Planned Changes: Newbie Game Deadlines

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Post Post #14 (isolation #0) » Wed Jun 27, 2018 7:13 am

Post by Zachrulez »

You know deadline is something you could let the moderator decide, and only restrict it with a minimum and maximum deadline. Just an idea. Dunno why all newbie games need to have exactly the same deadline.
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Post Post #16 (isolation #1) » Wed Jun 27, 2018 7:17 am

Post by Zachrulez »

In post 15, implosion wrote:I think uniform 8-day and 10-day d1 7-day d2+ are both good.

An important thing to keep in mind here is that site culture has shifted toward shorter deadlines over the years; keep in mind that 3 weeks used to be normal. While it is good for newbie games to reflect the rest of the site, deadlines between 1-2 weeks are becoming more common, and if the tradeoff is in favor of newbie retention then it's almost always a tradeoff that is worth it. A 7 or 8 day deadline could be good for people who are used to 2-3 day deadlines to transition into what we consider more typical deadlines.
Also needs to be considered that site culture will shift toward whatever the newbie deadlines are. We've fallen from 3 weeks to 2 when the newbie deadline changed last time. (Where do you think the idea for what deadline to use comes from?) That's also why I think allowing the mods some range with deadlines is a good idea. It discourages a standard deadline across the entire site.
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Post Post #56 (isolation #2) » Thu Jun 28, 2018 5:59 am

Post by Zachrulez »

In post 34, T-Bone wrote:That goal doesn't matter if newbies are leaving because they don't like the length of games.

You're making the argument that 14->7 is too drastic a change.

Have you considered it from the opposite angle?

Newbies are coming from sites that at most, have 3 day deadlines. I'd say 3->14 is a much more drastic change than 3->7 Once someone is playing at 7 days, then we can probably gradually bring them up outside of the newbie queue to where we as a site want them (10-14). But making that jump from 3 to 14 or even 10 is daunting.
They're not going to jump the rest of the way up. They are the site's future moderators. They'll be the ones running 7 day games. If you're looking to cater to them you might as well just go all the way to blitz deadlines.
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Post Post #64 (isolation #3) » Thu Jun 28, 2018 7:43 am

Post by Zachrulez »

In post 61, Alisae wrote:
In post 56, Zachrulez wrote:
In post 34, T-Bone wrote:That goal doesn't matter if newbies are leaving because they don't like the length of games.

You're making the argument that 14->7 is too drastic a change.

Have you considered it from the opposite angle?

Newbies are coming from sites that at most, have 3 day deadlines. I'd say 3->14 is a much more drastic change than 3->7 Once someone is playing at 7 days, then we can probably gradually bring them up outside of the newbie queue to where we as a site want them (10-14). But making that jump from 3 to 14 or even 10 is daunting.
They're not going to jump the rest of the way up. They are the site's future moderators. They'll be the ones running 7 day games. If you're looking to cater to them you might as well just go all the way to blitz deadlines.
This is a good thing and before you say it isn't you don't play anymore so...
It was a serious suggestion.
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Post Post #70 (isolation #4) » Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:49 am

Post by Zachrulez »

In post 64, Zachrulez wrote:
In post 61, Alisae wrote:
In post 56, Zachrulez wrote:
In post 34, T-Bone wrote:That goal doesn't matter if newbies are leaving because they don't like the length of games.

You're making the argument that 14->7 is too drastic a change.

Have you considered it from the opposite angle?

Newbies are coming from sites that at most, have 3 day deadlines. I'd say 3->14 is a much more drastic change than 3->7 Once someone is playing at 7 days, then we can probably gradually bring them up outside of the newbie queue to where we as a site want them (10-14). But making that jump from 3 to 14 or even 10 is daunting.
They're not going to jump the rest of the way up. They are the site's future moderators. They'll be the ones running 7 day games. If you're looking to cater to them you might as well just go all the way to blitz deadlines.
This is a good thing and before you say it isn't you don't play anymore so...
It was a serious suggestion.
I mean I personally hate the idea of shorter deadline games becoming the norm on the site, but once I get past accepting that the site is catering to people who are not me and who are actually playing... it makes more sense to just use the deadlines the current gen of newbies want.
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Post Post #72 (isolation #5) » Thu Jun 28, 2018 10:39 am

Post by Zachrulez »

In post 71, T-Bone wrote:Play more so we can cater to your tastes.
That was definitely not the direction the site was moving in while I was still playing and it's definitely not the direction it's moving in now. But yeah I'm not playing anymore so more power to whatever you decide to do. :cool:
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Post Post #107 (isolation #6) » Thu Jun 28, 2018 8:37 pm

Post by Zachrulez »

In post 103, mastina wrote:
In post 48, T-Bone wrote:You...have played mafia on this site recently right? (I know mastina has)
Like, these comments hearken back to 2008, not 2018. Our games are MASSIVE now. People post and post and post and post. If you are a player who can only post once a day, then our games aren't for you, not with 3 week deadlines, not with 3 day deadlines.
And in my experience from actually playing games--which as you yourself noted, I am in fact actually doing--I hard, HARD disagree with this.

People don't actually post and post and post and post and post. I have that 20 pages/day limitation, but in 80% of my games, I don't reach it. 80% of the time, I am fine. 80% of the time, I can play and function in my games just perfectly well and fine. And those 80% of the games I don't imagine are exceptions to the rule. Either I have gotten very, very, very, VERY lucky, or it's not nearly as bad as you seem to think it is, as a whole.
To expand on this I actually think learning when NOT to post is an important skill. Sometimes you need to just sit back and let others talk and pour information into the game. I don't actually mean that one should lurk and avoid posting in the game... but sometimes what other people are saying is more important than the 10 one liners you're so desperately wanting to throw out there to get your post count up. I generally dislike posting unless I actually have something worthwhile to add to the game. Not just a... post. If that makes sense.
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Post Post #185 (isolation #7) » Fri Jul 20, 2018 6:39 am

Post by Zachrulez »

I remember most of my games dragging to deadline. Days that ended quickly were the exception rather than the rule.

As it is with 7 day deadlines you are getting prodded within a day of inactivity. When the site reaches the point where it expects you to post not only every day but multiple times every day it's reached the point where I can't possibly commit to playing another game ever again.
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Post Post #193 (isolation #8) » Thu Aug 23, 2018 2:59 am

Post by Zachrulez »

So hey is this having any (positive) impact on the replacement rates or newbie satisfaction with games on this site? Based on what I'm seeing newbies are still replacing out at quite a high rate, and replacements out of a 1 week deadline game are going to be pretty devastating to the health of a game.

Also I see we're not quite at 24 hour deadlines, but pretty damn close. Give it time and we'll get there. Pretty soon you'll be able to hold your breath and the game will end before you have time to exhale.
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