Setup Discussion for Starter Game.

[Cryptonic]

Thank you for ignoring the rest of my post to pretend that I was insulting everyone who has ever played the mod. Pray tell, where do you think I come from that I cannot relate to this experience whatsoever?

If someone moves from the mod to FMs, their play IS going to be low-quality because they're not used to playing. Giving them a similar setup to one that they can just play in the mod isn't going to encourage them to stick around.

They will find it far easier to just continue playing the mod if they get the impression that FMs are just a longer version of them.

Well it's a ridiculous statement to make. People from the mod already know how to scum hunt.
We're not going on the mod and being like "Hey Man, You sucked shit. You sheeped and lynched 3 fellow Town members and handed the game to the Mafia. Have you ever considered Forum Mafia?". No, we're pulling in people who have at least shown some natural talent. Yes, someone is going to have low-quality FM skills, but they develop it by playing FM.

Just because a FM setup is similar to a SC2 Mod setup, does not mean the games get played the same. How are you coming to that conclusion?

[Calix]

Well it's a ridiculous statement to make. People from the mod already know how to scum hunt.
We're not going on the mod and being like "Hey Man, You sucked shit. You sheeped and lynched 3 fellow Town members and handed the game to the Mafia. Have you ever considered Forum Mafia?". No, we're pulling in people who have at least shown some natural talent. Yes, someone is going to have low-quality FM skills, but they develop it by playing FM.

Just because a FM setup is similar to a SC2 Mod setup, does not mean the games get played the same. How are you coming to that conclusion?

How exactly does this recruitment of the mod players with "natural talent" work? What's the process?

I came to that conclusion based on my experiences with this site, where too many players focus on trying to solve the game using mechanics, setup speculation, host meta, etc, instead of meshing that with their reads on players.

This is something that should change in order to improve the quality of ALL games and it would be nice if we could make that a priority with the new players.

[Cryptonic]

How exactly does this recruitment of the mod players with "natural talent" work? What's the process?

I came to that conclusion based on my experiences with this site, where too many players focus on trying to solve the game using mechanics, setup speculation, host meta, etc, instead of meshing that with their reads on players.

This is something that should change in order to improve the quality of ALL games and it would be nice if we could make that a priority with the new players.

You play with people. You are impressed with their play, their actions, ect. You initiate a conversation with them and invite them to play.

Yes, improving the quality of games is definitely a priority, but it is not the purpose of something like this. It is to increase overall traffic.


Please look @ the setup I posted and explain to me how a setup like that would discourage scum hunting.

[DarknessB]

You play with people. You are impressed with their play, their actions, ect. You initiate a conversation with them and invite them to play.

Yes, improving the quality of games is definitely a priority, but it is not the purpose of something like this. It is to increase overall traffic.


Please look @ the setup I posted and explain to me how a setup like that would discourage scum hunting.

I would think most of us would be concerned with quality over quantity though, given the size of most S-FMs and fact that it can only take one bad apple to ruin the entire bunch / an entire game. Perhaps part of that is greater policing by hosts, FM staff, and the community itself to discourage and / or penalize problematic behavior. I just feel like it's very easy for new players to not get it, not care that they are wrecking games with the behavior, and leave a string of dead slots before they lose interest in the game.

We obviously can't prevent people from signing for games, but I'd argue hosts, the FM staff, and the community should play a larger role in making sure that doesn't happen. As it is, I feel like everyone (especially hosts and FM staff) has an overly laissez-faire attitude and let the problem players fester until dedicated community members leave out of frustration over the decreased quality of play / unaddressed issues in games. I realize this is a bit of a tangent, but the point is related in terms of quality > quantity IMO.

[Cryptonic]

I would think most of us would be concerned with quality over quantity though, given the size of most S-FMs and fact that it can only take one bad apple to ruin the entire bunch / an entire game. Perhaps part of that is greater policing by hosts, FM staff, and the community itself to discourage and / or penalize problematic behavior. I just feel like it's very easy for new players to not get it, not care that they are wrecking games with the behavior, and leave a string of dead slots before they lose interest in the game.

We obviously can't prevent people from signing for games, but I'd argue hosts, the FM staff, and the community should play a larger role in making sure that doesn't happen. As it is, I feel like everyone has an overly laissez-faire attitude and let the problem players fester until dedicated community members leave out of frustration over the decreased quality of play. I realize this is a bit of a tangent, but the point is related in terms of quality > quantity IMO.

I don't understand the correlation between people who ruin games and having a setup with fewer Citizens. Am I missing something?

[DarknessB]

I don't understand the correlation between people who ruin games and having a setup with fewer Citizens. Am I missing something?

I was addressing more your point about the types of players that we recruit from the mod and needing to be very careful and deliberate about who we encourage to give FM a shot. It really only takes one player to ruin games and players from the outside who aren't familiar with our customs are often more likely to be that type of disruptive person.

The recruiting side is what relates to this discussion -- in the past, players with a heavy presence on the mod's ban list have been recruited to play FM by some members of the community, and I'd argue we need to very careful to ensure those players do not carry that behavior over to FM games, as has occurred in some cases.

[DarknessB]

We're not going on the mod and being like "Hey Man, You sucked shit. You sheeped and lynched 3 fellow Town members and handed the game to the Mafia. Have you ever considered Forum Mafia?"

That's very close to, if not literally, how SuperJack recruits, Crypt -- were you not aware of the "ex-cons for FM" program?