Thinking about a casual, instructional game format
Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 9:07 am
I had an idea of starting a private game (in my mind, gunboat, but could be any format) with vetted 'good' players, and then allowing any number of people to 'follow' a player as (s)he plays through the game.
Say "good" players ABCDEFG are playing a Classic game.
Players HIJK are interested in getting to see a "good" player's game, "under-the-hood" as it were. H "follows" A, I follows C, J&K both follow F. (we'll say there was no more interest and B, D, E, and G have no followers)
Player A sets up a PM/QuickTopic/etc. with H. C with I, F with J&K together.
In it, A, C, F each post their running thoughts on a turn-by-turn basis. As H, I, J, K see fit, they ask questions and discuss those running thoughts to try to understand the thought process of their chosen "good" player.
I see it as being a 'reverse' SoW: the more experienced person is doing the playing, and is also doing a mini-"professor" commentary on just their particular position and concerns, and the less experienced people chime in as they see fit.
The advantage vis-a-vis SoW is that it takes less commitment from the people trying to learn, and potentially can cover more advanced concepts, since the players are all experienced. Ideal for the player who perhaps has moved too far up the ladder to gain much from participating in SoW, but still wants to learn from people they consider to be stronger players; or also for the player who would love to do a SoW-style game, but can't commit the time and effort to actually playing and keeping up with a mentor's advice all the while.
The disadvantage is that it is quite a commitment on the player side. I would expect the level of effort needed to be comparable to writing a detailed EoG (and doing it as you play, not just recollecting everything at the end) plus actively conversing about the game with your followers.
So far, I can tell that a person should only be able to follow one player per game (to avoid accidental or, heaven forbid, deliberate cross-conversation knowledge leaks), and the player should probably have some control over their list of followers (capping a maximum total number for instance). I'd also want a mod to go over the finished process before starting a game like this, to remain within all other site rules.
Would there be any interest in a game like this?
Say "good" players ABCDEFG are playing a Classic game.
Players HIJK are interested in getting to see a "good" player's game, "under-the-hood" as it were. H "follows" A, I follows C, J&K both follow F. (we'll say there was no more interest and B, D, E, and G have no followers)
Player A sets up a PM/QuickTopic/etc. with H. C with I, F with J&K together.
In it, A, C, F each post their running thoughts on a turn-by-turn basis. As H, I, J, K see fit, they ask questions and discuss those running thoughts to try to understand the thought process of their chosen "good" player.
I see it as being a 'reverse' SoW: the more experienced person is doing the playing, and is also doing a mini-"professor" commentary on just their particular position and concerns, and the less experienced people chime in as they see fit.
The advantage vis-a-vis SoW is that it takes less commitment from the people trying to learn, and potentially can cover more advanced concepts, since the players are all experienced. Ideal for the player who perhaps has moved too far up the ladder to gain much from participating in SoW, but still wants to learn from people they consider to be stronger players; or also for the player who would love to do a SoW-style game, but can't commit the time and effort to actually playing and keeping up with a mentor's advice all the while.
The disadvantage is that it is quite a commitment on the player side. I would expect the level of effort needed to be comparable to writing a detailed EoG (and doing it as you play, not just recollecting everything at the end) plus actively conversing about the game with your followers.
So far, I can tell that a person should only be able to follow one player per game (to avoid accidental or, heaven forbid, deliberate cross-conversation knowledge leaks), and the player should probably have some control over their list of followers (capping a maximum total number for instance). I'd also want a mod to go over the finished process before starting a game like this, to remain within all other site rules.
Would there be any interest in a game like this?