View Full Version : SMBG Regulations?
Admiral_Kelly
2009-02-04, 10:47 AM
We are aware that the mods have some more plans to change the forums in some way to handle bandwidth and most of us are 99% sure that has to do with the SMBG section. We also are aware the mods want to keep said section. It is also agreed the reason why the section causes so much trouble is because of the games which require a player to hit 'refresh' every five minutes.
I purpose a set of rules regulating games be put in place to remedy this. These rules would not apply to the Free Forum Roleplaying section though - but talking about regulations for the FFRP subforum would not be off-topic.
First, all games must be from a moderator approved list. If you start a game that is not on the list? The thread is purged and you receive an infraction. If you wish to start a new game you must submit your idea to a moderator via private message who will look it over and approve or disapprove it. The rules and all details about these games will be addressed in a locked sticky atop of the forum.
Second, in order to get your game approved it must meet some standards. All games must have an inevitable end (no more 'say something about the poster above/below/that you like/etc.' which frankly are not games at all). The game must have clear rules and an objective. It must not be a roleplaying game (this last one does require a moderator's discretion).
With these rules in place all games would essentially be structured; so I further purpose having the SMBG section separated into two main forums; Structured Games and Free Forum Roleplaying.
Feel free to add your own thoughts and opinions on this issue.
Mauve Shirt
2009-02-04, 11:11 AM
What about the people that aren't roleplayers and are intimidated by the structured games? :smallannoyed: Getting moderator approval is fine, but saying the TPAM games aren't really games at all is false. I personally enjoy those a lot, and I don't go back and refresh the page over and over 'til someone responds.
Admiral_Kelly
2009-02-04, 11:25 AM
To clarify; by 'game' I go by dictionary.com's third definition (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/game):
"a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators."
If by 'game' you mean amusement, however, you would be correct. However, in my view if it comes down to having to raise the bar for games or getting rid of SMBG entirely then I am prone to agree with the former.
turkishproverb
2009-02-04, 11:34 AM
Erm, first of all there is both chance and endurance to most of the thread types you talked about with such negative connotation. They have rules, and involve two or more people as well. The only difference between them and a traditional game is much like the difference between many games and RPG's, namely "winning" is less simple.
Second, not that many people involved in those types of game do the repeated refresh thing.
Third of all, contrary to your implied opinion, alot of people DO repeatedly refresh in Freeform roleplaying.
Fourth, this would place a relatively needless burden upon the existing moderaters.
The Neoclassic
2009-02-04, 11:39 AM
If the admins see the unstructured silly games to be one of the major causes of server problems, then fine, get rid of them. However, just because you don't enjoy them or think the semantics are inaccurate isn't a good enough reason. I mean, I don't know about The Town (whatever that section is called now), but I haven't seen much evidence that people sit on their bums refreshing silly games every couple of minutes, constantly. I mean, I suppose some people might, but there's not even a counts-towards-your-post-count incentive (Yes, not that that actually matters). At least, I see just as much activity in several other sections of the forums as I do there. Again, if admin have or do actually say that the silly games are causing severe server strain, I'm for getting rid of them. In absense of that, they should not just be gotten rid of because they aren't for everyone or might have a few refresh-button-happy people on them.
Dallas-Dakota
2009-02-04, 11:44 AM
We are aware that the mods have some more plans to change the forums in some way to handle bandwidth and most of us are 99% sure that has to do with the SMBG section. We also are aware the mods want to keep said section. It is also agreed the reason why the section causes so much trouble is because of the games which require a player to hit 'refresh' every five minutes.
I purpose a set of rules regulating games be put in place to remedy this. These rules would not apply to the Free Forum Roleplaying section though - but talking about regulations for the FFRP subforum would not be off-topic.
First, all games must be from a moderator approved list. If you start a game that is not on the list? The thread is purged and you receive an infraction. If you wish to start a new game you must submit your idea to a moderator via private message who will look it over and approve or disapprove it. The rules and all details about these games will be addressed in a locked sticky atop of the forum.
Second, in order to get your game approved it must meet some standards. All games must have an inevitable end (no more 'say something about the poster above/below/that you like/etc.' which frankly are not games at all). The game must have clear rules and an objective. It must not be a roleplaying game (this last one does require a moderator's discretion).
With these rules in place all games would essentially be structured; so I further purpose having the SMBG section separated into two main forums; Structured Games and Free Forum Roleplaying.
Feel free to add your own thoughts and opinions on this issue.
So you're basically saying, thinly disguised' : Get rid of the SMBG, keep FFR and Structured.
And you're wrong. You know what? You know who actually do most of that f5'ing?
No offense ment, but it's mainly FFR who are actively roleplaying. It requires attention to see if the other has posted something back. To see that, they need to refresh.
No, I'm not saying 'get rid of FFR' or 'Get rid of active roleplaying as a whole'. Please don't take my post as that.
Admiral_Kelly
2009-02-04, 03:44 PM
I do realize the FFRP subforum is a problem and perhaps more so than the other two sections. However, unlike the other sections I cannot find a solution to FRRP subforum other than removing it. I will agree though if the non-structured silly games are not a problem then there is no need for it. The mods have said, however, habits of posters of the SMBG section as a whole are deterring the forums.
If these rules would put another burden on the mods as someone has put it, then get more moderators. Lots of people would be willing to handle it.
Zherog
2009-02-04, 03:59 PM
I do realize the FFRP subforum is a problem and perhaps more so than the other two sections. However, unlike the other sections I cannot find a solution to FRRP subforum other than removing it.
Institute a rule that says you can only post in any given thread once every 20 minutes.
Would it affect the roleplay? Yeah, a little I'm sure. However, with a 20 minute "cooldown" between posts, there's really no reason to keep pressing refresh while you wait for somebody to reply.
Admiral_Kelly
2009-02-04, 11:53 PM
Twenty minutes is too long. Ten would suffice.
RabbitHoleLost
2009-02-05, 12:30 AM
Institute a rule that says you can only post in any given thread once every 20 minutes.
Would it affect the roleplay? Yeah, a little I'm sure. However, with a 20 minute "cooldown" between posts, there's really no reason to keep pressing refresh while you wait for somebody to reply.
If by a little, you mean it would kill the entire thing, yes.
Oh, problem solved!
xanaphia
2009-02-05, 01:27 AM
Make it five minutes.
Megaposts would be impossible with that rule, though. Maybe you could only have that rule in SMBG.
Also, to the person who said that games have to be competitive, yes. Admittedly, most of the things in SMBG aren't games. But they are fun, and that's what matters.
turkishproverb
2009-02-05, 01:55 AM
Make it five minutes.
Megaposts would be impossible with that rule, though. Maybe you could only have that rule in SMBG.
Also, to the person who said that games have to be competitive, yes. Admittedly, most of the things in SMBG aren't games. But they are fun, and that's what matters.
Games don't have to be competetive. WHo are you competing with in a One player Video game? Many players aren't competetive in Role Playing games either...
Wandiya
2009-02-05, 02:10 AM
The five minute thing sounds better than one of the higher timers because then you have ABR and that would be affected by it a lot (i think):smallbiggrin:
Just my 2 (two) cents:smallsmile::smalltongue:
Rettu Skcollob
2009-02-05, 02:33 AM
Games don't have to be competetive. WHo are you competing with in a One player Video game?
I always thought that there was an octopus that controlled all the NPC's. Then again; I'm weird like that.
A 5 minute 'cooldown', (Oh [Deity], bad WoW memories) sounds pretty reasonable, considering the recent forum troubles.
silas the monk
2009-02-05, 02:40 AM
Something I don't quite understand about this thread. As far as I can see you basically want a high performance forum. Why not form an SMBG society, speak nicely to a number of hosting providers about what you require, install some standard forum software and take subscriptions of, say, 1 dollar a month with a view to breaking even?
Nerd-o-rama
2009-02-05, 02:46 AM
Games don't have to be competetive. WHo are you competing with in a One player Video game? Many players aren't competetive in Role Playing games either...You're competing against the challenges set by the game's programming or by the DM (but not, in most cases, against the DM himself - he isn't trying to defeat you, just challenge you, and you're competing against the obstacles he presents. Usually.)
But semantics are pointless. And a single-thread flood control of any number of minutes will, sadly, not stop the people who are constantly refreshing it from continuing to do so, which is (due to how the boards are set up) almost as much of a strain as posting every five seconds would be.
I'd also like to point out that this forum already has a 60-second general flood control - you can't make two posts anywhere within a minute of each other.
As for the initial proposition, casual observation shows that the mods seriously do not have that much time, not to mention that said rules are absurdly draconian, even for this board.
Zherog
2009-02-05, 07:59 AM
If by a little, you mean it would kill the entire thing, yes.
Oh, problem solved!
Sarcasm much?
I've run a free form roleplaying forum in the past. Putting a time limit wouldn't kill "the entire thing," despite your pessimism. Maybe 20 is too high; I picked a number out of my ass. Go with 10 minutes. Or 5 minutes. Whatever. The point is to reduce or eliminate the desire for people to press refresh on the forum 20 times in one minute as they wait to see who responded to their post.
Admiral_Kelly
2009-02-05, 09:26 AM
Something I don't quite understand about this thread. As far as I can see you basically want a high performance forum. Why not form an SMBG society, speak nicely to a number of hosting providers about what you require, install some standard forum software and take subscriptions of, say, 1 dollar a month with a view to breaking even?While such a site is not impossible I really doubt I could pull that off.
Dallas-Dakota
2009-02-05, 09:41 AM
Something I don't quite understand about this thread. As far as I can see you basically want a high performance forum. Why not form an SMBG society, speak nicely to a number of hosting providers about what you require, install some standard forum software and take subscriptions of, say, 1 dollar a month with a view to breaking even?
Bad idea, some of us actually just go to SMBG to have some silly fun while browsing threads and such in other forums.
But is a idea, though it would be just a deja-vu.
This happend with the town already, the forums got to much stress. Vael made a new community which took around if not more then half of the town there, and that half stopped posting here.
But paying for it is, well some of us don't have the money to be easily able to afford that. Not to mention that some of us are underage and aren't allowed to pay.
Forum Staff
2009-02-05, 09:46 AM
This is the second thread in a week and a half to try to make a case for shutting down SMBG. The previous one (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103073) was locked, with words from the Giant that this would not be happening at this time, though they were considering certain restrictions. However, any such restrictions are not being put to a public discussion. That is to say, we're not looking for opinions on either side of the issue, as we are well aware that there are people who want SMBG gone and people who only come here for SMBG, and neither one has more right to be here than the other.
Since this is technically a restart of a topic whose thread has been locked, this thread is being locked as well. Please do not start any more threads about getting rid of any aspect of SMBG.
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