wankgate | 245: Tone Death Rapture: Championship Edition : Tournament Edition

245: Tone Death Rapture: Championship Edition : Tournament Edition

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

my advice as a fellow mod who loves modding is: do it yourself. if you're worried about being overwhelmed by the amount of work required to run a game yourself, then limit the number of players allowed to app. if you don't think you have enough time to run a small game, then you definitely don't have enough time to run a large game, no matter how excited you are about your ideas.

"but that's why i want a co-mod!" co-mods are a bad idea in general for all the reasons you and the other anon mentioned. the best games i've been in have one head mod who is solely responsible for the game's plot and worldbuilding. they write the events, including the tdm. they answer faq questions. they advertise on plurk, respond to player concerns, are proactive and enthusiastic in the forward momentum of their game, and they delegate repetitive tasks to helper mods so they have more time for the above. helper mod duties can include moderating the discord group, coding aesthetics for the game, processing apps and activity check, and updating the taken/drop pages. helper mods are also great for bouncing ideas off of and getting second opinions from. often these helper mods are volunteers from players already in a game who intend to stick around.

with this arrangement, there's a clear division of power and responsibility between you and the other mods. if a helper mod isn't updating their list in a timely matter, then confront them kindly. they'll either get to work or step down, and if they step down, helper mods are far easier to replace than co-mods. like the other anon above said, finding co-mods who want to write and host interactive event posts with you is a big ask, and you'll have trouble finding anyone reliable because no one is going to be as excited and willing to put in the work for your game as you are.

I'm the above anon and tbh I do prefer being a support person rather than "in charge" so that there's a clear end vote from someone if there's ever dissent. I also don't mind writing event outlines! I just know that I'm not that good at writing an engaging event post with prompts people like so I'm hesitant to sign up when people are requiring that specifically. I'm really good at handling player complaints and staying on top of list work but I'm just not a strong event writer.

I think it's best to start with a head mod and maybe a helper mod or two and just recruit from players though, yeah.

you sound like a great helper, anon. being willing to write event outlines and handling player complaints on top of other responsibilities is huge

If this worked for you that's cool, but I've tried this and it's exactly the sort of thing that burned me out.

Apps, lists, and AC are things I can do on autopilot and sometimes it's more tiring to have to manage and delegate tasks and follow up to make sure they're completed than it is to just take a minute and update the list myself.

Meanwhile, being solely responsible for the game's creative and interactive output is exhausting. It can be even more difficult at a small game than a large one because at large games players will have more options for keeping themselves busy with CR and player plots. I agree that it's a big ask for anyone to care about my game as much as I do, but that's why I wish it were easier to find people who'd build a game with me so it would be OUR game instead of just mine.

this might be a "grass is always greener" situation. sharing a game with someone as a co-mod can come with its own problems. we've seen it here on wankgate where co-mods have stolen games from each other, complained about their fellow co-mods for being unreliable, or thrown their fellow co-mods under the bus when wank started.

personally, i choose potential burnout, because that's something i can control myself. i can make events lighter or less often, i can set an endgame date or move the endgame date forward, or i can discuss with the players about making the game into a sandbox or handing it over to a new mod from the current playerbase. i know it's disappointing as a player, but i don't consider any of these things failures when mods do them. they're being responsible rather than ghosting their game, and all games come to an end eventually.

finding a co-mod to share a game with equally is hard mode in many ways. i wish you luck, anon.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

245: Tone Death Rapture: Championship Edition : Tournament Edition

Re: MOD'S PET PEEVES

Re: MOD'S PET PEEVES

ayrt

Re: MOD'S PET PEEVES

ayrt