouldn't run comodded games more often so even if the "main" mod falls off the face of the earth for whatever reason there's usually someone else to pick up the pieces

 

then again that decreases the player pool and it seems like games around here tend to be 16+ players more often than not

 

i love co-modding, but there are a few downsides to it. with smaller games, a co-mod could do more harm than good (too many cooks in the kitchen). you also need a good line of comunication and the use of a googledoc so everyones on the same page. the new PM system allows for easier co-modding because you can add people to the PM thread, but before that you had to either have th co-mod send out the PMs or duplicate them which was a PITA. also, some mods can be territorial over their games, whether it's over flavor, how the roles work or how the vote counts are designed. which makes co-modding a nightmare.

 

another downfall, is if one of the mods is inactive, and there isn't a good line of communication; then games can stall out if the other mod is waiting on the first to mark down which actions have been recieved and which results are sent back.

 

another problem with co-mods; generally the people who want to mod Mafia games are also your active posters (ie: the people you want to play in your games) making them a co-mod keeps them from playing.

 

 

just some tips if anyone is wanting to co-mod. as for an inactive mod and keeping a game hung up, depends on the time length hat their inactive for. if its a day or two and it's not constant throughout the game, then i'm fine; but if they ditch on the game then i think there shoudl be a black list Org wide and they shouldn't be allowed to mod another, ever. it's just poor form. even if you have to ditch half way through; PM another Mafia Mod and ask them to take over for you adn send them your setup and notes. it only takes a few seconds the only game that comes to mind where this happened was Pete's Zelda game a few years ago <_<

[Nolder]

I think a good way to co mod without having to worry as much about coordination is have one mod do day events (vote counts, lynch scene, any day actions) and have the other mod do night events (night actions/results)

[Alanna]

just some tips if anyone is wanting to co-mod. as for an inactive mod and keeping a game hung up, depends on the time length hat their inactive for. if its a day or two and it's not constant throughout the game, then i'm fine; but if they ditch on the game then i think there shoudl be a black list Org wide and they shouldn't be allowed to mod another, ever. it's just poor form. even if you have to ditch half way through; PM another Mafia Mod and ask them to take over for you adn send them your setup and notes. it only takes a few seconds the only game that comes to mind where this happened was Pete's Zelda game a few years ago <_<

 

I mostly agree, but there would be some circumstances where it would be understandable. I mean, if you abandonded the game because you sudenly came down violently ill and had to be hopitalized, that's a good reason to have completely abandoned the game, without even PMing anyone about it.

[Ithillian Turambar]

I had a lot of people who said sign me up for my latest game. I decided to PM them and let them know that sign ups were open because I had been waiting so long to get the game started I wasn't sure if they would all still be able to play. I can't believe I forgot Nolder but luckily he found it all by himself. I got a good mix of new and experienced players plus knew they really wanted to play.

[Nynaeve]

I have a problem with it when it's an invite ONLY game. Seems very pompous to me. I wouldn't feel hurt by it, in truth... but it does sort of give you a 'you're not good enough to be in my game' sort of feel. So I'd basically just ignore it and possibly avoid taking part in games that mod runs in the future. Because if they set the bar, then they can't come crying later when no one wants to sign up for their game. It's a give and take relationship. People sign up or replace players.... but if the mod gets too high and mighty... then that won't do.

 

But if a mod lets a couple of people sign up before the sign up is there... or PMing them when the sign up has been posted....seems fine to me.

 

 

 

Nyn

[Turin Turambar]

I am of the opinion that since it is the Mod's game they have control of how to work all aspects including the sign-up process. I don't have a problem with a game here or there being invite only. There may be specific reasons for that decision that we as players shouldn't know about. (small game, complex setup, even just a desire to play a particular game just amongst friends)

 

Inactive modding kills games. I liked the games I have played so far that have had co-mods. The LilKat game was a lot of fun. (mum's the word on mad goings on)

[LilyElizabeth]

In an attempt to combat the inactivity around here, I did an invite-only game not too long ago, inviting only players I knew would be involved and play. (It was a partial success. The players weren't all as involved as I wanted.) So, yeah, sometimes there are reasons, if only the mod is trying something new.

[Nynaeve]

Heh. People I know are more likely to go inactive than people I do know xD

 

With that said, I'm not saying that the mod doesn't necessarily have a reason that feels valid to him/her. I'm more referring to how it comes across. Because regardless of the reason behind it... and I know a few reasoning for why mods kept it private... it always seems to center around having an example of game of how a Mafia game should be. I generally don't like the 'lets show you how it's done' attitude when someone who might not be a close friend of the mod genuinely wants to play but is excluded. Feels too cliquish to me, is all.

 

Also I'm not questioning the mod's right to do it. The mod runs the game and can do whatever the hell he/she wants. That's not disputable. But just because the mods can do it doesn't mean that they should.

 

 

Nyn

[John E. Kelley]

I get where it could upset some to be left out. But like I said before, to me, it would just make me want to improve game to be one of the players invited in future games. Kind of a challenge I guess. It really wouldn't offend me, but I see where it would for others.

[Arez Al'Loke]

A question Ishy, how would you improve your game if there are no games to join ^^?

[LilyElizabeth]

Arez, none of us would ever make all the games invitation only. It's a rare thing at most.

[Ithillian Turambar]

You got in my game Loke, and I had a pre interested list of folks I PMd with the sign up Thread. You were just faster than some of them :)

[Arez Al'Loke]

Why not? It seems like a very "good" way to solve inactivity problems and such.. Why wouldn't everyone have invite only games in that case?

[Arez Al'Loke]

I'm not saying that I specifically would have this problem Ithi ^^ But I'm speaking on the behalf of those that might have =)

[LilyElizabeth]

Speaking for my game, it didn't solve the problem.

[Arez Al'Loke]

This isn't about who is right or who is wrong. It might have worked for you Lily, making it a 100% public might even have made it worse.

 

I'm just saying that if everyone thought that invite only games were the solution, that would make things alot harder for the new people.

But as long as that isn't the case, then there isn't any problem ^^

 

I like the idea that the mod invites certain people when he/she wants to test something out. I agree that having newbies in such a game would not be the best choice.