Ask the Editors
By,
The Editors
Episode 6
Welcome back, fellow Realmsies, to the great articles series about questions and answers! This week's question comes to us via email and boy is it a doozy!
"What makes an event NOT enjoyable for you?"
~Anonymous
Well, this has the potential to create some flavorful responses. Lets see what we get, shall we?
Lets start with Lani “Gwen” Grayson:
“In order to answer this question, we decided to focus first on what makes events fun. Events are fun because you get to see people, and because you get to see people having fun. It’s fun to interact with the world that event holders provide, and even if that is occasionally lackluster, there is always a way to make your own fun. Nighthawk, he’s a collector, and it cracks me up to see him at the end of the event covered in event schlock. Ultimately, every event has the potential to be fun, but only if the player enters the event with the right mindset.
When events aren’t fun for me, it is usually because my mindset isn’t in the right place, or the people around me are generally grumbling. I think sometimes we get in a very critical mindset when we are at events, it can be easy to critique each and every detail. However, as an event holder, I know that even the best laid plans go awry sometimes, and that even a struggling event can be saved by PC’s who are willing to approach situations with a positive attitude. So ask not what your event holders can do to improve your fun, but what you can do to improve the fun factor at each and every event you attend.”
So, Nighthawk is a hoarder and we should all work together to make things fun, got it!
Speaking of Jeremy "Nighthawk' Grayson, he didn't write anything this week so we'll just leave this photo of him here...
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| He took up more space than usual this week |
“Inconsistencies
That’s what ruins an event for me.
Does one Combat Marshal call someone out as dead for a toe over the line of the bridge? Does the Marshal on the other side of the bridge let people slide back and forth over the line? Does an NPC regenerate at a 60 second count? Does the next NPC regenerate, after counting to 60?
I know that “there is a gray area” when it comes to making Marshaling calls, but how often do major war maneuvers end in bad blood and angry glares over a single call? If you’ve never had an NPC regenerate in an eye blink and wreck you, you’re a liar.
NPC’s are often briefed about their abilities and “their fighting level”; but sometimes they can get over powered, or overzealous in their application. It happens, most of the time NPC teams reign themselves in, usually when a more experienced NPC says something.
Bad plots, and poorly planned tournaments are part of the game. Experimenting with new ideas, and new concepts, sometimes it works, and sometimes it stinks on toast. Both have a happy medium, which can be obtained by communication from the Head Marshal and the Head NPC/EH to their staff. Long running event series, tend to get a better turn out as their reputation often precedes them. Knowing that in the past, Marshals have been consistent in their calls, or NPC’s have been consistent in their behavior, makes it more likely for me to attend an event.”
Very consistent answer! And as an added bonus, it all fit on one page.
Next, let's see what Sara 'Zarine' Jessop has to complain about:
“There are a lot of little things that make events not fun for me. By themselves they may not be a big deal, but when a lot of them start to add up the whole quality of the experience begins to decline. Some of these things are outside of anyone's control: bad weather, lack of attendance, travel time to site vs time spent on site, poor sleeping accommodations, etc, are all things that an event holder can't control but can suck away some of the overall fun of the weekend and make me decide to stay home.
There are a lot of things that are in an EH's control. Marshals and/or NPCs are their own people but they need to be managed properly. I have known some great people to do a poor job at these due to lack of leadership, lack of communication, frustration, not enough help, etc. Plots need to be engaging, inclusive, and consistent, otherwise people get bored and start talking about OOC things because there is nothing IC holding their attention. Tournaments need to be marshaled consistently, run efficiently, and interesting and engaging to both participants and spectators (though more important for the participants, many single/limited combatant tournaments have more spectators then participants).
I think we all know that I am a very critical person. I tend to focus on the negative side of just about everything. So some of what makes events 'not fun' is my own fault. I could focus more on the good things and encourage others to do the same rather than sit around grumbling about how much everything sucks. Negativity spreads quickly, and we should all actively try to be better about curbing that and trying to have fun instead. Unfortunately some of us are just old and curmudgeonly and it's not the easiest thing to do, but we could certainly do better.”
Don't be a whiny brat, got it. Next we hear from Jen “Areni” DeNardis-Rosa
"There are a few things, such as too much downtime/ long "loading screens" and not enough NPCs, that can decrease the enjoyment of an event for me that I think would be true for most players. But there is something else that bothers me that may not be as noticeable, and that is when players don't appreciate the hard work of others. Realms is a community-based game; events are thrown by players and groups, not by a central governing body, and there can be as many different plots as there are event-holders. People put differing amounts of time, money, and effort into their events according to their means, their level of experience with event-holding, and their vision for how they want it to run. Some people/ groups may have it down to a science, and others may still be learning. Regardless, people throwing events means people care about the game and want it to thrive, and we as a community should do what we can to show our support.
Whether through event attendance, EH mentoring, NPC'ing, providing feedback or reviews, lending props, etc, it all has a direct benefit on the continuation of the game.
I’ve noticed an unfortunate trend where people can be quick to dismiss the effort that others put into making our game run. Not everyone is ultimately successful every time they try to create things and throw events, but I believe people are trying hard with good intentions because they love our community."
Don't be ungrateful. Excellent advice.
Thank you for joining us this week. It was a very good question to hopefully help eventholders and event goers alike in how we can all have fun like the Omnibus says we are supposed to. It seems a common theme in our responses is that each and every one of us has some control over how much fun we are having and how unhappy we are. Like Bing Crosby once told us, “You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative...” And we as a community can all keep this in mind and make an effort to add to the fun, rather than detracting from it.
Join us next week when we explore the question "Define what a questing event is, in your eyes....”
Questions can be sent to Sara “Zarine” Jessop via email (Sarajjesop@gmail.com), facebook messenger, or in person. The question box will also be making the rounds at various events. Please note if you'd like your question to remain anonymous and/or if you would like to address specific editors