management « Apostolos Koutsokalis

Tag Archives: management

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 …

Coping with “idea overflow”

Posted on 25/02/2014 by apo

No Comments

A few weeks ago my friend Chris sent me an e-mail containing a link to this discussion. It is a condition that I share with many other people in the world and not just a conversation starter. And I say “condition” because I don’t think it can be exclusively hindering to a person or the society if handled properly.

First things first, what is “idea overflow”? Interestingly enough there is no entry about it on wikipedia so the following definition is my own. “Idea overflow” is a condition where a person keeps having a constant stream of ideas – new or old ones – on his mind without being able to finish or develop any of them – fast enough or even at all – and thus becomes unable to contain that stream of ideas to a bearable limit. And if the definition didn’t help you enough let’s just say that “idea overflow” is what made me pause twice while typing this, so I could create a couple of drafts that hopefully will later become future blog articles and what is now making me consider whether I should implement a voting system where readers would vote on the next draft that want completed.

Taking myself as an example you can see Read more …

What I learned from TGTSNBN: Ignoring the rules

Posted on 24/01/2014 by apo

No Comments

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 …

What I learned from TGTSNBN: The one man army

Posted on 27/12/2013 by apo

No Comments

Transitioning from a concept to a final product is no easy task. Let alone a country-wide game that is played by 10-40 people everyday (peak active players were around 100). What we’re looking at is 2-7 sessions everyday, that means 2-7 GMs that need to be briefed in advance. It also requires those players having their characters ready and possibly a session tailored to their tastes. That doesn’t sound like an impossible feat right? Well it isn’t, provided that we are discussing a finished product.

After 2.5 years the game is still in development, with parts of it being redesigned every couple of weeks and new features still rolling out. Game design, ~~web application development~~, class balancing, GM briefing, loot handing, character leveling bonuses, feedback receiving, session managing, group moderating, bug squashing and so many more are required for the game to operate smoothly. I am not trying to make it sound harder than it actually is. It is hard! Especially for a single person to pull all that off!

The game’s owner/designer/master admin that will from now on be reffered to as “A.” wanted to make it happen all by himself. And by “all” I mean everything that he believed wasn’t straight out of the question for him (i.e. programming). So take another look at the above requirements without wondering anymore why “web application development” was striken through. And no, that’s not one less job for A. because mister A. will now also need to communicate with the web developer, graphics designer and suddenly we’re back to square one. Read more …