Aesthetics versus Humor in games:
Aesthetics versus Humor in moderators:
Seven mods surveyed said they preferred to focus on Aesthetics over Humor in game design.
Five mods surveyed said they preferred to focus on Humor over Aesthetics in game design.
Nine players surveyed said that a game was associated with a single one of its moderators most of the time.
Four players surveyed said that a game was associated with a single one of its moderators about half of the time.
Three players surveyed said that a game was associated with a single one of its moderators only occasionally.
When asked why games tend to have one specific moderator that the game is associated with
(players could give multiple answers here):
Thirteen players responded with some form of associating a game with its most active mod.
Six players responded with some form of associating a game with the person most instrumental in its design.
One player responded that it was based on who he/she tended to Skype chat with most while playing the game.
One player responded that it was based on who other mods seemed to defer to when asking questions.
When asked in what ways a player considers the moderators of games that they sign up for
(players could give multiple answers here; the question was flawed in that it referred too directly to Humor/Aesthetics designations):
Four players said they don't (again, flawed question).
Six players responded with some form of basing playing decisions on the mods' design decisions in previous games.
Five players responded with some form of basing playing decisions on the character and track records of the mods (from an integrity perspective).
Two players responded that creating aesthetics-based games was important to them.
One player responded that the mods' sense of humor was important to them.
One player responded that the effort the mods put into previous games was important to them.
One player responded that he was much more likely to play a game that the mods personally invited him to play in.
- It seems I pay a lot more attention to the aesthetics/humor thing in games than most people do. I personally find it really easy to tell which one the mods prefer just based on looking at the challenge posts, game and challenge names, and looking at the forum theme. A lot of people seemed to struggle with answering the questions about specific games and moderators for this reason based on survey responses and comments I got from people before and after doing the surveys.
- I personally think that when a mod is focusing more on aesthetics, a lot of people are going to really like the aesthetics of the game, but when a mod is focusing on humor it can be more hit and miss. This comes because generally professionalism gets agreed on, whereas obviously with humor not every joke is going to hit with every single other person. I personally associate humor-type games with a particular moderator that I do not find as funny as a lot of other people do.
- Of course, challenge and mechanic design, as well as casting, as well as a lot of other things, are really important when it comes to good moderation. A really pretty game with really attentive, funny moderators that just runs RAF as every single challenge is a bad game. Or if they decide on some twist that's universally considered bad. Or if a moderation situation comes up during the game and something accidentally compromises the game while the mods try to deal with it. Or players just making the game boring.
- When it comes to the Lead Moderator stuff, I think the results were about what I was expecting with activity and whoever seemed to have the "vision" of the game from the start (which is usually pretty evident, just look at MLS and how BRO has been pretty vocal about being a big soccer fan since he started playing LSGs). When a single mod is both most active and has the vision, I think almost everybody sees them as the lead mod. That's not a bad thing, but it is definitely something that people attribute with the game in the future.
- Xof said she wants more people to mod games. So go for it, everyone, mod games!