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The 2007 SciWorld Online convention took place in online chat rooms April 3 to April 5. It focuses on online role playing for PBEM (Play By Email) games/Play By Message board games and online chat sims. This is what happened during the first day.
The 2007 SciWorld Online convention took place in online chat rooms April 3 to April 5. It focuses on online role playing for PBEM (Play By Email) games/Play By Message board games and online chat sims.
The convention started with a very exciting discussion about trends in simming. Hosted by Chas Hammer of Trek Online Sims & Games, it brought up some interesting points about what is hot and what is not in online role playing today. Some of the attendees mentioned how MMOs and PBEM/sims competed, but concluded that play by email games or play by message board games always attracts people interested in writing. Chat games on the other hand, is harder to recruit for.
Another interesting point brought up in the discussion was all the new games taking place in the universes of all the new popular TV shows such as Firefly. As Chas put it, "It's safe to say that Trek is no longer the king." The general consensus was that these types of games helps keep online role playing alive, even though the games themselves may not go on for as long as some trek games.
A bit later in the evening, CaptWarp of the Starfleet Legacy Alliance took the floor and held a seminar about "Keeping it fun". One of the problems identified was the struggle between keeping true to the TV show the game is based on, keeping it canon, and the players that instead wants to continue to build on it in new directions. Some of the suggestions on how to handle such situations were to keep separate games for the two types of players. Another solution would be to bend the rules of the game, but still stay true to the show, allowing for some creativity but still stay within the limits of the universe.
New players in a game can feel lost if they are thrown into a storyline, especially if it is of the more creative kind. Encouraging them to work closely together with a senior player was suggested as a very effective way of keeping it fun for them.
Ending the first exciting day was FSF Starla of the Federation Sim Fleet with the topic "God Mode". The concept of God Mode is something most games encounter eventually. It is when a player writes his or her character as something more than what it really is and by that ruins a story by solving it too fast or not leaving enough room for other to join in.
While this seminar focused on chat games, some of the conclusions can be used in PBEM games too. For example ignoring them, write their character as being hurt and send them off for treatment. Starla also suggested talking to them in private, explaining what they did wrong.
