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Tag Archives: feedback

What I learned from TGTSNBN: Addictive Unfairness

Posted on 20/06/2014 by apo

I had originally planned for a different subject to continue the series but recent – ahem – “discussions” made me change my mind and opt for the following.

Apparently, even three years into the game, over 80% of retired and active players strongly believe they were treated unfairly and that admins showered others with favoritism. Even though most of these claims are true – because there are the occasional delusional people that lack proof and reason – it’s more about the “why” and “how” than the “what”. Unfairness, either intentional or not, was undoubtedly a major factor in the game’s development and evolution, in more ways than just treating people differently.

Although quite a few unintentional unfair events took place, by unfairness I will be mostly referring to pure intentional abuse and bias, unless specified otherwise. The one and only truth is Read more …

What I learned from TGTSNBN: Ignoring the rules

Posted on 24/01/2014 by apo

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Please take a moment to watch the following video before continuing. I find it to be one of the most perfectly executed presentations ever made, just like most of their other videos, so you might want to at least take a look to their channel if not subscribing right away.

What makes TGTSNBN such an interesting case study is the fact that it isn’t a pure tabletop RPG, one that just needs a rulebook with descriptions and explanations. It is so much more: a community game with facebook groups that need their own moderating, a tabletop game that needs crystal-clear rules, an online browser game that has features that affect how players gain experience, skills and resources. So let’s take it step by step and see how the designers tackled each of those three game aspects. Read more …

The DISlike button

Posted on 04/01/2014 by apo

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One of the wonders of living in the 21st century is the seemingly limitless options we have on anything. From shopping to elected officials and from cat pictures to socializing. When presented with such an – at times overwhelming – number of choices one has to be able to keep up with the pace, not so much concerning the quantity but the quality of said choices.

The thing is though, that more often than not, we are offered to just choose what we like best. Think about it. We bookmark our preferred sites, star our favorite tweets, like the best facebook posts and comments, listen only to the music we like, vote for the politicians that we think can best represent us. We only aim towards what we want, what we think is best, while completely ignoring everything else. No ‘but’s no bargaining. Either take it, or leave it.

We are operating under a general lack of dislike means and limited negative feedback options.

I am not saying that positive feedback is a bad metric, but one that is overused compared to others that complement it. Positive feedback alone cannot present the full picture and also usually doesn’t contribute in the creation of new developments, but rather prolongs existing states. Still not convinced? Well, time for the obligatory post example. Read more …