Large Social Game Guidelines

[PrivateI]

It's your trusty LSG Listmod team, here with an exciting update!

While MS site rules are robust, and discussion rules generally guide our conduct expectations for Large Social Games, there are some specific guidelines that have generally been informal, or repeated from game to game and never formally codified. We will be in the process of changing that in the coming months, but until then, here's a teaser rule, which will be effective immediately:

In the past, game moderators have, on occasion, honoured the wishes of players who wished to conceal their identities after a game ended. Going forward, all forum identities for all anonymous games will be revealed at a game's conclusion during the live reveal. We may allow exceptions, but this will be on a very rare, very limited, case-by-case basis with input from all listmods.

We welcome feedback for things you would like to see us include in an LSG-specific ruleset. One thing to remember--these rules are NOT expected to take the place of the Forum Rules or the Community Guidelines, simply to supplement them with concerns specific to the Large Social Games.

We look forward to hearing from you.

The Social Games Listmod Team

Update: We will keep an ongoing list of new rules in this space.

Hydras

1. Hydras should be known to players. Both in signups and in the game itself, players should know that hydras exist, how many there will be and who they are. "Bastard" games, as always, usually involve some fundamental break in the rules, and hydras could be a part of that.
2. Hydra pairings must be approved by the listmod in charge for games where they're included, and priority will be given to hydras where at least one player directly benefits from the pairing due to experience or scheduling.
3. A game with hydras will automatically be classified as higher than Standard, in addition to the disclosure rules otherwise noted.
4. Hydras must alternate challenges. Before the game begins, if possible, hydras must decide which head will compete in the first challenge, and must alternate thereafter. Sit-outs from a challenge do not count as competing in the challenge. Any scheduling issues with a specific challenge will result in the normal substitution rules for any player, but under no circumstances should the other hydra head perform as the substitute. Additionally, a player that has a substitute in a challenge will still be responsible for competing in the next challenge they're able to--alternation will not resume until the player in question competes in a challenge.

[PrivateI]

As a note--this discussion between listmods would happen in between jury votes being cast and the live reveal (I am looking historically, and have only found one game that had no such "break" in between the deadline and the results). If absolutely necessary to preserve anonymity until the reveal (because a listmod was a juror, for example, and the person seeking to preserve their identity was a finalist), the decision would be made by all available listmods.

Also, part of the goal of this is to codify those things that have been a "given" in our large social games. One of those "givens" has been a live reveal at the end of every anonymous game I'm aware of--we're simply codifying that a reveal of some kind will happen, even if it's just a single post with all player identities, and that those reveals will include all players.

[PrivateI]

Friends,

We're excited to unveil the first set of rules--this one deals with hydras specifically. Let us know if you have any questions.

1. Hydras should be known to players. Both in signups and in the game itself, players should know that hydras exist, and who they are. "Bastard" games, as always, usually involve some fundamental break in the rules, and hydras could be a part of that.
2. Hydra pairings must be approved by the listmod in charge for games where they're included, and priority will be given to hydras where at least one player directly benefits from the pairing due to experience or scheduling.
3. A game with hydras will automatically be classified as higher than Standard, in addition to the disclosure rules otherwise noted.
4. Hydras must alternate challenges. Before the game begins, if possible, hydras must decide which head will compete in the first challenge, and must alternate thereafter. Sit-outs from a challenge do not count as competing in the challenge. Any scheduling issues with a specific challenge will result in the normal substitution rules for any player, but under no circumstances should the other hydra head perform as the substitute. Additionally, a player that has a substitute in a challenge will still be responsible for competing in the next challenge they're able to--alternation will not resume until the player in question competes in a challenge.

You might notice that we mention Bastard games in these rules--look for more to come outlining our differentiation of Complex vs. Bastard games in the future.

[PrivateI]

Good rules I think (given that hydras aren’t likely to get yeeted into the sun as they should be)

One other thing I’d like to see addressed, could we require that game mods specify the maximum number of hydras that will be allowed in their game at the start of signups?

This was implied in the original rule, but yeah, I'm happy to formalize that.

[PrivateI]

Okay, so not showing up to a semi-live challenge still counts as participating since it affects your tribe, similar to submitting a 0 for a challenge. In that case it seems good to me. The only case I think that fails to work would be if only 5/7 of a tribe are asked to show up, and 5 do show up, but not the hydra head.

The only case I think that fails to work would be if only 5/7 of a tribe are asked to show up, and 5 do show up, but not the hydra head.

If I'm understanding this right, I would think it'd be the same as sitting out.

If the challenge explicitly calls for at most five members of a tribe to participate (in any capacity, including strategizing beforehand) and you are not one of them, it should count as an "official sit out".

If I'm reading correctly, I think everyone is on the same page here (let me know if I'm misinterpreting it). But yes, we sometimes have challenges that require less than x people to participate (where x is the number of people currently on the tribe). Even if the people participating in the challenge are inclusionary rather than exclusionary (i.e. "Jim, Rahab, Jerome, SarahBeth, and Refrigerator are the five competing for our tribe", rather than "Ellen is sitting out for our tribe"), if the hydra head is either not included or is explicitly excluded, they would not count as "participating" for hydra head challenge alternation rules.