Game drought?

[Nancy Drew 39]

I’ve noticed his sudden surge of a lack of games available for signups in several of the queues and I think this is the the first time I have ever seen anything like it, since I first joined the site in January 2018.

Eta: also mods pulling games that aren’t filling despite a lack of available games to play.

So, I’ve been speculating on the reasons this sudden lack of interest in the members for both moderating and playing games and wondering how long it will continue.

[Nero Cain]

site is slower b/c we don't have the #'s we used to have is my guess. Also ppl avoiding ppl in games.

[Ythan]

I've been seeing this. Planning to mod a game in a needful queue once my vacation ends.

[Nancy Drew 39]

I've been seeing this. Planning to mod a game in a needful queue once my vacation ends.

Same. I’m planning to mod a game but will be away for a week, so can’t until I get back and not exactly even sure when it will be rn.

[Jake The Wolfie]

I've noticed in the Mini Theme Queue that people just aren't signing up that fast, despite the mod queue being mostly empty, and 3 available games to join.

My diagnostic is that there aren't enough people signing up.

[Ythan]

I'll make hype games.

[Nancy Drew 39]

I've noticed in the Mini Theme Queue that people just aren't signing up that fast, despite the mod queue being mostly empty, and 3 available games to join.

My diagnostic is that there aren't enough people signing up.

The question is why.

[Ircher]

Perhaps it is just the time of year. Midterms tend to occur around now.

[NotAJumbleOfNumbers]

Perhaps it is just the time of year. Midterms tend to occur around now.

Also, the COVID-19 thing has been suggested as another reason why games are slowing down now.

[Ythan]

I came back because covid.

[callforjudgement]

I've also noticed a general lack of games across many queues, and have been wondering if part of the cause is just that standards have gone up. We used to have a steady stream of generic Mini Themes which were basically "Normals, but maybe with roles that are a little weirder, and with source material added". Most of them weren't very good, and we get very few games like that nowadays. Likewise, Normals are much better-balanced than they used to be, and most of them are designed by players other than the moderator nowadays; and Large Themes used to dominate but nowadays we get very few of them.

There are plenty of games that I've put effort into designing, but haven't run because I feel like I can't get them up to this site's standards, and don't want to run an unenjoyable game. Perhaps other moderators are in the same situation?

(As a side note, I note that replacements seem much easier to find nowadays than they used to be. This makes me think the problem is lack of mod supply, not lack of player demand.)

[mastina]

I don't have the ability to mod a high-quality game, and I only have the ability to play a very small number of games at a time--so once I sign up for one or two, don't sign up for more.

I imagine I am far from unique in that regard.

[Bunno]

I don't know if I'm alone on this but I feel that overall some older generations players/mod that used to play/mod multiple games have either retired or been playing/modding less games recently

The amount of players that stick with the site varies each year, but I feel that overall MS community is mostly made of a few very consistent/established players/mods, plus some returning seasonal players, plus newbies.

The amount of newbies that the site retains is kinda low for how many newbie games are played, to be fair, therefore when a large amount of established players/mods go on hiatus or play/mod less games, there's this drought.

Another thing I notice is that when some established mods try to run a interesting setup, they attract some players that don't play regularly a lot.

Overall I think the numbers are lower, but still very impressive for what they are, there's almost always 3 - 4 games running in each queue at least. That's an impressive amount of people if you count it up.

[Alisae]

I had to pull a game recently that wasn’t filling because it was a blitz. Thats the only reason why I could imagine why my game I wanted to mod didn’t fill.

[Equinox]

Someone can crunch the actual numbers, but moderator supply has been trending downward for several years, possibly since the site crash in 2012. Based on site analytics, there is evidence of increased user engagement since the start of the pandemic, so it's surprising to hear that that hasn't been translated into an increase in number of Mafia games. My guess is that we would see quickly filling games if this were a moderator supply problem, but it sounds like the other facet of the problem is players not signing up for games.

If anyone wants to nerd out about current queue trends, here are some numbers I ran for the Mini Theme Queue in the latter half of 2015 before and during the Blitz Queue trial:

Queue metrics for the three months leading up to the Blitz trial (August to October 2015), games 1712 through 1739:

• Games took an average of
  61.8
  days to go from /in to sign-ups (median = 69.0,
  SD
  = 20.15, range: 14-83).
• Games took an average of
  9.6
  days to fill (median = 8.0,
  SD
  = 7.35, range: 0-28). Games that have not filled after 28 days are pulled from the queue.

Queue metrics for the three months of the Blitz trial (November 2015 to January 2016), games 1745 through 1759:

• Games took an average of
  28.7
  days to go from /in to sign-ups (median = 27.0,
  SD
  = 9.01, range: 15-43).
• Games took an average of
  9.6
  days to fill (median = 8.0,
  SD
  = 8.90, range: 1-32).

[Cabd]

Another thing I notice is that when some established mods try to run a interesting setup, they attract some players that don't play regularly a lot.

I think it's fair to say that a lot of older players are just incredibly selective about their player lists.

Some mods also just have an orbit around them.

Fakegod is a classic example of this.

Borkjerkfin is another.

I'd say that the past 6 months has had the highest "out of retirement" rate seen in several years.

[Micc]

Dropping by to encourage more collaboration between game mods. Find someone who fills in your weaknesses and knock out some high quality theme games.

I think I'm on the lower demand side of the equation in that I can format and run a high quality game while struggling to design them, but my DM's are always open.

[Mizzytastic]

I used to be part of the problem as a seasonal player who struggled to get through a game because of mental health problems. I'm trying to become part of the solution now I've realised I misunderstood the mod requirements.

Looking around at different queues I feel like a lot of them (especially outside theme) have a lot of the same players across their active games. I'm wondering if part of a drought is just when those players hit there game limit and there aren't enough extras to fill the queue.

[mastina]

Dropping by to encourage more collaboration between game mods. Find someone who fills in your weaknesses and knock out some high quality theme games.

I think I'm on the lower demand side of the equation in that I can format and run a high quality game while struggling to design them, but my DM's are always open.

For the record:
I still come up with game ideas when it comes to modding.

But I am utterly incapable of hammering out the details of them, of perfecting them to runnable form, and even if I were able to...I cannot actually mod anymore.

I know that I used to be a very prominent mod, and I'm sure that if I did /in to mod, people would still sign up for my modded games...except, I just...wouldn't be able to mod them. I just...lost my touch in terms of modding games.

I can still review games; I can still help design games; I can and do still come up with ideas for games.
But I lost my ability to actually mod a game. I can't do it. I don't know why I can't do it, but I

can't

, and since I can't mod a game...I can't /in to mod a game because I wouldn't be able to deliver on my promise.

So, I could indeed use help on this.
(One thing I kinda wanted to try and hash out was how to make an Among Us mini theme game, with 12 players and 3 impostors, for instance--but I knew that even if I could figure out how to capture the aesthetic of that game's mechanics, I wouldn't be able to actually run the game I came up with.)

[callforjudgement]

(One thing I kinda wanted to try and hash out was how to make an Among Us mini theme game, with 12 players and 3 impostors, for instance--but I knew that even if I could figure out how to capture the aesthetic of that game's mechanics, I wouldn't be able to actually run the game I came up with.)

12:3 would be a Large. I was also considering this, but thinking more in terms of 8:2, like the actual game.

The main issue would be how to make it not horribly townsided, whilst still being somewhat fun to play. If you have mechanical ideas, I'd be interested to collaborate with you in terms of setup design, even if we need to recruit additional moderators to actually be able to run it.

[Micc]

What if you give each imposter a nightkill?

[Nero Cain]

I mean, no one ever really asks me to be a backup mod or anything but im always here to help and I think I make a pretty good mod *shrugz*

[T-Bone]

We have had a bit of a drought in Sept/Oct, but from March/Aug we actually launched the most games we had in awhile. I think year to year we may still end up above where we were in 2019 if Q4 rebounds. My best month since taking over the Open Queue was August 2020 where we launched 8 games. In 2019, 16 Open games were filled. So far in 2020 we're up to 27.

November is historically a good month for mafia games, so here's to finishing the year strong.

[mastina]

(One thing I kinda wanted to try and hash out was how to make an Among Us mini theme game, with 12 players and 3 impostors, for instance--but I knew that even if I could figure out how to capture the aesthetic of that game's mechanics, I wouldn't be able to actually run the game I came up with.)

12:3 would be a Large. I was also considering this, but thinking more in terms of 8:2, like the actual game.

I didn't say 15 players; I said 12, with three impostors. Still a mini.

I thought of having the game start at night with the only way for the game to go to day was for a player to use a one-shot button or for a body to be discovered after scum killed them, but I can't figure out how to implement tasks/locations into the night to allow for players without role PMs to be able to deduce killers from their stories.