Jump to content

Decisions, Decisions


frogspawner

Recommended Posts

How should we make decisions about the form and content of the SharedWorld?

Polls? What about time limits? Who says what/when decisions are needed? Or are decisions a Bad Thing?

I propose we suggest whatever methods seem best to us, and Mr Trifletraxor chooses one.

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd have two Shared Worlds, one for Fantasy and one for Sci Fi as the two are very hard to mix at anything but a cursory level.

Or, because you can never have too many choices, have a number of world templates in the Wiki and people can choose which to play with.

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, there's a case in point - how do we decide what to make decisions about?

(Multiple world templates is the GateWorlds, I think...)

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:focus:

Does no-one have any suggestions for a process of taking decisions?

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well one idea could be that someone could make a proposal. Someone else would need to second the idea. At that point it gets placed on one of those voting or poling dodad threads. options could be: 1. works fine for me. 2. works but may need minor adjustments. 3. Willing to work with it but does not fit well with my ideas. 4. Veto. 2, 3, 4 would probably require a little explaination. Leave the idea open for a certain amount of time to discuss it, a week maybe, and then it is either adopted, or drafted as cannon. It would be nice if people could change their votes so the idea could be edited to make it more palitable for those who are not sure.

294/420

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Veto won't work as Fantasy lovers will veto hard Sci Fi stuff and vice versa.

A single Controller/Editor would be better, but who would do it?

Voting on most things by Poll might be an idea, but you'd have to ensure that the vote couldn't be skewed by multiple votes by the same person.

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Veto won't work as Fantasy lovers will veto hard Sci Fi stuff and vice versa.

A single Controller/Editor would be better, but who would do it?

Voting on most things by Poll might be an idea, but you'd have to ensure that the vote couldn't be skewed by multiple votes by the same person.

I'd think Triff would be the one to make the final decision, and be "Supervising Editor" or some such.

Polls can be helpful, but can be flawed, both in terms of "skewed" results, and in skewed options.

With so many contributors we a re bound to go off in 20 different directions. Just as long as we can disagree, accept the final decision and continue on, we should be able to get some sort of result.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is why I haven't submitted anything in the last few weeks. I've noticed a tendency of some individuals to complain more about what they dislike about x idea than contribute anything of use.

I want to be clear that I am not flaming, just making an observation.

The whole idea of a shared project is to _share_ it. You take the good with the bad. The good and bad in this case are subjective terms, as this is a cooperative effort, and each participant has their own personal tastes.

I and others have suggested every item in this thread at one point or another in other threads from the last month. I quit contributing to these threads because it has turned into a Friendly Complaints Forum.

There is not going to be any format to this for a while. No one seems to want to come to a middle ground on either of the two core ideas A) Fantasy World and B) Sci Fi Place.

I want to emphasize yet again that this is not an attack or trolling, I am just stating the obvious. Whether you choose to admit this is the case or not, it is.

I would advise each individual on this forum to do as I and a few others have done:

Begin to create Content.

After a bunch of us begin submitting content, we will be able to come to a consensus with regards to formatting. There is nothing to be gained from idle speculation and/or disparagement of another's ideas. This is a _shared_ project. If you don't like someone's ideas, don't use them. That is the bottom line. We are (or at least I'd like to think we are) a community of like minded individuals who are undertaking this project for the advancement of the system it will use (or not use in some cases). :)

So, in closing, I submit to all of you that we should spend less time:

A) Saying how much we like or dislike another person's ideas

B) Endlessly discussing the structure of the thing

C) Saying _anything_ negative about Fantasy/Sci Fi

D) Bombarding Triff with nonsensical conflicting requests.

E) Suggesting Polling

F) Giving Our Opinion on "What Really Matters" in a write up

and spend more time:

A) Generating and Submitting Content

I think that we will find the latter option will be just what we need to get the ball rolling. We can worry about formatting and organization once we have real content to format and organize.

I want to say one last time that this post is not meant to discourage anyone from the process, anger or upset anyone, or identify the behavior of one or more people as being counterproductive. I just want this thing to work.

121/420

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Veto won't work as Fantasy lovers will veto hard Sci Fi stuff and vice versa.

Well, one of the first votes might very well be whether to have a separate SharedWorld (galaxy?) for Sci-Fi, like someone suggested. ;) And if we do, that shouldn't be a problem. But maybe just Yes/No's would be simpler. After all, what if a "sort of" option won the poll?

I'd think Triff would be the one to make the final decision, and be "Supervising Editor" or some such.

Polls can be helpful, but can be flawed, both in terms of "skewed" results, and in skewed options.

Yes, I hope Mr T will volunteer as supervisor of this sort of thing: deciding how to phrase polls, checking they're properly proposed, spotting multiple voters...

With so many contributors we a re bound to go off in 20 different directions. Just as long as we can disagree, accept the final decision and continue on, we should be able to get some sort of result.

I also hope that we will get lots of different ideas (even conflicting ones) - and can build up a rich background/mythology to reconcile them all...

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, in closing, I submit to all of you that we should spend less time:

A) Saying how much we like or dislike another person's ideas

I dislike that idea straight away :)

Actually I don't, it makes a lot of sense.

The problem is, nothing has actually been done yet, so people tend to flap around a bit.

There's not much point writing background in a world where the background will conflict with everything else, so I guess that people are waiting to see whether any consensus may be reached before they spend a lot of time writing things up.

For example I'm from a heavy-Gloranthan background and I like myths, cults and history. That means that I'd write myths, cults and history for any shared world. Based on Triff's Sky Mountain World, I've already thought of 20 or so myth fragments that I think would fit. However, there's no point writing them down if the world is a Sci Fi world or uses a different fantasy setting. Similarly, there's no point writing up a race of planet-hopping gypsies for a single-world fantasy setting.

Certainly, if people start to create content around the same setting then more poeple will use that setting. For instance, I like the reverse map for Sky Mountain World and the premise behind Sky Mountain World, especially as it could include something like The Green fairly easily. Given some time, I will start writing things for this, but at the moment I don't have a lot of free time available as I am under pressure to limit my PC use at the weekends and in the evenings.

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For example I'm from a heavy-Gloranthan background and I like myths, cults and history. That means that I'd write myths, cults and history for any shared world. Based on Triff's Sky Mountain World, I've already thought of 20 or so myth fragments that I think would fit. However, there's no point writing them down if the world is a Sci Fi world or uses a different fantasy setting. Similarly, there's no point writing up a race of planet-hopping gypsies for a single-world fantasy setting.

I thought there already two separate plans cooking. I thought the idea was a fantasy world and a separate primarily sci fi universe. I've been going on the assumption that this was the case and developing a world that would fit into the sci fi galaxy. After I get that rolling, I thought I would contribute a few things for the fantasy world.

121/420

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought the idea was a fantasy world and a separate primarily sci fi universe.

That was my impression, too. Currently I am working on my science fiction

world almost daily, and I planned to start to translate the basic informations

into English as soon as the shared universe begins to take shape and I have

the time and energy for the translation.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My impression was that there was some thought on combining the two into a single setting, and/or some confusion over which setting would have the gates.

I'm a bit hesitant to start creating something without some parameters, as depending on what it ultimately decided upon any concept could easily be incompatible.

I suspect that if we just create and "worry about formatting and organization once we have real content to format and organize", we are probably going to be going on in as many different directions as we are now.

I'm not griping either. I just think that with so many different authors and the realtively slow rate that these thing hash out in posts, as opposed to live communications, it is just something that is going to take time. It's just the nature of this sort of thing combined with the slow speed of posts.

Or, we can bite the bullet come to some form or agreement, either by voting or a decision from a "senior supervisor" and move on.

I've got a half dozen or so different ideas that I could explore but am waiting to see where we end of heading so I can see which one to develop.

I've seen several good ideas, not all of which are compatible and am willing to work with any of them.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally, my computer is up and running again after the temporary move! Now, back to SharedWorld & SharedUniverse:

Veto won't work as Fantasy lovers will veto hard Sci Fi stuff and vice versa.

I believe Sky Mtn. World should be developed as a clear fantasy world - with fantasy mythos, and a flat geography (icecycles at the edge etc.).

Developing this SharedWorld as a fantasy world does not hinder people using it in a Sci Fi setting though. An sci-fi explanation for Sky Mtn. World's perceived mythos, magic and geography can be made, f.ex. the Dyson Sphere & special breeding for psionic genes done by the ancients. This can easily be made as an add-on for those who wants to use the SharedWorld in a sci-fi setting.

A gate (or more gates) should be added to Sky Mtn. World, but should probably be mainly inactive. Demons and other races can have passed thru earlier, but not being so active that it will be regular trade going on. This way people can come in to the world thru the gates at the GMs descretion, but without having a continious effect on the world.

I'd think Triff would be the one to make the final decision, and be "Supervising Editor" or some such.

Polls can be helpful, but can be flawed, both in terms of "skewed" results, and in skewed options.

We can have open polls, were the names of those voting can be seen, could do the trick.

Well, one of the first votes might very well be whether to have a separate SharedWorld (galaxy?) for Sci-Fi, like someone suggested. ;) And if we do, that shouldn't be a problem. But maybe just Yes/No's would be simpler. After all, what if a "sort of" option won the poll?

I think GatesWorlds / SharedUniverse would do best with a sci-fi background. In fantasy worlds, who set up the gates might not be important, and they may be more or less inactive, just a way to let GMs move their players from world to world if they so like. For Sci-Fi settings, the gates works stargates. The biggest thing here is which sci-fi settings that want to have relations together (which world creators want to cooperate in creating a "common known universe".

I also hope that we will get lots of different ideas (even conflicting ones) - and can build up a rich background/mythology to reconcile them all...

I fully agree with this. The more suggestions we have in the wiki the better! :)

I thought there already two separate plans cooking. I thought the idea was a fantasy world and a separate primarily sci fi universe. I've been going on the assumption that this was the case and developing a world that would fit into the sci fi galaxy. After I get that rolling, I thought I would contribute a few things for the fantasy world.

Way to go! :thumb:

That was my impression, too. Currently I am working on my science fiction world almost daily, and I planned to start to translate the basic informations into English as soon as the shared universe begins to take shape and I have the time and energy for the translation.

Very good! :D

My impression was that there was some thought on combining the two into a single setting, and/or some confusion over which setting would have the gates.

I think the SharedUniverse should be made in such a way that ShareWorld can be included, maybe with a sci-fi add-on explanation, but that SharedWorld should be developed without having to adjust to the shared universe. It's easier to just create an add-on explanation that would explain the magic and mythos in scientific terms, that could be used if someone wanted to use it for sci-fi.

That's my suggestion at least!

SGL.

Ef plest master, this mighty fine grub!
b1.gif 116/420. High Priest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...