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Structured "Content"?

A topic by Aleks Samoylov created Mar 01, 2021 Views: 1,100 Replies: 17

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Aleks SamoylovModerator3 years ago(+2)

Hello, zombie forum. As part of an effort to make better use of this space, I would like to start posting discussion prompts once or twice a week specifically for the purpose of having a low-pressure "activity" for folks to participate in without necessarily having to come up with their own thread (unless they want to, in which case, I really do encourage it). These will likely vary widely in topic and overall heft.

Do folks have other ideas for additional types of structured content / community building / general internet ice-breakage? If so, please feel free to make suggestions here or just go ahead and get it started in its own thread.

breathingstories3 years ago(+1)

Hmmm, a few ideas come to mind:

-what’s exciting you in games this week?

-what new thing did you discover/what are you bursting to share?

-fondest/most emotional/most formative TTRPG memories

Stuff like that!

Aleks SamoylovModerator3 years ago

Good ideas all!

Thomas || New Madras3 years ago(+3)

Hello, Aleks! I'm not sure if this is a good idea or bad one but we could use twitter to get a sense of what's "the topic of the week". Usually someone has a hot take and everyone chimes in. Maybe we could use that to test if forums do lead to better conversations? Obviously the topic needs to be worth discussing. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe we could do "the topic of last week" and lean into the slowness of forums.

Aleks SamoylovModerator3 years ago(+3)

Hey Thomas,

This is a good idea, definitely. I do think we need to be careful of replicating the actual "hotness" (under the collar) of twitter discourse - theory discussions are great until someone makes a declarative statement, like "dice are good/bad" or "playtesting is necessary if you're a real designer" or "systems matter/don't matter" and so on, and people start feeling like others are invalidating their personal design practice or playstyle, but that should be pretty easily avoided by simply remembering to frame things in terms of personal preference as opposed to absolute truth. So falling into the twitter anger trap is probably not going to be as much of an issue with the extra space and time a forum affords, as well as the code of conduct. Hopefully just something keep mindful of, just in case.

When it comes to more topical/news stuff, specifically in relation to bad actors in the industry, I don't want to stifle discussion of that sort of thing so long as it is in keeping with said code of conduct, but would likely leave that up to individual members to start up their threads on. I am personally not one to espouse the "positivity at all costs" mindset, and sometimes the unpleasant things are best exposed to the light, but I'd definitely want to strive to cultivate less of a "hell-site" vibe on here.

That said, what would you say is the hot design/play topic this week (or last, since I agree that keeping too current is not necessary)? I've been a bit out of the loop in terms of the disk horse lately (I am aware of the most recent kickstarter fracas, of course, but that's more in the breaking news/bad actor category).

Hmm, might also be a good idea to have a thread for people to promote their most recent ZineQuest projects?

Thomas || New Madras3 years ago(+3)

I agree with everything you're saying, Aleks. It would only be worth doing if we believe that a better kind of conversation is possible - due to the long-form nature of the medium itself and the moderation that's possible. And while people should be able to discuss bad actors, I was not thinking of that kind of stuff when I proposed the idea - I was thinking of design conversations.

Examples are hard but let me give it a shot. Right now, there are some discussions I'm seeing on:

1. alternatives to kickstarter if you're interested in crowdfunding
2. critique in ttrpgs - thinking of the video on zedeck as a great example of something I'd like to see more of (https://youtu.be/J3gsHlnczJM)

What do you think?

Aleks SamoylovModerator3 years ago

Makes sense. We are on the same page, for sure. And if there isn't enough meat on the bone of the latest hot topic, there is always plenty in the realm of design to dive into. These things are often cyclical, after all.

GameMaru3 years ago(+3)

RPG Book Club: somebody picks a discussion-worthy RPG, participants have a week (or whatever) to read it, and then there's a discussion thread about it.

Aleks SamoylovModerator3 years ago(+1)

A great idea. Would definitely require a group of actively involved/engaged members, but there is definitely space for that here. If you already know some folks who'd be interested, please feel free to get this going and let me know if I can help in any specific way. I would be happy to make each week's RPG Book Club thread sticky for that week, though I guess you'd probably want to gauged interest and get some "club members" on board first.

I'd definitely be into participating in something like this myself, at least on occasion (time and money permitting).

GameMaru3 years ago

I don't know anyone who'd be interested, but I would probably try to participate (depending on the game).

Thomas || New Madras3 years ago(+2)

I love this idea and would 100% participate, Dan. We can also attach an open voice/video call to the beginning or end of the period. I would recommend we make it to a month or 2-3 week period though. A week would be too short for me and most other people!

Hardcore Narrativist3 years ago(+3)

This sounds great! Here is an idea: what about we choose free or PWYW games in here? I think it would have several advantages:

People participating wouldn't have to spend money to participate.
We would bring attention to creators that are probably struggling to be noticed at all, and maybe we could leave some comments on the page (those are gold for indie creators).
They would tend to be much, much shorter than your typical published RPG, so it would be a lot easier to participate and we could have shorter, more frequent discussions.

I'm biased because I'm such a creator, but I'd be happy to ban my own creations from the book club 😄

GameMaru3 years ago(+2)

I agree that picking games which are easily accessible would be a good idea.

Aleks SamoylovModerator3 years ago

These are very good parameters indeed.

Thomas || New Madras3 years ago(+1)

I don't think it's as simple as that. Very often even small games from indie creators have price tags on them - at least, that is the trend that I'm seeing. I think choosing only free or PWYW games would eliminate a large number of excellent games and excellent creators. That said, I aree with all your points. So I think free, PWYW and playtest kits should not be ruled out. But at the same time, I think designers could submit free copies of their games to the book club for distribution to participants.

But this does open up the question of how we'll choose which game to read. I see two options:

1. Voting.

Pros: Democratic. People are also more likely to participate if they can choose the game.
Cons: Popular games will be chosen. Games from less popular creators will always lose.

2. Lottery (suggestions are solicited and then you roll dice to see which one is read this week, same suggestions are rolled on next week)

Pros: Gives every game an equal chance of being chosen.
Cons: The counterpoint to choosing a small game is that the number of people who might participate is low.

So I'm not sure how to decide between these options. I think that Lottery is more fair but Voting is better if we want more people to participate.

Hardcore Narrativist3 years ago

Fair enough! I hadn't thought of the possibility of the author providing free copies. That's cool, too. I was mostly thinking that, at least in the beginning, it would be a good idea to lower the bar for participation by choosing short games that can be downloaded for free. I know that I would not even think of participating if I had to buy and read a 100+ page book.

Regarding how to choose, I think voting should be fine. If people suggest several games first, and then people vote between those, we won't necessarily get "popular" games, I think.

Tanya Floaker3 years ago (1 edit) (+1)

Perhaps a topic for after the pandemic, but looking at ways of growing in-person clubs and spaces exclusively geared towards indie and small press games.

Aleks SamoylovModerator3 years ago(+1)

Yeah, that'd be great. I've tried to find groups pre-pandemic, and have found again and again that it was easy to find DnD/Pathfinder meetups and almost impossible to find anything else. That may vary regionally, of course.

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