Post by Magic Rob on Dec 8, 2014 17:45:37 GMT -8
Good afternoon!
We recently put out a player survey. Thank you for all the folks that replied. We had 31 people voice their opinions and concerns. We'll use this data and alter game a bit. It's entirely possible that we'll have a more focused survey in the coming weeks to address ongoing concerns.
Before I get to the meat and potatoes of this, I'd like to thank everyone that participated. All voices have equal value, and I appreciate anyone that's making an attempt to enjoy game instead of pulling up stakes. By and large, the results were positive with room for improvement.
Questions and Answers:
1- What sort of game do you like?
Over 70% of game replied as wanting Scooby-Doo style plots as either 1 or 2 priority.
About 54% of game replied as wanting Political Intrigue as either 1 or 2 priority.
About 35% of game replied as Combat being 1 or 2 priority.
About 31% of game replied as 'Something else' for priority 1 or 2.
Staff Response:
We have been building Scooby-Doo plots like crazy. If you like them and aren't involved, please get on the Staff List and we'll see what we can do. Political intrigue was the next most populous choice (you'll notice the other two are lagging quite a bit). This one is a bit harder. Staff has tried to create a Status/Boon economy as close to canon as we can. We've put NPCs in place to bolster that (although this has earned some resentment, see later answers). Politics are simply the controlling of scarce resources under the threat of violence. That's all they are. We've made these resources scarce. We've shown players how to fight. It's largely in PC hands at this point. However! That's just our opinions and biased. If you feel we could do more, please shoot us an email or ping a PA. Just... be specific.
2- What is that 'something else'?
This is a fairly exhaustive list, but some examples that we were given:
Personal plots, Horror, Hero/Anti-Hero and Canon exploration.
Staff Response:
The answers were wide and varied. Mostly, it seems to rely around central White Wolf themes. Horror. Personal horror. Vigilante-ism. These are themes we can exploit. However, I see a lot of these to fall into the realm of "PCs should start these plots". If you want horror, we have a few things in the works. If you want PERSONAL horror, please ping us and give us a hint as to what elements of your backstory might inspire that. Remember, you outnumber us by 4+ to one.
3- Are you a current player?
72% of respondents were, 9% were on Hiatus, 3% were not actively playing but had tried the new game and a surprising 15% of respondents haven't bothered to play the reboot but felt like voicing an opinion.
ST Response:
Thank you!
To the guy that hasn't bothered playing and gave us super negative reviews in all things: Give us a try.
4- The next question was about how players feel about how well they know the rules. 50% of respondents feel like they know the rules average or better. This looks like a thing we can work on.
ST Response:
This is harder to reply to since what we're talking about is the PLAYERS not knowing the material. We as staff are always willing to walk you through whatever systems we create or employ. If you doubt that, or find yourself confused, please corner a staffer and ask what you want explained. We're good at explaining. Or pointing to the staffer that's best at explaining.
5- The next question was about how well the players thought that Staff knows the systems. Both, V20 and what they have created for game. About 70% of respondents thought that Staff knew rules average or better. We'll work to increase this number. Part of the joy of V20 is that we aren't falling back on knowing the system from rote. Just enough has changed to make stuff not at all familiar.
Staff Response:
We're always willing to reference the books before making a rules call. If you see Staff and they aren't holding a phone/tablet/book when they make a rules call, ask them to use one. Otherwise, they're probably referencing stuff. I print out pages from the book for scenes that I plan to make, personally. Rae and Chris use their tablets religiously. Seriously, we're using the book.
6- Rules being fairly implemented? This ranges from character creation to off the cuff rules. About 80% of respondents felt that rules that were structured were being implemented in a 'very well' fashion. That is to say, rules that were either printed in a book or published on a website. About 60% felt that rules were being handled 'very well' off the cuff.
Staff Response:
It is sometimes difficult for players to be impartial when rules are being called about their PC. It's also sometimes hard for staff to be impartial with scenes that they are running. However, it has been a very clear goal of staff to not have an excessive amount of signature NPCs or plots. All of our plots are available for any staff to run, and we have precisely four signature NPCs. None of which are run by the HST, so he can always be impartial to run stuff. give us a chance, but provide all of the info we will need
7- Do you feel this is a good larp? 60% feel that this is a good to excellent game. 25% feel that this game is average, and 15% feel that it is below average. It should be noted that this percentage reflects the percentage of respondents that haven't actually tried the game.
Staff Response:
Of all the replies that we've gotten, this is the most troubling. Average isn't acceptable to any of us, and we will try harder to make this a truly excellent experience. Pride aside, all of us are trying really hard. None of us want people to come to game and NOT enjoy the hell out of it. Honestly. It's our mission statement to make every player so happy that they want to recruit ten more. Believe that if you don't believe anything else we have to say. This isn't a profit business, it's a pleasure one. Please enjoy what we have to offer, and if you know something that you'd enjoy more, don't be shy about guiding us.
8- What would you like to say to a specific staff member?
These are all individual. While I could reply with everything that's been said, I won't. We have a list, we've all read the list. Here are some general replies:
Chris, stop playing favorites. Wolf, run more plots. Rob, be less Rob like. Rae, be around more. Josh, we love and hate you in equal measure. Brad is Brad and accepted as such.
On the whole, staff could be less confrontational, and canon might not be what everyone wants.
Staff Response:
We committed to running a canon game. We understand that playing status isn't always fun, especially for when you have low status. That said, this is a game of horror, with central themes of inequity and sever favoritism IC. As long as the rules are evenly applied, we feel that this is appropriate. However, OOC we shouldn't be playing favorites and will stop. OOC, we are all on the same side and will refocus on making that general theme of this staff rather than an US VS THEM feeling. Which, honestly, that was a feeling that EC's always suffered from and one that I was hoping to more successfully combat. We'll try harder. Please be patient.
As to those that think that Rob is too draconian, he will direct you to his initial platform. His voting platform was that of tyranny. If you disagree with that, we all strongly encourage you to tell him so directly.
9- What is the worst problem with game?
Again, a wide variety of responses bouncing all over the place. Generally, most of the concerns were directed to fellow players ironically, or fellow players leaving for ill defined reasons. We did get a few more concerns. A few directed at Rob for his overall terse demeanor. Quite a few didn't have any specific complaints.
Staff Response:
We can't really control players or how they feel about things. When they leave, they leave. When they are unhappy, we try to fix the problems. Most of the troubles we suffer is from lack of communication. There were a few things about new or starting character having trouble getting into play, which staff is addressing. Otherwise, these were some very personal concerns that staff is taking very seriously. However, they were all over the place and we can't have a uniformed reply other than, 'we've heard you. if you don't see positive progress on your specific concern in a month or so, please contact a pa and voice a more specific concern'.
10- What would you like to see that you haven't seen yet?
A solid 50% of the replies are not wanting anything in particular. The rest jump everywhere. From no NPCs power characters at all to more communication about rules, to more active staff to less active staff, to more humanity struggles to personal stories. Transparency with the bead bags (which struck me as weird). Again, all over the place.
Staff response:
We appreciate all the feedback. We will try our best to implement some of these ideas. However, we have a lot of contradictory stuff. Wanting more active staff to less active staff is really rough. Asking for more NPCs and less NPCs is really rough. What staff can say is that all of the 'key' NPCs are in place with full understanding that they will be PCs at some point. It was, and remains, the staffs intentions to have these characters in place to be pulled out once a player showed the ability to take them. To date, the harpy and Prince are the only two NPCs that have much of an active role in politics. We wrote and supplied plots to aid PCs to taking these roles, and to date, all of these plots were abandoned either by players quitting, characters being retired, or character redirection.
The majority of the respondent's replies were positive, but if you were one of the fellows that didn't give something super positive and feel that perhaps nothing will come of it, please contact a PA or staffer ASAP.
This concludes our first survey. All and all, we're doing pretty well, with some obvious areas of improvement. We'll probably have another survey late January to clean up some of these specific questions. We love everyone.
Cheers!
-Staff, As represented by HST Magic Rob (aka the norobot, aka the grumpy dictator, aka the disdainfully superior unconcerned fellow).
We recently put out a player survey. Thank you for all the folks that replied. We had 31 people voice their opinions and concerns. We'll use this data and alter game a bit. It's entirely possible that we'll have a more focused survey in the coming weeks to address ongoing concerns.
Before I get to the meat and potatoes of this, I'd like to thank everyone that participated. All voices have equal value, and I appreciate anyone that's making an attempt to enjoy game instead of pulling up stakes. By and large, the results were positive with room for improvement.
Questions and Answers:
1- What sort of game do you like?
Over 70% of game replied as wanting Scooby-Doo style plots as either 1 or 2 priority.
About 54% of game replied as wanting Political Intrigue as either 1 or 2 priority.
About 35% of game replied as Combat being 1 or 2 priority.
About 31% of game replied as 'Something else' for priority 1 or 2.
Staff Response:
We have been building Scooby-Doo plots like crazy. If you like them and aren't involved, please get on the Staff List and we'll see what we can do. Political intrigue was the next most populous choice (you'll notice the other two are lagging quite a bit). This one is a bit harder. Staff has tried to create a Status/Boon economy as close to canon as we can. We've put NPCs in place to bolster that (although this has earned some resentment, see later answers). Politics are simply the controlling of scarce resources under the threat of violence. That's all they are. We've made these resources scarce. We've shown players how to fight. It's largely in PC hands at this point. However! That's just our opinions and biased. If you feel we could do more, please shoot us an email or ping a PA. Just... be specific.
2- What is that 'something else'?
This is a fairly exhaustive list, but some examples that we were given:
Personal plots, Horror, Hero/Anti-Hero and Canon exploration.
Staff Response:
The answers were wide and varied. Mostly, it seems to rely around central White Wolf themes. Horror. Personal horror. Vigilante-ism. These are themes we can exploit. However, I see a lot of these to fall into the realm of "PCs should start these plots". If you want horror, we have a few things in the works. If you want PERSONAL horror, please ping us and give us a hint as to what elements of your backstory might inspire that. Remember, you outnumber us by 4+ to one.
3- Are you a current player?
72% of respondents were, 9% were on Hiatus, 3% were not actively playing but had tried the new game and a surprising 15% of respondents haven't bothered to play the reboot but felt like voicing an opinion.
ST Response:
Thank you!
To the guy that hasn't bothered playing and gave us super negative reviews in all things: Give us a try.
4- The next question was about how players feel about how well they know the rules. 50% of respondents feel like they know the rules average or better. This looks like a thing we can work on.
ST Response:
This is harder to reply to since what we're talking about is the PLAYERS not knowing the material. We as staff are always willing to walk you through whatever systems we create or employ. If you doubt that, or find yourself confused, please corner a staffer and ask what you want explained. We're good at explaining. Or pointing to the staffer that's best at explaining.
5- The next question was about how well the players thought that Staff knows the systems. Both, V20 and what they have created for game. About 70% of respondents thought that Staff knew rules average or better. We'll work to increase this number. Part of the joy of V20 is that we aren't falling back on knowing the system from rote. Just enough has changed to make stuff not at all familiar.
Staff Response:
We're always willing to reference the books before making a rules call. If you see Staff and they aren't holding a phone/tablet/book when they make a rules call, ask them to use one. Otherwise, they're probably referencing stuff. I print out pages from the book for scenes that I plan to make, personally. Rae and Chris use their tablets religiously. Seriously, we're using the book.
6- Rules being fairly implemented? This ranges from character creation to off the cuff rules. About 80% of respondents felt that rules that were structured were being implemented in a 'very well' fashion. That is to say, rules that were either printed in a book or published on a website. About 60% felt that rules were being handled 'very well' off the cuff.
Staff Response:
It is sometimes difficult for players to be impartial when rules are being called about their PC. It's also sometimes hard for staff to be impartial with scenes that they are running. However, it has been a very clear goal of staff to not have an excessive amount of signature NPCs or plots. All of our plots are available for any staff to run, and we have precisely four signature NPCs. None of which are run by the HST, so he can always be impartial to run stuff. give us a chance, but provide all of the info we will need
7- Do you feel this is a good larp? 60% feel that this is a good to excellent game. 25% feel that this game is average, and 15% feel that it is below average. It should be noted that this percentage reflects the percentage of respondents that haven't actually tried the game.
Staff Response:
Of all the replies that we've gotten, this is the most troubling. Average isn't acceptable to any of us, and we will try harder to make this a truly excellent experience. Pride aside, all of us are trying really hard. None of us want people to come to game and NOT enjoy the hell out of it. Honestly. It's our mission statement to make every player so happy that they want to recruit ten more. Believe that if you don't believe anything else we have to say. This isn't a profit business, it's a pleasure one. Please enjoy what we have to offer, and if you know something that you'd enjoy more, don't be shy about guiding us.
8- What would you like to say to a specific staff member?
These are all individual. While I could reply with everything that's been said, I won't. We have a list, we've all read the list. Here are some general replies:
Chris, stop playing favorites. Wolf, run more plots. Rob, be less Rob like. Rae, be around more. Josh, we love and hate you in equal measure. Brad is Brad and accepted as such.
On the whole, staff could be less confrontational, and canon might not be what everyone wants.
Staff Response:
We committed to running a canon game. We understand that playing status isn't always fun, especially for when you have low status. That said, this is a game of horror, with central themes of inequity and sever favoritism IC. As long as the rules are evenly applied, we feel that this is appropriate. However, OOC we shouldn't be playing favorites and will stop. OOC, we are all on the same side and will refocus on making that general theme of this staff rather than an US VS THEM feeling. Which, honestly, that was a feeling that EC's always suffered from and one that I was hoping to more successfully combat. We'll try harder. Please be patient.
As to those that think that Rob is too draconian, he will direct you to his initial platform. His voting platform was that of tyranny. If you disagree with that, we all strongly encourage you to tell him so directly.
9- What is the worst problem with game?
Again, a wide variety of responses bouncing all over the place. Generally, most of the concerns were directed to fellow players ironically, or fellow players leaving for ill defined reasons. We did get a few more concerns. A few directed at Rob for his overall terse demeanor. Quite a few didn't have any specific complaints.
Staff Response:
We can't really control players or how they feel about things. When they leave, they leave. When they are unhappy, we try to fix the problems. Most of the troubles we suffer is from lack of communication. There were a few things about new or starting character having trouble getting into play, which staff is addressing. Otherwise, these were some very personal concerns that staff is taking very seriously. However, they were all over the place and we can't have a uniformed reply other than, 'we've heard you. if you don't see positive progress on your specific concern in a month or so, please contact a pa and voice a more specific concern'.
10- What would you like to see that you haven't seen yet?
A solid 50% of the replies are not wanting anything in particular. The rest jump everywhere. From no NPCs power characters at all to more communication about rules, to more active staff to less active staff, to more humanity struggles to personal stories. Transparency with the bead bags (which struck me as weird). Again, all over the place.
Staff response:
We appreciate all the feedback. We will try our best to implement some of these ideas. However, we have a lot of contradictory stuff. Wanting more active staff to less active staff is really rough. Asking for more NPCs and less NPCs is really rough. What staff can say is that all of the 'key' NPCs are in place with full understanding that they will be PCs at some point. It was, and remains, the staffs intentions to have these characters in place to be pulled out once a player showed the ability to take them. To date, the harpy and Prince are the only two NPCs that have much of an active role in politics. We wrote and supplied plots to aid PCs to taking these roles, and to date, all of these plots were abandoned either by players quitting, characters being retired, or character redirection.
The majority of the respondent's replies were positive, but if you were one of the fellows that didn't give something super positive and feel that perhaps nothing will come of it, please contact a PA or staffer ASAP.
This concludes our first survey. All and all, we're doing pretty well, with some obvious areas of improvement. We'll probably have another survey late January to clean up some of these specific questions. We love everyone.
Cheers!
-Staff, As represented by HST Magic Rob (aka the norobot, aka the grumpy dictator, aka the disdainfully superior unconcerned fellow).