LogFAQs > #886151982

Lightning Bolt posted...

"Nirvanic Battle Trance"
That's definitely nirvana.

Or nibbana in another translation if you don't wanna sound like the band. But at that point you can pretty much go with anything "Asian sounding" and people will get it.

I'm not really looking for a name for it, per se. I'm just trying to think of any real-world examples of something similar.



shadowsword87 posted...

The problem is the instant that a schedule is implied everyone runs to the hills.

The real problem is that there are people on this site from both sides of the US as well as the UK, so the first problem is finding a time when everybody can be online at the same time. A "convenient" time (let's say, 7-10pm or so) for the East Coast winds up being too early for West Coasters who may not be home from work/school by 4pm, and too late for people in the UK (who would have to start around midnight). Conversely, starting at a time that's good for West Coasters (say, 7pm again) still winds up hurting the East Coast a bit (10pm isn't super-late to start, but finishing after midnight can be a problem for people with jobs or early classes), and would be the absolute worst option for UK players (who would be starting at like 3am). On the other hand, a convenient time for UP players (again, let's say 7pm) basically winds up being afternoon for the US East Coast (2pm) and morning for the West Coast (11am).

So for the first step, you basically have to thrash that out, AND find a day of the week that works for everyone (which is also hard, because some people may have certain days off but not others, some people may have activities on certain days, and so on), AND make sure there are enough people who are happy with the compromise (rather than having everyone be equally miserable by splitting the difference) that you have confidence in the time you've set for play.

But then because it's an online game rather than a face-to-face, it's a lot easier to dismiss out of hand whenever you feel like blowing it off (especially if your players aren't all that serious about playing in the first place), either because you wind up making plans for that night, or because you just feel tired or sick, or have other things you need to do, etc. And the odds of being willing to blow it off only increases for people who are already sacrificing a bit to play (ie, I'm way more likely to blow off a game starting at 1am than I am one starting at 8pm).

Then you have to factor in technical issues (where people who would otherwise show up can't because one thing or another isn't working quite right).


The other major problem is that when someone says "Hey, we should play D&D" tons of people will pipe up to go "Yeah, I'd love to play!", but a fair number of those people have absolutely no experience with the game (or only know older editions and aren't familiar with newer rules, or are familiar with the rules but have never played online before, etc), which usually results in them being more awkward while playing (in theory only until they get used to things, but potentially being a long-term problem), as well as being more likely to drop out whenever something else comes up or they just don't feel like playing.

Enthusiasm for RP is sort of like enthusiasm for going back for seconds (or thirds, or...) while eating. Sometimes your eyes are too big for your stomach, as the old saying goes.


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"Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76
"POwned again." --- blight family