[Bêthberry]

I guess it is now my turn to add some ideas to the pot which is bubbling here. Not Stone Soup but something just as creative I hope. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

A crucial point, to my mind, is how to encourage and inspire people to start games in all the forums. After all, the writing's the thing wherein we catch desire's imaginings. It was to that end that I tried to create a new White Horse Inn which would make writing there attractive.

I think that Beren's point, that people start games for the fun of the idea, is crucial. I game for the enjoyment and challenge of interactive writing and I would hope that all the rules which come into play would support this creative urge in everyone as well as myself.

I still think that the three tier system is viable and important; even with fewer forums, we would still be faced with the questions of different writing and gaming interests and abilities. However, I won't into that now. My interest here is to think about how games can best work.

Rohan needs a more responsive proposal system. I have not been part of that in the past, but we are now working on creating a process which encourages game development. I would like to see Rohan be the place where gamers learn to trust themselves as gamers, where they can feel comfortable if they make mistakes and where they can learn from those mistakes, and where they can demonstrate that they can follow a game's vision with some supervision and help. This is, I think, the next level up from learning basically what is involved in gaming--which is alot in itself, as witnessed by the tremendous work which The Shire Mods do.

With the new list of Rohan gamers, identifying new gamers has become crucial also. In the past, I did this informally, via PM. Now, with pio's and Child's help and advice, it will be done formally and regularly. As Child acknowledges, summer brings RL obligations which cut into time spent here. I am really appreciative of their help because keeping up with two forums is a scramble. Sophia, if you want nudges, I'll be giving them!

The list has made it difficult to fill places in games which have come up when gamers have been called away by RL obligations. This has affected all of the Rohan games. Speaking for myself, perhaps we need to think of how to augment that list in special cases, or expediate movement from The Shire to Rohan, always being careful to preserve fairness, in truth and in appearance.

And, speaking of RL forcing disappearances, In War is on hiatus because the game owner faced serious family problems. We are trying to contact him so somone else can take over the game, but his PM box is full!

I would say that, if someone can provide major input in developing a multiple-layered story with well-developed characterization (and in the process show some sense of interpreting Tolkien), then something is out of kilter if that person cannot be categorized as writing for that level of game. Surely the basis ought to be the evidence of that person's posts and contributions to games. Is the complexity of the system creating problems?

I guess we are still working on the question of how games can work best.

Bethberry