The Saturday Games

[Bebop]

I don't be a nay sayer and all but the point of Saturday downtime is.  Downtime.

If you prefer to relax on Saturday, your weekday character wouldn't suffer by your not attending the arena.

It kind of makes Arm into a hack and slash one day a week, meh.

Maybe, if it were some kind of free-for-all bloodfest, but that isn't the idea. It would be like the arena matches that have been held before, except that people would have a lot of time to think about things, plan for it, and grow into the gladiator concept.

I miss Arm on Saturdays as much as the next person but I'm not talking about downtime for me.  I'm talking about downtime for the IMMs.  Who's going to set this up, who's going to code it so people can't run amuk, and approve two sets of characters now instead of one.  People are obviously going to have to stay in character, what IMM is going to have to take away from improving the game on a Saturday to come monitor this?

People can't starve to death etc etc, but yet it's still going to effect the game world?  It's not even like it's really Armageddon.  Are nobels going to be forced to dedicate this, what about Templarate?  Do these arena characters only play, and only train on Saturday?  Are they all slaves, and captured gladiators.  How do you get into the personality and background.  How do they train?  How are spectators admitted if the rest of the game is off limit?  How long are these games going to last?

The effort and complications to me don't seem worth it to me.  I still think it would be alot more similar to hack and slash, kind of a half done thing on Saturdays unless there is a lot of organization and rules put into it.  And even then who is going to oversee all this?

I know it -could- be done, but the IMMs have a lot of things to work on, hence Saturday down time so they can do it.  From what I gather there's a large list of things they are working on.  Saturday down time, is for just that, not to add a whole 'nother slate of work.  Plus having these constant battles will really decrease the glamour of the RPTs that the IMMs and sometimes nobels work hard to set up and make sure everything goes well for everyone.  Not to mention having that character you've had for a few days behind the keyboard and getting to compete.

If you were going to implement this why not just open the game up all together, it pretty much seems like the same thing.  Or why not have these gladiator competitions one day a week on a day the game -is- open and have it be a part of Armageddon the same as anything else.  Not some place where people can't starve, and may or may not be spectators etc etc.

[Anonymous]

I think I'll opt to gnaw my arm off in quiet frustration rather than continue to try to answer.  :lol: I've noticed that once people dig in, anything further is wasted breath.

All I'll say is that it wouldn't require anywhere near the effort people seem to think it would, and that I'm speaking from a position of experience.

[Tamarin]

How can you say that, with no idea about what the staff are up to on Saturday downtime, doing maintenance for the REGULAR game?  You just have no clue about how much effort this would take, given the infrastructure that's already established.  If time was spent on this, then you can be sure that things in the actual game world would slow down dramatically.

This is, assuming, that you aren't former staff.

I just see no point to this at all.  Take your saturday off away from the computer, and let the imms do what they do.

[Agent_137]

I like the idea of all of us choosing a particular favorite hack and slash mud to go play on.

[Moofassa]

Yeah... pick a shitty, uninhabited one.. like Redemption..

[ale six]

It seems like setting this up would need some staff work, as other people have said. It also sounds like it would become extra work for noble/templar PCs, if they're in charge of arranging events or whatever.

Do Allanaki nobles/templars get to log their own characters in during these events? If so, you're giving them time to plot and roleplay their PCs when no one else can. If not, it'd be hard for them to arrange anything.

If they are allowed to play, will other players be able to see them? Learning the names/sdescs of important figures isn't exactly trivial information and players of desert elves or Tulukis may not want to be exposed to it OOCly.

If players can only log in as generic spectators or gladiators, would this really be all that fun? I think after a few weeks of watching people beat on each other with the combat code, it would get boring for everyone involved. If you wanted to make it less boring you would have to connect it to the game world more, or let people play persistent characters. All of a sudden we're developing second PCs to play on Saturdays either as gladiators or spectators. Roleplaying somebody in such a narrow existance doesn't really appeal to me that much.

Just seems like a lot of fuss over a Saturday. Why not just leave your computer behind and go play outside instead?

[Anonymous]

It seems like setting this up would need some staff work, as other people have said. It also sounds like it would become extra work for noble/templar PCs, if they're in charge of arranging events or whatever.

I believe that after some initial effort, it would take one person to run the whole show. The gladiators wouldn't need much attention, just the opportunity to train with each other and practise strutting about in an amusing manner.

Do Allanaki nobles/templars get to log their own characters in during these events? If so, you're giving them time to plot and roleplay their PCs when no one else can. If not, it'd be hard for them to arrange anything.

No. All they'd need to do is schedule the matches. Who is going to face who or what in what order. Whether it's just a battle, a death match, or whether clemency of the crowd is allowed. It could all fit into half a page of text (except if they decide to do something special occasionally). Then the Templar of the Games would follow this program.

If players can only log in as generic spectators or gladiators, would this really be all that fun? I think after a few weeks of watching people beat on each other with the combat code, it would get boring for everyone involved.

This is a fair question. I think a lot would depend on how good the gladiator PCs were at putting on a show. Remember too that it doesn't have to be an awesome experience every week to be worthwhile. And if it gets stale at the rate once a week, then it could be run more intermittently.

Just seems like a lot of fuss over a Saturday. Why not just leave your computer behind and go play outside instead?

I don't know, why do anything at all? Why play Arm or even crawl out of bed in the morning? Because it has the potential to be fun or at least interesting.

[Anonymous]

It also sounds like it would become extra work for noble/templar PCs, if they're in charge of arranging events or whatever.

Also, I would hope that it would be fun for the nobles to do this, rather than "work".

To toss another idea into the pot, some of the gladiators could be of races that PCs don't generally play in the game. Like a gith or braxat or johzal.

[Anonymous]

How can you say that, with no idea about what the staff are up to on Saturday downtime, doing maintenance for the REGULAR game?  You just have no clue about how much effort this would take, given the infrastructure that's already established.  If time was spent on this, then you can be sure that things in the actual game world would slow down dramatically.

Aren't you guilty of the very thing you're accusing me of? What do you know about what the staff does? Why do so many people presume to speak for them when the staff is capable of commenting for themselves here on the GDB (and often does)?

This is, assuming, that you aren't former staff.

In fact I was. A long time ago and not a storyteller of consequence, nor do I presume to speak for the staff now in any way. But it left me with a better knowledge of Arm's underpinnings than most players likely have. What I really was referring to though was years of professional programming experience, a period of tenure at the head of a prominent LPMud during its heyday, and some detailed knowledge of how DIKU muds work (and Arm is still has a DIKU mud core, even with all of its modifications). Maybe now you'll admit I just might have a clue of what I'm talking about?

I just see no point to this at all.  Take your saturday off away from the computer, and let the imms do what they do.

Haha... probably some ancestor of yours saw no point at all in the wheel when so many healthy slaves were available to roll blocks of stone along logs. Just kidding, but you really don't see it as having any potential for fun?

[Bogre]

Hey, I've got an idea. How about a couple of us players who know how to code download a codebase and just fix it so we can all play gladiator ness on Saturdays? We'd have a couple of players being Templars of the Games, a few being gladiator/masters or whatever, and the rest playing guest spectators or their gladiators. Then it wouldn't require any imm support, it would be solely the efforts of those players who are interested in this idea.

[Tamarin]

I really don't see the potential for fun.  And considering that the staff had to implement rules governing all sorts of things like custom items, player run clans, etc etc because there were just too many requests, I feel that this would simply add to that pile.

And quite frankly, there have been so many wicked additions to the code within the actual game over the past 8 months alone.  My props go out to Tiernan and the other coders.  I really doubt they'd have had time to make all these additions if they had been focused on putting in a silly (imho) gladiator thing to satiate the need for saturday downtime gratification.

If it's a choice between 12-14 extra hours of playtime that doesn't affect the game world one iota, or new additions like the biography command...sorry.  New additions win every time.

[Anonymous]

If it's a choice between 12-14 extra hours of playtime that doesn't affect the game world one iota, or new additions like the biography command...sorry.  New additions win every time.

Uhuh. Guess who suggested the biography command? Would you have been calling that silly too before it was implemented?

[Supreme Allah]

I like the idea. I think it has the potential to be a good deal of fun.

I don't know much about what's involved codewise, and I won't claim to by commenting from that perspective.

[Yokunama]

I have mixed feelings about the idea.

[Tamarin]

Uhuh. Guess who suggested the biography command? Would you have been calling that silly too before it was implemented?

If you're implying that you were the one who suggested it, and that by doing so it makes your support of this gladiator proposal more valid, then I suggest that you stop posting anonymously.  This feature, in some way shape or form, has been floating in the counsciousness of the player base for a while (usually as the want to be able to include extended backgrounds somehow).

I would have never called the bio command silly.  I think it's a fantastic idea, one that was desperately needed.  And besides, you're comparing apples and oranges.  The bio command is a system to trace and develop a record of your character over an extended period of time.  This adds color and continuity to the game in a real, tangible way.  Saturday downtime arena matches do not.

At any rate, I've stated my opinion.  If the staff really feel that this would be a worthwhile addition, fine.  I just hope that it doesn't at all affect the game that's up during the other 6 days of the week.

[Anonymous]

At any rate, I've stated my opinion.

Yes. That's all you really needed to do in the first place. You know, instead of trying to tell me I have no clue, that my ideas are silly and forth. But I forgive you.  :lol:

[marko]

Well, Anonymous Kank, I'd feel better about the validity of your posts if you posted under some sort account name.  I'm not sure why you are posting anonymously but I guess you have your reasons.  

Look, if you are so great at this stuff (and I'm not going to pass judgement on that at all since you may very well be) and you clearly are seeing something I'm not (it's been years since I did any coding) then please - enlighten me.  Show me how what you are proposing is simple and easy do to.

By doing so you'll gain a convert and, beyond that, you'll have the base of a proposal that can be sent to the staff who can read it and go, "Hey, this won't be so difficult as it might be."

In the end, it doesn't really matter, you have some vision and I'm rather muddled by it.  My seeing the vision isn't important.  

The idea, itself, has merit but I don't see it being easy from what you've put forth.

[Maybe42or54]

I just want to be a gladiator.

[Tlaloc]

There's no reason you can't play a gladiator.

[Yokunama]

I just want to be a gladiator.

A gladiator covered in honey?

[spawnloser]

Regardless of how easy it is, I still think it silly to open up yet another copy of Arm to run so that people can play "Armageddon, Hack 'n' Slash Edition."

If you want hack 'n' slash, go do hack 'n' slash on some other mud during the downtime.  I think Agent and Moofasa liked my idea originally, we all pick one hack 'n' slash mud to go run amok on together and kill each other.

Of course, we'd have to make sure that the mud we picked suited our purposes...but that shouldn't be hard.

[Cuusardo]

With all the other hack and slash muds out there, why would you want to turn the best roleplay mud into one of them, even if only for a few hours?

[Seeker]

I think its an interesting idea, but I am not so much for it.

This alternate Saturday-only world would not BE ArmageddonMUD.  It wouldn't answer my cravings for that damnable "what happens next"?

Love the game, but this sounds like methadone to me.

For my time, give me the real stuff, or leave me sweating and shaking.


Seeker

[mansa]

This alternate Saturday-only world would not BE ArmageddonMUD.  It wouldn't answer my cravings for that damnable "what happens next"?

I think that's the best reason for not implementing the idea.  It's not going to be the same _game_ in no way at all.

[Yokunama]

If there was any "Saturday Games", I think i'd spend most of my time idling until the actual game was back up.