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The time for the consolidation of TW is probably well past; we have seen the effects of what can happen to the zone when it becomes stretched too thin. The population has dropped over the years but at the same time the zone has added more and more zone level features. (Zone level features are things like the different leagues, events, pub, elim, go base, etc.)
Obviously something had to ‘give’; what has ‘given’ is the overall quality of the zone level features. Much of the lowering of the quality has to do with the fact that these zone level features are competing with each other. Additionally the resources required to run simultaneous features is much greater. So we are left with a choice; allow all these features to run half-assed or start intelligently consolidating and run them better.
League Consolidation
TWD just about came to a halt during TWL. Trying to scrape up a TWBD during TWL, when it should have been easier at times given the increased population, was just about impossible. TWL also ended up being a cluster fuck. TWDT has always struggled and never really fulfilled its goal of being a league to assist newer players. Dethdefire has a new thread proposing another new league. There is talk of starting up a TW hockey league.
League diversity is great, but with a lower population they become much harder to support. Getting rid of them would suck, so what the answer? The answer in this case is to consolidate the leagues into shorter time periods and not have them compete with each other. The zone can no longer afford the luxury of having a league monopolize the best 3 hour period each week to run or allow a league to run 24/7/365.
Instead we build single web site interface for a player to join a squad. Each league gets a maximum of 4 weeks to run. No leagues run simultaneously. Squads can participate in as many or as few of the leagues as they desire. Within their 4 week period a league can play in whatever time slots they wish to establish (just choice weekend times, a game per day, 24/7, etc.). Some leagues may then want to run more than one game per week. Some leagues may want to split up into separate ‘seasons’; for example perhaps TWD runs in spring and fall.
Having shorter leagues should keep things well populated and keep things interesting. It should also better support the inclusion of new squads and players. Some squads might be attracted to trying to ‘sweep’ as many of the leagues as they can; others might just target a particular league. There could even be some kind of system for determining an annual champion across all leagues.
Event Consolidation
For our purposes let’s call Pub an event. Pub has to be run 24/7 for obvious reasons. IMO the zone can currently support a maximum of two simultaneous events. It might be Distension, hockey, elim, , go base, turretwars, etc. The zone population is simply not what it used to be and cannot carry many events running at one time.
I know it seems like a step backwards to remove something like ?go base from being an automated 24/7 arena to an hosted event but at this point what are we really losing? We HAVE to be aware of the impact an event has on the rest of the zone. Limiting the zone to two simultaneous events does have downsides but don’t shoot the messenger here. The luxury of allowing this in the past is gone, we have to recognize that we can’t cut the TW pie into smaller and smaller pieces and think that this is going to work well. Running a poorly attended event is a horrible mistake with our low population numbers. Not only does it reflect badly on the event itself but it also robs players from other areas of the zone.
Obviously the events themselves will need to be organized and scheduled better than they are now. Yes, it this has a downside. Ideally players would be able to log in and play the event of their choice within a few minutes as opposed to knowing the event is only played each day at 4PM. But we are far from ideal and need to make some sacrifices if we want to maintain the diversity of things we currently have. But by limiting the zone to pub and a single event at a time will keep the population from being spread too thin and allow staff to properly host better attended events.
Of course all of the above is simply an overview of one consolidation approach; there are other ways to consolidate. But it is past time that we should have started thinking/talking about this. Another reason is be thinking about this is if we do make a transition to an ASSS server. Surely no one thinks that we should just port all these features as they stand now. No one even knows for sure how many total events even exist in TW. Are we really going to ask Dev to spend time porting over some event/arena that has been played just once or twice in the last 10 months? The zone should, at a minimum, be visiting the consolidation effort just for this reason alone.
Opinions?
eph
Obviously something had to ‘give’; what has ‘given’ is the overall quality of the zone level features. Much of the lowering of the quality has to do with the fact that these zone level features are competing with each other. Additionally the resources required to run simultaneous features is much greater. So we are left with a choice; allow all these features to run half-assed or start intelligently consolidating and run them better.
League Consolidation
TWD just about came to a halt during TWL. Trying to scrape up a TWBD during TWL, when it should have been easier at times given the increased population, was just about impossible. TWL also ended up being a cluster fuck. TWDT has always struggled and never really fulfilled its goal of being a league to assist newer players. Dethdefire has a new thread proposing another new league. There is talk of starting up a TW hockey league.
League diversity is great, but with a lower population they become much harder to support. Getting rid of them would suck, so what the answer? The answer in this case is to consolidate the leagues into shorter time periods and not have them compete with each other. The zone can no longer afford the luxury of having a league monopolize the best 3 hour period each week to run or allow a league to run 24/7/365.
Instead we build single web site interface for a player to join a squad. Each league gets a maximum of 4 weeks to run. No leagues run simultaneously. Squads can participate in as many or as few of the leagues as they desire. Within their 4 week period a league can play in whatever time slots they wish to establish (just choice weekend times, a game per day, 24/7, etc.). Some leagues may then want to run more than one game per week. Some leagues may want to split up into separate ‘seasons’; for example perhaps TWD runs in spring and fall.
Having shorter leagues should keep things well populated and keep things interesting. It should also better support the inclusion of new squads and players. Some squads might be attracted to trying to ‘sweep’ as many of the leagues as they can; others might just target a particular league. There could even be some kind of system for determining an annual champion across all leagues.
Event Consolidation
For our purposes let’s call Pub an event. Pub has to be run 24/7 for obvious reasons. IMO the zone can currently support a maximum of two simultaneous events. It might be Distension, hockey, elim, , go base, turretwars, etc. The zone population is simply not what it used to be and cannot carry many events running at one time.
I know it seems like a step backwards to remove something like ?go base from being an automated 24/7 arena to an hosted event but at this point what are we really losing? We HAVE to be aware of the impact an event has on the rest of the zone. Limiting the zone to two simultaneous events does have downsides but don’t shoot the messenger here. The luxury of allowing this in the past is gone, we have to recognize that we can’t cut the TW pie into smaller and smaller pieces and think that this is going to work well. Running a poorly attended event is a horrible mistake with our low population numbers. Not only does it reflect badly on the event itself but it also robs players from other areas of the zone.
Obviously the events themselves will need to be organized and scheduled better than they are now. Yes, it this has a downside. Ideally players would be able to log in and play the event of their choice within a few minutes as opposed to knowing the event is only played each day at 4PM. But we are far from ideal and need to make some sacrifices if we want to maintain the diversity of things we currently have. But by limiting the zone to pub and a single event at a time will keep the population from being spread too thin and allow staff to properly host better attended events.
Of course all of the above is simply an overview of one consolidation approach; there are other ways to consolidate. But it is past time that we should have started thinking/talking about this. Another reason is be thinking about this is if we do make a transition to an ASSS server. Surely no one thinks that we should just port all these features as they stand now. No one even knows for sure how many total events even exist in TW. Are we really going to ask Dev to spend time porting over some event/arena that has been played just once or twice in the last 10 months? The zone should, at a minimum, be visiting the consolidation effort just for this reason alone.
Opinions?
eph
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