Time Compression Trial: Feedback

[AcadiusLost]

We have now concluded the two-week trial for the 14-minute game hour. The servers are back on the default 7 minute hours now.

Please post feedback and opinions with regard to what you would prefer to see be the standard for ALFA going forward. I am especially interested to hear from members who voted "No" to running the 14-minute game-hour trial. Did you find it as frustrating or as inconvenient as you had expected, or was the vote more on principle with regards to a poor use of development time? I would prefer not to make a habit of implementing changes that nearly a third of our membership disapprove of.

50%+1 decisions aren't always the best strategy when it comes to changing the fundamentals that affect everyone, too many of those, and you quickly begin to alienate a majority of your membership, since opinions are always going to vary.

Thoughts?

[minor edit: disapprove for approve, for clarity]

[danielmn]

OMG those 30% who voted for not even giving it a trial run were right! WE WANT NO CHANGE, SO DO NOT EVEN TEST FOR CHANGE! DON"T EVEN PUT YOUR LITTLE TOE IN THE WATER OF CHANGE!

On a serious note, I could go one way or the other, though the 14 minute interval makes time feel a bit more real IG, even though we are in comic book time...

[Ithildur]

I was in favor of it from the start. Loved it, regardless of the fact it makes my pc weaker than before. The added immersion (even with 'comicbook time' still in effect) and ability to banter/dialog more leisurely is priceless.

[Brother Humphrey]

I was in favor of it from the start. Loved it, regardless of the fact it makes my pc weaker than before. The added immersion (even with 'comicbook time' still in effect) and ability to banter/dialog more leisurely is priceless.

I agree wholeheartedly, even if it does make his PC weaker than before.
Seriously, though, as I mentioned before, I started on a series of servers that ran a 37 minute hour, so the 14:1 feels a lot more like what it should be. Slows down the day/night cycle enough to make leisurely convos a lot more meaningful in terms of "how are ya this evening, pal?" "Great. Whut's fer breakfast?" Even if it does make regaining healing or other spells, it just feels "righter" to me.

[rorax]

I am all up for the 14 mins interval.

It makes so much more sense in game when time passes more slowly.
Yeah - it's harder, you can use power less often and you need longer periods
to heal, but it's MUCH more realistic.


I think if it's a --RP-- game, then time that make sense should be important part of it.


Like i said in the chatroom - i also suggest to set IG time to the same pace. And it would make every real year - four game years in game. And then we could schedule and use time IN GAME, including faerunic dates and such, and it would make so more more sense and would give deeper RP feeling.

Imagine you could schedule with another character in game "We shall meet again during mid Uktar!" and it would actually have game meaning, and you could calculate when the date will be RL.

http://www.meadehall.org/calendar.shtml

[hollyfant]

I hated it with a vengeance. I log on to play, not to realise I'm going to be stuck in town for several hours. Again.
Too much fun was already sacrificed on the altar of Realism, or to the false idol of Game Balance. As far as I'm concerned, this was one step too far.

[AcadiusLost]

I log on to play, not to realise I'm going to be stuck in town for several hours. Again.

To clarify; what you mean by this is, it that it wouldn't be in-character for your PC to leave town at night, and so you find the 14-minute game hours overly restrictive?

If you've got a PC concept that makes playing infeasible 50% of the time, that's a problem you would face with either time compression. If the server is somehow unreasonably deadly 50% of the time, that's a build/balance problem. One might expect a longer game - hour would mean more time/freedom to play when you do happen to log on during a favorable time of day, as well as better predictability as to when you might catch those times.

The inconvenience factor of needing to be on at a particular game-hour, and logging in at a time significantly removed from that is a legitimate drawback of the 14-minute hour. With a 7-minute hour, 3 RL hours of playtime (theoretically a manageable window of time) tends to be feasible to wait out, while 6 RL hours does not. My understanding was that none of the present servers vary wildly in danger level or merchant availabilty by the game-clock, though. Am I mistaken in this impression?

[Mikayla]

I didn't even notice the change. Really. As in, until reading this thread, I had no idea a change had been made.

*shrugs*

Therefore, I declare myself defiantly and rigidly ambivalent about this subject.

[Mick]

I was rigidly ambivalent about something once. It was great!

About this particular issue, however, I am not. I liked it. I liked the ability to carry out some meaningful RP without it taking eight or 12 IG hours or whatever. I have a spell-using PC and found the longer IG durations for some spells helpful. I rarely have need of three complete spell repertoires during the course of a gaming session so the longer time between being able to get that third one is a minor issue, IMO.

I think it improves immersion and am all for keeping it.

[hollyfant]

I log on to play, not to realise I'm going to be stuck in town for several hours. Again.

To clarify; what you mean by this is, it that it wouldn't be in-character for your PC to leave town at night, and so you find the 14-minute game hours overly restrictive?

Realisticly it wouldn't be in character for most people to leave their homes at night, but that would be silly for a PC.
When I log on, I do so to play the game. If it is dusk when I do so, I can't leave town. This is true for both the 7 and the 14 minute hours. Only when there's another player in the same place can any roleplaying take place. But if I log on at, say, midnight, then I can try to keep myself occupied for a little over an hour before company or statics become available again. (I'm disregarding DM interaction here, since they only come out on RL midnight.)

If the server is somehow unreasonably deadly 50% of the time, that's a build/balance problem.

Define "unreasonably". I could crank up the gamma correction and see in the dark. I could roll up powerful characters that can go where they please with impunity. Neither of which strike me as the way the game is meant to be played.

One might expect a longer game - hour would mean more time/freedom to play when you do happen to log on during a favorable time of day, as well as better predictability as to when you might catch those times.

The predictability of "feasible playing times" is irrelevant when the actual playing times cannot be altered to accommodate. Plus, this boils down to that most ridiculous argument that keeps popping up: "don't play then". Log off when it's night. Log off when you're alone. Log off when there's no DM.

Log off. Don't play. Leave.

The inconvenience factor of needing to be on at a particular game-hour, and logging in at a time significantly removed from that is a legitimate drawback of the 14-minute hour.

It's not so much an inconvenience to those who play on awkward hours, it's a "make or break" issue. Without a DM, and with the only other players stuck someplace else (if even there are any), there just is nothing to do at night on the servers. Repeatable statics are rare, and farming them both prohibited and dull. And there's only so much time you can spend shopping for a new hat.

My understanding was that none of the present servers vary wildly in danger level or merchant availabilty by the game-clock, though. Am I mistaken in this impression?

Yes, in a way. To low level or non-combat characters the presence of absence of one wolf makes a world of difference. And even the roads on tSM are not safe at night, let alone those on BG.

Even I get tired of dying all the time. But you know? At night, there just isn't that much else to do.

[Kest]

Pleasantly surprised to see the overall positive response to this.

[Jaokith]

I liked it better.

It was good to see both night and day have some length and not be over if a conversation takes a little longer than expected.

[Riotnrrd]

I liked it.

Slower time passage increased the immersion for me.

[Dorn]

I'm for it AL.

[dob85y]

I thought it was good. A day felt like a day, and when spendig a long time in RL managing a difficult crossing without a bridge, it was gold.

Hour based spells felt like they were reliable, but it also makes you more aware about using your spells more carefully.

I am all for it.